KEY POINTS:
James Marshall wants his Northern Districts team to remember the two Ps when they host the national championship final against Canterbury in Hamilton starting today.
The five-day final will be a novel experience for several players and even though it translates only to another 50 overs in total, there are psychological aspects to switching from the four-day format to the longest version of the game.
So Marshall is calling for his players to be positive and patient against a Canterbury team chock-full of young faces, and who must win the match to claim the State Championship.
ND, as top qualifiers from the round robin, will lift the trophy so long as they aren't beaten outright, but ODI international Marshall is determined to ensure there's no mindset that a draw will do.
"You're not going to win it in the first two days, but you can get in a good position to drive it home. So they are crucial for setting up a win," Marshall said.
"You can't go into a game trying to play for a draw. If we play to win and get in a position to do that, then Canterbury are out of it. We want to dictate the whole way."
ND won't finalise their 11 until today, as they await fitness assessments of fast-medium Brent Arnel and allrounder Joseph Yovich, both of whom have had abdominal strains.
But their key bowler, Graeme Aldridge, is fit and, after taking 31 championship wickets at a fine 22.06, shapes as the most influential bowler on either side. Only Wellington's Iain O'Brien (34) and Auckland's Andre Adams (32) took more wickets.
"He [Aldridge] has been fantastic, especially in the latter part of the competition," Marshall said. "We've had an inexperienced attack and he's led it.
"Every time you give him the ball he delivers, if not in wickets [then] in creating pressure which has led to wickets at the other end."
Hamish Marshall's 644 runs at 49.53 were backed up by 544 from opener B.J. Watling and 460 from the skipper - and exceeded only by Canterbury's resurgent opener Michael Papps, with an outstanding 777 at 86.33.
Shanan Stewart's 488 runs were Canterbury's next biggest contribution, but their coach, Dave Nosworthy, insists there is more to his team's batting.
"We've shown we do bat the whole way down," he said yesterday. Canterbury were "quietly confident", he added.
"There's a lot of youngsters in our side, so there are the normal excitement levels, and we've got guys like Harry [captain Chris Harris] who has probably played about 20 finals."
One of them was in 1998, when Canterbury beat ND by an innings and 56 runs at Rangiora. A 19-year-old James Marshall opened for ND in that match. It was Canterbury's last first-class title. ND won the 2000 championship, and both Marshalls, Yovich and Bruce Martin were in the side which tonked Auckland in that final.
