Reaching 300 is the sort of score you can defend if you play well, but it might not be enough, all the same.
Under the baking sun and on a belter at Molyneux Park on Sunday, the Volts were unable to defend 313 for eight against Auckland.
Aces captain Colin Munro and rookie Glenn Phillips pounded rapid centuries to help their side secure the two-wicket win.
It was a sober lesson but one which should serve Otago well for its match against Canterbury at the same venue today.
"It is a new strip but you'd expect it to play fairly similar, so that's one advantage we've got on our side,'' King said.
"But Canterbury are a good team and we've got to turn up and perform really well if we are going to have a good opportunity of winning the game.''
Otago elected to bat first against Auckland and part of the reason was the Volts believed the pitch might get slower as the afternoon grew longer. That did not happen.
"History would suggest more games are won batting first here, but if the wicket is going to play similar in the next game, you'd be quite confident chasing.
"The margins [for error] are very small on this sort of wicket against good batsmen.''
Otago sprang a surprise with its batting line-up against Auckland.
Specialist opener and captain Hamish Rutherford dropped down the order to No4, Michael Bracewell joined Anaru Kitchen at the top of the order and Neil Broom batted at No3.
The Volts are likely to persist with the same plan, despite Rutherford having enjoyed a lot of success with his aggressive approach against the new ball in the past.
"We are just trying something a little bit new there.
"Hamish is really keen to perform that role, and with the number of players we've got in our squad that are genuine top-three batsmen, there was always going to someone having to be put in that position.
"He has some work to do to become really used to batting in that position. He's an opening batsman and has done that for a long time.
"There are things to work on but I'm really confident that throughout this competition he will get better and better.''
Black Caps all-rounder Jimmy Neesham did not field on Sunday.
He was struck on the foot while batting but has recovered and will take his spot.
Canterbury had a very different type of match in its opener.
It dismissed Central Districts for a paltry 167 in Napier and won by six wickets.
Pace bowler Edward Nuttal removed the top three batsmen and Ronnie Hira anchored the chase with 70 not out.
The visitors have a lot of options, with three capable bowlers in the top six, in Todd Astle, Andrew Ellis and Hira.
Canterbury has the added bonus of bringing back Matt Henry into the 12 as he leaves the Black Caps squad.
Kyle Jamieson drops out of the squad.
Peter Fulton shapes as the key wicket, though. He is Canterbury's anchor, especially when Black Caps Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls are missing.
Otago v Canterbury
Alexandra, today, 11am
Otago: Anaru Kitchen, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Hamish Rutherford (captain), Jimmy Neesham, Derek de Boorder, Sam Wells, Mark Craig, Neil Wagner, Bradley Scott, Warren Barnes, Brad Wilson.
Canterbury (possible): Leo Carter, Michael Davidson, Peter Fulton, Andrew Ellis (captain), Todd Astle, Ronnie Hira, Cameron Fletcher, Cole McConchie, Edward Nuttal, Hamish Bennett, Logan van Beek, Matt Henry.
