Northland pin faith in batsmen for cup clash

Captain Brett Hood believes Northland can bat themselves into a position to earn a rare Hawke Cup challenge in their Fergus Hickey two-day match against Hamilton this weekend.
Northland need to win first-innings points in the match at Cobham Oval to beat Hamilton in the now two-horse race to earn a Hawke Cup challenge. The skipper said the script was ready to be completed and all they needed to do was to add the final few lines.
"It's all set up for us really. We know what we've got to do, so it's perfect," he said.
"The equation is fairly simple for us - we need to outbat them. Our strength is most definitely our batting and the length of the batting order - we bat right down to 11 - while their strength is their pace attack," he said.
Hood knows how strong Hamilton has been in the competition to date and said Northland would have to be wary of their pace attack.
"Waikato has four or five good young quicks, who are all on the fringe of the Northern Districts squad and while they're young, they're useful and that'll be their strength. That's why we've got to outbat them," he said.
Anurag Verma, James Baker and Scott Kuggerleijn have been confirmed in the travelling side while Andy Mathieson - who debuted for Northern Districts in Whangarei last month - has to overcome a late fitness test to see if he'll play in the match.
The return of Michael Parlane into the side will make up for the loss of Richard Atkins who wasn't released for the fixture by City.
"Michael hasn't been in the ND side for a few weeks so that means that he's got a lot to play for and he'll be hungry [for runs] to stake a claim to get back in the Knights squad," Hood said.
He said to have any first-class player back was a bonus for the team - particularly a first-class batsman - but while Brad Wilson and Joey Yovich had been included in the squad, there was little chance they would play.
Hood has been in good form with the bat recently and Henry Cooper is another to carry Northland's hopes after scoring more than 60 in the recent match against the Bay of Plenty and then scoring 122 not out in an U-18 match in Gisborne earlier this week.
Boys High School professional Ben Williams is another who Northland will look to for runs but Atkins - who has been one of the finds of the year for Northland and has opened both with the ball and with the bat - will be difficult to replace.
"He's been outstanding this year. He'll be a huge loss for us in both the batting and bowling departments. He's been a great foil for [opener] Rhys Farrand and had finally formed a solid opening partnership with him that was working well but unfortunately we won't have that - so Rory Darkins will move into the opening spot."
Ironically, the City skipper will replace Atkins at the top of the order. The bowling will be led by the super-consistent Jake Phillips who had the extraordinary figures of 3 for 21 off 20 against Bay of Plenty. Matt Taylor will bring energy and form while Tas Satti will have to shoulder a bit more work in Atkins' absence.
The exact make-up of the side will not be known until Saturday morning.
Bellahomes Northland (from): Brett Hood (c), Jake Phillips (vc), Tauseef Satti, Matt Taylor, Brad Wilson (Kaipara Flats), Curtis Cherrington, Rhys Farrand (Kamo), Michael Parlane (Maungakaramea), Henry Cooper, Ben Hyde, Ben Williams (Whangarei Boys High School), Chris Page, Rory Darkins, Joseph Yovich (City).
Hamilton: Kier Bettley (c), Anurag Verma, Michael Dodunski, James Baker, Brook Hatwell, Owen Ivins, Scott Kuggeleijn, Michael Santner, Joe Walker, Nick Horsley, Lance Martin (Jake Bezzant), Andy Mathieson (Adam Flegg).