Otago had reason to feel aggrieved over its treatment in last summer's Max semi-finals and they go into tomorrow morning's playoff State Max match with Wellington with more incentive to overcome the odds.

Last year, Otago, Wellington and Auckland won regional playoffs and played off among each other in Auckland.

The only problem was that while Wellington and Auckland had one game each on the first day, Otago was required to play two and missed out on a finals berth.

This time with Wellington and Auckland given preferential treatment to ensure they had a two-life advantage, Otago found it would have to play four games if it was to reach and win the final.

It will have to overcome Wellington first, after the defending champions were humbled by a rampant Auckland team today.

Otago beat Canterbury today in a match dominated by two features - its own slow scoring and the weather.

Canterbury batted poorly in their first innings. Slow scoring in the top order and the regular loss of wickets meant Canterbury could only notch 85/4 in their 10 overs.

While Canterbury responded and kept Otago to only 95 in their 10 overs, the 10-run advantage was inflated when rain affected Canterbury's second innings. Rain had forced the players from the field briefly during the first innings and a re-assessment of overs was made at the end of the two first innings.

Initially, two overs were taken from each side in their second innings, but the second delay saw two more overs deleted to make it a six-over affair. With Canterbury already batting in its third over it was immediately at a disadvantage.

But with Warren Wisneski boosted up the order, Canterbury launched an all-out assault and took 19 runs from the most frugal bowler of the tournament James McMillan.

Peter Fulton, Chris Harris and Cleighten Cornelius each contributed to a battling 64-run lead.

Otago took 16 runs from the first over but Stephen Cunis bowled a fine second over to yield only five runs. Ryan Burson followed up tightly and captain Harris must have been delighted when his first three balls went unscored from.

However, sensing the need for urgency, the hard-hitting Otago batsman Andrew Hore hit a Max six, valued at 12 runs.

But from the first ball of the fourth over, Hore ran himself out when attempting a run from the bowler's end, only to see Burson grasp the ball on his follow-through and then lob the ball into the wickets with Hore short of his ground.

Brendon McCullum and Craig Pryor worked together to usher the side through the latter stages and by the time the last over started they needed 10 runs to win. Pryor took control and sealed the success with a Max four worth eight runs from the penultimate ball of the game.

Otago shapes as a big rival for Wellington and the match in the morning will be a fascinating do-or-die struggle.

© CricInfo