An inspired spell of seam bowling from veteran Warren Wisneski laid the foundation for Canterbury to open their domestic campaign with an outright win over Otago at the Aorangi Oval in Timaru yesterday.
All did not go quite to the Canterbury plan, however. After Otago followed on and several batsmen fell to clever swing bowling from Wisneski, who took five for 40, Canterbury were frustrated by a dogged 10th wicket partnership.
Tailenders Bradley Scott and David Sewell held up the Canterbury attack for 73 minutes and 133 balls and for some time looked likely to spoil the party.
The two batsmen, who had barely troubled the scorers in the first innings, absorbed everything the bowlers could dish up until Scott was run out to leave Canterbury to score 68 runs in 15 overs. Canterbury won by seven wickets.
Otago started the final day on 134 for five and seeking to make 226 to avoid the follow-on and probably save the game.
After the spin bowlers failed to make the breakthrough, Canterbury captain Craig McMillan took the new ball. Warren McSkimming was the first to go when he deflected a ball from Chris Martin on to the stumps.
Scott fell to a fine catch by Michael Papps and Wisneski cleaned up Sewell to end the innings, leaving Jeff Wilson on 24 not out.
Wilson looked in good touch from the first ball and might have got Otago the additional 14 runs required to avoid the follow-on.
McMillan asked Otago to bat again but even he couldn't have anticipated a neat spell of bowling by Wisneski.
Wisneski took the first four wickets by moving the ball in the air and off the pitch. He knocked Andrew Hore's leg stump clean out of the ground, had Mohammad Wasim leg before and induced Rob Lawson and Marcel McKenzie to edge the ball through to Papps.
Chris Gaffaney (76) and Jordan Sheed (24) restored some order with a 74-run partnership and they looked untroubled.
The Canterbury bowlers chipped away until Otago were 192 for nine, only 30 runs ahead.
Scott and Sewell showed what courage and determination could do as they scored a valuable 38 runs and had a few Canterbury hearts racing as time drained away.
Canterbury had no trouble in getting the 68 runs required for a seven-wicket win to be up with the competition front-runners.
The other two first-round games finished yesterday, Auckland beating Northern Districts outright and Wellington beat Central Districts.
The second round starts this weekend, with Auckland hosting Otago at Eden Park from Sunday and Northern Districts playing Central Districts in Gisborne, also starting Sunday. The Wellington-Canterbury game begins next Friday in the capital.
- NZPA
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