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Kiwi Cricket Kōrero writer, Otis Murray, reviews the Otago Volts' domestic contracts for the 2023/2024 season.
That's how it feels with life after Rae, Rippon and Finnie at Otago. With 118 First Class, 175 List A and 209 T20 matches of experience gone in 1 season it’s a near impossible task to replace Rae and Rippon who have packed their bags and departed to Canterbury. Replacing Rae was going to be impossible with nearly no like-for-like replacement on the market. With 16 wickets in the Super Smash and 18 in the Ford Trophy, it’s hard to find someone who will hit the stumps so consistently. However, Rippon had an off-season last time out. With 17 in First Class, 11 in The Ford Trophy, and 3 in the Super Smash it’s still a tough time to replace someone who has played for the Blackcaps and the Netherlands before.
Josh Finnie was given the 16th contract for Otago last year. This showed he had fallen out of favour within the coaching team and senior management. Without playing First Class since 2018/19 and only playing 9 Ford Trophy Matches, and 11 Super Smash games he was a limited overs specialist for the last few years however he wasn’t getting results there either. This ultimately led to his retirement citing he wanted to travel and work on his photography.
If the Volts are going to have any chance this season, after 10 seasons without a title, they were going to have to recruit well. First of all the task of replacing Rippon was simple with Ben Lockrose wanting to come back for another season. With 3 wickets in First Class, 5 in The Ford Trophy and 9 in the Super Smash it seems like he isn’t the best replacement. However, having been in and out of the Otago setup since 2018/19 he is ingrained and ready to go.
Also, Ben Lockrose provides with the bat. The most notable performance was when he saved Otago from the brink of defeat. Also coming into the contract list is Thorn Parkes. With 9 First Class matches, 1 Ford Trophy match, and 4 matches in the Super Smash he is a newcomer onto the scene. Playing in all Plunket Shield matches last season it was clear that he was going to be trusted with a contract at the Volts.
However, the next pick-up was a massive surprise. Luke Georgeson has decided to come down from Wellington. The 24-year-old was getting inconsistent games last year. 7 in First Class, 6 in The Ford Trophy, and 3 in the Super Smash. He is a great utility option and can bat 1-6 and can bowl as a pace-bowling all-rounder. This is a needed pace-bowling all-rounder that Otago has missed ever since Nathan Smith left for Wellington. This brings depth that was needed from Otago over the past few years. Otago has 2 main candidates who played last year who are gunning for that 16th contract Nick Kwant and Hunter Kindley.
Both are all-rounders who have performed for Otago A and their respective clubs. Kwant featured in the Super Smash and Ford Trophy for Otago while Kindley featured in the Ford Trophy. I’m predicting this spot goes to Kwant as he’s shown multiple times how good he's been throughout the campaign while Kindley has been unknown by the casual fans.
The Volts will line up in a very attacking lineup this season in all formats. In the Plunket Shield, we can expect a lineup that’ll try and swing the ball ferociously with the new ball and try to rip the ball to try and get some spin. While it’ll be a real mixed bag when it comes down to batting. In the Ford Trophy, we can expect a team that will be trying to hit top-off and bowl tight overs. Where they’ll be more expansive in batting regularly getting 350 on a good day at the Uni Oval. In the Super Smash, we’ll see a team trying to bash it until they can’t no more. Whilst with the bowling we’ll see a spinner first over trying to slow it down then bringing on the quickies to bring down the heat. This is how I expect them to line up in each format for this season.
Plunket Shield
Hamish Rutherford
Jacob Cumming
Dean Foxcroft
Luke Georgeson/Glenn Phillips
Dale Phillips
Thorn Parkes
Max Chu
Jake Gibson
Ben Lockrose
Travis Muller
Jacob Duffy
Ford Trophy
Hamish Rutherford
Max Chu
Dean Foxcroft
Glenn Phillips/Luke Georgeson
Llew Johnson/Thorn Parkes
Dale Phillips
Jake Gibson
Ben Lockrose
Travis Muller
Jacob Duffy
Matthew Bacon
Super Smash
Hamish Rutherford
Jake Gibson
Dean Foxcroft
Glenn Phillips/Luke Georgeson
Llew Johnson
Dale Phillips
Max Chu
Ben Lockrose
Travis Muller
Jacob Duffy
Matthew Bacon
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