No-one in the Otago camp has more experience than Craig Cumming. He will play his 100th one-day game for province when the sides meet in Rangiora today.
The 36-year-old has chalked up 141 one-day games in all and was at his best just last month when he scored a magnificent 100 in the opening game against Northern Districts.
He also passed a significant milestone in first-class cricket earlier this summer when he overtook Bert Sutcliffe as Otago's leading run-scorer.
But Cumming is not the only wily campaigner in the blue and gold. Aaron Redmond will play his 100th one-day game today (62 for Otago). Nathan McCullum has played more than 120 games, Ian Butler and Neil Broom are closing in on 100 games, and Derek de Boorder and Neil Wagner have played 40 or so one-day games.
Of those who played in the six-run win against Wellington at the Basin reserve on Sunday, only Jimmy Neesham and Sam Wells have played fewer than 10 one-day games.
But that is hardly a chink in the armour, either. Wells is an established first-class player and Neesham was the star performer in the narrow win against Wellington.
The 21-year-old took five for 44 and top-scored for Otago with 55.
Canterbury, on the other hand, has a host of new faces in its line-up. Ryan McCone, Tom Latham and Logan van Beek are relatively new to the one-day side with only a handful of games each, and Matt Henry, Joel Abraham and Henry Nicholls made their one-day debut this summer.
So it is a pretty green side but there is also a seasoned core.
Peter Fulton is Canterbury's most experienced player and a proven performer. Rob Nicol is a very accomplished one-day exponent, all-rounder Andrew Ellis a reliable journeyman and Australian-born seamer Mitchell Claydon bowled well for Canterbury last season.
Otago coach Vaughn Johnson, though, warned reputations can count for very little on the field.
"We have a lot of guys in our side who have played a lot of cricket," Johnson said.
"But I also think that Canterbury are a good one-day side. They are coached well and are pretty organised, so we have to make sure that we turn up and worry about what we need to do."
Otago has made a good start to the tournament with back-to-back wins. Its win against Wellington basically counted for double with the other two games abandoned due to poor weather.
But, with three games in the next eight days, that advantage will be wiped if Otago has a bad week.
And it has not all been smooth water for the Volts. Johnson thought his side was probably a little lucky to beat Wellington.
Otago did not bat as well as it would have liked and it has been an issue, particularly in the four-day competition.
"The positive thing about our batting the other day was we kept trying to achieve our targets even when we were losing wickets.
But we are still making too many trips to and from the wicket and we have to make sure we play smart cricket, that's all.
"But one of the best medicines, when you have a lot of games in a short period of time, is to keep winning because you learn how to win in tight situations. That is something we talked about a lot during the pre-season. We have to make sure we up our game in those 50-50 situations and put pressure on the opposition."
Otago v Canterbury
The teams
Otago: Aaron Redmond (captain), Neil Broom, Michael Bracewell, Craig Cumming, Sam Wells, Nathan McCullum, Derek de Boorder, Jimmy Neesham, Neil Wagner, Ian Butler, Nick Beard, James McMillan.
Canterbury: Rob Nicol, George Worker, Peter Fulton (captain), Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Andrew Ellis, Todd Astle, Logan van Beek, Ryan McCone, Matt Henry, Mitchell Claydon, Joel Abraham.
