ROUND TWO
NORTHERN DISTRICTS v OTAGO VOLTS
Seddon Park
28 October 2018
RESULT: Otago Volts won by nine wickets
On a day in which every skipper throughout New Zealand sent the opposition in, the Otago Volts scored the biggest victory of the lot with a nine-wicket thumping of Northern Districts putting them on the board in style.
Hamish Rutherford carried his bat as he swatted away a stellar Northern Districts attack, the recharged Volts bouncing back in The Ford Trophy with a massive nine-wicket away win.
After having been denied in Nelson last week, Volts co-captain Mark Craig had won his second coin toss on the bounce but this time the result was more than satisfactory at the end of the day.
Jacob Duffy has looked impressive this season. PHOTOSPORT
His 2018/19 season co-skipper Jacob Duffy did the early damage with the ball, taking out the ND opening pair in each of his first two overs to have the hosts in early strife at 16 for two.
That quickly became 18 for three as Anton Devcich became the first of Warren Barnes's victims soon after, and, after having tried gamely to steady the ship with Daryl Mitchell, Nick Kelly's fall to the paceman had the alarm bells ringing at 36 for four.
The surface looking kinder to bowlers than batsmen with a tennis ball bounce, when captain Dean Brownlie also departed cheaply, 15 overs were barely on the board and the host's platform was missing a few planks.
The Volts were on the charge, however, ND number four Daryl Mitchell dug in for a vital 76 off 109 balls, showing his staying power over 39.3 overs.
Mitchell kept ND in the game. PHOTOSPORT
He should have had better support, but the Volts' attack kept coming at them and only power hitter Brett Hampton managed to contribute much else with his 33 off 42 balls.
After Mitchell became the ninth wicket, the innings rapidly concluded at 190 all out in the 45th over, with Duffy's superb 4-29 off 8.4 overs completed by the last wicket.
With both Trent Boult and Neil Wagner in the home attack, ND would have been hoping to make quick inroads of their own as the two teams wrangled for their first win of the white-ball season.
Rutherford had other ideas and, once he was set, looked ominous as he swatted away the normally challenging ND line-up.
His seventh List A century came off just 123 balls and he finished unbeaten, alongside first drop Neil Broom who likewise managed to chalk up an unbeaten half-century just before they ran out of balls in a shock landslide win.
