Northern Districts seek back-to-back titles

New Zealand's domestic season kicks off on Monday when Northern Districts begin their State Championship defence without their leading run scorer from last summer. Hamish Marshall made 766 runs at 54.71 and was second on the competition run tally in 2006-07 but he will not be back at Hamilton this season after deciding to pursue his career in England.

Predicting winners in New Zealand first-class cricket is a difficult task, but Northern Districts may fancy their chances again this year. They are one team that remains relatively unaffected by the loss of players to the New Zealand side, although they have suffered two big blows with Marshall's departure and Daryl Tuffey's decision to play a full season of club cricket in Sydney.

Daniel Vettori would be a major loss to any team, but lately he has been the only Northern player to regularly wear national colours. The captain James Marshall has been overlooked recently but he will be aiming for a big season as he pushes hard for re-selection in the national team.

On the bright side, the New Zealand A allrounder Mark Orchard is back in the Northern Districts line-up after injury. His abilities with bat and ball will be an important weapon as they look to retain the silverware they took possession of last summer.

James Marshall told the Waikato Times the batsmen were aware there would be greater expectation on their shoulders without Hamish Marshall in the squad. "The bowlers form the real experienced part of our side now, but a lot of the batsman have had three to five seasons with us," James Marshall said.

Their opponents in last year's final may have an uphill battle if they are to threaten again this summer. Canterbury have looked unbeatable over recent seasons. In the days when international players were available for most domestic cricket, they had a host of stars to call on, including Chris Cairns, Shane Bond, Nathan Astle, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan and Stephen Fleming (before he moved to Wellington).

But lately with retirements and greater international commitments, the Christchurch-based team has not looked the same. The one thing that has held them together has been the presence of Chris Harris. He has been overlooked for national honours lately and has led his provincial team from the front. Not only have the younger players learnt from him, but he has also scored a host of runs. Last season he was named the domestic cricketer of the year.

His decision to join the Indian Cricket League is a huge blow to his team. It will now be up to the younger players to put into practice what they have learnt during their brief first-class careers. The addition of the South African players Kruger Van Wyk and Johann Myburgh may help Canterbury this summer, but the team will find it difficult to repeat last season's performance.

Van Wyk will captain the team from behind the stumps and the coach Dave Nosworthy said he had not put any definitive time frame on van Wyk's captaincy but would just see how things went. "Harry [Chris Harris] might be back later but there are no guarantees about that or whether he would even then return to the leadership," Nosworthy told the Press. "You generally don't want to be chopping and changing your captain."

The remaining four teams have all had their successes in different forms of the game over recent summers. Auckland are becoming known as one-day and Twenty20 specialists who can't win a game in the longer version. Central Districts are often a surprise package who are written off early but confound the critics - they won the State Championship in 2005-06. Wellington have a number of solid players who are just outside the gaze of the national selectors, while Otago are always a chance because they are never badly hit by an exodus of players to international duties.

All this shows that it's impossible to predict who will be popping the champagne corks when the State Championship comes to an end on April 11 next year. The first four rounds of the four-day competition will be played before Christmas. It then takes a break as the shorter versions of the game take the spotlight and the business-end of the first-class season then commences in early March, culminating in the five-day final beginning on April 7.

Notable squad changes
Auckland In: Gareth Hopkins.
Canterbury In: Kruger van Wyk. Out: Chris Harris.
Central Districts Out: Lance Hamilton.
Northern Districts In: Mark Orchard. Out: Hamish Marshall, Daryl Tuffey.
Otago In: Derek de Boorder. Out: Gareth Hopkins.