Craig takes charge of the Volts
OTAGO STARS RETURN FOR CHALLENGE
SOME people are happy to tuck in behind and contribute what they can from the middle of the pack.
New Otago captain Mark Craig is not one of them.
The former international spinner took a look at the Otago squad this season and decided he wanted to take the lead.
It was a bold call in some respects. The Volts will be without six experienced firstclass players this summer. Strip any team of that many players and you are left with a daunting rebuilding task.
But the 31yearold was undeterred by the size of the chal
lenge. He had a chat with former Otago and Black Caps coach Mike Hesson, who helped convinced him to put his name forward.
‘‘I actually approached Rob [Walter, Volts coach] around the reasons why I should put myself forward. But more importantly I just wanted him to know that I was interested in doing the role,’’ Craig said.
‘‘It is something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time. With all the changes that we’ve made and the direction that we are going in, I thought I was the man suited for the job.
‘‘I’m super excited. It is a great honour to captain the Volts and I’m proud as punch.’’
His first challenge as captain is an enormous one. The Volts open their season against a stacked Northern Districts side in Mount Maunganui today.
The home team includes Black Caps captain Kane Williamson and test gloveman BJ Watling. The attack can call on test duo Trent Boult and Neil Wagner and legspinner Ish Sodhi.
International allrounder Colin de Grandhomme is now plying his skills for Northern as well.
The one slice of good news for Craig is Black Caps seamer Tim Southee has been ruled out. He is still recovering from a knee injury which means Northern will have to scrape by with six current internationals.
Craig is aware of the obvious differences between the side he will lead out and the talent his opposite, Daniel Flynn, can all on. But helping his adopted province — a place he calls home now — rebuild was a big part of his motivation for taking on the captaincy.
‘‘I feel like I have respect in the group and can work really well with the younger boys to help build their confidence and grow their games.’’
Craig’s captaincy experience is restricted to agegroup and club cricket but he is confident he has absorbed plenty of useful information during the years.
‘‘I’ve been lucky enough to be part of Black Caps teams and have been able to learn a few things off a very good captain in Brendon [McCullum] and off Craig Cumming in my earlier [Otago] days.
‘‘But all I can do is play to my strengths and give guys confidence to go out and do their roles.’’
Attack spearhead Jacob Duffy shapes as a valuable sounding board for Craig when he is deciding whether to make a bowling change or introduce something different.
Hamish Rutherford and Brad Wilson have captained Otago before, so he can look to them for support as well.
‘‘It is not as if I’ll be doing it all by myself. It is an inclusive group and we want everyone to have input and add value to what we are trying to do.’’
Craig felt he struggled last season after returning from back surgery but he is now painfree and as fit as he has ever been.
‘‘Personally I identified this offseason as the biggest one I needed to have in my career in terms of if I want to get back [in the Black Caps]. But I can’t look too far ahead as well. I’ve got a job to do here for Otago first.’’
THE Otago Sparks will have to make do without the services of former White Ferns captain Suzie Bates for most of the summer.
Fellow White Ferns Katey Martin and Leigh Kasperek will miss games as well.
English import Beth Langston is not returning for a third stint while former White Ferns spinner Morna Nielsen has retired.
But there has been one significant gain. Toporder batsman Millie Cowan has returned after a year away from the game.
She smacked her maiden century in January last year but took a break from the sport to focus on her studies.
The 25yearold had always looked more like a hockey player who dabbled at cricket. But her swashbuckling 105 from 85 balls helped rewrite that perception.
That hitting power was sorely missed last season. The Sparks finished last in the twenty20 tournament and fourth in the oneday competition.
The Sparks had to make do for long periods without Bates, who once again has playing commitments overseas and will not play much cricket for her province this summer, coach Nathan King said.
‘‘It is not just what she adds as a player but also what she provides the players around her with and what they learn from her. That is probably the biggest thing we will miss from my perspective,’’ King said.
Martin, who will captain the side, and Kasperek will miss ‘‘a couple of rounds’’ due to national duties but are otherwise available.
King said he was looking in to getting a replacement import for Langston but ‘‘nothing was confirmed at this stage’’.
Allrounder Megan Meltzer and medium pace bowler Marina Lamplough come into the squad. Meltzer is in year 12 at St Hilda’s Collegiate but has shown promise with both the ball and bat, while Lamplough has moved to Dunedin to study and will get opportunities to impress.
‘‘I think we showed last year that we were a really competitive team but were on the wrong side of the ledger on a few occasions. But there is a real opportunity to change things this year.
‘‘A lot of these players have experienced some success in previous seasons. The ability is certainly there within the group.’’
The Sparks will play in the McCullum Cup T20 competition in Dunedin tomorrow and Friday.
The team will then head to Timaru to play backtoback T20s against Canterbury on Sunday.
It is the lasthit out for the side before it opens its campaign with a series of T20s in Lincoln next week.
Otago plays Auckland on October 25 and Central and Northern Districts the following day. The Sparks will complete the first phase of games with a match against Canterbury on October 27 and Wellington the next day.
The next assignment after that is not until its onedayer against Wellington at the Basin Reserve on November 17 — a threeweek break.
There is another lengthy hiatus in December and a monthlong gap between the end of the T20 tournament in midJanuary and the resumption of the oneday competition in midFebruary.
It is a stopstart season which King felt would present a challenge for his side.
‘‘It is really going to highlight the structures that the associations have in behind their teams. Because the games are so spread out, the games that they are playing in between the domestic games are going to be really important.’’
With no women’s club tournament in Dunedin, King said it was hard to keep his side ‘‘ticking along’’ during the breaks.
‘‘We have some things scheduled in but it is going to be an ongoing challenge.’’