Otago disappointed not to upset Max party

Otago's bold bid to defy the planning for the State Cricket Max in Auckland today came undone on the basis of one hard-hitting over from Richard Petrie in the semi-final against Wellington.

Petrie hit 34 off the ninth over of the second innings, bowled by the unfortunate James McMillan.

Unfortunate, because until that stage he had been one of the bowlers of the tournament. But Petrie found the Max zone twice with sixes to boost the scoring rate impressively.

That left the pressure on Otago to score 123 to win in its last innings - that would have been the highest total recorded in the tournament to date.

Otago captain Chris Gaffaney admitted disappointment afterwards that it had come down to one over.

"We feel like we were the spare parts in this weekend and we were looking forward to upsetting their party," he said.

"Their party" being the advantage Wellington and Auckland were given when they were provided with a second life for being last year's finalists.

Otago by comparison knew that if they made the final they would have had to play four games by the end of it all.

Auckland only had to play two and Wellington, by virtue of its loss yesterday to Auckland had to play three games.

"It's not easy when teams have to win all their games," Gaffaney said. "One over made all the difference out there."

"We thought throughout the weekend we had a pretty good chance. We were checking out of the hotel each morning only to keep on winning.

"We thought it might have been a fairytale finish but it wasn't to be," he said.

There were still bonuses for Otago however, as they looked towards the start of the State Championship on Monday next week.

Craig Pryor had shown how much he had developed since moving to Otago from Auckland for last summer. He was a key player in Otago's progress through the tournament and Gaffaney was delighted in his efforts.

"He has blossomed as a cricket and is an interesting prospect."

Kerry Walmsley and Andrew Hore also played well for Otago, he said.

The loss to Wellington this morning was based around the inability to get the tight bowling away. Hore was out for 12 and none of the other batsmen were able to find the Max zone to any significant advantage.

Wellington had a five run first innings lead and Otago bowled well to restrict Wellington to 73/5 after eight overs in the second. And then Hurricane Petrie blew in with two Max sixes as part of a 34-run over haul which was backed up by another 10 runs from the last over.

Petrie brought up his 50 off 17 balls and was 52 not out at the end of the innings which saw Wellington on 117/6.

Hore started a one-man wrecking mission with a four and a six in Andrew Penn's first over but was caught off the fourth ball and from that stage the 123 run target was always going to be steep.

Evan Marshall took three successive fours off the ninth over but the all-important Max zone couldn't be breached and Otago ended up 25 runs short.