Knights stalk Stags on home turf

The Northern Knights return to Cobham Oval on Thursday desperate to reignite their Plunket Shield defence with a win over leaders the Central Stags.
Kaipara Flats opening batsman Brad Wilson will captain the side for the second time in the absence of regular skipper James Marshall who is required at the wedding of his brother Hamish, who will once again become available for the Knights after completing his honeymoon.
Selection as stand-in skipper by coach Grant Bradburn means a lot to the 25-year-old.
"It's a bit of a challenge for me, something extra to look forward to," he said.
But it also suggests that he has earned himself a long-term future at ND under Bradburn - even as a possible successor to James Marshall, who turns 32 today but shows no signs of slowing down.
"It was something we talked about last year and it was really a case of me cementing my place in the side before anything like this [the captaincy] could follow, and I've done that already this year and been a regular in the side," he said.
Wilson debuted for Northern Districts as a 19-year-old against Otago in the beginning of 2005 and scored 96 in that match. The score helped him earn a contract the following season but be was overlooked in the 2006-7 season but still played as a part of the wider training squad. He was signed again in 2007-8 and has been a part of the squad ever since.
Up until this season, Wilson has been treated largely as a four-day specialist at the Knights, scoring four centuries and eight half-centuries in 35 first-class matches at an average of 29.88.
This year he was given a chance in the HRV Cup and took it well, scoring plenty of runs to improve his average to above 32 in the short form of the game.
But he hasn't been rewarded with success in the 50-over form of the game and that luck continued in the recent series that saw the Knights reach the playoffs but progress no further.
Wilson said that despite a run of low scores he feels in good touch.
"I'm hitting the ball well at the moment. It's just a matter of getting started, obviously it wasn't the kind of one-day campaign for me with the bat that I would have liked, but I'm looking to finish off the remaining four-dayers as strongly as I can," he said.
He said it's a big challenge to fill James Marshall's shoes and said "although it's just one game it's still another string to my bow."
"I'm not really too nervous about it, there's plenty of experienced guys in the team to help me to do the job and make it easy - I've just got to go out there and lead from the front by scoring some runs," he said.
They'll need plenty of runs as the Plunket Shield grinds into gear again. They sit in third place in the competition on 10 points, 14 points behind the Stags and the Knights need to get a move on.
"It's a very big game for us and it's important that we halt their momentum. I think the first two or three games will be the same for us, we've got to get the points flowing or we'll start to lose touch with the leaders," he said.
The game starts at 10.30am.