ROUND SIX
OTAGO VOLTS drew with AUCKLAND ACES
Queen's Park Invercargill
18-21 March 2021
Toss: Auckland Aces who batted
First innings bonus points (completed)
BATTING: Auckland Aces 4, Otago Volts 2
BOWLING: Otago Volts 3, Auckland Aces 2
Total points this round: Aces 6, Otago 5
SELECTED MILESTONES
First-class debut: Cole Briggs (Auckland Aces)
First-class debut: Angus McKenzie (Otago Volts)
Robbie O'Donnell - third first-class century
DAY FOUR
A familiar start to the day by now for both teams with wet weather and another ground delay - resulting in the match being called at lunchtime, with no further play possible.
Further north, the sun shone on Canterbury who wrapped up the Plunket Shield with a day and two rounds to spare, ending the still unbeaten Aces' battered hopes of a trophy this season.
DAY THREE
A ditto day in Invercargill with a ground delay preventing play in the first session for a third day on the bounce.
Play eventually resuming at 2pm, the Volts still needed to haul in the Aces' first innings total of 351/8 declared, and by stumps still trailed by 92 runs.
Golden arm Glenn Phillips had picked up two wickets in his brother Dale (caught on 15) and Nick Kelly (trapped on 43) to leave Michael Rippon (40* at stumps) and keeper-batsman Max Chu (29) to do the job tomorrow, with five wickets in hand.
Earlier, the full-time spinners Will Somerville and Louis Delport had chipped out the wickets of Hamish Rutherford (63) and Mitch Renwick (49), the pair having put on 92 for the second wicket.
DAY TWO
The Auckland Aces and Otago Volts again lost the first session to a damp ground at Queen's Park, the covers on for much of the day until play finally resumed after 4PM.
Once the players were back on, little time was lost by Robbie O'Donnell who cracked on to his century after having been suspended on 92* for so long - reaching 128 before he was run out, at which point the full set of batting bonuses was in the bag and he declared at 351 for eight.
The declaration snuffed out Michael Rae's sniff of a bag himself, finishing with 4-89 as he led the Otago attack.
The home side's batsmen then made a cautious start to their second dig in the remains of the day, but lost Anaru Kitchen early. Hamish Rutherford will resume day three on 22* with the Volts 39/1, trailing by 312.
DAY ONE
Clear blue sunny skies greeted the teams on the first morning which only served to make an early lunch less palatable. Rain in the lead-up to the match combined with drainage issues had left areas of the Queen's Park outfield too soft to play on at the duck pond end, with the toss delayed until 12.45PM and the boundary rope eventually being taken in to avoid the dampest areas.
Auckland Ace Glenn Phillips then looked to make up for lost time once his captain won the toss and batted after lunch, against an injury-weakened Otago Volts line-up missing regular campaigners Nathan Smith (broken finger) and Jacob Duffy (quad strain).
Striding in after the early loss of Will O'Donnell in the ninth over, Phillips blasted 92 off just 64 balls (11x4, 5x6), his half century (7x4, 2x6) flying off just 38 balls in three-quarters of an hour.
Phillips looked for all money to be charging towards his fifth Aces first-class hundred in blistering time before Michael Rae struck again with the catch gratefully received in the deep by Nick Kelly.
Rae had been on the receiving end of Phillips' confidence early so it was doubly welcome breakthrough at 143/3, Travis Muller having stopped Sean Solia on 29 in the interim, debutant Angus McKenzie getting under the skied edge.
The Aces' innings then changed down a gear with captain Robbie O'Donnell solidifying the innings with an unbeated 92*, batting throughout the last session.
Debutant Cole Briggs reached 30 alongside him after tea, but became McKenzie's maiden wicket. Ultimately only 74 overs were possible on the opening day but the Aces would begin Day Two in a good position at 273 for six, while Rae, shoundering extra responsibility in the injury-hit attack, sat on 3-62 after having added Ben Horne cheaply.
