Cairns forced to make changes,Three out, three in

IN THE SQUAD: Keegan Martin lets fly. Picture by Liam Clayton

POVERTY Bay cricket coach Lance Cairns has been forced to make three changes for tomorrow’s 50-over Kirk Cup match against Hawke’s Bay in Napier.

Craig Christophers, Jak Rowe and Jack Faulkner, who played in the 35-over and Twenty20 wins against Northern Districts Maori in Gisborne two weeks ago, are unavailable.

In come Jared McDonald, Blake Taylor and Keegan Martin.

Former Poverty Bay player McDonald is now based in Wellington, having returned from a spell in England.

“Jared McDonald is keen to represent the Bay and we’ll be looking for his runs and experience to mitigate the temporary unavailability of Craig,” selector Ryan Majstrovic said.

“Blake is back from university and comes in with an opportunity to push for a regular opening bowler’s spot.

“He puts the ball in good areas, and generates movement off the pitch and in the air.

“With Jak out, Timoti Weir will have increased responsibility, but we’re fortunate to still have the variety of a left-hand seamer in Keegan.

“He also offers us solid technical ability with the bat and the variety of a left-handed batsman.”

Majstrovic said a game against Hawke’s Bay let them know where “big brother” was at.

“Then we can put all our energies into catching up,” he said.

“We made a great, positive start to the season against ND Maori. Craig got the squad firing and introduced some high standards in the field.

“To compete with Hawke’s Bay, that’s where we’ll need to grind, and let our talented batsmen make statements of their own by laying a solid platform then building to a couple of big scores, or one really big one.”

Angus Schaw will play his 50th match for Hawke’s Bay and any hint of complacency within the Hawke’s Bay cricket team will be quickly dealt to during the countdown to the match.

Hawke’s Bay players will only need to be reminded of the 2014 edition of the fixture — a seven-wicket win to Poverty Bay at Harry Barker Reserve. On that day, Hawke’s Bay were skittled for 57 runs in the 50-over match.

“We got hammered,” said Schaw, who will have off-spin bowling and middle-order batting roles tomorrow.

Hawke’s Bay coach Colin Schaw has been forced to make a late change, with captain Jake Smith unavailable with a calf injury. He has been replaced by Dom Thompson, who will bat at No.7.

Experienced Napier Technical campaigner Liam Rukuwai, who led Hawke’s Bay to two Twenty20 wins against Bay of Plenty in Tauranga at Labour Weekend, will again have the captain’s job. Rukuwai was the Hawke’s Bay captain in the 2014 loss.

“Poverty Bay are always a side who can give Hawke’s Bay a fright,” Colin Schaw said.

“We’re taking this game very seriously.

“We’ve named a team who can bat right through. We’re carrying an extra batsman in case we have to chase runs in short periods if the weather turns nasty.”

TeamPOVERTY BAY: Danny Gibbs (captain), Scott Tallott, Jared McDonald, Thomas Hayes, Drew Scott, Kieran Venema, Richard Mills, Jonathan Purcell, Keegan Martin, Timoti Weir, Blake Taylor and Jimmy Holden.