Cricket: Time for Northern to reap their rewards says Blair

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Bruce Blair was one of the Otago team who celebrated their lone victory in the national one-day championship 15 years ago.

Today he will be outside the boundary as the Northern Districts team he coaches tries to win their third title in nine seasons.

Going into the State Shield final at North Harbour's outer oval, the records favour Northern.

Auckland have not won at this level since the 1989-90 season and lost their home game to ND this season.

"As coach I think there will be some some butterflies," said Blair before he and his 13 players travelled to Auckland after a final practice in Hamilton yesterday.

"I don't want to dwell too much on the victory I had with Otago in a season in which we won the double. I want to look forward to what I think should be great game of cricket."

Blair, a former one-day international batsman, said today was a chance for players to relax and be rewarded for what had been a demanding season.

"This is the decider. The emphasis for us will be focusing on our game and getting the things we want to do right.

"It promises to be a good one-day wicket and one, I hope, in which the toss will not have a huge bearing.

"I'm not even thinking about how to pump the boys' tyres up if we don't win the toss and get to do what we want. It promises to be a very even contest," said Blair.

"We are going out with the intention of playing aggressive, attacking and entertaining cricket. In the end it is the team who turns up on the day wanting to win the most who will do that."

In what promises to be an interesting aside, the battle between captains Brooke Walker (Auckland) and Robbie Hart (Northern Districts) will be just as competitive.

Hart, one of the more astute captains, was at his very best in getting his team home against Wellington on Wednesday.

Walker, who backs up tomorrow to lead North in the state of origin match, has shown he learned his first season lessons well and has led his team superbly.

Without Lou Vincent, one of six players from the two teams now in South Africa, Auckland will use Reece Young as their specialist wicketkeeper.

Walker is confident he is up to it.

"We are more than happy to have Reece back," he said.

"I think he is the best wicketkeeper in the country. He just needs to score more runs - which he is capable of doing."

It promises to be a tight battle on a pitch which has shown to be as much in favour of the batsmen as bowlers.

Both teams are capable of scoring big runs, with Auckland's top order, led by test openers Mark Richardson and Matt Horne, Llorne Howell, Tim McIntosh, Rob Nicol and Aaron Barnes, set for a battle with Northern's much-touted bowling attack.

Conversely, Northern, with James Marshall, Nick Horsley, Michael Parlane, Hamish Marshall and David Kelly have batsmen capable of laying the foundation for a decent score.

The bowling attacks, too, seem well-matched.

With Matt Hart likely to be available for selection after missing the semifinal win over Wellington, Blair's toughest task might be in finalising his playing XI.

Auckland (from): Brooke Walker (capt), Aaron Barnes, Tama Canning, Heath Davis, Matt Horne, Llorne Howell, Tim McIntosh, Richard Morgan, Rob Nicol, Craig Pryor, Mark Richardson, Sam Whiteman, Reece Young.

Northern Districts (from): Robbie Hart (capt), Graeme Aldridge, Ian Butler, Matt Hart, Nick Horsley, David Kelly, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Bruce Martin, Mark Orchard, Michael Parlane, Gareth West, Joseph Yovich.

* Match starts 10am, live on Sky Sport.