Volts vanquish Cantabs

OH boy. Said it before but that Hamish Rutherford sure is in good nick. The experienced Otago opener plundered a rapid half century to help his side beat Canterbury by five wickets in a Super Smash fixture at the University of Otago Oval yesterday. The 29-year-old left-hander has played some terrific knocks at the venue during the years and treated a crowd of 893 to another. His blistering assault on Canterbury's pace duo of Kyle Jamieson and Ed Nuttall was a reminder of just how dangerous he can be. He timed the ball magnificently and two of his four sixes went a very long way. His 54 off 29 provided the impetus the Volts needed to hunt down Canterbury's competitive tally of 184 for five. + Rutherford combined in a 81-run \ stand with fellow opener Neil Broom, whose cameo of 32 contributed to the excellent entertainment. Anaru Kitchen was dropped on seven and again on 36. But it is doubtful he was thinking about that when he was muscling his way to 44. Shawn Hicks struck the most memorable shot of the match. He drove Nuttall for six off the back foot over long off for an extraordinary six. Earlier, Canterbury made an energetic start to its innings with Chad Bowes and Stephen Murdoch attacking the bowling and hustling hard for each run. Jack Hunter picked up the early wicket of dangerous all-rounder Andrew Ellis. But he was reeling after Murdoch clubbed him for consecutive sixes at the start of the sixth over. Bowes contributed from the other end with the precise execution of the reverse sweep to send a delivery from Michael Rippon to the boundary. The pair put on 78 for the second wicket and got their team on track for a score of 200-plus. Otago needed a little magic and Christi Viljoen provided it. He bowled Bowes for 42 with the first ball of his stint. The sight of the middle stump lying on the pitch did wonders for the energy of the home team. The mood lifted again when Cole McConchie was caught at backward point moments later for one. The run out of Murdoch for a blistering 54 capped off a good five overs for Otago. But Canterbury finished well with Jamieson thrashing 33 not out and Cameron Fletcher adding an unbeaten 22. In Hamilton on Saturday, Northern Districts made an impressive start to the defence of its title. Dean Brownlie powered his side to 215 for six with a career-high 99. Wellington chased hard but lost its last six wickets for just 12 runs. Anton Devcich took four for 27 to help seal the win.