Volts fight back

SOME kamikaze batting from Northern Districts and a fivewicket bag for Jacob Duffy has dragged Otago back into the match.

The Volts require a further 329 runs to pull off victory when its Plunket Shield match concludes at Molyneux Park in Alexandra today.

But it will be a memorable achievement if Otago can get up and win given the variable and slow nature of the pitch. The Volts have all their secondinnings wickets intact but the required run rate of 3.43 will present a serious challenge.

Northern Districts dominated the first two days of play. The visitors secured a massive first innings lead of 208 runs thanks, in part, to an unbeaten 167 by Tim Seifert. The Northern keeper helped his side post a formidable total of 456.

Otago’s beleaguered top five crumbled again with the exception of Hamish Rutherford, who topscored with 67 to help his side scrape through to 248.

Veteran Northern seamer Brent Arnel (five for 76) and legspinner Ish Sodhi (four for 75) combined to brush aside some feeble resistance.

But in an effort to rattle on quick runs, Northern yesterday approached its second innings with abandon and it was Duffy (five for 49) who shone.

The 23yearold bowled nice and straight and the wickets quickly mounted.

BJ Watling flashed an edge to first slip. Bharat Popli went wider with a thicker edge but got the same result.

Dean Brownlie dragged a drive back on to his leg stump and then Anton Devcich took a big swing and missed.

Duffy brought up his sixth firstclass fivewicket bag when Daryl Mitchell had an almighty heave and was bowled.

Legspinner Michael Rippon was instrumental in Northern’s demise as well. He took four for 30 and has carried a big load in the game. The Dutch international has bowled 54 overs and is batting at No 3.

Northern skipper Daniel Flynn decided he had seen enough and declared with his side 135 for nine, setting the Volts a daunting target of 344.

The visitors had eight overs to snaffle a breakthrough but Otago negotiated the tricky period and went to stumps at 15 without loss.

In other games, Auckland held on to beat Canterbury by 24 runs at Eden Park Outer Oval. Set 316 to win, Canterbury was dismissed for 291.

Central Districts closed the gap on competition leader Wellington with a sevenwicket win against the Firebirds at Saxton Oval in Nelson.

In a lowscoring encounter, Central required just 172 to win in the fourth innings. Opener Greg Hay scored an unbeaten 85 to help secure the valuable outright.

Just one point separates Wellington (80) and Central (79) at the top of the Plunket Shield standings.