Auckland have made some changes after their crippling Shell Cup loss to Central Districts yesterday, but Auckland cannot change one thing.

They will go into their final Shell Cup round-robin match against Northern Districts tomorrow (on the same Eden Park Outer Oval pitch on which they scored 73 against CD yesterday) with virtually no chance of reaching the Cup semi-final next week.

This is a big come-down for the side which ran second in the Cup contest last year - losing only to all-powerful Canterbury - and was the early front-runner in this summer's one-day competition.

The humiliating loss against CD pitched Auckland from second-equal in this season's competition to second-from-bottom, and reduced their run-rate from a small "plus" to a minus quantity.

Auckland even had trouble re-arranging their team today. The early casualties were John Aiken and Llorne Howell, and the selection of Aaron Barnes (after injury) and a new Cup man, Terry Crabb, the Birkenhead all-rounder who played two Shell Trophy games for Auckland in 1997/98.

Auckland then found their skipper Blair Pocock was injured, so Howell was recalled, and Dion Nash made captain.

Northern Districts, one-point Cup leaders ahead of Canterbury and CD, have made two changes. Michael Parlane replaces his brother Neal, and Scott Styris, available only for every second game under New Zealand Cricket orders, joins the squad.

The umpires will be Brent Bowden, Tony Hill and Doug Cowie (TV) and the teams will be picked from:

Northern Districts: Robbie Hart, Scott Styris, Mark Bailey, Grant Bradburn, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Daryl Tuffey, Simon Doull, Michael Parlane, Alex Tait, Daniel Vettori, Joseph Yovich.

Auckland: Dion Nash, Adam Parore, Llorne Howell, Lou Vincent, Tama Canning, Kyle Mills, Brooke Walker, Andre Adams, Chris Drum, Mark Haslam, Aaron Barnes, Terry Crabb.

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