Otago ease past Canterbury

Otago have joined Wellington at the pointy end of the Plunket Shield table after completing a comfortable win over Canterbury yesterday.

The seven-wicket win was finished off early on day four, taking them to 17 points, three behind leaders Wellington after their big win over Auckland. Central Districts and Northern Districts drew the other game.

NORTHERN DISTRICTS v CENTRAL DISTRICTS

It was an intriguing final day in the bay as a declaration from ND skipper Daniel Flynn setup a decent finish.

Northern started the day at 17-1, with Flynn leading the charge for quick runs. He slapped 64 off 60 balls, including 10 fours, punishing the Central bowlers square of the wicket.

When he fell his side were 103-3 after 17 overs, with a quick-fire 32 off 21 balls from Anton Devcich helping to keep the run rate ticking along.

But Central spinner Ajaz Patel put a halt to that, taking 6-48 from 11 overs, getting the majority of his wickets as the Northern batsmen tried to dispatch him over the rope. That gave him nine wickets for the match.

Flynn eventually declared at 189-9 after 35 overs, leaving a chase of 308 from 65 overs.

Central never really looked like reaching the total, though. Opener Greg Hay played the anchor role, hitting 76 off 131 balls, but there wasn’t really the hitting around him to keep on top of the required rate.

Only Dane Cleaver, who hit 27 off as many balls, went at a strike rate of more than 65.

Central looked reasonably comfortable throughout, even if they did end up seven-down at 223-7 at the close of play, with the wickets spread around the Northern bowlers.

CANTERBURY v OTAGO

Otago’s win was set up on day three on Wednesday when openers Hamish Rutherford and Brad Wilson got them off to a strong start in their chase of 239 to win.

Experienced campaigners Neil Broom and Rob Nicol resumed on day four needing just 47 runs to win, and went about their business in steady fashion.

Broom was out caught and bowled to a leading edge off spinner Tim Johnstone with his side four runs from victory and himself two runs from a half-century. Nicol stayed on to ensure the win was in the bag, ending on 24 not out off 97 balls.