Giants in the reckoning

Tony Nixon can't say for sure how many Giants players will be included in his Hutt Valley NPC men's softball team to be named this weekend but he says as many as six or seven are in the reckoning.
Nixon is in his first year in charge of the Hutt Valley side and, with their national league players unavailable for NPC selection Giants, should provide the bulk of the latter side.
And that's without any degree of parochialism on Nixon's part as currently they sit second equal in the InterCity series which features the Wellington and Hutt Valley premier sides and second in the Hutt Valley premier league.
"Obviously there are players in other clubs who have good credentials too but, yes, it does look like Giants will be well represented there," Nixon said of the NPC side. "They could have as many as six or seven & that's the way things look now anyway."
Tomorrow will see Giants take on Lion Red North Island Classic winners Hutt City United in what has the makings of a fiery Intercity series encounter at Fraser Park.
These two sides were drawn to play a double header last Thursday but Hutt City United defaulted both games, a situation which frustrated Giants who were looking forward to locking horns with them then.
"They know how we feel about those defaults and I have a feeling there won't be a lot of love lost tomorrow," Nixon said. "We'll be going at them hammer and tongs and I'd expect them to be doing the same."
The fact Giants will be without skipper Corie Karaitiana is a blow because he is one of their best-performed batters and with Hutt City United likely to have two of the country's top pitchers, the Manley brothers, in their side Giants will need to be right on their mettle in that department.
However, Nixon remains confident that Giants have enough depth in their batting to handle anything the Manleys throw at them and come up trumps.
"It's one of those games where a couple of runs could win it and there's no reason why it shouldn't be us who gets there," he said.
Sunday will see Giants play another Intercity series match when they host Kapiti at South Park.
Corie Karaitiana will be back on deck for that one and while Nixon respects Kapiti he believes his team should be able to win by a comfortable margin.