RUNS are traditionally the currency in demand in the world of head groundsman Phil Stoyanoff in Napier but, surprisingly, it's the wickets that are threatening to devalue the profits from the bat during the Hawke Cup clash at Nelson Park.
Hawke Cup holders Pay Excellence Hawke's Bay senior men's representative team were in all sorts of trouble after they lost the toss and were back in the pavilion for a paltry 162 runs in their first innings.
However, the Jacob Smith-skippered hosts clawed their way back with the ball after the Bay of Plenty also failed to make inroads with the bat.
At stumps, the challengers were 51 runs shy of eclipsing the total for the loss of five wickets in their quest of first-innings points as an insurance cover but the weather forecast suggests that won't be necessary on the account of blokes coming to terms with the philosophy of what matters most is not the deliveries you play but actually the ones you leave.
"We gave away some very cheap wickets after building partnerships," Bay coach Colin Schaw said last night.