The play-offs have arrived early for the Northern Knights as they go into tomorrow's match against the Central Stags at Cobham Oval, knowing that only a win will guarantee they stay in the competition.
A second loss to the Wellington Firebirds on Sunday sees the Knights struggling to make the topfour and if they lose to the Stags, and the Firebirds beat Auckland, they will be out of the competition - a difficult thought for skipper James Marshall to contemplate.
"We've dealt with pressure situations pretty well over the last two or three years, so we know what we've got to do now and that's beat Central and keep our fate in our own hands," he said.
The Knights are in fourth place on 14 points - four clear of Wellington - but if they end up on the same points then Wellington will qualify for Sunday's preliminary finals.
The Knights had a chance to knock Wellington out of the competition on Sunday but struggled with ball and bat at the Basin Reserve.
"To be fair it was a pretty good batting wicket but our bowlers did struggle at times ... but once again we had our chance to win the game with the bat - Anton Devcich, Joe Yovich and myself all got good starts but none of us were able to push on and really anchor the innings," he said.
Devcich top-scored with 54, with Marshall making 50 and Yovich 32 as the Knights were bowled out for 242, chasing Wellington's total of 294/5.
The champions have struggled to maintain any sort of consistency, after winning their first two matches. They have also had two matches washed out as well as the tie against Otago last week.
"The equation is pretty simple for us now - win tomorrow and keep winning in the playoffs ...
The match begins at Cobham Oval at 11am.
