The Volts reached the playoffs stage of both the Ford Trophy and Super Smash, but they trail the field in first-class cricket.
Canterbury (52 points), Central Districts (46pts) and Wellington (45pts) have two wins apiece, while Northern Districts (33pts), Auckland (32pts) and Otago (31pts) have one win each.
But with a maximum of 80 points still available, the competition is wide open.
Otago hosts Wellington tomorrow and has made just two changes to the side which suffered a five-wicket loss to Northern Districts at the University Oval in November.
Black Caps batter Glenn Phillips has been named in the 12, and is poised to make his first-class debut for the province.
He transferred from Auckland this season and has played four list A games for the Volts without much success. But he averages nearly 40 in first-class cricket and always scores his runs a rapid clip.
His inclusion means 19-year-old opener Jacob Cumming misses out, while Josh Finnie, who was 12th man against Northern Districts, makes way for left arm spinner Ben Lockrose.
Coach Dion Ebrahim said Thorn Parkes would step up and open the batting alongside Hamish Rutherford.
Parkes has earned his chance with some solid performances, but the decision to leave out Cumming, who showed a lot of grit during the opening stages of the tournament, will have surprised some close observers.
"It is not so much about replacing Jacob as it is we’ve got a Black Cap in Glenn Phillips coming into the squad, so that creates a great challenge for us in terms of competition for places," Ebrahim said.
Glenn Phillips had to play, but his younger brother Dale Phillips has had a very lean run this summer.
The 24-year-old had a breakthrough season with the bat in 2021-22, but the right-hander has just one half century across all three formats and his first-class record of 117 runs at 16.71 this season is not compelling.
"The one key thing to remember with all our batsmen is the capability of scoring big runs, and Dale Phillips has a fairly strong first-class record and has scored a handful of first-class hundreds," Ebrahim said.
Fast bowler Michael Rae has concussion symptoms and was ruled out, while batter Llew Johnson and left arm quick Andrew Hazeldine were not considered due to injury management.
Former Otago left-hander Nick Kelly will captain Wellington, while highly-rated all-rounder Muhammed Abbas is in line for a potential debut.
The first-class game between Central Districts and Auckland scheduled for McLean Park today has been postponed due to the impact Cyclone Gabrielle. No decision on whether it will be replayed or not has been made.
Northern Districts host Canterbury at Seddon Park in the other game.
Plunket Shield
Dunedin, 10.30am
Otago: Hamish Rutherford (captain), Dale Phillips, Glenn Phillips, Dean Foxcroft, Thorn Parkes, Max Chu, Michael Rippon, Jake Gibson, Travis Muller, Jacob Duffy, Jarrod McKay, Ben Lockrose.
Wellington: Luke Georgeson, Rachin Ravindra, Troy Johnson, Nick Kelly (captain), Finn Allen, Nathan Smith, Muhammad Abbas, Callum McLachlan, Logan van Beek, Peter Younghusband, Iain McPeake, Kieran McComb.
