Hamish Rutherford, Nathan Smith and Michael Rae are all available after playing for New Zealand A in its match against India A in Lincoln which finished yesterday.
Rae did not start the game but was called into the playing side when Ish Sodhi and Blair Tickner were forced to head to Tauranga to boost an injury-plagued Black Caps team.
Rutherford scored a big century for the Volts against Central Districts late last month and was quickly promoted to the New Zealand A side.
The return of the trio will leave Otago with plenty of players to pick from in the must-win game against Canterbury.
Otago coach Rob Walter said it was good to welcome back the returning players.
The players who had replaced them had played well and had to be congratulated for helping Otago into the playoffs.
But the returning players were integral members of the team which had done well to make both the twenty20 and one-day playoffs so should slip back into the team.
Otago was stuck in fourth with two games left in the regular season in the round-robin of the Ford Trophy but two wins over top two sides Canterbury and Auckland catapulted it into the playoffs.
The team was still fourth going into the final-round robin game but a bonus-point win over Auckland at the University of Otago Oval on Sunday sealed third place.
Otago will be hoping to repeat last Wednesday’s performance at Hagley Oval when it scored 253 with the bat and then dismissed Canterbury for 230.
Walter is expecting a good track at Hagley Oval.
Canterbury should be full of confidence after it defeated Central Districts at Pukekura Park by nine wickets thanls to a Chad Bowes century.
Otago dipped out in the elimination final of the T20 Super Smash and will not want to repeat that result.
