A thriller as Otago upset Wellington

Otago Volts cliched a gripping Ford Trophy match against Wellington Firebirds on Saturday, winning by seven runs in Dunedin.

Batting first, the Volts scored 218 runs from 49.5 overs, with their No 8 batsman Josh Finnie top scoring with 53, while Neil Broom and Michael Rippon both got into the 40s.

Ollie Newton was outstanding with the ball for the Firebirds, taking 5-46 from 8.5 overs.

Jimmy Neesham batted superbly for the Firebirds, getting to 100 before he was caught by Hamish Rutherford from a delivery from Matthew Bacon.

Only two Firebirds players reached double figures as they lost wickets cheaply at the beginning and end of their innings.

Despite having plenty of overs in hand, Ian Peake was the last batsmen out with 22 balls still remaining. Jacob Duffy, 24, took five wickets for Otago, which included the top three batsmen in the Wellington lineup.

On the Outer Oval at Eden Park it was anything but a close game as Central Stags thrashed Auckland Aces by 170 runs.

Put in by Auckland, the Stags made 250-8 from their 50 overs, with Greg Hay scoring 85 runs from 97 balls and Dean Foxcroft 90 from 98 deliveries. Facing a big total to chase down, the Aces never got going and Michal Barry top scored with 36 runs. Wickets tumbled at a regular rate and Auckland were all out for just 125 from 30.1 overs.

Ben Wheeler was the best of the Stags bowlers, with figures of 4-24 off seven overs, which was a career-best bowling performance from him at this level.

In Saturday’s other game, Northern Districts beat Canterbury by three wickets.

Canterbury won the toss and elected to bat and posted a below average total of 251-7 from 50 overs, with Chad Bowes, Jack Boyle and Stephen Murdoch all getting past the half-century mark.

It was a tense run chase from Northern Districts, who got off to a poor start with both openers falling cheaply. But Nick Kelly steadied the ship before falling to Theo van Woerkom for 63 runs.

In the end, Northern Districts got to the target with nine balls to spare. The last over was a disaster from Canterbury’s point of view with Jeff Case conceding eight runs from three balls.

At a glance

Otago 218 all out from 49.5 overs (Josh Finnie 53), Wellington 211 all out from 46.2 overs

Neesham 100)

Central Stags 295-8 from 50 overs (Dean Foxcroft 90), Auckland 125 all out from 30.1 overs

4-24)

Canterbury 251-7 from 50 overs (Jack Boyle 66, Chad Bowes 64),

Northern Districts 254-5 from 48.3 overs (Nick Kelly 63).