Central get point but still at bottom

The Otago Volts have advanced to the final of New Zealand’s premier domestic cricket competition for the second straight year and they did that yesterday without having to face or bowl a single ball.

The Volts have finished top of the competition at the end of roundrobin play and on Saturday night will contest the final in Hamilton with the juicy carrot dangling in front of them which is another trip to the Champions League tournament in India.

The Vaughn Johnson- coached side went into yesterday’s round of games locked on 24 competition points with the Knights but the Knights did hold top spot because of a superior run rate.

The Volts were to play the Central Stags in their final round- robin fixture yesterday but it was canned without a ball being bowled because of rain in Dunedin.

The points were shared and when Northern lost their final game against Canterbury and stayed on 24 points that was enough for the Volts to grab top spot.

They will now set their sights on Saturday night’s final which will be against the winner of the secondversus- third play- off on Friday night between the Knights and Canterbury.

The two play- off games are being played in Hamilton because the ground has lights and also so both games can be covered on television.

Volts supporters became Canterbury supporters for a brief moment yesterday afternoon as they awaited the Canterbury- Northern game result with plenty of excitement.

Northern won the toss and opted to bat first and posted 156 from their 20 overs.

Canterbury chased it down with six balls to spare to keep their season alive but more importantly for southern cricket followers it sent the Volts straight to the final.

The Central Hinds women’s team are still without a win this summer as they lost their three matches against Wellington in Hastings at the weekend.

The Hinds lost the Twenty20 match on Friday by 51 runs, as Wellington batted first and scored 142- 4, and Central only scored 91 from their 20 overs.

Jess Watkin was Central’s best batter with 38 not out, but she had no support.

In their one- day game on Saturday, Wellington won comfortably by eight wickets.

The Hinds batted first and scored a decent total of 221- 8 in 50 overs with Lisa Grant top scoring with 51.

Michelle Mitchell was 38 not out and Eimear Richardson made 44.

Wellington weren’t troubled in their chase though, only losing two wickets and they got to 223- 2 in 39.2 overs.

The batting suffered again as they lost by nine wickets in their second one- day game yesterday.

Central batted first again and this time posted a below- par 169- 9 with Kelly Rangi the best with 28, Kate Broadmore scored 26 and Grant and captain Abby Burrows both scored 21.

Wellington again made easy work of chasing it down in 29.2 overs, losing just one wicket at they reached 171- 1as both Lucy Doolan ( 74 not out) and Renee Moffitt ( 76) scored half centuries.

The Hinds play Northern Districts in three games in Palmerston North this week.