The Knights squad is full of expectation and ambition as we go about our preparation for the State Max, State Championship and State Shield competitions which will shortly be upon us.

At our recent team training camp during the first week of October, the squad took the opportunity to catch up with each other after winters of either cricket in New Zealand, England, tours, or working and training back home.

The highlight of catching up with one's mates was well complemented with some constructive work on fitness testing, video analysis, strategic planning, nets and a State breakfast launch.

The fitness testing undertaken by the Knights, under the expert guidance of Jason Wheadon, is the toughest I have been lucky enough to have experience.

The results were encouraging in an age where the expectations of cricketer's fitness levels now mirror that of other major sports. Each squad member did a 3000-metre time trial and then was required to complete 10 sets of 4 x 15 metre shuttles within 200 seconds.

New programmes have now been issued by Jason and improvement goals set for the next round of testing in late-October. Rumour has it that our 3000-metre time trial compared favourably to those undertaken by some of the representative rugby teams. (As we achieve our improvement goals perhaps our props may be turning into open side flankers!).

Our new coach Bruce Blair had his first opportunity to address the squad and has had a positive impact from the beginning. Initiatives introduced by Bruce such as video analysis, bowling grids and SWOT analysis (the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats by the group) will bring a further dimension to our environment as we focus on that something special something that sports teams spend their lives pursuing - the winning edge.

The planning and preparation being undertaken, together with the hunger that I have seen in our group certainly places us in a good starting position for the summer which lies ahead.

Over the next few weeks the squad will be looking to turn in performances in club and minor association cricket which captures the eyes of the three selectors. With the depth we have and the younger players coming through the ranks the selectors will have much to discuss as they consider options for the State Max tournament and the State Championship which opens with a game against the State Otago Volts in Dunedin on November 26.

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