Otago vs Auckland Prediction

OTG Team News

Ben Raine’s arrival meant Christi Viljoen missed the last game due to Ben Cox already occupying one of the overseas slots. If Raine is retained to bolster the batting line-up, Otago could welcome Matthew Bacon back instead – he claimed career-best bowling figures of 4-31 against Auckland last time the two teams met.

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Big-hitting Ben Raine has been brought in to bolster the batting line-up with Otago Volts lacking runs so far. Raine has one career century at T20 level – a 46-ball 113 in the 2017 T20 Blast – and has also collected 54 wickets in 48 previous T20 matches. Anaru Kitchen is the only Volts’ batsman to pass 100 runs so far with 127 in four innings.

Along with Kitchen, Hamish Rutherford has one half-century to his name and scored runs for New Zealand A against India A last month too. Bowling-wise, if Christi Viljoen – their stand-out bowler so far with seven wickets an economy rate of 5.77 – misses out, captain Jacob Duffy will look to add to his seven wickets in the tournament so far. Matthew Bacons is also pushing for a recall after taking his maiden four-wicket haul in the game against Auckland last season.

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Otago Volts beat Canterbury Kings in their first game, as Hamish Rutherford scored 54 from 29 balls as the Volts’ reached 188/5 with three balls to spare in reply to 184/5. Anaru Kitchen then hit a half-century in a one-run win against Wellington Firebirds that owed much to Christi Viljoen’s 4-23 from four overs.

They have not won since, however, and have struggled for runs. They scored just 99/7 in a five-wicket defeat to Northern Knights and then, after their first game against Central Stags was abandoned, posted just 154/8 in reply to 208/7 in the reverse fixture – their most recent game.