Cricket: Knights look to continue winning momentum

Joe Carter.

The Northern Knights are chocker full of Bay of Plenty players as they look to continue their surge up the Plunket Shield ladder against Wellington at Karori Park tomorrow.

The game comes after the Knights' incredible 310-run victory over ladder leaders Canterbury Wizards in Gisborne. After setting Canterbury 383 for victory, the Northern Knights routed the Wizards for just 73 on the final day with Black Cap leggie Ish Sodhi claiming a career-best 5/29.

Northern Knights now sit in fourth place with three games to go, just 11 points from second, and 18 from the top. A maximum of 20 points can be achieved in any match. With all three of their matches against teams placed second and third, results are highly likely, giving the Knights the chance to rise further.

Northern Knights lose the services of Trent Boult, BJ Watling and Ish Sodhi with the Black Caps test squad playing India starting today in Auckland. Other Northern Knights in the Black Caps test team are Kane Williamson, Corey Anderson and Tim Southee.

Jono Boult, James Baker, and debutant Rory Christopherson have been brought into the team to replace the test trio.

The hard-luck story is young contracted wicket-keeper Cameron Fletcher who has waited patiently behind Watling for the majority of the season for an opportunity. He is set to undergo surgery on a finger that never recovered after he hurt it in round three of the Plunket Shield.

Bay of Plenty's Boult returns to the Northern Knights after playing against India for a New Zealand XI last weekend.

The Knights were buoyed again by the performances of some young batsman in the thrashing of Canterbury. Bay of Plenty's dynamic duo of Joe Carter and Bharat Popli excelled again. Carter made 64 while Popli reached his highest score of 82 in just his second first-class game. Mitchell Santner notched up his debut century (118) in their only innings for the match.