CRICKET - Cream of Northland heads home to form mighty team

Northland first-class cricketers will return from their far-flung outposts around the country at the end of the month to form a Northland team to play a New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA) side in an exhibition match at Cobham Oval.
Black Cap Scott Styris will captain the NZCPA team, an indication of the level of cricket that spectators can expect at the free match which will launch the representative season on October 31.
Chief executive of Northland Cricket Gary Bell said the call had already gone out to the Northland "troops" to return for the game.
"The boys are really looking forward to getting back together to play on the same side - with each other - rather than playing against each other at first-class level," he said.
The concept behind the one-off festival match is to showcase Northland's current crop of class players.
Bell said such a match had been an aim for a while and the NZCPA's desire to play three of four exhibition matches a year had given them the chance to find worthy opposition.
"We've always wanted to get these guys back together to say, `hey, look at what we've produced, this is how good we are' - we can roll out a first-class team that can probably beat any other major association in the country," Bell said.
Northland Cricket and the NZCPA ran a charity game at Cobham Oval last year but the emphasis was more on past players, whereas this will be more about first-class players, and the standard of match will be much higher.
"They've named a shadow team that is very strong but we're waiting on several confirmations before we can name that, the only player we are sure about at the moment is Scott Styris," he said.
In a perfect world, all Northland players would be playing together at Northern Districts but in the modern game, if one door is shut, players move around the country to gain entry to first-class cricket - and then often stay where they are accepted.
Stephen Cunis is a good example. He has switched hats this year after a long career as a Canterbury bowler to become the new coach of the women's provincial side, the Canterbury Magicians. He is high on the list of Northland recruits for the match.
The current crop of Northern Districts players is available. Bruce Martin, Michael Parlane, Joey Yovich, James Marshall and Brad Wilson will form the backbone of the Northland team.
Former Central Districts bowler Tim Anderson has moved back north and is available, while current CD opening bowler Ewen Thompson is another target. The organisers are still to confirm the presence of the Wellington contingent Matt Bell and Neal Parlane, but they are probable starters.
Tim Southee is unavailable due to Black Caps commitments, while Hamish Marshall is also unable to attend because he is currently playing in the Indian ICL Twenty20 competition.
"If we can get them all together it will be a very useful unit and for all of those guys to be generated out of Northland age-group systems, it shows that what we're doing here does work," Bell said.
"They are obviously an exceptional group and our challenge is to maintain that level, to be able to generate players of this calibre every year."
The timing of the game has been planned to allow people to go along and support the home team. The Twenty20 exhibition match will start at 4pm on Friday, October 31, and will be all over by 7.30pm.
NCA and NZCPA players will be involved earlier in the day as more than 200 junior cricketers, from all over Northland, play games of Kiwi cricket on the outfield before the match.