Knights rested and ready for challenge of one day competition

Following a frenzied HRV Twenty20 Cup campaign during December, the Northern Knights are looking forward to a fresh start in the Domestic one-day competition which starts on Sunday.
The team was gutted to miss out on a finals berth in the HRV Cup but second prize of being able to spend Christmas and New Year with friends and family was highly beneficial to the team, coach Grant Bradburn said.
"It was nice to have a few days off before getting back into it yesterday [Thursday] with a trial game at Blake Park in Tauranga to decide on the team for this weekend ... and now the guys are really looking forward to playing," he said.
After claiming the one-day title last season, and the Plunket Shield championship, the Knights were not playing just to defend their title - but playing to win the 2011 title, Bradburn said. "We like the format of the one dayers - it suits our style of play ... it's a bit more sedate after the hectic nature of the HRV Cup. We are confident playing this form of the game but we are aware there are no easy teams - we will have to play well to feature in this competition."
All teams had made improvements from last year and raised the bar for 2011, the coach said.
"I feel we have made improvements, too, but it will depend on how we start and whether we can gain momentum going ahead and it will come down to basic skills ... we need good batsmanship and we need to get the ball in the right place."
In their opening one day match on Sunday, the Knights meet an amped Auckland Aces, fresh on the back of winning the HRV Cup at Colin Maiden Park last weekend.
The Knights will need to finish in the top four (out of six teams) to contest the preliminary finals which are on February 6, and will be followed by a semifinal on February 9 and the final on February 13.
The short turnaround between matches is something the team quickly grew accustomed with during the T20 campaign, and Bradburn was certain the tight one-day schedule, followed by a full-on Plunket Shield programme would not unhinge his fit squad.
"We are well used to travelling up and down the country. We play well on the road, we have a good record - we're a tight group who get on well, so it is something we look forward to."
The team were looking forward to playing some "home" games at Cobham Oval, he added.
"We consider Cobham Oval to be a bit of a fortress for us - we play well there and we enjoy the great facilities - we can't wait to head up there," he said.
The Knights play at Cobham Oval against the Wellington Firebirds on January 16, followed by the Canterbury Wizards on January 23, the Otago Volts on January 27 and the Central Stags on February 2.