Sunday's Shell Cup semi-final between home Central Districts and visiting team Northern Districts is shaping as a classic battle between the younger and older elements on the New Zealand cricket scene.

The game, starting in Napier at 12 noon, features one of the harder, and tougher, one day units in the country in recent seasons, Northern Districts, with its all round strengths and experience against an often unfancied Central Districts team which has defied the odds this year.

While the rest of the country has been struggling with bowlers' injuries, CD has not been immune. But it has found a pool of young players who have responded to the challenge of making the side a highly-competitive unit.

Both Auckland and Otago felt that in the last two rounds of the Cup round robin when dismissed for 73 and 67 respectively by an attack that is completely unheralded.

CD coach Dipak Patel thinks seeing the horrific injury suffered by leading bowler Michael Mason in Timaru when he broke his ankle after attempting to avoid a stunning Nathan Astle drive on his follow through, has been the spur for his bowlers.

"There is a lot of self-belief involved and what happened in Timaru was an inspiration to the guys. We have been working hard for the last two months on what we wanted to do this season and the bowlers have all been told what lines and lengths they should be bowling to and they have gone away and worked on it.

"For young guys it can be quite daunting coming in like they have but they have stuck to it well.

"They have done the hard work and what has been pleasing to me is that they have converted that into performance under pressure," Patel said.

CD have had other frustrations during the season and the weather has been their curse. But it is a credit to the team that it has held together as a combative unit while missing four of a possible 10 games due to the weather.

That has also had another advantage for the side, they are not as worn out as some of the other teams who have played at least nine or 10 of their games.

What is of concern however, especially with the magnitude of the last two wins, is the lack of batting for the batsmen in the side. That is where ND will be looking to expose CD, while also looking to get inside the minds of the less experienced CD bowlers.

It is not a cunning ND tactic, it's a commonsense approach to winning the game. The winner takes all the spoils and hosts the first of the best-of-three finals, starting on Thursday.

ND coach Chris Kuggeleijn said CD's form of late had been most impressive while his side had struggled.

"It was always going to be hard to play Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland in our last three games," he said.

Losing all three was not the greatest harbinger going into tomorrow's game, especially after Auckland set a scoring record for themselves by posting 318 in the last game.

"There's not a lot I can do to turn it around. It's the individuals in the team who have to do it.

"We will have to bring more discipline into all facets of our game. The momentum swung so quickly against Auckland. One minute we were doing fine then all of a sudden they had 80 runs on the board," he said.

How the ND side will line-up in the batting department remained to be seen. Daniel Vettori would continue to open the batting but there was some consideration to be put into whether Simon Doull would continue to bat high up in the order.

"They have quite an inexperienced attack and if it is a flattish wicket it will be interesting. We will have to have a look at the wicket first," he said.

The game, which is expected to be attended by a good-sized crowd in Napier after Patel said there was a crowd out watching the side practice today, which was unusual, has all the qualities of a true semi-final with both teams having everything to play for.

The CD attack will be put under scrutiny, but after their mauling by Auckland, the ND bowlers, experienced as they are, could also be susceptible if the highly-talented CD batting gets some momentum going. They field three internationals now in Mathew Sinclair, Craig Spearman and Jacob Oram.

Doull, who only bowled four overs in ND's game with Auckland, was not injured and has a key role to play while also stepping into consideration again for international duties over the next two months.

There is everything for both teams to play for at a time when the Shell Cup needs some high-scoring.

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