Southee rapt with clinical win

The Northern Districts are casting their eyes ahead to the Champions League proper after moving to the cusp of qualification.

The Knights have thrashed the Lahore Lions by 72 runs in Raipur, dismissing their opponents for just 98 in the chase of 171 for victory.

It means they're two from two and in the box seat to qualify for the lucrative Twenty20 tournament and paceman Tim Southee says that'd be huge.

"We almost played the perfect game tonight and hopefully it's a bit of a blueprint moving forward and hopefully through those main draw games we can keep the standard shown tonight."

He says they kept taking wickets and killed the Lions' momentum from the start.

Northern is in the box seat to qualify for the tournament proper but would guarantee a spot with victory over the Mumbai Indians on Wednesday morning.