The Aces will be without three frontline players today as they fight for a place in the domestic one-day cricket final.
Auckland's lost Andre Adams to the Bangladesh Twenty20 league and Colin de Grandhomme and Ronnie Hira to the Black Caps for today's preliminary final against Otago at Colin MaidenPark.
But captain Gareth Hopkins is playing down their absence.
Hopkins says they're a key trio but with Chris Martin, Bruce Martin and Bhupinder Singh coming into the side they don't lose too much.
