DAY FOUR
End of match — the Otago Volts drew with Canterbury after rain prevented play on the final day, 17 November 2016 at Queen’s Park, Invercargill
Scorecard
The Volts now head back to Dunedin’s University of Otago Oval to host the Wellington Firebirds from Tuesday, while round five also sees Canterbury take on the Auckland Aces in Rangiora. Entry to all matches is free.
DAY THREE
Rain prevented any play on day three at Queen’s Park. With one day remaining, hosts the Otago Volts have yet to begin their reply. The start for day four has been confirmed at the earlier time of 10am, weather permitting.
DAY TWO
Canterbury 446/6 declared in the first innings (Andrew Ellis 196; Michael Rae 4-112) lead the Otago Volts by 446 runs at Queen’s Park, Invercargill on Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Scorecard
First innings batting bonus points, Canterbury 4 (maximum achieved)
First innings bowling bonus points, Volts 2
After yesterday’s carnage, it didn’t take Christi Viljoen to extract his retribution. The bustler bowled Andy Ellis with a yorker, denying the Canterbury captain a maiden first-class double century by just four runs.
Ellis had already come out swinging when play eventually got underway on day two, after a wet morning that would soon be bracketed by an equally miserable afternoon. When players did eventually take the field, only 7.1 overs of cricket would turn out to be possible for the entire day, yet they were eventful overs — clean-hitting Ellis finding 12 quick runs, reaching a 50-stand with young Cameron Fletcher for what would turn out to be the last wicket of the potent innings. And then, the deflating wicket.
Ellis would have to be satisfied with a bittersweet, career-best 196 off 159 balls and, with no play at all possible after tea, he would eventually declare the innings at 446/6 — denying the Volts the opportunity to secure further bowling points. Twenty-one-year-old Michael Rae had done a fine job of deputising for the injured Jacob Duffy, finishing his career-best haul at 4-112.
DAY ONE
Canterbury 405/5 (Andrew Ellis career best 184 not out, Cole McConchie maiden 103; career best Michael Rae 4-86) v Otago Volts at Queen’s Park, Invercargill on Monday, 14 November 2016
First innings batting bonus points, Canterbury 4 (maximum achieved)
First innings bowling bonus points, Volts 2 (in progress)
Two matches begin at opposite ends of the country. Two oddly similar stories play out. What are the chances.
At the Mount, the Aces had sent the Knights in… only to chase the ball around while two blokes got hundreds, one goes big, unbeaten at stumps. In the South, the Volts sent Canterbury in… only to have two blokes get hundreds, one goes big, unbeaten at stumps.
Scorecard
So far, so same-same — until you factor in the maiden effort from 24-year-old Cole McConchie that, when mixed with his captain at his most belligerent, produced a stirring 258 together which topped Canterbury’s previous best stand of 236 for the fifth wicket against the Volts, that had been set by those formidable allrounders Chris Harris and Nathan Astle in 1996/97.
McConchie came of age, his maiden ton coming from just 159 balls and — before that — a maiden half century in 110. You do the math.
Ellis, somewhat ageless allrounder, 10 years McConchie’s senior, and still consistently one of the best domestic players in the country, was in charge. The pair had rescued their side after Canterbury had been in half a spot of bother at 108/4 — having lost both openers with the score on 38. A tally of 405/5 hardly seemed likely, back then.
Fast forward to the end of the day and the bloke in his mid-thirties has ridden his luck, blasted 24 fours and seven sixes — three of them in one over, taking calculated risks as if it’s some superfuelled kind of Twenty20 chase. Christi Viljoen is hurting from being taken for 21 off a single over, and Ellis hasn’t spared his teammates in the attack, either. His first six, off Josh Finnie, had posted the Canterbury 150 in the 54th over, when the pair were each still only in the infancy of their monumental stand for the fifth wicket.
It’s the captain’s seventh first-class century and a new career best, exceeding his previous career high of 171 with 184* at stumps. He would reach his 92-ball hundred — a run a minute at that pace — with one of those sixes slapped off Viljoen.
Somewhere lost in the undergrowth was the side-fact that 21-year-old right-armer Michael Rae had picked up his best first-class figures and stood on the cusp of a maiden five-for overnight. It was just the morale boost the Volts had needed after returned strike bowler Jacob Duffy had gone down a leg injury early in the match.
Chances are “Elly” will want to smack that out of contention in the morning as he entertains the possibility of a double, leaving the bad memories of the previous round in Hamilton — in which no one scored a 50 — well and truly behind him.
