Everybody is talking about Otago in the Plunket Shield.
So much so that you might forget, for a minute, that Canterbury is in pole to lift the treasured trophy in its 100th season.
Canterbury, on 91 points after seven rounds — with the last round starting this Friday, holds an eight-point advantage at the top of the table (and has also won one more game than anyone else which is the next most important thing if, say, Otago was on top equal points with them by the end of it).
What that means is if Canterbury beats the Auckland Aces in the last round in Auckland, that’s it, folks: Canterbury wins the prized possession.
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New Zealand’s Plunket Shield championship is a lot more complex than that, however, when you dive deep into alternative scenarios.
Mathematically Canterbury could even get thumped in Auckland and still win the championship, or there could be washouts (oh, nice timing for a subtropical rainstorm to be sweeping in across all three venues - not!) or first innings forfeits (sorry, tactical declarations) with a view to have enough time for go for outright points, or tied games, or...
Or, just the usual moving ball game of first-innings bonus points changing the points table session by session.
Nervous for Northern? PHOTOSPORT
Teams can earn up to eight bonus points in a match, even if they go on to lose. So for example, if the Aces took all five bonus points against Canterbury and won, and Canterbury only took, say, three bonus points before losing to the Aces, Canterbury would no longer be able to lift the Shield.
But back to Otago.
Otago, somewhat infamously, has not won New Zealand’s first-class championship title since 1988, back when Richard Hadlee, soon to be knighted, was king of our cricket world, and before any current Otago players were born.
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Now, they’ve got a cracking chance to break the longest drought in modern times, and they've done it without their usual star performer, Jacob Duffy, even getting a game this summer.
Otago is second on the table after two outrageous wins in the latest two rounds.
Both of them involved a spectacular perfromance from 21-year-old newbie Thomas (Tom) O’Connor who took bags of seven and six in the same game in Auckland and then hit a very rare four sixes off consecutive balls in his maiden half century, 84 not out from 90 balls down the order, in an electrifying chase against a very good Northern side last week.
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Had Canterbury not already thrashed the Stags in Rangiora, Otago would now be in unfamiliar giddy heights at the very top of the table.
So they’re currently second, but that keeps them in with a shout — and the Auckland Aces and Northern Districts are still alive, too.
ND's Robbie O'Donnell | PHOTOSPORT
Anything could happen, as David Kilgour said once or twice (probably in Dunedin in the 1980s, not far from the University of Otago Oval where Otago will host the Wellington Firebirds from Friday).
Left-armed and sharp, “TOC” as he’s known to his mates has taken 20 wickets in the last two games, and has already invited speculation that he’s on a course to emulate dad Shayne who took 53 Test wickets for the BLACKCAPS and plenty more for Otago himself (with the same left-arm bowling style and action).
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So no pressure TOC. It’s a hard act to follow, these last two weeks, but go again and you’ll probably get a statue in the Octagon, if not Alexandra.
Regardless of which team gets to lift the beautiful 1907 silver and wooden shield, metaphorically, physically, at some stage over the coming round, something else is going on in Otago that is worthy of more than a glance.
A batch of young players is coming through together that could be integral to an Otago rennaissance, and most of them are homegrown.
Tom Jones | PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand U19 captain Tom Jones came down from Auckland after a prolific Auckland U19 career and marked his arrival in the Plunket Shield with a century on debut at the Basin in the opening round this season.
O’Connor’s joined in the young gun bowlers department by NZU19 rep Mason Clarke (19, from Queenstown, already with several Volts white-ball appearances to his name) and Toby Hart (22, three Plunket Shield caps, a bag of 6/73 against ND earlier this season) and ex-Auckland age-group rep Harry Sixton, 19, a tall right-armer who so far has played one T20 for the Volts, also earlier this summer.
Mason Clarke | PHOTOSPORT
With the bat, roll in the name of Queenstown’s Hugo Bogue — one of New Zealand’s brightest age-group and schools stars in the last couple of years, just turned 18, who made his first two Otago Volts appearances this season at just 17 in The Ford Trophy.
And the Cumming brothers, Jacob and Zac who practically grew up at University of Otago Oval playing pretend Test matches on the sideline while everyone else was playing T20s, are just 22 and 20 and have both played all three formats already.
Gee you’d like a crystal ball to see how Otago is doing in cricket in a few years’ time.
O’Connor’s headline-grabbing achievements have probably overshadowed other key performances, notably from keeper-batter Max Chu who is Dunedin born-and-bred, blue and gold to his core and has plenty more cricket left in him as well, at 26.
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Chu’s century in Auckland was overshadowed by O’Connor going nuts in the wicket column, and it was Chu (40 and 71 not out in the latest match) who anchored the young fella in the match-winning century partnership while the insolent sixes were flying over the boundary.
The Auckland Aces’ eight-wicket win at the Basin was also a very important win in the context of the title race: they had been on a slide down the ladder, but taking the full 20 points boosted them back up to third spot, and they now have a big game against Canterbury at Kennards Hire Community Oval.
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The Aces’ win was the last thing the defending champion Northern Districts had needed to hear about before they went down in Dunedin. Northern had been leading this competition earlier in the season, full of hope for a repeat title — after having broken their own drought last summer in the last round.
A repeat performance is still possible, but they will need a lot of luck in Hamilton as well. They need to win against the Stags, but could be gone before then, by the time first innings points at the three games have all been totted up.
Spare a thought for the Stags, who were knocked out of the running by Canterbury last week. They’ve had only two losses all season, one fewer than both ND and the Aces who are both still alive.
That’s why first innings bonus points are valuable items.
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We did mention the R word earlier in this piece. Heavy rain warnings are in place for the upper North Island where the Auckland Aces, Canterbury, Northern and Central are playing, with strong winds, with the worst of it forecast for the first day of the round, and the preceeding day.
Dunedin also has the R word and gales in its match weather forecast.
After one of the most exciting and close contests for the Plunket Shield in years, the hope is there will be enough time to settle matters on the field over the four days at Seddon Park, Kennards Hire Community Oval and Uni Oval.
In the event of a drawn match (whether from being washed out or not), teams will only walk away with whatever first innings points they have snaffled.
Stay up with the latest by following the livescores or ground updates at www.nzc.nz or on the NZC app. Free livestreams are on NZC YouTube when any match is in play, and remember that the points tables are only updated at the end of each match, so keep an eye on those bonus point tallies as the scores progress.
And may the best team win.
2025/26 Points at a glance after seven rounds (number of wins)
91 Canterbury (4)
83 Otago (3)
80 Auckland Aces (3)
76 Northern Districts (3)
70 Central Stags (3)
38 Wellington Firebirds (0)
