Volts bring Johnson back in place of injured Parkes

The hard-hitting right-hander has been referred to as into the staff as a alternative for Thorn Parkes, who injured his ankle through the drawn match towards Auckland in Dunedin final week.

That has not been the one distraction forward of right this moment’s Plunket Protect fixture towards Canterbury at Molyneux Park in Alexandra.

Volts coach Dion Ebrahim introduced his resignation earlier this week. He’ll end up on the finish of the marketing campaign.

He has declined to say why he’s leaving with a yr nonetheless remaining on his contract, and the Otago Cricket Affiliation has refused to be interviewed concerning the matter.

These types of bulletins are often held again till the top of the season and adopted by a spherical of back-slapping. Not this time.

How a lot influence that has had on the staff’s preparation is unclear. However the Volts (27 factors) are in a dire wrestle to keep away from the wood spoon. And so they haven’t had any current success at Molyneux Park.

They’ve performed six video games on the venue because it returned to the first-class schedule in 2017-18 and so they have misplaced 4 and drawn two.

Johnson is considerably of a limited-overs specialist. He has performed 36 T20 video games for Otago since making his debut for the province as a 17-year-old in 2018.

He has additionally clocked 20 record A video games for the Volts however has solely performed one first-class match and that was earlier this season.

The 24-year-old battled onerous for 35 in his debut innings and was undone for 17 in his second dig.

Canterbury (44 factors) have simply the one win from 5 video games and will lose contact with competitors leaders Wellington (64 factors) in the event that they stumble towards the Volts.

They’ve named three former Volts gamers of their lineup — Angus McKenzie, Michael Rae and Michael Rippon.

They’re lacking Henry Nicholls, who’s on Black Caps obligation. However openers Chad Bowes and Rhys Mariu stroked centuries within the five-wicket loss to Wellington in Rangiora final week, and Zak Foulkes has been in good type with the ball.

Otago will lean on captain Dean Foxcroft, who emerged from a type stoop to blast 174 in his final outing. And seamer Jacob Duffy has 23 poles at a median of 21.83 this season and arguably belongs within the Black Caps check lineup in Christchurch right this moment.

Plunket ShieldAlexandra, 10.30pmOtago: Jacob Cumming, Jamal Todd, Dale Phillips, Dean Foxcroft (captain), Llew Johnson, Luke Georgeson, Max Chu, Ben Lockrose, Travis Muller, Jacob Duffy, Jarrod McKay, Jake Gibson.

Canterbury: Chad Bowes, Rhys Mariu, Matt Boyle, Cole McConchie (captain), Leo Carter, Mitch Hay, Zak Foulkes, Ish Sodhi, Angus McKenzie, Sean Davey, Michael Rae, Michael Rippon.