Mauling 'not a train smash' - NK skipper looks ahead

Northern Knight's skipper James Marshall is refusing to read too much into his side's embarrassing innings and 114-run defeat at the hands of Canterbury yesterday, saying it's too early in the season to write them off.
The defending champions are still well placed in the competition after a win and a draw in their two Plunket Shield matches, however Marshall did say that the result at Cobham Oval was a wake-up call for the team.
"It's not a train smash, there's still seven games to go in this competition and we've got a break now before the next round with the one-dayers and Twenty20 games starting up, so it's not a big drama," he said.
"Sure we will think about what happened here but not dwell on it for too long because we've got an opportunity to win a couple of trophies and get some momentum back before we head into the second part of the four-day competition."
With Keir Bettley and Andy Mathieson making their debut for the Knights in the match, the side has now blooded four new players at the first-class level in three matches so far this season. The Knights had five players unavailable for the match on international duty with three first choice players - Daniel Flynn, Trent Boult and wicket-keeper Peter McGlashan - all missing through injury.
The absences obviously damaged the team's chances of winning but Marshall said it wasn't an uncommon situation for a captain at the first class level.
"We realise that with a bit of success over the last two or three years we're going to lose players to higher honours and, of course, players get injured too and you need to have Knights coming through that can do a job.
"Good sides need to front up with good reserves and we think we've got them but unfortunately we got outplayed here today and these guys will be the better for it," he said.
"The guys are hurting. They're sitting there in the changing room and they're not proud of their performance.
"But it's not about how many games you lose - it's about how many games you win and that's always been our philosophy so we've got to pick ourselves up now," he said.
Marshall said a week off before the start of the HRV T20 competition had come at a good time for the team who could use it to regain their winning ways.
Leg spinner Todd Astle was the hero for Canterbury yesterday as they took six wickets in a tick over half an hour to wind up the match and earn a much needed eight competition points.
Knights batsmen Joey Yovich and Bettley looked determined, after a minutes silence was observed to remember the Pike River miners, to continue building their partnership hoping to force Canterbury to bat again.
But when Bettley was ruled out lbw to Astle in the first over - even after taking a big stride forward - the writing was on the wall.
Jono Boult followed next ball with a leading edge sending the ball back to the bowler. Graeme Aldridge successfully defended the hat-trick ball but two overs later when the last of the recognised batsmen, Joey Yovich, was dismissed - again somewhat controversially - the Knights chances of avoiding an embarrassing defeat were fading fast.
There were no further complaints about the decisions, however, with the dismissals more straightforward. Mitchell Clayden dismissed Scott with a great ball to finish with 3-30 while Astle claimed the other two tail-enders Ivins and Mathieson, finishing with a fantastic haul of 6-28 off just 10.5 overs.
The Knights next match is the HRV Cup match in Hamilton against Central Districts next Thursday. Their next Plunket Shield match is back at Cobham Oval in February.