Knight happy to be back despite limited action

DESPITE spending most of the three days in the tent as 12th woman for the Northern Spirit women’s team, Mel Knight said she was glad to have been part of the side.

“There’s great potential within the team, with many young players who are still at school or university,” said the Poverty Bay senior women’s coach and development officer.

“It was a hot weekend in Napier and it would have been good to have spent more time on the pitch, but it was good to have been involved after last season." (Knight broke her ankle while warming up for a match.)

The Spirit won their T20 game against the Central Hinds and first of two 50-overs game, but lost the second one-day match.

“The two wins were comfortable but the last game was definitely not the best personally,” Knight said. “I went in to bat at 97/8 with 20 overs remaining, batted quite some time with young No.9 Nensi Patel and No.11 Brianna Perry, both from Bay of Plenty.

“We saw off returning quicks Hannah Rowe (White Fern) and Michelle McKay, who bowled exceptionally tight spells. However, the job to bat out the 50 overs fell 10 overs short when Brianna was out leg before wicket.

“With not enough runs on the board (126) the Hinds pushed hard at the target and made it easily in 21.5 overs. I suffered some unflattering bowling figures (0-20) as they threw caution to the wind as the target got closer. With a boundary on one side of the ground being 33 metres at best, the ball flew to the fence at times.”