When Matthew Horne won the toss and put Canterbury into bat at Molyneux Park, Alexandra, the immediate thought by those present was that he would be expecting a great deal of help from bowlers to dismiss this his province's most ancient of enemies.

Unfortunately for Horne this did not happen and on a helpful greenish wicket the Otago bowlers bowled poorly in the first session with Canterbury being only 41-1 at lunch.

After lunch it was a different story and Shayne O'Connor and Warren McSkimming in particular bowled well and with some venom on a pitch which still gave the bowlers help. At 87-6 Canterbury were very much on the back foot but innings of real value from Warren Wisneski (36), Stephen Cunis (33) and Aaron Redmond (44 not out) took their total to 201 all out. It was pretty deadly stuff but in the circumstances well merited and from a situation at one stage of some embarrassement the Red and Blacks reached a total of respectability.

Bowling for Otago Warren McSkimming with 4-43 from 21 overs looked good and appears to have a very promising future while O'Connor (3-56 from 22 overs) also impressed in the main as did Craig Pryor (2-39 from 21 overs). David Sewell (1-47 from 19 overs) bowled too much down the leg side but it should be added in the first and third sessions the other bowlers could also be accused of similar lethargy at times.

Setting out to score 202 for the first innings points Otago suffered an early set back when Test opener Mark Richardson was dismissed for two. His New Zealand partner Matthew Horne did however look quite good and scored freely particularly from some wayward Canterbury bowling in the main of Wade Cornelius and Warren Wisneski.

When the one hundred overs were completed for the day's play the Otago total had reached 57-1 with Horne on 42 and Craig Cumming 13 not out.

The prospects for day two look good with a favourable weather forecast, a pitch which has lost its greenness, and an apparent determination by the Otago batsmen to gain a good first innings lead.

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