With each domestic cricket preview, I'll make a wee video to go with it for Patreon. We''ll be getting knee deep in domestic cricket this summer and there will be some bonus, exclusive stuff on Patreon as well. All you gotta do is sign up for $1 a month and tu meke.

Here's the link for the Northern Districts Knights preview video

The mere fact that Northern Districts Knights stay relevant in domestic cricket should be used as an example for any sporting franchise/team in Aotearoa. While other provinces produce their own crop of Blackcaps, ND have a group of Blackcaps who play in all formats via their quality and they've got a fair few of them. This has forced ND to build a large group of players who can play the bulk of the domestic cricket while the likes of Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner, BJ Watling and Corey Anderson are unavailable; ND need to have a more players who are of First-Class standard than other provinces.

Over the last few seasons, ND have done so by shifting towards their young wave of cricketers and this young wave has been lucky enough to enter domestic cricket under the guidance of a strong veteran core. Players like Brent Arnel, James Baker, Dean Brownlie, Anton Devcich and Daniel Flynn have largely been responsible for keeping ND on track as the Blackcaps come and go, building a stable base that allows youngsters to settle into FC cricket.

ND are graced with a large catchment area which obviously helps matters, although this is also a sign of their slick development systems as the logistics involved in managing talent from Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty ain't easy. That group of Blackcaps are an example of ND's reach as Southee's from tha naughty north, Williamson and Boult are from Tauranga, Watling and Santner are from Hamilton and Sodhi is from Counties Manukau in Auckland, while Anderson moved up from Canterbury. This mix applies to ND's younger crop as well and coach Jimmy Pamment and ND's development coaches could write a blueprint on talent identification and coaching logistics given the production line of talent they roll out each season, from all corners of their region.

Having followed the domestic wicket-keeper group for the past few years, the most interesting Knights player this season is definitely Tim Seifert. With Watling away on Blackcaps duty a lot of the time, ND need to have another keeper to cover Watling's absence and Seifert hasn't just plugged the hole, he's demanded Blackcaps attention. It wasn't long ago that Canterbury w-k Cam Fletcher was with ND, then Seifert emerged and since then Seifert has leveled-up with each season, to the point where it's either him or Tom Blundell who is next in line to replace Watling.

Seifert earned an Aotearoa 'A' call up to tour India after averaging 36.70 in Plunket Shield last summer and 37.28 in Ford Trophy. This came with Seifert switching styles to suit the format as he had a strike-rate of just 42.04 in PS and 101.55 in FT; Seifert finished the FT with the most runs/highest average of w-kers and was second to Blundell in PS.

We know Seifert has announced his arrival and how he backs up his solid work last season will definitely be of interest, however with Watling likely to be available more this season, Seifert's circumstance will also be of interest. Watling will only play four Tests this summer and is unlikely to feature in the plethora of limited overs cricket, creating a tricky situation for ND as they'll have two w-kers who deserve selection. Watling spent stages of the Super Smash in the field last summer for example and as Watling and Seifert hold their own as batsmen, they will both be selected in PS games.

Who is the w-k will be an interesting selection decision for Pamment, on top of the funk of Seifert backing up his breakout season. Seifert only has to look at his comrade Bharat Popli to see how niggly that can be and Popli comes into this season on the back of averaging just 23.27 in PS last summer.

Popli was an absolute gun in the summer of 2015/16 and was the trendy name of cricket fans who wanted to flex their knowledge. Popli basically scored runs for fun in PS, then fell off a cliff in terms of run-scoring, also averaging 23.42 in FT and now he's got to prove that his block-busting summer two years ago wasn't a one-season wonder.

This is why sport is so fun as someone like Popli has to suss out what went wrong and adjust, make technical or mental tweaks. As someone who observes this stuff, it's then fun for me because I get to watch this career arc play out and I expect Popli to get back to a level of run-scoring the he knows he can. Perhaps there were signs that Popli got back on track as three of his four PS half-centuries came in the last five games. The bowling machine would have took a pounding this winter from Popli and I'm intrigued by the results.

Leading all wicket-takers in FT (25avg) and taking the most wickets of all seamers in PS (27.29avg) last summer was Scott Kuggeleijn. He's been rolling through steady summers for a while now and peaked with a dominant summer last time around, hence attention and a Blackcaps call up came his way.

From strictly a ND perspective, Kuggeleijn could be even better this summer as the return of Brent Arnel will offer an experienced seamer who can help bring the best out of Kuggeleijn. Arnel and James Baker will also offer classic kiwi line and length seam, with Kuggeleijn bustling in form the other end and this balance is likely to ensure plenty of wickets for all; Arnel and Baker bring batsmen forward, Kuggeleijn pegs 'em back etc. Last summer Kuggeleijn was often leading the attack, so I reckon he'll pose a different threat with Arnel back up in the mix.

With the bigger picture in mind, Kuggeleijn needs another dominant summer to really stamp his mark in the quick bowler group that has been simmering away. Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson are ahead of Kuggeleijn in that group and I doubt there will be too many Blackcaps opportunities this summer for Kuggeleijn, that only means more opportunities for Kuggeleijn to impress in domestic cricket.

One low key player to watch is spinner Josef Walker. Walker will get plenty of game time with Sodhi and Santner in the Blackcaps frame and veteran tweaker Jono Boult didn't get a contract, meaning that Walker and Anton Devcich will be the main spin options. Playing eight games last summer, Walker got a major sniff of FC cricket and much of this came alongside Sodhi; Sodhi played seven games and bowled 299 overs, Walker played eight games and bowled 170 overs.

How Walker goes with greater responsibility will be a undercover narrative to keep tabs on this season and while he doesn't boast any great numbers from last season (48.66avg FT), he demanded selection - partly thanks to his batting - alongside Sodhi last season. He also took 12 wickets, including a 5-for, so there's something to work with and this season will give him greater opportunities to stack up the overs as the main spinner.

Peace and love 27.

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