As I write this the State Northern Knights are in Rotorua preparing to play Wellington in the sixth round of the State Shield.

As seems par for the course this summer, it is raining again, and fitness work and indoor nets are the best preparation we can find.

Our campaign to date has been very pleasing - four wins from five games. The biggest positive for me is that I feel our team is improving in our skill execution as we go. Our bowlers are bowling better lines and our batsmen are sticking to their gameplans on, at times, some bowler-friendly surfaces.

With the business end of the campaign now on us I am confident that all is being done within our unit to allow for the greatest chance of success. The next few weeks will tell.

The great highlight of the State Shield for me so far has been our win over the State Auckland Aces in round one. Left with the target of 280 to chase, we felt that after an aggressive first 15 overs that our greatest chance of winning was to accumulate conservatively through the middle part of the innings and leave ourselves 'in the game' with wickets in hand with 10 overs to go.

Experience has shown that all to often in these situations wickets are steadily sacrificed in an effort to keep close to the required run rate and the tail-enders are left with the unlikely task of scoring the last 50 or 60 runs.

Scott Styris' courage and maturity in sticking to this philosophy saw one of the great innings played by the Knights.

On the bowling side of things, the progress being made by Joey Yovich has been fantastic. He is presently the top wicket-taker in the State Shield with 12 wickets and consistently produces aggressive pace and bounce. I get the feeling that the preparation and hard work which Joey puts into his cricket will be well rewarded over the next two or three years.

Lastly, the off-field highlight for me has to be the recent improvement to our team's social committee. With Styris, the somewhat inactive figurehead of this committee now in Australia with the CLEAR Black Caps, Simon Doull has been voted onto the committee to join Grant Bradburn.

A number of top class events have been organised ranging from bungy jumping by James Marshall in Queenstown through to a disposable camera photography competition here in Rotorua.

Perhaps Scott may find himself better suited to taking over luggage and laundry responsibilities when he returns from Australia.

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