Otago Volts will take on Northern Knights in the 5th league game of the Super Smash 2022-23 season at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown. This ground has not hosted many T20 matches, and it will be interesting to see the nature of the pitch here.
Advertisement
Otago Volts lost their first match of the season, and they would aim for a comeback in this match. Hamish Rutherford and Dean Foxcroft are the leading batters of the side, whereas Michael Rippon is their main all-rounder. Jacob Duffy will again lead the bowling attack of the side.
Northern Knights are the defending champions, and they also lost their first match of the tournament. There are some international players playing for the side, where Tim Seifert and Jeet Raval are the side’s lead batters, whereas Mitchell Santner is the star all-rounder of the side.
John Davies Oval pitch report
The John Davies Oval in Queenstown is one of the most scenic cricket grounds, and it will be just the 3rd Super Smash match at this very stadium. Queenstown is mainly used to host practice games for visiting teams coming to New Zealand, and it is always a great sight to watch a competitive game being played here.
This is an open ground, and the breeze will flow through here. It has been seen that this pitch always has a tinge of green to it, and the pacers will have their say in the initial overs of the match. As the match goes on, it settles down and batting becomes relatively easy later on.
A couple of Super Smash games were played here last season, and both of them were won by the chasing teams. The average 1st innings score was 148 runs where the pacers dominated the proceedings. The boundaries of this ground are small and that will favour the batters. Both captains may opt to chase upon winning the toss here.
