Story The HRV Cup: The Knights' Quest ***WF victors in close game with OV***

[Kiko_97]

Auckland Aces ftw!!!!

 

[AkshayS]

nice presentation dude.
Keep it up.
Auckland Aces is done with fans.

 

[just_cricket]

A view of the pavilion at Cobham Oval, The Knights' new home ground​

: Well, we havd JP Duminy predicting the Otago Volts to take the silverware this year. No doubt Northern Knights captain James Marshall will have different ideas? I?m here with ?Marshy? at the Cobham Oval Indoor Centre. For starters, Marsh, why are all your home games now at Cobham Oval and what are your thoughts on this ground?

: Well Rigor our former main home ground, Seddon Park, is being renovated along with McLean Park and Pukekura Park in Central Districts, as part of the ?Central North Island Development Scheme? which is a plan put in place by New Zealand cricket to ready all our main grounds for bidding for rights to host 2015 World Cup games. It?s not ideal for the Stags who have to play their ?home games? away from home but we?re more than happy to play our home games here. The facilities are great- this indoor centre where we?re practising is the biggest indoor cricket facility in our area, and we have a surprisingly strong following up north. It?s also great for me cause I?m a Northland boy, and this is where I grew up playing club cricket. I was actually the one that pushed to have our home games here.

: What about your team, how are you shaping up?

: Yeah really well thanks, we had a really successful domestic season last year, and although Twenty20 was the only format we didn?t win, we were oh so close to qualifying first, if Ross Taylor hadn?t worked his magic. But I guess that?s the beauty of this game, it?s so unpredictable and because of that?s it?s exciting to play. We?re all really looking forward to it, and of course there is that extra incentive of not only the Champions League but also that $1 million at the end of the road, if we can get that far.

: We?ve already made JP Duminy make a bold prediction as to who will win, but I think we know who you?d back, so your question is who will be the stars for the Knights this season?

: Well the name on everyone?s lips is Kane Williamson, he certainly is a special player, but we?ve also got some proven, class players who we?ll be looking to for results. Dan Vettori, Timmy Southee, BJ Watling and Daniel Flynn are all Black Caps contracted players, but I reckon this year might just be a big year for our solid, reliable players who have made the cut at first class level and have been with us for a long time. Guys like Joey Yovich, Graeme Aldridge, Bradley Scott, Bucko (Bruce) Martin and hopefully myself! We will also be hoping for a lot from Tillakaratne Dilshan ? he didn?t have a bad season last year and we couldn?t really complain but I reckon he this year he should be out to do something really big and get some spectacular scores.

: Thanks Marsh, but now it?s time for you to get your training gear on and get ready for a good practice session. We?ll take a short break and then be back for the final leg of our show, where you get to see how the Knights train, and of course have the opportunity enter a couple of competitions, where you can win great prizes!

 

[BKB1991]

Nice update. I just love the fact that you concentrate on a lot more than just cricket.

 

[just_cricket]

Nice update. I just love the fact that you concentrate on a lot more than just cricket.

Despite my username! :laugh lol

Yeah I felt I'm getting a bit far from the games - sheez, I've managed to burgle 5 pages without even mentioning the first game!
But there's one more section of Cricket Company, then the fixtures will be announced, then a great competition, and then we'll get underway!

Thanks for the continued support - at the moment the Otago Volts support team are leading the average post count!

 

[just_cricket]

: Back here at Cobham Oval, I?ve got the Northern Knights? coach Grant Bradburn to take us through the practice today. So what?s the plan, Grant?

: Today, Rigor, we?ve split up the session into 3 or 4 parts- the first part is the boys? idea really. We?ve spent about 20 minutes warming up with fielding type games. For example we split up our squad of 16 into groups of 4 and have a slip catching competition using slip cradles- we have a sort of round robin competition and there?s usually free drinks for the winning team. So throwing, catching and running games like that serve as our physical warm up, and they also get the guys enthusiastic and keen for the practice.

: Who won today, Grant?

: Ha, well there was a bit of controversy where Kane Williamson?s group reckoned they?d won and I?d miscounted, but I awarded it to the team of Brent Arnel, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Flynn and Peter McGlashan, much to Kane?s detest!

: Nothing like a bit of competition, eh?

: Yeah Kane is pretty competitive but it?s all in good spirit- he?s actually a pretty down to earth, humble sort of guy.

: Okay so the next part of the session?

: OK, this is the part where we get specific. At this stage of preparing for the tournament, I think it?s important to try to get everyone happy with where they are at in terms of executing their individual skills. So we have a myriad of different techniques used- some guys get into pairs and do some throwdowns, bowl together, or run a bowling machine. Some bowlers like to just bowl on their own with a specialist coach, while some guys just get together in a group and have a net. Today it looks like the batsmen are all in pairs for throw downs for a start, which probably means they?ll get together for a net with the bowlers later. These sessions are pretty easy for me - I just wander around and see who wants any help.

"Some guys just get together and have a net" - Kane Williamson bats against Graeme Aldridge in the nets
​

: So after a solid couple of hours of individual work, you?re back here with us. What?s the plan from here?

: Now we?ll run a fielding session for just under an hour. We feel it?s really important to not neglect our fielding ? it?s one of our real strengths as a team. We have some really spectacular fielders and the rest are pretty solid, too. The guys and I agree that fielding is one of the areas we can outplay most if not all of our oppositions, and of course you look for as many of those areas as you can! So even though we?re indoors today, we?ll have a short session just to keep up the good work.

"It's really important not to neglect our fielding... even though we're indoors" - Bradley Scott takes part in a fielding drill​

After that the guys will have a good recovery session with their fitness trainer- I?ll probably nip up to the pavilion for a beer of some sort!

: Well Grant, it looks like you?d better get back and run the fielding, and at least there?s the reward of the beer at the end of all of it! Thanks very much for your time!

Alright! That's it from us here at Cricket Company. Stay tuned though, because after the break a great new competition will be announced, where the winner will win $1,000,000 vcash!

 

[AkshayS]

^nice presentation dude, especially the graphics.
I didn't read whole.

 

[riz7khan12]

good update , finally you come to the part about vCash...

 

[surendar]

Innovativeness & quality in this story is just stunning. Definitely one of the top class stories running at the moment without any doubts. Indoor fielding session - interesting!

 

[Prithvi]

Great Write dude. BTW, may I know what game you used for Practice nets?
I guess its EA but I don't think EA will show the bolwers run up in practice nets.
I can see the efforts being put into this:hpraise. You've even edited the practice kit.
That shows the efforts you're putting!:hpraise

 

[MaD]

It's Cricket Revolution innit?

 

[just_cricket]

It's EA Cricket 2004 - there's an option in game to press ctrl, and see where the fielders are. Of course in the nets it just shows the net and the bowler running in.
Competition coming up soon!

 

[just_cricket]

Fantasy Cricket Competition

A great Fantasy Cricket competition for the HRV Cup has been launched. Just by entering a team, you can win great prizes- up to $1m vcash, yes One million vcash!
Pick a side consisting of:

- 4 Specialist Batsmen
- 3 All-Rounders
- 1 Wicketkeeper
- 3 Specialist Bowlers

Also choose a captain who will score double points.
You can choose a maximum of four players from one team

Here are your choices

Specialist Batsmen
James Marshall
Anton Devcich
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Daniel Flynn
Michael Parlane
BJ Watling

Martin Guptill
Anaru Kitchen
Lou Vincent
Reece Young

Jamie How
Peter Ingram
Brad Patton
Matthew Sinclair
Ross Taylor
Tim Weston

Cameron Merchant
Neal Parlane
Owais Shah

Peter Fulton
Tom Latham
Johannes Myburgh
Michael Papps
Shannan Stewart

Craig Cumming
Neil Broom
JP Duminy
Shaun Haig
Aaron Redmond
Hamish Rutherford

All-Rounders
Kane Williamson
Daniel Vettori
Joe Yovich

Ravi Bopara
Colin De Grandhomme
Kyle Mills
Greg Morgan
Scott Styris

Doug Bracewell
Brendon Diamanti
Graeme Napier
Kieran Noema-Barnett
Jacob Oram
Ewen Thompson
George Worker

Harry Boam
Dewayne Bowden
Grant Elliott
James Franklin
Paul Hitchcock
Jesse Ryder
Luke Woodcock

Corey Anderson
Andrew Ellis
Carl Frauenstein
Chris Harris
Rob Nicol
Logan van Beek

Ian Butler
Nathan McCullum
Sam Wells

Wicketkeepers
Peter McGlashan
Gareth Hopkins
Tim Paine
Chris Nevin
Kruger van Wyk
Brendon McCullum
Derek De Boorder

Specialist Bowlers
Graeme Aldridge
Brent Arnel
Bruce Martin
Bradley Scott
Tim Southee

Michael Bates
Ronnie Hira
Tarun Nethula
Lance Shaw
Daryl Tuffey

Michael Mason
Seth Rance

Jeetan Patel
Andrew McKay
Robbie Schaw
Mark Gillespie
Maesalili Tugaga

Hamish Bennett
Shane Bond
Ryan Burson
Brandon Hiini
Jerome Taylor

Nick Beard
Anthony Bullick
James McMillan
Warren McSkimming
Neil Wagner

Post your team in this thread to enter, good luck!​

 

[age of the fall]

Dilshan
Taylor
Duminy
Guptil

Vettori (C)
Williamson
Napier

McCullum

Southee
Tuffey
Bond

Really looking forward to this, It's going to be great!

 

[Chewie]

Guptill
Myburgh
Broom
Taylor

Vettori
Anderson
Oram

Paine

Bond
Wagner
Southee

Decided to be a bit different with my choices

Captain: Oram