Otago show their mettle to achieve fine victory over Auckland

Otago produced an emphatic performance to beat Auckland by seven wickets, with 10 overs to spare, in their State Shield match at Molyneux Park in Alexandra today.

It was a result welcomed by long-suffering Otago fans and made up for the disappointments of the first round loss to Wellington.

Both the State Otago Volts and State Auckland Aces were coming off first round defeats in the competition.

The crowd were treated to a good batting display by both sides but Otago scored at a much faster clip and so won the match with plenty of overs up their sleeves.

Temperatures were close to 30 degrees during the match which saw Auckland win the toss and bat first. It scored a highly-competitive 246 for seven wickets.

Aaron Barnes top scored with 50 while Rob Nicol scored 41, Mark Richardson 30 and at the end Craig Pryor, playing against his old team-mates, was 30 not out. Three other players got into the 20s to demonstrate the quality of the batting conditions on offer.

It is however relevant to mention that this score could, and should, have bigger but unfortunately Auckland experienced periods of languid batting against some tight but not venomous bowling from Warren McSkimming, Jeff Wilson and Kerry Walmsley.

Wilson took three for 42, McSkimming one for 39 and Walmsley one for 40, but Shayne O'Connor would have been disappointed with his two for 62 which was too expensive.

Setting out to chase the 247 required for victory, Otago began at a fast clip with Mohammad Wasim looking all class as he followed his 70 against Wellington with a fine 51.

Andrew Hore was his usual cavalier self and smashed a quick 32.

But it was captain Craig Cumming with a fine knock for 75 off 74 balls with 12 fours and Robbie Lawson's 63 not out also off 74 balls, that saw their side home to victory with overs and wickets in hand aplenty. Adding to Otago's delight was the fact it gained a batting bonus point.

Auckland, in desperation, used eight bowlers but no-one really looked likely to halt the Otago batsmen. Richard Morgan with two for 29 from seven overs looked best but leg-spinner Brooke Walker never seemed to gather any momentum and paid the price with none for 35 from his five overs. Tama Canning had none for 56 from his seven overs while Pryor had figures of none for 45 from 5.4 overs.

The pick of the bowlers, a point which will not have gone unnoticed from the national selectors, was Andre Adams who bowled six overs for one for 28 while Matt Horne demonstrated his bowling prowess with five overs that cost 25 runs.

Auckland joins Canterbury at the bottom of the State Shield ladder with no points while Otago are in third place. Otago meet Central Districts at Pukekura Park in their next match on January 2 while Auckland play Canterbury on the Outer Oval at Eden Park.