The Volts opened their Plunket Shield campaign with a draw against Central Districts on a featherbed at Saxton Oval.
Just 10 wickets fell during the first three days. It was hard slog for the seamers and Otago captain Brad Wilson, who made back-to-back hundreds, would have dearly loved to have been able to call on the Black Caps left-armer.
Wagner is one of the few bowlers in the country who can find life in the most benign of pitches. He has developed a reputation at international level as a player who will bustle in and bowl a series of bounces, and add energy to an attack which is wilting.
The 30-year-old had some time off to rest following the test series in India. But he is back bowling and has been named in the Otago side for its first-class game with Auckland which gets under way at Eden Park Outer Oval today.
He is looking forward to getting the new ball in his hand and perhaps even pitching it up.
"Obviously, the short ball plan is a ‘go to’ for me when it is right," Wagner said.
"But in first-class cricket I get a chance to bowl with the new ball. I can work on my shape and get my seam position right and try to swing the ball and get it in consistent areas."
It is a different set of skills to the ones he mostly employs for the Blacks Caps and will take some "fine-tuning".
"When you bowl with the new ball and don’t get things right, you can easily leak runs."
Eden Park Outer Oval can be a tough venue for bowlers. The combination of a flat wicket and short boundaries is usually not too helpful for seamers.
Wagner has seven wickets at an average of 33.28 at the venue. It is a reasonable return but well down on his career first-class average of 27.03.
"It has been known as a graveyard for bowlers but there is always a bit of pace, bounce and carry there. But it is just one of those wickets where the margin of error is small, so you have to be consistent with your lengths.
"For us, it is about not getting too carried away with the extra bounce and pace and just bowl in really good areas for long periods of time."
Wagner replaces Michael Rae in the 12. It is the only change. Left-hander Michael Bracewell is still sidelined with a fracture in his hand and batsman Anaru Kitchen is on leave.
It is unclear how long Bracewell will be out. He will have an X-ray on Monday.
But Kitchen will return for Otago’s round three match against Central Districts at the University Oval.
Top order batsman Ryan Duffy missed out in Nelson but gets another opportunity and will be keen to make a statement before Kitchen’s return.
His younger brother, Jacob Duffy (22), is closing in on 100 first-class wickets — he has 90.Auckland has stuck with the same team which suffered a six-wicket loss to Wellington at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.Auckland right arm quick Lockie Ferguson has continued on from where he left off last season with a five-wicket haul in Wellington’s first innings. He is well equipped to exploit any extra pace and bounce and is one of the players the Otago line-up will have underlined as a potential threat.
Back-up New Zealand test opener Jeet Raval is another player to watch. The Aucklander made a solid start to the first-class season with innings of 47 and 31.
He requires another 10 runs to reach 5000 career runs and looks odds on, given he has has scored four 100s, four 50s and averages more than 60 in 12 matches at the venue.
Plunket Shield
Starts today, Eden Park No 2, Auckland
Otago: Brad Wilson (captain), Hamish Rutherford, Ryan Duffy, Neil Broom, Josh Finnie, Derek de Boorder, Sam Wells, Christi Viljoen, Neil Wagner, Jacob Duffy, Rhys Phillips, Nathan Smith.
Auckland: Michael Guptill-Bunce, Jeet Raval, Robbie O’Donnell, Rob Nicol, Colin de Grandhomme, Brad Cachopa, Shawn Hicks, Donovan Grobbelaar, Tarun Nethula, Dane Hutchinson, Lockie Ferguson, Cody Andrews.
