Cricket: Consistency in game of stats yields new crop

DEBUT: Jayden Wiggins.

HEADS WERE always going to roll but if you are Scott Schaw then it's fair to say you must be left scratching that bleedin' noggin.

Schaw showed gritty determination last Sunday with fellow middle-order batsman Casey Rangi in the Pay Excellence Hawke's Bay senior men's representative team's humiliating seven-wicket loss to Poverty Bay during the Kirk Cup clash in Gisborne but finds himself surplus to requirements this weekend in the Hawke Cup opener against Wanganui in Napier.

Out go brother and fellow Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay teammates Angus Schaw and veteran James Mackie as well as Sharpies Driving Range Taradale CC seamer Ben Stoyanoff.

But Bay player/coach Mathew Sinclair, who didn't travel with the team last Sunday, hastens to add it isn't just about that loss, which was a "train wreck" because of the tricky conditions, but taking a more wholesome approach to selection.

"We want a feel of continuity and so we've selected with regard to that," says the former New Zealand international who has asked HBCA high development performance manager Dale Smidt to furnish stats.

"We were looking at some guys' performance for the past year and a half so we based it on that against Wanganui," Sinclair says, as Smidt sifted through premier club and Bay rep data.

The Schaw brothers, he says, have consequently come up " a little short".

"Dale's come up with a good formula ... for continuity to warrant selection so we can't ask any more than that."

Captain Stevie Smidt, after resting a dodgy bowling shoulder, and Sinclair were always going to return to the fold.

"We didn't pick Angus because he has a nine-point-something average so statistics don't lie."

Dale skipper Luke Kenworthy will open batting with Ben Fair.

Last Sunday's three debutantes of Rangi, Fair and Blair Tickner also remain after the Harry Barker Reserve howler but Sinclair feels Stoyanoff missing out is hard - although if he keeps performing then they'll have to pick him.

The Dale seamer took seven wickets at prem level last Saturday. "Casey's also giving us a bowling option and his hard work is great while Robbie keeps well but Kenworthy is a good keeper and is batting better."

This weekend's new caps are Heretaunga Building Society Cornwall CC allrounder Jayden Wiggins and Bayleys Havelock North CC batsman Dominic Thompson back from Otago uni.

"Wiggins worked very hard for Cornwall, who lost a lot of players, so he stepped up this season," Sinclair says of the 21-year-old who has returned from playing prem club cricket in Kent, England.

Wiggins, who is relishing a leadership role at Cornwall, claimed 45 wickets in the English summer and score more than 600 runs.

"I'm rapt for him because he's been bowling and batting well most weeks."

Coaching schoolchildren's cricket in Kent, Wiggins says he has developed his mental game, after quitting his joinery studies in Palmerston North.

"When I was there [Kent] I played like I had nothing to lose ... I come back here with prem club and there's the pressure of making the Bay team," he says, keen to return to Kent in April.

Wiggins is nervous and excited about his cup debut but knows come today his seam-up medium pacers and batting at No 7 will come to the fore.

The Pay Excellence Hawke's Bay team to play Active Physio Wanganui in the opening round of the zone 2 Hawke Cup qualifying match at Nelson Park, Napier, this weekend:

BOTH TEAMS

HAWKE'S BAY: Stevie Smidt (c), Ben Fair, Luke Kenworthy (wk), Graeme Tryon, Mathew Sinclair, Dominic Thompson*, Jayden Wiggins*, Jayden Lennox, Casey Rangi, Blair Tickner, Liam Rukuwai, Charlie Robson.

Coach: Mathew Sinclair.

WANGANUI: John McIlraith, Max Carroll (v-c), Henry Collier (c), Mark Fraser, Jono Steward, Dominic Lock, Dominic Rayner, Chris Sharrock (wk), Fraser Kinnerley, Sam O'Leary, Ryan Slight, Ryan Balsley.

Coach: Rod Bannister.