The Pink Report

Mount To Climb

Hands up who woke up this morning feeling brighter about the HRV Cup? For a start, we had a match yesterday at the Mount in a La Niña season that didn't involve a single drop of rain. Yesss! Not only that, but the Yahoo!NZ Northern Knights thrashed one of the form sides in the comp so far this season. That's worth another Yahoo!

You look at the Knights on paper and scratch your head as to why they haven't done better in the Twenty20 department, not only this season. But this summer I really thought they'd turn it around. We have the best bowling line-up and depth in the country - yesterday was a case in point where Scott had the luxury of utilising three dependable spinners in Dan Vettori, Kane Williamson and MVP all-round high-flier Anton Devcich on a slower track. Opening with Kane against a power-packed batting side mentally transported me straight back to the exciting days of the 1992 World Cup, and anything that does that is good in my book.

Nossy delivered immediately, just 2 runs coming off his first over, and he finished with an outstanding 1-14 off his four overs. Dan Vettori was in the game almost immediately too, with a dead-eye run-out of Peter Ingram - always someone you want to get out early; then he outfoxed Jamie How and brilliantly outsmarted Ross Taylor, stumped on just two runs in the first of the "gold plate dismissals" of the match. Two for 24 for the maestro.

In the process Dan overtook Scott Styris to become New Zealand's top all-time domestic Twenty20 wicket-taker, keeping it in the family so that we can continue to skite that ND boasts both the all-time domestic Twenty20 wickets record and the all-time domestic one-day wickets record (which Graeme Aldridge cracked last season).

We also now have two players in the HRV Cup MVP top six: while Anton has slipped from first to sixth after barely being employed in the last round, Brad Wilson has bolted into fourth. Next-best Knights according to the MVP logarithm are Hamish Marshall and Dan at 13th and 14th.

All of which serves to makes one even more frustrated at the dire start to the comp. If uncharacteristic misfields and wayward extras cost the Knights a fighting chance against the Aces in Auckland, they positively handed the eight-wicket win to the Wellington Firebirds at the Mount - letting the Wellybirds leapfrog above us at the bottom of the points table. It was almost contagious, as if the team had lost its mojo. Confidence is a fickle thing.

And maybe the guys will argue with me here, but I thought the batting tactics in the five over bash against Canterbury were wrong. There had been so much rain while they were waiting around at the Mount that day that I suspect most of the guys doubted that they'd play and would get the two consolation points just for turning up. Meanwhile, the weather was clearing in the Coromandel and headed for the Bay of Plenty. After much delay, the reduced slugfest went ahead and Canterbury put it on the board, 49 off 30, batting first. Helped by seven extras, again a lot in the context of the game - although it's kinda hard for a bowler to construct a plan when they get only six deliveries.

Faced with a need to slug it from the outset, maybe things would have worked out better if we'd abandoned the last semblances of orderly batting orders in this form of the game and boldly sent in the big-hitters from the outset. Dan as an opener is unconventional and he can be so tricky to bowl to, but on this day he just wasn't connecting; meanwhile Brad was trying to work it in his usual style and getting just as frustrated as the required RPO kept climbing. By the time they got out, and Scotty and Pete got in, it was too late. The only way this match could have been a worse experience would have been if it has been Wellington that had beaten us at a slogging contest.

But in the game yesterday against the Stags, the stars began to align. Crucially Tim Southee began to zero back in on his line and length, back in control of the swinging ball.

The team put up only 6 extras, 4 of which were leg byes. Overall, the fielding was back up there, bar one or two minor glitches. If I have one criticism, it's that we were perhaps a bit too cute in continually shuffling the bowling, a predetermined tactic to stop the batsmen from settling. Tim might have further benefited from keeping going, consolidating his renewed feel for the ball; while G and Trent were still a shade off their best.

But having restricted the toss-winning Stags to 126, those elements were reduced to quibbles. The Knights essentially cruised through their innings in reply, even if Brad (43 off 41) had the bad luck to miss out on his 50 after an incredible piece of ensemble fielding on the boundary - 12th man Bevan Small was on all innings for Peter Ingram and leapt above the rope to perform a basketball-style block on what would otherwise have been a six. Then the considerably taller Michael Mason scrambled down low to collect the catch. Bevan Small is now known as "the salmon". Watch it again below

When Captain Scott finished it off with back-to-back sixes off Doug Bracewell, there was almost a quarter of the innings to spare - and plaudits to Scotty for recognising that net run rate could be a key factor in determining the HRV Cup finalists and that here was an opportunity to gain some ground. Never mind the leaders - it's a race for second place now, and still possible. Making the top two is all that's required. And we're due to beat the Aces. Fingers crossed for another big one at the Mount on Sunday.

So now, the nitty-gritty: this is the HRV Cup points table at the partially-over-halfway mark…

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Northern Districts 'A' is well on top at NZC's national provincial 'A' tournament in Lincoln - and so they should be, when you look at the teams on paper. The depth within ND and its high percentage of Blackcaps means our 'A' team is stacked with contracted players. The forum has provided a timely opportunity to keep those Knights not involved in the HRV Cup campaign well-oiled with some serious cricket (with just over two weeks now until the Ford Trophy resumes, and then finally the one that for me is the most absorbing: the Plunket Shield), so that's where James Marshall, Anurag Verma, Daryl Mitchell, Brook Hatwell, Mitchell Santner, James Baker, Bradley Scott, Brett Hampton, Brent Arnel et al have been hiding out.

The tournament started with 50-over matches, with ND overcoming Canterbury in a tight one and comfortably dispatching Wellington before a dramatic tie with CD - Carl Cachopa needed a boundary off the last ball to stop ND from winning, which he did to finish on 43 not out off 34. It didn't stop ND from hogging the top of the points table, though: unbeaten after three rounds and with bonus points, they're top with 11 points, Canterbury are breathing down their neck on 10, Auckland are on 9, Otago 5, Wellington 4 and Central Districts 2.

Of particular interest was Daniel Flynn's comeback from injury in the round 3 tie: he got through just fine with a brisk 48 off 38 deliveries.

In round 4 today they meet Otago, then play Auckland on Saturday and move into the Twenty20 phase with games against Canterbury and Wellington on Sunday and finally Otago on Monday. You'll find the results and scorecards for all the games here.

PS, if you've been away from the computer over the holidays, you can catch up on our YouTube video series introducing the likes of Brett and Daryl by scrolling back through our previous Pink Reports on YouTube and view The Pink Report's own channel.

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Check out Ian Taylor's comments in this no-nonsense piece about the practical problems of applying 'Eagle Eye' umpire review technology to cricket. It seems India has a point. The ICC appoints an official that inspects entire venues and signs them off before each test series and I'll be doubly astounded by the idiocy if that's the person who's ordered the Eagle Eye camera mount be moved in the alarming scenario discussed in this article by Ian.

I interviewed Kiwi Ian a few years back for North & South magazine - from rock-n-roller and Spot On presenter to founder and director of the cutting-edge animation company that gave us the game-changing America's Cup graphics, the newly-appointed CNZM in our New Year's Honours is a smart and visionary cookie and I think his suggestions in this piece to better integrate the technology are, well I have to say it, 'spot on'.

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Last but not least…. remember that, thanks to junior cricket sponsor Fuji-Xerox, we've got a cool new Yahoo!NZ Northern Knights collectible autograph book this summer, just $2 with pictures of all our handsome contracted players and their tips on the game. The proceeds are raising money for junior cricket so if you're at the ground, make sure you grab one! (Plus one for every other kid you know, of course!!)