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

[just_cricket]

HRV Cup, Wellington Firebirds v Northern Knights Preview

Spin the key for sides in opening clash

by Dylan Cleaver
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Looking at the Basin Reserve pitch, it looks as though the spinners will have a big part to play in tomorrow's HRV Cup match, the first of the season, between the Wellington Firebirds and the Northern Knights. Both sides have quality spinners by New Zealand domestic standards, so it will be an interesting battle between New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, and Firebirds captain Jeetan Patel.

Aside from spinners, both sides look fairly even. The home side's opening combination of Neal Parlane and Jesse Ryder will be one for the Knights to be wary of - Ryder one of the most explosive batsmen in the competition, and Parlane the Firebirds' leading run scorer in the HRV Cup last year. The batting falls a bit thin through the middle order, although overseas player Owais Shah will be looking to translate some runs from the IPL into some serious runs in New Zealand.

The possible middle order contenders Grant Elliott, Luke Woodcock, Cameron Merchant, Chris Nevin, James Franklin and Dewayne Bowden can all make useful contributions but are unlikely to power their side to big totals without very good platforms set up by the openers and Shah. Personally I would put Elliott in at no. 3, a new position for him but in Twenty20 the no. 3's role is often just to give the strike to the other opener who is going well, which Elliott is adept at. Shah can come in at 4 so there is still some power to come when the openers are out, and then it's much of a muchness in the middle order. I'd punt on Merchant, who had a successful time last season, at 5 and either Franklin or Woodcock at 6, the other at 7, and Nevin the keeper at 8. This would give room for Patel at 9, and pace bowling combination of Andy McKay and Mark Gillespie at 10 and 11. However, if the Firebirds see need for Paul Hitchcock, he probably replaces Woodcock, and Nevin goes up to 7.

For the Knights, once again Vettori will be key. Although he opened the batting for them last year, word has it he is keen to let another young player have that opportunity, and bat somewhere in the middle to lower or order, as he does for his country.

The batting is strengthened by overseas player Tillakaratne Dilshan who will most likely open the batting. It is likely that young Kane Williamson will make the shift up to 3 or 4 with captain James Marshall just below him, but what is not clear is who will bat at 6 or 7 with Vettori, and who will open with Dilshan. The contenders are Daniel Flynn, BJ Watling, Anton Devcich and Michael Parlane. I would gamble on the left handed Flynn to open the batting, as he did successfully towards the end of the one day comeptition last year, and Devcich to play in the middle order. Devcich is a good striker of the ball who also offers some useful left arm spin - he would bat one position in front or behind Vettori at 6,7 or 8. Peter McGlashan the keeper may also be a possibility to bat as high as 4 or as low as 8, as he did in last year's tournament.

Unfortunately for the Knights their main limited overs bowler Tim Southee will miss this game, so they will likely look to recent Black Cap Brent Arnel to lead the attack. The veterans Joey Yovich and Graeme Aldridge will fight it out for the pace bowling allrounder slot at no. 8 or 9, with either left arm seamer Bradley Scott or orthodox bowler Bruce Martin to fill the other slot. Although the pitch is dry, I would be inclined to give Scott the nod, as he adds good variation and you would need more than 2 seamers.

The team that wins the toss should bat first, with the pitch getting slightly lower and slower as the match goes on, but in a Twenty20 match this may not be as much of a factor.

Watch out for:
Daniel Vettori. He is a good flighter of the ball who has worked out many a batsmen in his time. His ability to
read the opposition's key players and bowl accordingly will be invaluable to the Knights, and he is also a more
than useful batsman, wherever he may bat.

Jesse Ryder. He missed out on the HRV Cup last year and, as a serious extrovert,
will be gunning to be the leading batsman in the Firebirds' campaign this year.
A left hander possessing all the strokes, watch out particularly for his power
through and over the off side.

Team News: The main news is that Tim Southee will miss at least the first two games with a broken finger,
and that Grant Elliott, Jesse Ryder and Mark Gillespie return to the Firebirds' squad after being injured during last year's unsuccessful campaign.

Likely Playing XIs:
Wellington Firebirds (Probable) 1 Neal Parlane, 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Grant Elliott, 4 Owais Shah, 5 Cameron Merchant,
6 James Franklin, 7 Luke Woodcock, 8 Chris Nevin (wk), 9 Jeetan Patel (capt), 10 Mark Gillespie, 11 Andy McKay.

Northern Knights (Probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Daniel Flynn, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 James Marshall (capt), 5 Anton Devcich,
6 Daniel Vettori, 7 Peter McGlashan (wk), 8 Joe Yovich, 9 Graeme Aldridge, 10 Bradley Scott, 11 Brent Arnel.

The Stat:
From the two occassions these sides met in last year's HRV Cup, the Northern Knights lead the win-loss ratio 2-0 with two
handsome victories over the Wellington Firbirds

The Odds:
Despite this, the Firebirds are favoured to win at $1.60 (8/5), with the Knights at $2.20 (11/5).

The Quotes:

"We had a disappointing campaign last year but we did find some new talent,
and now several of our injured players have returned, which should give us some good energy."

- Jeetan Patel, Wellington Firebirds' Captain.

"This year might just be a big year for our solid, reliable player... but we will
also be hoping for a lot from Tillakaratne Dilshan - he didn't have a bad season last year... but I reckon this year he should be out to do something really spectacular. "

- James Marshall, Northern Knights' Captain.

 

[BKB1991]

Brilliant update. Love your writing and the prematch previews are great. My money is on the firebirds though

 

[CG123]

Really good preview, you covered pretty much everything, in terms of playing conditions, possible line-ups, and key players.
Wellington do look stronger than they did this year in real life, and Southee out really weakens the Knights attack. Really that makes it a four player swing, as the Firebirds bring back three, while the Knights lose one.
On paper both teams look similar, but I'm picking the Knights pretty much on the Dilshan and Vettori factor, one of the best T20 batsmen, and the best T20 bowler.

 

[Varun]

The Northern Knights probable XI look good enough to beat Wellington. Let's see what happens.

 

[AkshayS]

Briliant update man, loved your presentation.:banana2

 

[TheGreemSim]

Really good preview, it was brilliantly presented!

C'MON KNIGHTS!

 

[Aditya]

Nice update mate,Great writing and presentation. I am supporting Wellington in this match!

 

[surendar]

Pink everywhere? So, the ball is going to be pink? Lovely efforts. Keep it up.:hpraise

surendar added 1 Minutes and 12 Seconds later...

On paper both teams look similar, but I'm picking the Knights pretty much on the Dilshan and Vettori factor, one of the best T20 batsmen, and the best T20 bowler.

Teams on paper always give a different picture. I can expect both Dilshan & Vettori to flop here. Just like IPL3

 

[Chewie]

The Northern Knight's colour is pink.

 

[just_cricket]

^ Yeah, I kind of wanted the ball to be pink but realistically it would clash with the Knight's kit. It will be a white ball for a start anyway, maybe the second round might introduce a orangey-pink ball that is a totally different shade to ND's uniform.
Anyway, having gone 115 posts without even starting a game, it's probably time to get cracking. It'll probably start tomorrow, as I'm away from home atm.

Stay tuned!

 

[just_cricket]

Pre-match Preview with Smithy and Macca

: A very warm welcome to all of our viewers for Game 1 of the 2011 HRV Cup at the "Allied Nationwide Finance" Basin Reserve. I might add that this is the first time New Zealand Domestic Cricket has been broadcast live out of New Zealand - this year's HRV Cup Twenty20 competition is being broadcast live, on various channels, to all other 8 test playing countries. Of course we won't expect huge audiences out of New Zealand, but it does give you an idea of how big this is. We have a massive crowd in, by the Basin's standards, of around 8,000. It's also pleasing to see that we see quite a varied crowd in terms of ages and genders, too. Good morning Craig McMillan...

: Well, yes Smithy I guess it is still the morning, just! But by the time the game gets underway it will be the afternoon, which actually isn't too far away. The news is that the Wellington Firebirds' captain Jeetan Patel has won the toss and elected to bat first. And I can tell you that's a good toss to win for the Firebirds- I had a look at the pitch and it is hard and flat. The groundsman, Brett Sipthorne, was sneaky enough to just throw a ball at me along the pitch, and even there it got some real bounce! You'd be looking for a good score on this track, against a Northern Knights bowling attack which, while adept in its own right, holds no pace bowling stocks to really fear.

: Yeah, I'd have to agree with you there Macca. Now let's have a look at the weather wall:

Pretty self-explanatory really, a really good day - not excessively windy which is surpising for Wellington, reasonably humid as you'd expect in New Zealand, but in general a nice warm day. Now let's take a look at the teams:

: A pretty strong looking batting line up there for the Firebirds, Parlane is one of the exceptional domestic T20 batsman, and of course Ryder and Shah will be the main men, both with real raw talent and hitting power to match. Elliott is a major addition to the side from last year, although in this match at least, his services will be limited to batting, as his injury will prevent him from bowling for the first few matches.

For the Knights, a solid pace bowling attack of Arnel, Aldridge and Scott who are vastly experienced at the art of containing but perhaps lack a bit of penetration or spark if the batsmen get on top. Dan Vettori and Kane Williamson form a strong spin department, possibly backed up by Anton Devcich, but they won't get much turn on this hard, flat, and almost shiny Basin Reserve track.

: This should be a really exciting game. All the Black Caps are present for their respective sides, and if it is anything like last year's tournament, you wouldn't miss it for anything. The teams will be out there ready for the first ball, and we'll come back to give you live coverage of the game, beginning with that magical first ball.

 

[CG123]

Typo in the second line, you wrote "Natiowide".
Why is Grant Elliot classed as a batsman, while Dilshan and Devcich are both classed as all-rounders?
IMO Elliott is more of an AR than both of them.
I'm not really sure on both team batting line-ups, Franklin and Vettori should both be higher up for their respective teams.
Great update again, and I look forward to the match starting.

 

[just_cricket]

^Elliott's injury will prevent him from bowling in the first few matches. Probably should add that in...

 

[riz7khan12]

i thought with the relative sucess of franklin and vettori opening, they should open with their respective partners. gillespie and mckay will be the key for wellington both making comebacks after injuries..

 

[BKB1991]

Good update, the presentation is pretty strong but I am just waiting for the action to begin!