McNeil smashed 64 runs after the Knights were languishing at 5-80 in their run chase against the Northern Cowboys in Melbourne yesterday.

His hard-hitting knock comes on top of his 63 on the opening day of the championships when the Knights were in trouble against South East Seagulls.

The Cowboys, after a disappointing loss on the opening day of the championships, made the competitive total of 159 runs from their 50 overs, but they had no answer to McNeil, Matt Brown (47) and Trent Lappin (34no) as the Knights made 9/227 from their overs.

“We lost a few early wickets again, but then we had a good partnership of 60 or 70 between McNeil and Brown,” team manager Doug Nielsen said.

“Again it was a fighting battle from the tail-end down.”

Earlier in the day the Knights bowling stocks suffered a blow after promising Belvoir quick Josh Mallichan broke down after just four overs with a back injury.

The Knights will be aiming to make it three from three when they clash with Metro South East today.