Otago pace bowler James McMillan scored a boundary from the last ball to help secure a two-wicket win for his side in the last of its five warm-up games against a combined New Zealand-Northern Districts team in Tauranga yesterday.
Otago won the series 3-2 and coach Vaughn Johnson said it had been valuable preparation for the Volts' tilt at the Champions League in India next month.
All-rounder Iain Robertson was one of the players to enhance his reputation. He whacked an unbeaten 95 from 56 deliveries to get his side into a position to win the final game.
Earlier, Jono Boult (51 off 34) and BJ Watling (41 off 36) helped the home side reach 166 for five.
Otago spinner Mark Craig bowled well with one for 17, and Neil Wagner took two for 36.
Sam Wells made 31 at the top of the order but Robertson pretty much played a solo hand.
Otago struggled against spin bowling during the series. Boult and Anton Devcich took three wickets apiece yesterday and Ish Sodhi and Roneel Hira proved a handful at different times during the week.
In India the Volts can expect to face plenty of quality spin bowling and on pitches which are likely to offer plenty of turn.
Johnson acknowledged his batsmen had some work to do but was eager to point out the team was without the McCullum brothers, Brendon and Nathan, fellow international Hamish Rutherford and former test opener Aaron Redmond.
''We struggled a little bit with spin,'' Johnson said.
''We played around our front pad a wee bit. But it has been a very useful week in terms of preparation and we have not had all our batsmen here. We're missing three or four of our top six.''
Otago leaves on September 4 for Sri Lanka, where it has some more warm-up games planned. Its opening game in the Champions League is against the Faisalabad Wolves on September 17.
Otago captain Derek de Boorder, batsman Neil Broom and all-rounder James Neesham have been named in the New Zealand A side and will leave for the team's tour of India and Sri Lanka tomorrow.
The team opens the tour with with a three-day match against India A on Wednesday.
It will also play one four-day match and three one-dayers against India A, with all games being played in Visakhapatam. In Sri Lanka there are two four-day matches and three one-dayers to look forward to.
The Otago trio will be replaced by Anton Devcich, Andrew Ellis and Scott Kuggeleijn at the end of the long format games so they can join up with the Volts for the Champions League.
New Zealand A squad: Corey Anderson, Todd Astle, Derek de Boorder, Doug Bracewell, Neil Broom, Carl Cachopa, Mark Gillespie, Matthew Henry, Tom Latham, James Neesham, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi, Ish Sodhi.
