Cairns hoping for quick return to rep top flight

GREAT DANE: Pirates skipper Dane Thompson was in superb form for Poverty Bay against Bay of Plenty at the weekend. Picture by Paul Rickard

Poverty Bay senior men’s cricket coach Lance Cairns says he hopes his side will be ready to return to playing Northern Districts top-flight competition — Fergus Hickey — next season.

Poverty Bay Cricket Association made the decision to drop to the second-tier competition, the Basil McBurney Trophy, last year.

“There’s no point in playing at the top level if we’re getting hidings . . . no one’s going to learn from those games,” said Cairns, who watched his side beat Bay of Plenty in Gisborne at the weekend.

“Different teams take different approaches to the Basil McBurney competition.

“Some use it to develop young players. I want to use the competition to develop a winning mentality so that we can go back to playing at the next level, and I hope we can do that next season.

“I’ve seen a big improvement this season.

“Players want to improve their techniques and the South African boys — Nick (Hendrie, PBCA operations manager), Bruce (Kerr), Matty (Crampton) and Graham (Hudson) will help raise expectations.

“They are young guys who are loving it here and working hard to develop their game, which is rubbing off on our local players.”

While happy with the win at the weekend, Cairns said he was looking for more improvement in Poverty Bay’s next games — a Twenty20 clash against Counties Manukau in Tauranga on December 2, followed by the T20 three-day ND tournament in Taupo, also in December.

“Like Nick, I was disappointed we didn’t score more runs,” Cairns said.

“More often than not, the majority of runs are made by three batsmen.

“Nick scored 72, then Robbie (Tallott) and Thomas (Hayes) should have gone on to score more, which would have taken us over 300.

“Both had good knocks — Robbie, 42, and Thomas, 35 — and I was happy with the way they batted. But both got out to bad shots.

“They need to think, once they’re in, do they really need to play those types of shots?

“I see Robbie as a player who can do something in cricket if he works hard.

“He’s a thinking cricketer and when he’s fully recovered from a knee injury, he won’t be the slowest bowler around.”

Cairns was also pleased with the performances of Dane Thompson, Craig Christophers, Crampton and Inder Singh.

“As well as taking four wickets, Dane bowled 15 straight dot balls at a crucial time in the game.

“Craig did a great job through the middle, getting through his 10 overs for 40-something. Inder bowled only six overs but he took three wickets. Matty Crampton’s 10 overs cost just 27, and he’s a brilliant fielder.”

Cairns is “not a huge fan” of the shorter version of the game but likes the new Walker Shield T15 Blast format.

“The young players love it and it’s good to see some former players come back to the game.

“It’s giving all the players the ‘yahoo’ feeling, but it’s important they don’t get carried away when they play the Doleman Cup (40-over games).”

As for the Blacks Caps’ stunning win against Pakistan in the first test, Cairns said: “That’s what test cricket is all about. It’s an answer to those who would do away with it.

“There will be some who say Pakistan blew it. I prefer to look at it as New Zealand hanging in and deserving to win.”

He had high praise for man of the match Ajaz Patel, who took 5-59 in the second innings in his test debut at the age of 30.

“You can’t go past experience and he held his nerve . . . good on him.”