That is the situation Otago could find itself in when it hosts Central Districts at the University Oval tomorrow.
Results in games last night mean Otago is through to the HRV Cup playoffs, which will take place in Hamilton on Friday and Saturday. A win against CD tomorrow could result in Otago finishing in top spot and avoiding playing in Friday's preliminary final.
So there is plenty at stake for the home team. Central, on the other hand, has nothing left to lose. It is out of contention and is using the game to develop some younger players and overseas players Peter Trego and Josh Cobb have been cut from the side.
Otago may regain the services of Jesse Ryder and Jimmy Neesham. They are in the Black Caps side for the opening twenty20 against the West Indies in Auckland tonight but Otago Cricket chief executive Ross Dykes was yesterday hopeful the pair would be given clearance to play for Otago tomorrow.
The Volts have put off naming their side until they get some clarification about who will be available. Either way, all the pressure is on the Volts. They have won five of their seven games which have yielded a result, while Central is yet to register a single win.
It has been a tough season for the visiting side. It is also in last place in the Plunket Shield and its focus appears to have shifted to the one-day tournament which gets under way in March.
Should Otago stumble, it would not be because the side was complacent, Volts captain Derek de Boorder said.
''It is quite a crucial game for us. If we win, we're through [to the playoffs],'' he said.
''And CD are a much better team than their results. A team like that will come down with nothing to lose. We'd be naive to take them lightly.
''All the expectations are on us to beat them but anything can happen. If you look at us last year in the one-day competition, we had barely won a game and then we managed to knock over Auckland quite convincingly in our last game.
''So you have to be wary of a team which has had a bad run because they always have at least one good game in them.''
If Otago needed a further reminder how quickly a match can slip away and then be rescued, it got it on Wednesday night.
The Volts batted superbly to post 204 for three against Wellington but bowled poorly. Wellington got into a position where it should have won. It needed just seven runs from the final over. But teenage pace bowler Jacob Duffy came to the rescue, restricting Wellington to five runs.
''That match highlighted a few things which we need to work on. We put ourselves under some pressure by not finding the boundary often enough after making such a good start. And with the ball we missed our lengths at crucial times but it was a great finish by Duff at the end there.''
Tomorrow's forecast is for morning rain and then a few showers. The game is scheduled to start at 3pm.
Otago v Central Districts: University Oval, tomorrow, 3pm
Otago (from): Hamish Rutherford, Neil Broom, Aaron Redmond, Ryan ten Doeschate, Michael Bracewell, Derek de Boorder, Sam Wells, Neil Wagner, Nick Beard, Jacob Duffy, James McMillan, Mark Craig, Jimmy Neesham, Jesse Ryder.
Central Districts: Jamie How, Ben Smith, Will Young, Carl Cachopa, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Kruger van Wyk, Doug Bracewell, Tarun Nethula, Jacob Oram, Ben Wheeler, Bevan Small, Martin Kain.
