Rudders by nickname, rudders by nature.
The SBS Bank Otago Volts captain Hamish Rutherford guided his side into the Ford Trophy Qualifying Final playoffs with a wonderful knock at Queen's Park in Invercargill.
The aggressive left-hander whacked 126 from 90 deliveries to help his side reach an imposing 362 for eight — a ground record.
The Wellington Firebirds then capitulated for 141. They had needed a bonus point win to sneak past the Volts and perhaps into the playoffs so they kept attacking, but also kept losing wickets.
Volts spearheads Neil Wagner and Jacob Duffy combined to to take seven wickets to help wrap up Wellington's reply in just the 24th over.
Southern Volt Jacob Duffy
It was a good bowling effort by the home side, but the win was set up with some brilliant batting.
Volts openers Anaru Kitchen and Michael Bracewell put on 76 in 10 overs before Kitchen got a faint edge through to the keeper on 34.
The Volts best batsman this season, Neil Broom, got a start, but got out in similar fashion on 17.
Rutherford joined Bracewell at the crease and the pair continued to take the attack to the Firebirds.
Jamie Gibson suffered more than most, going for 54 runs from his six overs. But no-one was excluded, including experienced players like Brent Arnel and Luke Woodcock.
Even Brent Arnel went for more than a run a ball
Bracewell was on track to post his second one-day hundred, but on 91 flicked a delivery off his hip and was caught.
Michael Bracewell is finding runs at the business end
Rutherford was not letting the Firebirds off that lightly, and continued to plunder boundaries in a well-paced innings. He whacked seven sixes and 10 boundaries on the way to his highest one-day score and fourth one-day hundred.
It was arguably his best innings in coloured clothing for Otago, and probably his most important.
Up north, the SKYCITY Northern Districts beat Canterbury by three wickets in Mount Maunganui and would have slipped past the Volts and into the playoffs had the Volts lost.
But Rutherford's innings put that scenario to death.
Otago's huge, 221-run win — its second highest winning margin in List A history, after their 222-run margin at Molyneux Park last season — has highlighted how much of a threat they will be in the final week-and-a-half of the campaign, after a late charge.
The Volts made a poor start to the Ford Trophy, but are playing cracking cricket at the moment and, with six past or present internationals in the line-up, will be hard to beat.
The bonus point they secured has seen the Volts overhaul the Mondiale Auckland Aces on the final round robin table, and so the Volts will host the Aces in a sudden death 3v4 playoff match in Invercargill this Saturday.
Only a week ago, the team looked like it might miss out on the playoffs altogether.
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SBS Bank Otago Volts v Mondiale Auckland Aces
