With little more than a fortnight until the 2018 Burger King Super Smash Grand Final on 20 January, all eyes are turning to the top of the leaderboard as the heat goes on to lock in a top three finals slot.
With the only hit in New Plymouth yesterday a direct hit from the rainstorm, the Auckland Aces missed a chance to reclaim the outright lead, although the two points for the abandonment did draw them level with the Knights on 20 points at the top.
The Aces will be keen to play their cards right back in Auckland. NZC/MButcher
The Knights are still number one on account of their marginally better net run rate, but they head into the Canterbury Kings’ realm today needing to keep running hot, while the mid-table Kings will be anxious not to lose any more ground on the leading bunch.
The Knights have brought back two star performers for today’s Hagley Oval showdown with new WORLD NUMBER ONE T20 bowler Ish Sodhi flying in fresh from the BLACKCAPS’ domination of the West Indies and much loved all-round good guy BJ Watling coming in after being cleared from his early season hip injury.
The Knights have taken a squad of 13 to Christchurch so we will have to wait until toss time to get final word on who’s in the mixer while we’re all keen to hear who’s among the Kingsmen for today’s crunch match.
Burger King Super Smash Canterbury Kings v Knights, Hagley Oval
Friday 5 JAN | 4.10pm LIVE on SKY Sport
• Game 8 for the Knights
• Game 7 for the Kings
UPDATE: Match abandoned [rain], two points awarded to each team
Knights (13)
Dean Brownlie (captain)
Sean Davey
Anton Devcich
Daniel Flynn
Brett Hampton
Chris Jordan
Nick Kelly
Daryl Mitchell
Brett Randell
Tim Seifert (wicketkeeper)
Ish Sodhi
Joe Walker
BJ Watling
Canterbury Kings
Haven’t released their squad yet.
