Cricket: Knights back in contention

Brad Wilson. Photo / APN

The sun finally emerged and brought with it the Northern Knights' A game as they ran down the Central Stags with ease yesterday to lift themselves back into HRV Cup T20 title contention.

After a horrible time of it at Mt Maunganui over the past week, battling their own malaise as well as the elements, the Knights got it right at the Bay Oval to beat the Stags by eight wickets with more than four overs to spare.

The Stags, who won the toss and batted, meandered through to 128-8 - a total that was at least 30 shy of being competitive and demanded a top-shelf effort in the field to test the Knights.

Apart from one moment of brilliance in the 12th over to dismiss opener Brad Wilson, the target - a touch over a run a ball - was always well within the Knights' reach, with Wilson and Hamish Marshall's 74-run stand for the second wicket laying the foundation for Scott Styris and Marshall to finish it off in the 16th over.

Wilson, under pressure to keep his spot at the top of the order after successive failures in the losses to Canterbury and Wellington, looked rock solid in easing through to 43 before being undone by a piece of fielding wizardry that is unlikely to be bettered this summer.

Facing leg spinner Tarun Nethula in the 12th over, Wilson lofted a drive down the ground that looked headed for the boundary before Stags substitute fielder Bevan Small launched himself at the ball, catching it horizontally over the boundary and flicking it back to Michael Mason, who dived to take a brilliant catch.

Wilson stuck around while the umpires conferred. "To the naked eye it looked out from where I was standing but it's always worth hanging around," he said. "My gut feeling was that I'd got enough bat on it to carry the boundary rope but it was a special bit of fielding there in the end. Another day I might have got six for it."

Marshall hit 48 off 36 balls while grizzled veteran Styris was also unbeaten, his 33 coming from just 14 balls including two hits that cleared the boundary.

The Knights' bowlers, who had largely failed to deliver in the HRV Cup this season, finally got it right with international seamer Tim Southee taking a superb 3-16 from his four overs and Daniel Vettori, who ran Stags opener Peter Ingram out in the second over, chipping in with 2-24.

The win lifted the Knights off the foot of the competition table into fourth.