The Canterbury Wizards went into the Minor Semi-Final in Dunedin with two debutants, Tim Johnston and Ed Nuttall. Nuttall, a left-arm quick bowler is the son of former Canterbury left-arm slow bowler Andrew Nuttall. He was called in to the Wizards to replace Matt McEwan, son of former Canterbury and New Zealand player Paul McEwan, who had made his debut in the Wizards previous match against the Northern Knights.
At 18 years 205 days old Nuttall is the fourth youngest one day player for Canterbury. Only Corey Anderson, Craig McMillan and Craig Cumming have played for them at a younger age.
Jimmy Neesham claimed his second four wicket bag for the Otago Volts finishing with four for 23. Only Stephen Boock with four for 20 has better figures in his first match for Otago against Canterbury. Earlier Neesham had struck three fours and a six in an over as he added thirty two for the Volts ninth wicket in a partnership which ultimately won them the game.
Peter Fulton, the Wizards skipper, scored his fourth consecutive half-century against the Otago Volts to put his team into a strong position, only to see the last seven wickets collapse for the addition of just thirty runs.
The Otago Volts total of 172 is not only the lowest they have defended in matches against the Wizards, it also beat their previous lowest total to win against all teams of 176 against the Auckland Aces in the 2000-01 season.
Colin de Grandhomme finally scored his first half-century for the Auckland Aces in his thirty fourth innings. He reached his fifty in just twenty seven balls, hitting seven sixes in the process. It was the second fastest fifty for the Aces after the 22 ball effort by Scott Styris against the Otago Volts two seasons back.
Together with Colin Munro he added ninety two for the sixth wicket in just fifty six balls before he was dismissed just two runs short of the sixth wicket record against the Central Stags. Munro went on to finish with 64 to add to his only two previous innings against the Stags of 68 and 44.
Marty Kain in just his second match for the Stags finshed with 4 for 46, bettering his previous best of 3 for 29 for the Canterbury Wizards.
The Central Stags have had five of their nine matches in the Ford Trophy either completely abandoned or ending in a no result this season. This just continues the Stags battle against the elements with Nelson, Wanganui and New Plymouth proving to be the venues most likely to be weather affected in the country.
