It's do or die for Knights

With their backs against the wall, there's plenty of incentive for the Northern Knights to beat hosts Otago at Queenstown tomorrow in the preliminary final of the national one-day competition.
If they lose, they will bow out of the competition they won in 2009 and 2010 but coach Grant Bradburn said the team had chosen the "hard road" of qualification by finishing fourth in the round-robin and conceding the home advantage for the game against third-placed Otago.
"Having the home advantage is really important but we'd love nothing more than to bring it home from this position and beat the lot and win the title again," he said.
There are also old scores to settle against Otago. From two matches against Otago in the round-robin neither team has won, with the first match abandoned to rain and a nail-biting tie at Cobham Oval in their second encounter.
The coach is hoping that the urgency created by the must-win situation will translate into some improved performances - particularly with the bat.
"We've still got our best to put on the park yet and it would be nice to do it in this fixture, but if there's one area that we need to be more hard-nosed about it's about finishing the (run) chase," he said.
The Knights had got themselves into winning positions in the competition to date - most recently in Wednesday's loss to Central Districts in Whangarei - but too often had faltered in the final overs.
Bradburn said that in any game there were only three or four batsmen that would get themselves in at the crease and he had been at pains to point out to the team that those players needed to make their innings count.
"We played good enough cricket to get to the door on Wednesday, but we didn't play well enough to go through it," he said.
"History has shown there are a lot of teams have won from the fourth position and ... if we can raise that awareness a little then we might be able to win."
Mangakaramea batsman Michael Parlane has been recalled into the squad along with Hamilton batsman Brooke Hatwell both as cover for the injured BJ Watling who suffered back spasms during his century on Wednesday.
If Watling can't play Parlane - despite his lack of form in the competition - could have the inside running to replace him.
"He hasn't had much success so far but we understand that Michael has a vast amount of experience and in finals cricket, that's very important," Bradburn said.
If Kane Williamson isn't picked to play for the Black Caps today, then he too will be released to play in tomorrow's preliminary final. The winner goes on to play the loser of the other preliminary final between Canterbury and Auckland on Wednesday.