The Volts have a few injury issues to address and badly need to tuck away another win before the tournament goes into hiatus during the Super Smash.
They will get that opportunity against Wellington at Burt Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln, near Christchurch, today.
Injured fast bowler Michael Rae has been added to the squad. He has been in Canterbury with the team but has been ruled out with a hip complaint.
His name has been added to the team sheet because fellow seamer Matt Bacon rolled his ankle during the 97-run loss to Auckland on Wednesday. He had a collision with Jacob Duffy while fielding and fell awkwardly.
Josh Finnie dislocated his shoulder during the 117-run loss to Canterbury on Monday and is another player who will need to pass a fitness test before being considered for a spot in the 12 against Wellington.
Coach Rob Walter will wait until this morning before naming the team.
The Volts have lost three on the trot and are just falling short at critical moments.
On Wednesday, Martin Guptill (117) and Glenn Phillips (156) put on an Auckland record second-wicket stand of 235 to help set up the comfortable win. But both players were dropped early in their innings. A couple of wickets there would have changed the entire complexion of the game, Walter said.
"They [the dropped catches] were maybe harder than regulation but certainly ones we’d expect to catch, no doubt about that."
Otago paced the chase well but the loss of Neil Broom for 66 and Mitchell Renwick for 31 in quick succession tipped the game heavily in favour of Auckland.
"That just knocked the stuffing out of us. And you can’t go into the 35th over six down when you are chasing 300 [odd]."
Otago and Wellington have met once already in the competition. Wellington cruised to a five-wicket win in Queenstown on November 21.
The side also met in the final last year. Wellington won again, so Otago has a score to settle.
It will lean on the likes of experienced campaigners Broom and Hamish Rutherford to score heavily, while Nick Kelly has been in good touch in his debut season for the Volts.
Duffy will lead the bowling effort but Nathan Smith has been the pick of the Otago bowlers so far.
Ollie Newton has been in excellent nick for Wellington with the ball. He is the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets at an average of 15.72, while top-order batsman Rachin Ravindra is having a strong debut one-day campaign with 200 runs at an average of 66.66.
Former Black Caps pace bowler Hamish Bennett returns from injury to bolster the Firebirds bowling stocks. He will captain the team if selected in the playing XI.
