Cricket: New Aces captain fired up for Plunket Shield

Michael Guptill-Bunce is excited at what lies ahead. Photo / Nick Reed

Auckland kick off their Plunket Shield campaign against Wellington in the capital today with a new skipper.

Michael Guptill-Bunce replaces the departed Rob Nicol as leader and is excited at what lies ahead.

"The Plunket Shield campaign [will] be something special for us," the opener said. "There will be plenty of youthful exuberance in the field and with our batting and bowling we hope to show [the Firebirds] some stuff they didn't expect."

Auckland will include internationals Jeet Raval and Lockie Ferguson but are missing ODI pair Martin Guptill and Colin Munro, who are in India with the national team.

Former New Zealand seamer Doug Bracewell will be back in first-class action for Central Districts when their campaign starts against Northern Districts at Mount Maunganui. Bracewell tore his anterior cruciate ligament and had surgery last season.

He missed the rest of the season and his problems were compounded by a court appearance for a third drink-driving offence, which cost him 100 hours community work. Bracewell warmed up with wickets in pre-season Chapple Cup cricket, including a burst of four for six.

There are peculiar problems for Canterbury. Despite having won three of the last four shield titles, they are so short of players, mainly due to injury, they have rented a player from ND for their match against Otago in Christchurch.

• Auckland squad to play Wellington: Michael Guptill-Bunce (c), Jeet Raval, Robbie O'Donnell, Ben Horne, Craig Cachopa, Mark Chapman, Michael Barry, Lockie Ferguson, Donovan Grobbelaar, Matt McEwan, Tarun Nethula, Raja Sandhu.