KEY POINTS:
Mark O'Donnell's attitude towards losing three key players to India on the eve of tomorrow's national one-day final is remarkably phlegmatic.
"You lose three, you gain three," the Auckland coach said yesterday.
Considering the three who left yesterday for the rebel Indian Cricket League were two of his top three wicket-takers, Andre Adams and Daryl Tuffey, and his most dangerous batsman, Lou Vincent, he has taken the setback admirably.
"We knew Andre and Daryl were going and Lou I've know about for a little while, but you just move on. It's like having international players; they're around, then they're not," he said.
He cannot make like-for-like replacements but Auckland should still be favoured to retain their title.
In terms of batting, Auckland have three of the top seven State Shield performers - Scott Styris is averaging 83, Martin Guptill, the competition's top runmaker with 486, is averaging 54 and Gareth Hopkins is at 48.14. Otago have none in the top 15.
Both teams have three in the top-10 wicket-takers, but in Auckland's case, Adams and Tuffey are two of them.
Otago have a couple of things going for them. They beat Canterbury in the semifinal at Christchurch last weekend, therefore have some momentum. Auckland had 11 days off since finishing top in the round robin and gaining automatic entry to the final.
Auckland had a 50-over game at Howick on Thursday to keep the legs and minds working.
"We got useful things out of the day because you lose that bit of momentum when you aren't playing," O'Donnell added.
Otago's other strength is consistency of selection. They have few departures to international duty. They also have Brendon McCullum back, and the New Zealand vice-captain hit an unbeaten 108 in the win over Canterbury to continue a rousing run of form.
In his past 11 one-day internationals, he is averaging over 52.
"His purple patch has been lasting a while. He's been playing well a long time and certainly gives our boys some confidence," Otago coach Mike Hesson said yesterday.
Auckland will have New Zealand's new ball pair, Chris Martin and Kyle Mills, back, and it's the bowling Hesson has on his mind as well.
"We've got to keep applying pressure early. The ball will swing there, so if we can ask questions of them, then we can put the pressure back in their court," he added. "We're on a roll, playing good cricket and the boys are pretty confident."
* The final will act as another trial of the proposed player referral system, whereby teams can refer a decision to the third umpire, who has the advantage of television replays.
The International Cricket Council is considering implementing the scheme later this year if the feedback from its member countries is positive.
AUCKLAND V OTAGO
Eden Park, 10.30am tomorrow
Live Sky Sport 1/Prime
Auckland (from): Richard Jones (c), Martin Guptill, Paul Hitchcock, Rob Nicol, Scott Styris, Colin de Grandhomme, David Houpapa , Gareth Hopkins, Kyle Mills, Ronnie Hira, Andy McKay, Chris Martin.
Otago (from): Craig Cumming (c), Brendon McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Greg Todd, Neil Broom, Alex Gidman, Nathan McCullum, Derek de Boorder, Warren McSkimming, Bradley Scott, James McMillan, Marcel McKenzie, Craig Smith.
This season
Rd 3, Jan 6: Otago beat Auckland by 39 runs, Eden Park
Rd 7, Feb 10: Auckland beat Otago by 5 wkts, University Oval, Dunedin
Twenty20:
Jan 18: Otago beat Auckland by 60 runs, Dunedin
State Championship
Dec 3-4: Otago beat Auckland by 6 wkts, Dunedin
