Germon injury throws scare into Otago camp

Otago faces a nervous wait to see if its skipper Lee Germon will be fit to play in this weekend's Shell Super Max League semi-finals on Eden Park's Outer Oval.

Germon twisted his knee while fielding in Canterbury's second innings against Otago in Westport yesterday and was in trouble through much of the innings. He was unable to leave the field as Andrew Hore was already off with a dislocated finger.

Coach Denis Aberhart told CricInfo today that he was hoping to check with Germon this evening to see how his knee had come up with a day's rest.

"At this stage it is not a concern and hopefully it will be all right for the weekend," Aberhart said.

The transplanted former Canterbury coach said he had been delighted with the way the side stuck to its guns and didn't give in in the deciding game.

"For three-quarters of the game we were losing it. But Mark Billcliff's 50 at the end of the first innings kept us in it, just as Warren McSkimming's bowling had done earlier.

"But what pleased me was the guys didn't give in, they stuck at it.

"Our only poor game was in Ashburton and that was partly because they are still playing on artificial pitches in Dunedin and that was the first grass track they had played on.

"But to play five games and get down to the last over to decide who goes through was a pretty good effort," he said.

Otago will play Wellington in the first game on Saturday and will then have to back up to play Auckland in the second game.

Auckland will play Wellington in the final game on Sunday.

The draw has been changed from that originally published and the reason for that has been to have the host team and the playing through champion playing on the last afternoon.