Former Black Cap Van Wyk said the day he would throw the towel in would be the day he would stop playing cricket and he could vouch for that for his teammates.
"It'll take a very special performance to get us back into the game," the 33-year-old Ruahine Motors Ford Central Hawke's Bay cricketer said.
The only player to bat is No 11 Ajaz Patel who was 4 not out in the first innings.
The day belonged to the ND bowlers as Black Caps speed merchants Tim Southee and Trent Boult brought up milestones.
Seamer Southee picked up 100 wickets for ND when dismissing opener Ben Smith while left-armer Boult logged in his best figures of 5-30, eclipsing his 5-35 against the Auckland Aces.
Daryl Mitchell's 3-5 was also a milestone on a day when most of the visitors struggled to occupy the crease long enough.
Black Caps batsman Ross Taylor's return from injury in preparation for the West Indies tour hit the judder bars with a caught-and-bowled 10 runs and a duck to Southee and Boult, respectively.
"Today was tough. It wasn't the day when things came easy," Van Wyk lamented.
No arguments with the pedigree of Southee, Boult and Vettori from him but he had reservations about how the Stags batted.
"We didn't bat as well as we should have and liked to have. We needed to take a bit more responsibility."
Van Wyk said the disappointing aspect in the sorry saga was that it wasn't for a lack of trying or commitment.
"We've worked unbelievably hard in all games and if you ask the rest of the boys they'll tell you the same.
"It's just not happening for us so we just need to keep our faith and work ethics and just keep going on," he said, adding the odds stacked against CD is what made it a great game of attrition.
The Heinrich Malan-coached Stags haven't won any games in the shield or the HRV Cup T20 competition for a barren summer.
The defending shield champions have lost their opening-round first-class match to the Wellington Firebirds and two T20 games to ND and the Firebirds. The first T20 game against the Canterbury Wizards in Christchurch was washed out without a ball bowled.
The cruel thing about cricket, he said, was hard work sometimes needed a bit of luck for a favourable result.
"Even if you do all the right things there's no guarantee you'll find success."
Patience and concentration were vital ingredients, too.
So what will turn CD's fortunes around?
"You must stick with the basics. I'm a firm believer of playing a simple game but it's the players who make it complicated," says the wicketkeeper who found some support from stand-in skipper and fellow veteran Jamie How who added 39 runs to an unflattering 169-8 at stumps yesterday.
Youngsters Smith, Carl Cachopa and Will Young got starts but didn't go on to improve their low double figures.
CD started the game well with the ball, having ND in all sorts of trouble in the hosts' first innings but took the foot off their throats as Vettori and Brad Wilson settled in for a respectable 287 runs.
Asked if he felt like New Zealand coach Mike Hesson considering the number of quality Black Caps in the ND stable, Knights coach James Pamment replied: "I've no idea how Mike Hesson's going, mate, but I'm in charge of a good team of quality players."
The Yorkshireman, who arrived in New Zealand in 1988, said the Knights all wore their shirts to represent their region with a great deal of pride.
"They respect what we're trying to do at ND so they buy into that quite well," Pamment said, adding ND weren't happy with their first-innings total although they had made up for it with an 18-wicket haul in the space of a day and a bit.
While it was only fair CD conduct their own post mortem, he said the Stags would no doubt reflect on a poor batting performance.
"We created pressure on them with our bowling but we don't think there were 18 wickets in that time."
Pamment bemoaned his batsmen getting themselves in but getting out, adding Boult (23no) and Ish Sodhi (18 runs) also put their hand up.
ND's success, he said, came from nurturing players from their scattered catchment area from the age-group grades rather then recruiting talent from outside.
Scott Kuggeleijn wasn't from there but was brought up in ND while Black Cap Corey Anderson came from Canterbury but was honing his skills in the region.
ND provided building blocks for the Black Caps but when the internationals returned they bought into the Knights' "tough and tight-knit" philosophy that promoted enjoyment with as much zest.
