Momentum the key for Northern Districts

As I write this I'm looking out onto Westpac Park as the rain comes down causing a delay to the start of our round seven State Championship game against Canterbury - another must win game for us if we are to compete at the top of the table in this competition as well.

Cricket is all about momentum and we have come off wins against Central Districts and Otago so we are confident in our ability to continue playing quality cricket.

It's been a hectic couple of months for us and full of highs and lows.

Midway through the State Shield we were struggling along and having to fight hard to make the top three cut for the semi-finals. To me this was the most exciting time in the group as we saw real character being show by the team to stand up and perform when the prospect of disappointment was so realistic.

We stuck together and 'hung tough' after Timaru where Canterbury chased our 263 and beat us. That was a crucial point in the campaign.

It's easy for everyone to be positive and a happy group when we're winning but to me it was at a low point like that when we saw the true character of the team. We were constructive, stayed together and from there on played some of our best and most exciting cricket.

The following couple of weeks saw some fantastic individual and team performances which culminated in the final against Auckland at Albany. Everyone contributed.

Our Black Caps who are now in South Africa gave all they had.

Players coming into the team when the Black Caps left stepped up to the mark straight away. Our bowling unit did the job aggressively and our batsmen gave the bowlers totals in excess of 220 to defend consistently.

Now it's back to the longer version - the State Championship - until late March. This cricket, while not getting the media and public attention that the one-dayers get, is actually full of exciting and entertaining battles.

You see real insights into the behaviour and substance of players that is not seen in the shorter version of the game. Recent examples that spring to mind are the composure at the crease of Mark Orchard (in his first full year of first-class cricket) to bat for nearly five hours against a quality Central Districts attack to chase down a win at Napier last week.

Then there's the aggression and pace of Ian Butler and Joseph Yovich. While most guys run in hard with the new ball these two guys have the same intensity and style about them when they're bowling the 70th over of the innings on a long hot day.

Lastly, while it's crucial that the players do the business on the park, when we look a little deeper at Northern Districts we have a lot to thank our coach Bruce Blair for in giving us the best chance to succeed.

There is a lot of merit in the now cliched term team 'environment'. Bruce puts in many unrecognised hours giving us the coaching and preparation work to help us be the best we can be and he has the confidence in himself to get the best support crew around us that he can and then step back and let them contribute - Shane Derry as physio/manager, Jason Wheedon as trainer and Rosanna Stanimirovic as mental skills manager.

Here's hoping that next time I add to the column that I will be able to write about Daryl Tuffey, Scott Styris and Daniel Vettori winning the World Cup for us.