Auckland make changes for Otago clash

Auckland have made a raft of changes to their Twenty20 cricket championship final side for their one day game against Otago in Oamaru tomorrow.

With Gareth Hopkins, Daryl Tuffey and Martin Guptill back on international duty and Ravi Bopara being rested, Tim McIntosh, Andrew De Boorder, Bhupinder Singh and Lance Shaw all return to the side for the sixth round game of the domestic competition.

Jimmy Neesham has retained his place on the back of a promising debut in the Twenty20 final.

Scott Styris will captain the side in the absence of Gareth Hopkins.

"We are leading the one day competition and our focus is now on ensuring a home semifinal in the play offs," coach Paul Strang said.

"It is hard losing so many quality players but we are fortunate to have great depth in Auckland and all the replacements are proven performers who will be keen to make their mark."

Meanwhile, Bruce Martin and Michael Parlane return to the Northern Knights for their round six match against the Wellington Firebirds at the Basin Reserve in Wellington tomorrow.

The team have three changes to the 13 named for the final national Twenty20 championship round.

Martin and Parlane replace Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee, who are with the Black Caps, while Thilkaratne Dilshan has returned to Sri Lanka.

Former New Zealand batsman Hamish Marshall is back in the country and will play some cricket this week, after being away from the game for much of the northern hemisphere winter, before the selectors look to bring him into the team.

Auckland
Lou Vincent, Tim McIntosh, Andrew De Boorder, Scott Styris (captain), Anaru Kitchen, Reece Young, Colin de Grandhomme, Ronnie Hira, Lance Shaw, Michael Bates, Jimmy Neesham, Bhupinder Singh.

Northern Districts
James Marshall (captain), Graeme Aldridge, Brent Arnel, Anton Devcich, Bruce Martin, Daniel Flynn, Peter McGlashan, Michael Parlane, Bradley Scott, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Joseph Yovich.

- NZPA