Wellington transforms squad for first Cup match

Stephen Mather, Paul Hitchcock and Richard Petrie take the places of Jason Wells and James Franklin as Wellington transforms its Shell Trophy 12 to a Shell Cup match 13 for the day-nighter against Canterbury at the WestPac Trust Stadium on Friday.

Wells steps aside for the one-day specialist Mather and Franklin, who hopes to play Cup matches for Wellington, yields his place to Petrie while Hitchcock expands Wellington's bowling options.

The young Eastern Suburbs off-spinner Jeetan Patel has been given a chance to make his mark in one-day matches after confident performances in warm-up games.

The squad is: Chris Nevin, Richard Jones, Stephen Mather, Roger Twose, Matthew Bell, Richard Petrie, Matthew Walker, Mark Jefferson, Paul Hitchcock, Carl Bulfin, Grant Donaldson, Mark Gillespie.