The Pink Report

Next!!

I have a sneaky feeling these are the hardest games of all. You know what I'm talking about: the Yahoo!NZ Northern Knights playing their round 10 HRV Cup match this week against the Volts knowing they are without a shot at the finals. 

The two 2012 finalists, the defending champions and hosts the Auckland Aces and the Canterbury Wizards, were cemented the moment cellar-dwellers Wellington lost their last wicket on Sunday. Although if you were really mean, cynical and horrible, such as I tend to be, you might have written the Firepests off before a ball was even bowled.

They toyed with us, just for a moment - Welly captain Grant Elliott slashing and smashing sixes in a glorious display of desperation before he was cruelly run out. But really, the Wellybirds couldn't win a raffle at the moment. And truthfully we can but blame ourselves for just missing out on the good stuff.

Oh all right, let me blame the holiday season weather, too. It sucked. ND beat those twerpy Cantabs by 5 wickets in a full match in the opening round. Lost to the Aces next match in another full 20-over game when the fielding and bowling errors were far too many (22 extras - even Welly could have beaten us with that!).

Then La Niña stuck her big oar in, washing out the Dunedin encounter with the Volts, reducing the following match at Mount Maunganui to a high-roller five-over bash per side (as good as a penalty shootout, really). That match was very close to being abandoned, and ironically if it had been, the Knights would still be in the trophy hunt right now.

La Niña gatecrashed the next game as well, in which the Firebugs miraculously won, which surely can only have been the fault of the weather and the fact it was reduced to 11 overs. Yes, all excuses welcome! I won't mention the 14 extras that critically cost the Knights victory as it went down to the wire, or anything else that didn’t quite go to plan for the home side. 

The rain then barged off long enough the next day for the Knights to lift themselves back to fighting form against the Stags, crushing them by eight wickets at the Mount. That was a goodie! Then the Aces turned up to play, in a sea fog as it turned out - a match which, although it went the distance, will go down as one of the strangest atmospheres the guys have played in, literally. It was like that Super 12 final between the Crusaders and the Hurricanes a few years back, only this was in summer, a misty curtain hanging between the outfielders and the middle. Photos that day all looked like they were out of focus, such was the fog.

Again the match was reduced by half, and the Aces, by now on a big rumbling roll, made it two from two against their pink neighbours. After that, revenge was called for against the Firebirds, who were promptly extinguished in Wellington by a Knights team that was back on task, especially with the ball. Then the guys took care of the Stags in great style in Napier on the weekend. 

So, you tend to look back over the campaign to date and not only rue the weather, but the fact that although they're playing really well through the back end with some great plans and solid bowling options (I'm loving Kane's contributions and economy and Tim Southee being back on a good line and length), the team just didn't hit the ground running - despite being arguably the strongest team on paper in this comp. Throw in some washouts and so-forth in a short, 10-round competition and there was just no time to lose at the beginning - something the squad is bound to remember acutely when they try again next summer.

Meantime, if you're within cooey of Hamilton please do get yourself down to Seddon Park on Thursday evening, 5.30pm, for the very last Twenty20 regular-play match of the year. The whole of the NDCA will love you for it. The whole of cricket in New Zealand, even. That's because the washouts and fickle wet weather at the Mount understandably impacted on crowd numbers, and without good crowds it makes it incredibly hard to find the budget to run the sport at its best throughout our region. 

So you'll be helping the game throughout ND. And the players will be so appreciative that you've turned up to support them that they will sign autographs afterwards until their arms fall off, even though that may hinder their strokemaking in future. The selectors are currently working through whose injuries may need resting so there could well be a couple of interesting changes to the squad, too - maybe an opportunity to debut a fresh face for the future, even?

Tomorrow's match meanwhile between the Aces and Wizards at Colin Maiden Park in Auckland is an exact dress rehearsal for the weekend's final - that's going to be fascinating! I'm picking the Aces, they've just looked too solid and organised all season to drop the ball now. 

The big news is that the selectors are keen to test out Kruger van Wyk with the wicketkeeping gloves… with our own BJ Watling in contention there too. BJ will take the gloves for the New Zealand XI, while Kruger will open the batting. That means the selectors are taking BJ's bid for reinvention as a test keeper seriously, whilst still hedging their bets with Kruger. Congrats to Kruger who's very much a well-regarded player on the domestic circuit.

The New Zealand XI (12) is:

Yahoo!NZ Northern Knights: Brent Arnel, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson.

Central Stags: Ross Taylor (c), Tarun Nethula, Kruger van Wyk.

Otago Volts: Michael Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Sam Wells.

Auckland Aces: Chris Martin. 

Wellington Firebirds: Andy McKay.

And once again almost half of the Blackcaps test squad has been provided by Northern Districts. The test squad is:

Ross Taylor (c), Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Kruger van Wyk.