Otago will be hoping so.
The Volts made an impressive start to their one-day campaign.
They beat Auckland by 42 runs in Invercargill on Saturday and have drawn the Aces again, but this time the game is on their turf.
Otago have stuck with the same group of players for today’s match at Eden Park Outer Oval.
Probably the first name down on the team sheet would have been in-form batter Dale Phillips.
He blazed his maiden list A century on the weekend and puts his form down to the amount of time he spent at the crease during the Plunket Shield campaign.
The 25-year-old right-hander has put together a very decent run in the first-class competition this season. He scored three-half centuries in four games but had not been able to push on to three figures.
He busted through that barrier on Saturday.
"I went into the season feeling pretty good and put some fairly good results on the board," he said.
He said the time in the middle contributed "massively" to get into the "best possible position to put a score on the board".
One of Phillips’ goals for the season was to score a list A hundred, so "it felt pretty good to get that off the list".
"It was not one of those fluent innings where you get going right from the start. I find these innings more memorable because you have to work a lot harder. "
"Hopefully there is more to come.
Perhaps today.
The playing surface in Invercargill was a little challenging whereas the the pitch at Eden Park Outer Oval should have more pace and bounce.
The win has lifted the camp. Otago have had some setbacks in the Plunket Shield with a couple of close games going the other way.
"It was obviously disappointing not being able to get across the line in the Plunket Shield. But we are all in a really good mindset knowing that we are playing good cricket and that we are competing.
"We just really needed to get over the line and the group was excited to get the first win on the board. But the good thing is we know there is still more in the tank and that is what we are aiming for — to get better every game."
Auckland has also stuck with the same 12.
Ford Trophy
Auckland, 10.30am
Otago: Hamish Rutherford, Luke Georgeson, Dean Foxcroft (captain), Dale Phillips, Thorn Parkes, Llew Johnson, Max Chu, Ben Lockrose, Travis Muller, Jacob Duffy, Matthew Bacon, Ollie White.
Auckland: Finn Allen, George Worker, Will O’Donnell, Robbie O’Donnell, Sean Solia (captain), Cameron Fletcher, Ryan Harrison, Danru Ferns, Adi Ashok, Louis Delport, Matt Gibson, Jock McKenzie.
