At a glance

(A Ellis 36 from 29; S Patel 2-24 from 4, Patel 2-24 from 4, A Verma 2-15 from 3) lost to the

(T Blundell 53 from 37 ;T Johnston 2-20 from 4) by five wickets.

(H Rutherford 51 from 47; B Lister 3-25/4) lost to the

(C Cachopa 52 from 35, R O’Donnell 38 from 29, S Solia 34 from 24) by seven wickets.

Wellington

Auckland Aces

Having lost the toss away from home, the Aces appeared to have flopped a tough hand at Molyneux Park in the heart of Otago.

But exceptionally tight spells from Ben Lister, Teja Nidamanuru and Ronnie Hira gave Otago little hope at the turn, and allowed Craig Cachopa, Rob O’Donnell and Sean Solia to guide the team home for a seven wicket win.

Otago, without the services of all rounder Jimmy Neesham after he had been dropped, struggled throughout the first innings.

Hamish Rutherford opened the innings but soon found himself playing something of an anchor role, batting 16 overs for just 51 runs as he soaked up 47 deliveries.

Those sort of figures in a Twenty20 innings often prove terminal for the players team, but it came through necessity as batsmen fell around him, often at a slow scoring rate themselves.

The only batsmen to score at a decent clip were Neil Wagner and Jacob Duffy, both at or exceeding 200, but they scored just 12 and

13 respectively batting well down the order. Lister was the best of the bowlers, taking

3-25 in his four overs. Hira opened the bowling and went for just 20 in his four, and Nidamanuru took 1-22 from his four.

With just 147 on the board, it was always going to be a battle against the odds for Otago.

Sean Solia’s quick fire 34 opening the innings gave Auckland a fine start, but it was Craig Cachopa (52 from 35) and Rob O’Donnell (38 from 29) who guided the Aces home with relative ease.

Things were a little dicey at the midway point of the chase, with WASP suggesting Otago were slight favourites, but Cachopa and O’Donnell’s 80 run partnership made sure they took the victory.