The Northern Knights are celebrating their third win of the HRV Twenty20 Cup after beating the Wellington Firebirds in front of a crowd of about 4100 people at Bay Oval, Blake Park, on Friday evening.
Batting first the Wellington Firebirds scrounged together 119 runs for the loss of nine wickets from their 20 overs.

File Graphic.

This score disappointed Bay of Plenty Cricket general manager David Johnston, who at half time noted, 'The pitch is good, so it's a shame, but I think it shows how good the Knights bowled.”
'It was the best performance I have seen from them.”
The run chase for the Knights was well constructed with opening batsman Peter McGlashan scoring 43 runs in a partnership worth 61 with Daniel Vettori. Vettori went on to score 39 runs before being caught by Paul Hitchcock on the rope. There was some doubt over this dismissal as Hitchcock juggled the ball in the air while stepping in and out of the boundary rope and with no television replays available it was up to the umpires in the middle. There was no benefit of the doubt given for Vettori and he was sent on his way – but the crowd did not mind.
'Got to have faith in a catch like that – it's phenomenal,” says spectator David Winter.
The only disappointment for the cricket fans was Sri Lankan master blaster Thilkaratne Dilshan only managed to score four runs before being caught in the third over.
'It was a slight let down but was made up for by the Knights winning,” says spectator Mark Wright.
Northern strolled to victory in the end, with Anton Devcic smashing two sixes in the 17th over of the Knight's innings to see them home.