The SKYCITY Northern Knights have moved to second on the Georgie Pie Super Smash ladder after a comfortable seven-wicket win over the Mighty Ape Wellington Firebirds at the Basin.
Anton Devcich and Kevin O’Brien were the key men for the Knights, contributing with both bat and ball for a Northern side missing Corey Anderson (rest) and Ben Laughlin (injury).
The Firebirds had won the toss and decided to bat on a pristine afternoon, and they had Stephen Murdoch to thank again for guiding them to a respectable total.
Murdoch bashed an unbeaten 92 from 59 balls, scoring 60 per cent of the Firebirds’ runs as they made 152/5 from their 20 overs.
His aggression was required after opener Michael Papps got the hosts off to a slow start, making eight from 20 balls as Devcich tied down an end – his first three overs going for just six runs.
The Knights' bowlers were doing an excellent job restricting the big shots, Jono Boult and O’Brien giving up only singles as the Firebirds went 33 balls without scoring a boundary.
With Alecz Day (17) the next highest scorer, Murdoch took the impetus – the Firebirds taking 18 off an Ish Sodhi over before 19 runs came off the last five balls of the innings to reach a competitive total.
Murdoch ended with five fours and six sixes as he continued his fine summer, while Devcich, Sodhi, O’Brien, Boult and Scott Kuggeleijn shared the five wickets between them.
In response, the Knights went after the chase aggressively, Devcich and Daniel Flynn putting on 53 from the first six overs before Flynn went for 18, caught of the bowling of Brent Arnel
Devcich continued strongly though, while new partner Dean Brownlie had a strong cameo, smashing two sixes off Day before departing for a valuable 23 from 13.
Brownlie departed at 92/2 after 10.4 overs, and although Jeetan Patel continued to restrict the flow of runs (going for just 24 from his four overs), the partnership of Devcich and O’Brien proved pivotal.
Devcich’s brilliant consistent start to the season continued when he reached his 50, and he powered on to 67 from 53 balls until being dismissed by a great catch from Michael Pollard off the bowling of Day.
His departure left the Knights needing 22 from 22 balls, and O’Brien made short work of it, blasting two fours and a six to end unbeaten on 33 and give the Knights the seven-wicket win with two overs to spare
The win puts the Knights in second on the Georgie Pie Super Smash table with 14 points from six games, behind only the SBS Bank Otago Volts, who have 16 points. The Mondiale Auckland Aces are the other form side currently in prime contention, having picked up 14 points from their five games to date.
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