At last, time for some cricket!

You beauty! We're into it - the sun is out and we are shortly embarking on our State Championship campaign with the excitement and expectation that feels similar to the good old days of Under-14 age-group tournaments.

The first game, against the State Auckland Aces, will be a great challenge and we are determined to meet this challenge head on - and why not enjoy it as well!

When I look around our dressing room, I see a group of players passionate and proud to be playing for the Northern Knights and pushing for opportunities to represent the TelstraClear Black Caps over the coming summer.

And I also see a coach who has brought professionalism and preparation to new levels in our developing environment.

Bruce Blair's support crew, of Jason Wheedon (fitness), Shane Derry (management/physio) and Rosanna Stanimirovic (psych), give us every chance of succeeding as a team, and individually becoming the cricketers we strive to be.

Another element in the Northern Knights squad has been the involvement of players new to the area. Three guys with first-class experience - David Kelly, Gareth West (both formerly Central Stags) and Nick Horsley (Auckland Aces last year) have been training with us and had their first opportunity playing for the Knights in our Auckland two-day warm-up game.

Their claims to fame at first-class level are more than substantial - David has a double century to his name, Gareth has a bowling average less than 30 and Nick scored his maiden century in the last game of the 2001/02 summer.

As I see it, new players (whether from outside the area or home grown) bring two exciting aspects to our squad. Firstly, the extra competitiveness for spots in the side makes us all work harder as there is a bigger pool of top class players for the selectors to choose from. Secondly, they bring new ideas and attitudes to the dressing room which is always very healthy for a group where the majority have been together for a period of time.

For me, it has been a funny old winter. When they said that sport is full of ups and downs I always thought it was a very tired cliche - how not so!!

In April I married my long-time partner Sarah and was chosen to be a Black Cap within the space of a week.

In May, I was dragging myself out of a bomb scene in Pakistan which had every chapter of the worst of nightmares covered.

In June, I was celebrating an historic Test win in the Caribbean; batting with my mate Scott Styris to save a Test and win the series; standing at our dressing room balcony and watching a group of fantastic, patriotic New Zealanders do a haka amid a crowd of West Indians.

Then over the past months the off-field cricket saga has added a couple of white hairs to my ever receding hairline.

So what's in store in the next few months?

Will the Northern Knights win the State Championship and Shield?

Will I score a Test century and take some great catches against the Indians? That's the beauty of sport and life - the expectations and hopes are greater than ever before. One thing is for sure. The Northern Knights players are focused and on task.