Otago left-arm spinner Anaru Kitchen described taking Ben Stokes' wicket as the most prized scalp of his career.

Kitchen, 33, has been better known as a top order batsman throughout his time on the domestic circuit with Auckland and Otago.

In recent years, he's proved effective opening the bowling in limited overs matches and made an early impact in Otago's three wicket victory over Canterbury in their Ford Trophy 50-over opener at Rangiora on Sunday.

KAI SCHWOERER/GETTY IMAGES Otago left-arm spinner Anaru Kitchen celebrates taking the key wicket of Canterbury batsman Ben Stokes on Sunday.

Kitchen struck with the fourth ball of his second over, bowling suspended English star Stokes in his first match for Canterbury for two.

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KAI SCHWOERER/GETTY IMAGES Ben Stokes was out for two for Canterbury.

Stokes offered some help, getting an inside edge, but it is a wicket Kitchen will long remember. It was just the 20th of his 72-match domestic 50-over career, which began in 2008.

"You always want to get international wickets as a domestic player, so always good to see what your like up against those professionals at the top of the chain," Kitchen said.

"So far with my bowling, I reckon that's a pretty big wicket for myself."

Kitchen didn't have any pre-match bowling plans to Stokes, treating him like any other top order batsman. There was little assistance from the pitch, which meant he had to put the ball in decent areas and try and frustrate the powerful allrounder.

"To Stokesy, no. I just kind of wanted to hit my lengths and try and tuck him up.

"There wasn't a lot of spin there. Really, I was just trying to use what I had, getting some drift in there."

Kitchen's team-mate Jimmy Neesham downplayed Stokes' signing before the match, joking: "It's not like Don Bradman is walking out to bat for Canterbury".

He said they had tried not to focus too heavily on Stokes and Kitchen agreed that approach had worked well.

"We just treated him like any other batter really. If we stick to what we can control at the end of the day, he's human. Stick to our own guns really."

Kitchen said there was no reward on offer from his Volts team-mates for capturing Stokes' wicket. He reckoned tailender Jacob Duffy could be in luck, though, for being the lone Otago batsman to hit the Englishman for a six.

Kitchen was tidy with the ball taking 1-34 from 10 overs.