2023/24
ROUND THREE
OTAGO VOLTS lost to CENTRAL STAGS by 50 runs
University of Otago Oval
6-9 November, 2023
First innings points:
Otago Volts: 5
Central Stags: 4
Total points this round:
Otago Volts: 5
Central Stags: 16
Milestones
Doug Bracewell: 250th first-class wicket for Central Stags
Tom Bruce: 10th first-class century
All images: PHOTOSPORT
An important match for both teams played out in wintery conditions as the Otago Volts hosted their first match of the season at home. Could they get their first win, or would defending champs the Stags bounce back from a hard loss in Nelson to stay in touch with the early leaderboard?
DAY ONE
Dunedin turned it on for the Otago Volts' first home match of the summer - greeting their opposition with a brisk southerly.
To be fair, the sun was streaming, and occasionally got warm enough to remind everyone that summer would eventually arrive in the lower reaches of the country.
When Stags captain Greg Hay lost his third toss in a row, opposing skipper Dean Foxcroft - mercifully cleared of the knee injury that had thrown a big cloud over him during the previous match, had no hesitation in bowling first.
It would be a typically torrid morning session, with four of the Stags' top five all sent back for single digit scores.
PHOTOSPORT
Lunch paused the fluttering of the tins at 52/4, captain Hay having gritted his teeth through to 22*, while Josh Clarkson had knuckled down for 10* off 44 balls. It was patience of an order not usually required from the instinctively aggressive batter.
PHOTOSPORT
But he survived only another dozen balls after lunch before Jarrod McKay got his first wicket of the game, against the fellow Nelson representative.
The leader of the Volts pack, Jacob Duffy, had already had a field day with two early wickets, supported by Matt Bacon and Jake Gibson.
Duffy would go on to remove the key obstacle of Hay on 59, by which time the Stags were 120/7. The tailenders took over after tea to push that tally to 182 all out, valuable runs having come from a 44-stand between Ajaz Patel (23, fresh off his naming in the Test squad that morning) and Brett Randell (29).
Thirteen wickets would ultimately fall on the opening day, after the Stags pace attack blasted out three single-digit top order wickets of their own before stumps.
Randell rejoices | PHOTOSPORT
Randell had made a top start, striking twice in three balls in his very first over, trapping Jacob Cumming and Dale Phillips. Doug Bracewell was too good for Foxcroft, the Volts ending an action-packed day at 35/3.
DAY TWO
As reliable as ever, class pace allrounder Bracewell was showing no signs of age as he picked up 4/39 for the Stags as the fightback continued at a still fresh University of Otago Oval.
He picked up his 250th first-class wicket for the Stags in the process, becoming just the fourth player from the side to do so - following in the footsteps of Patel who took his 250th for the Stags last week in Nelson, former Test spinner Dave O'Sullivan (392), and paceman Michael Mason (263).
PHOTOSPORT
Bracewell was well supported by the rest of the attack, as well as by wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver, dismissing the hosts for 210 that afternoon.
It had all been too easy bar one partnership, for the Stags had to double down to break the 98-run stand for the fifth between Volts young guns Thorn Parkes (70) and Jamal Todd (48).
THORN PARKES | PHOTOSPORT
Parkes had scored his maiden century against the same team late last summer, while teenaged Todd was in just his third match, and had impressed already in the previous round with his maiden half ton - unlucky not to pick up another this time around, after a good two and half hours' application.
The Stags ended the day at 61 without loss as they ground into their second innings, needing to show their true capability with the bat.
Hay while the sun shines | PHOTOSPORT
The openers looked up to it, Jack Boyle unbeaten on 43* and rock Hay on 16 not out by the time everyone strolled off, having worked hard for their overnight lead of 33 in 27 overs of play.
DAY THREE
How would you like to go to stumps on 99 not out?
That's exactly the position in which Tom Bruce found himself after surviving a nervous last few overs with number 11 Ray Toole for company, the Stags nine down on a deck that was still not the easiest for batting.
A fresh southerly continued to whip the ground, temperatures barely getting into the teens. Rain interrupted after tea, but it had been a good day for the visitors as they dug in with the bat.
The Volts, too, had their moments, wicketkeeper Max Chu kept busy behind the sticks: four catches, including a nicely judged effort to collect a skied edge from Josh Clarkson that travelled on the wind.
Jake Gibson gives his keeper a cuddle | PHOTOSPORT
Clarkson's half century had provided an important partnership for the Stags at a critical point in the game. He combined with Bruce, putting on 88 for the fifth wicket.
When Doug Bracewell replaced Clarkson and helped put on a further 46, the Stags were shaping a decent overall lead in the conditions.
Earlier in the day, a player who got his start with the Stags, Jarrod McKay, broke the 80-run opening stand between Greg Hay and Jack Boyle, luring the latter to mistime one of his trademark swivel-pulls. It was the other significant stand of the innings as Central knuckled down to try to avoid a repeat of their batting horrors in the previous match, and now in more challenging conditions.
Patience was required, and Boyle and Hay brought it, for the main. The captain's 39 took more than two and a half hours, while Boyle (47) just missed a half century after two hours of support.
Still, the platform had been laid. But the Volts pacemen were still smacking their lips, delighting in the cheap dismissals of Brad Schmulian (Duffy) and Dane Cleaver (Luke Georgeson) before lunch.
The Stags had grappled their way to 124/4 by that point with the game in the balance, and by tea that had become 176/4 with the grey skies now letting loose some showery mischief.
Bruce had the worst of the light in the final session, but weather wasn't going to stop him after exactly five hours in the middle. Running out of partners might.
Blair Tickner had departed when he was on 93* but last man Toole was still there in support by stumps for an overall overnight lead of 297 with one wicket in hand at 325/9.
DAY FOUR
After the cliffhanger of the previous evening, the tension continued with the covers staying on at the scheduled start of play.
The covers came off, everyone got their hopes up - and then down again as the rain stopped by and further delayed the first session, the wind still blasting across the ground. An early lunch was taken, until finally - at a quarter to two - Bruce twiddled his bat, ready to take strike and resume on 99*.
Despite the drawn-out wait, it didn't take him long to reach his 10th first-class century, running a three for good measure before captain Hay declared at 332/9.
The Volts now needed 305 to win in a minimum of 62 overs, if the weather and light held, with time running out in the match. It didn't get off to a good start, Bracewell bowling Luke Georgeson in an action replay of the first innings dismissal.
Soon it was 42/2, and 43/3, with Jacob Cumming, caught behind off Ajaz Patel, and Dean Foxcroft - chopping on against Blair Tickner, also departing. Could the young Thorn Parkes again be a thorn in Central's side?
By tea, Parkes had galloped to 33* off 51 balls, with Dale Phillips on a more sedate 39*. The hosts still required a further 193 from the last session, and slightly more than run-a-ball.
Tickner took his 199th first-class wicket in the last session, accounting for Jamal Todd, while Bracewell had stopped Parkes on 40. But obstacles still stood in their way, including the clock on the scoreboard.
The last hour was taken with the Volts 193/5, and the Stags needing wickets in a hurry. First drop Dale Phillips was still anchoring the innings, having gone past 50 and still with a recognised batsman at the crease for company in Max Chu. They pushed past the team 200, the hosts now needing fewer than 100 runs to win at some seven runs per over.
The tantalising proposition saw them both smack sixes as the chase burst into life. Clarkson was caned, forced Hay to bring back Bracewell who dismissed Chu for his third wicket.
Jake Gibson immediately smacked him for back-to-back boundaries to make the equation 62 off 54 balls, but the light was fading. A conference with the men in black strides ensued before Patel resumed, with spinners to see out the game. Two balls later, Patel claimed the seventh wicket - Gibson, feathering behind.
Duffy joined Phillips, who was by now in the 80s. His stay was a short one, however, as leg-spinning Brad Schmulian took a huge wicket, with 54 runs still required and now just two in hand.
Cliffhanger, anyone?
Meanwhile in Wellington, the Firebirds and ND were off for rain, putting even more on the outcome of this match for the Stags. A win would take them to just three points below the leaders at the top of the table.
Patel (3/85) struck again quickly: Bacon caught, the Volts nine down, 51 runs off 39 balls still needed with Mckay the last man in. The match would last just another four deliveries before Schmulian (2/20) wrapped it up with the big one: Phillips, bowled after his gutsy 85.
The Stags were back in business.
