Otago have crashed to a heavy defeat at the hands of Wellington in the fifth round of matches in the Provincial A tournament at Lincoln.
Sven Friday devastated the Otago batting line up to help Wellington keep the Southerners to a measly 123. It of course was not enough and Wellington won with seven wickets and 28.2 overs to spare.
Forced in by Wellington, Otago crumbled from the get go and found themselves in the horrendous position of 33 for six.
At this point 100 looked unrealistic, but a brave performance from one of the more experienced players in the team insured that Otago would at least something to bowl at.
Ian Butler came in and whacked 46 from 38 deliveries to give Otago some resemblance of a semi-respectable score, but was always going to struggle to do better than that.
In the end Otago were all out for 123 after 26.2 overs.
Friday was responsible for the majority of the damage with the ball as re ripped apart the Otago top-order. In the end he finished with figures of five for 42 from 10 overs.
The chase wasn’t expected to take long, but the question was whether Otago could replicate what the Wellington bowlers had done.
Otago would have been happy with their bowling, but Wellington Captain Josh Brodie proved to be too good for them as he took control of the game with a fast paced 72.
Other opener Michael Papps was forced to retire hurt on 17, and Stephen Murdoch and Barry Rhodes lost their wickets in the chase.
In the end though Tom Blundell (23*) made sure that Wellington secured victory for the lads from the capital with seven wickets and 28.2 overs to spare.
