Canterbury sits bottom of the ladder in the HRV Cup, with just one win from its seven games, and no chance of making the final on January 31.
In contrast, Otago is sitting on top of the table, sharing the position with Central Districts, but with a better net run rate than the Stags.
Otago, though, cannot afford to rest on its laurels as it knows Northern Districts and Auckland are just one win behind it.
With three rounds to play in the competition, Canterbury can play the role of spoiler, a fact confirmed by Canterbury coach Bob Carter.
"We need to get some momentum going in our campaign with the one-day competition starting up, so we can't think of not turning up.
Canterbury would have the explosive Craig McMillan in its side.
McMillan did not play against Otago the first time these sides clashed, but fast bowler Shane Bond, fresh from bagging the dollars at the IPL auction, will not turn out for Canterbury.
Carter said Bond needed a bit more time to recover from the injury he suffered in his final test appearance.
Bond picked up an abdominal tear at the University Oval in November helping New Zealand to a test win over Pakistan.
Carter admitted Canterbury had missed Bond but still had the likes of Chris Martin in its line-up.
Otago defeated Canterbury in Christchurch by 43 runs in their previous encounter on January 8.
Otago bowled well in that game, after having to rely on some big hitting from Neil Broom to get to a score of 159 for seven wickets.
Canterbury never got going in reply, and eventually folded for 116.
Otago coach Mike Hesson said the side had played exceptional cricket over the past few games but it was now crunch time in the competition.
"We've got three games in five days and the guys know we can either end up coming out on top or we can be some place like fourth.
"The guys are fully aware of that," he said. "It really is crunch time, and that starts playing Canterbury, who are a very dangerous batting side."
Otago will play Central Districts on Sunday, again at the University Oval, before travelling to Auckland to take on the Aces on Tuesday.
The top two sides go straight through to the final on January 31.
Otago has retained the same playing squad, with no injuries, and will be looking to keep the runs flowing, as it did last Friday night when Brendon McCullum scored a century to lead the home side to a win over Auckland.
Showers were expected to ease this morning to make for a fine afternoon for the match.
Volts v Wizards
Today, University Oval, 5pm.
Otago: Craig Cumming (captain), Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Ian Butler, Neil Broom, Yasir Arafat, Warren McSkimming, Neil Wagner, Hamish Rutherford, Derek de Boorder, Anthony Bullick, Nick Beard, Darren Broom.
Canterbury: Peter Fulton (captain), Chris Martin, Dean Brownlie, Carl Frauenstein, Andrew Ellis, Shanan Stewart, Brandon Hiini, Craig McMillan, Johann Myburgh, Kruger van Wyk, Michael Papps, Rob Nicol.
