Cricket: Volts could give Stags shock says Malan

Heinrich Malan

In sporting parlance, it should be simply a case of just turning up at the park tomorrow for the Central Districts Stags and then boarding the flight back to Wellington on Monday with the maximum points in the bag.

That's because the Devon Hotel-sponsored cricketers have had the wood on the Otago Volts so far this summer - 3-0, actually, to emphasise the point.

They beat the southerners to the tune of an innings and 94 runs in the opening round of the four-day Plunket Shield match in Napier in October.

Despite having a mediocre Georgie Pie Super Smash Twenty/20 campaign, the Henrich Malan-coached Stags beat the Volts twice, home and away.

Consequently the prudent will argue it's only logical that tomorrow's penultimate round of the Ford Trophy one-day competition at the University Oval should be a done deal.

It is in many respects a fair argument considering the Stags are perched on the top rung of the table of the longer version of the white-ball campaign and with a round to go the playoffs are guaranteed.

However, Malan begs to differ, pointing out the hosts will have returning test Black Caps Neil Wagner and Hamish Rutherford in their line-up as well as ICC World Cup sacrificial lamb Jimmy Neesham, bracketed amid speculation his back injury is under scrutiny.

"The wins give us a bit of confidence but it's not just about player versus player but also about ball versus bat," said the South African coach yesterday before the CD players jetted off at 6am today.

He was conscious of the forecast considering the previous round between Otago and the Canterbury Kings was abandoned due to inclement weather.

"I have not been to Dunedin when a game has not been disrupted," he said, sticking to the mantra of only having the power to control the controllables.

The other incentive to win, Heinrich said, was claiming a top-two qualifiers' berth for a home semifinal and then ensuring they would win that playoff to earn a straight passage to the final while the losers of the top two play the winners of the third/fourth qualifiers.

Otago Volts (possible): Hamish Rutherford, Sam Wells, Michael Bracewell, Aaron Redmond (c), Derek de Boorder (wkt), Iain Robertson, Mark Craig, Josh Finnie, Neil Wagner, Jacob Duffy, Sam Blakely, Bradley Scott.

Coach: Dimitri Mascarenhas.

CD Stags: George Worker, Jamie How, Dean Robinson, Will Young, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Kruger van Wyk (c, wkt), Doug Bracewell, Dane Cleaver, Bevan Small, Marty Kain, Andrew Mathieson, Stevie Smidt.

Coach: Heinrich Malan.