State Otago Volts captain Craig Cumming led from the front as his team trounced the State Canterbury Wizards by 125 runs in the State Shield match at the University Oval in Dunedin.
Cumming hit 106 in an innings that included 16 boundaries to set up the mammoth total of 288. The knock moves him into third spot in the State Shield MVP table.
He faced 130 balls, enjoying an 87 run stand for the fifth wicket with Nathan McCullum.
McCullum didn’t slow down once his captain was removed hitting 71 off 55, including three seven fours and three huge sixes.
The tail wagged for the Volts with Ian Butler blasting an unbeaten 32 at the end.
Shane Bond was the best of the Canterbury bowlers and had Otago in trouble when he ripped out the opening pair of Shaun Haig and Brendon McCullum in his first two overs to have them seven for two after 2.2. He went on to take three of 52 off his 10.
Carl Frauenstein impressed again, chipping in with two for 45 off his ten.
The Canterbury batsmen started positively with an opening partnership of 59 between Iain Robertson and Michael Papps. But the loss of Papps for 27 sparked a collapse that saw them rolled for 163.
Iain Roberson scored 30 with Andrew Ellis made 32.
All of the Otago bowlers were economical with Nathan McCullum cleaning up the tail to end with three for 21 off 5.5 overs.
England and Hampshire all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas took three for 42 off his 10 overs.
The result moves the State Canterbury Wizards down to last place on the table and allows the Otago Volts to leap past Wellington into third.
