The Otago Volts have retained the same 12 for its match against a star-studded Northern Districts side at the University of Otago Oval tomorrow.
That might force a few eyebrows into upside-down smiles.
The Volts were destroyed in their last encounter, after all.
The bowling unit did reasonably well to limit Auckland to 183 for seven at Eden Park Outer Oval.
But the batting dissolved in a puddle of despair.
The Volts were dismissed for a miserly 80 runs — the province’s lowest score in the format.
Coach Rob Walter was as bitterly disappointed as anyone, but he was hesitant to make changes.
"There are probably a couple of reasons," he said.
"Firstly it is an opportunity for the guys to bounce back against what will mostly likely be a full-strength ND side.
"The second thing is we’ve got one eye on the Ford Trophy. We still want to give guys who are in line for that the best opportunity to get some competitive game time."
There was also an opportunity to provide players from within the squad different opportunities.
"We still have not given a guy like Dale Phillips a good run, so we had to veer away from bringing someone else into the group before giving guys who have been in the 12 a fair run.
"All of those reasons together made us stick with the same group of players, and there [are] three A fixtures against Canterbury A starting on Sunday, so we know all the fringe players will be getting quality cricket."
Walter said the debrief following the heavy loss to Auckland was constructive and honest.
"I had a real sense after the game that the players were aware of how we had let ourselves down.
"The pain of the results is probably the strongest message of all."
Walter said the team had responded with an excellent training session yesterday. They were motivated to finish the campaign well and halt a six-game losing streak.
Seamers Matt Bacon (hand) and Travis Muller (knee) were not considered because of injury.
Otago side to play Northern
Hamish Rutherford, Neil Broom, Nick Kelly, Josh Finnie, Dale Phillips, Anaru Kitchen, Michael Rippon, Nathan Smith, Max Chu, Jacob Duffy (captain), Mitchell McClenaghan, Michael Rae.
