Black Caps fast bowler Neil Wagner starred as Otago made a strong start to the Plunket Shield four-day cricket competition today.

Wagner took 4-67 off 24 overs with his left-arm quicks as the Volts dismissed Canterbury for 297 in Rangiora.

Only an aggressive 95 from allrounder Todd Astle brought some respectability to the Wizard's batting.

Astle, celebrating his call-up to the Black Caps for the two test series against Sri Lanka, blasted 13 fours and one six in his 106-ball stay at the crease.

He came in with Canterbury struggling at 143-6 and was eventually the last batsman out.

By stumps Otago had got through to 63 without loss, trailing by 234.

Former New Zealand opener Aaron Redmond was on 30 and promising Hamish Rutherford on 27.

Scoreboard

Canterbury First Innings
GH Worker c JDS Neesham b N Wagner 4
PG Fulton c AJ Redmond b IG Butler 29
SL Stewart c DC de Boorder b N Wagner 33
DG Brownlie c DC de Boorder b JDS Neesham 12
HM Nicholls b N Wagner 8
B Cachopa c IG Butler b SR Wells 31
GM Andrew run out (MG Bracewell) 14
TD Astle b JM McMillan 95
BEW McCord c AJ Redmond b MD Craig 17
WM Lonsdale c MD Craig b N Wagner 35
TG Johnston not out 0
Extras (b 4, lb 4, wd 2, nb 9) 19
Total (for 10 wickets, 81.1 overs) 297

Fall: 1-6 (GH Worker, 2.2), 2-44 (PG Fulton, 12.5), 3-76 (DG Brownlie, 25.3), 4-94 (HM Nicholls, 30.4), 5-111 (SL Stewart, 34.6), 6-143 (GM Andrew, 42.2), 7-153 (B Cachopa, 43.5), 8-217 (BEW McCord, 61.5), 9-297 (WM Lonsdale, 80.6), 10-297 (TD Astle, 81.1)

Bowling: N Wagner 24-8-67-4 (1nb), JM McMillan 12.1-2-47-1, IG Butler 9-1-44-1 (7nb), SR Wells 15-2-68-1 (1w, JDS Neesham 6-0-28-1 (1w, MD Craig 15-4-35-1 (1nb)

Otago First Innings
AJ Redmond not out 30
HD Rutherford not out 27
Extras (b 4, lb 2, nb 0) 6
Total (for 0 wickets, 15.0 overs) 63

Bowling: GM Andrew 5-2-21-0, WM Lonsdale 5-1-16-0, TG Johnston 3-1-10-0, TD Astle 2-0-10-0

- © Fairfax NZ News

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