Cricket: Test match in one day for prems

Premier club cricketers observe a minute's silence for CHB stalwart Mike Lewis before the start of their season at Nelson Park, Napier, on Saturday. PHOTO/Warren Buckland

TEAMS have labelled the new 110-over format to stop premier men's club red-ball cricket ending by 2pm this summer as "interesting".

"It's a test match in one day," was the response of The Station Napier Old Boys' Marist (NOBM) captain Mathew Sinclair, after the opening round of the Property Brokers-sponsored competition at Nelson Park, Napier, on Saturday.

Sinclair gave the format a thumbs up in trying to eke out results although he noted how the game was mutating to provide entertainment.

"You can declare after just 30 overs," said the former Black Caps cricketer, suspecting it created the opportunity to enable teams on how best to exploit the new rules.

"You can get as many runs and then put them in with a 50 to 60-run buffer," he said, after NOBM thumped United Travel Taradale by an innings and 58 runs.

Sinclair said the rules posed some challenges and they were the first team to rise to them, capitalising on their first-class players for an outright victory.

He felt the winning draw on the adjacent pitch between Heretaunga Building Society Cornwall and Big Barrell Napier Technical Old Boys (NTOB) was "a boring game", although he felt the Hastings club "did everything to win".

However, NTOB coach Dale Smidt said: "It was a good game, to be fair."

So why didn't NTOB claim an outright result?

"Our boys put down five catches so it would have been different if they had held on to those," said the newly ordained NTOB life member.

Smidt saluted his opening batsmen, Matt Edmondson and Central Districts Stag Greg Hay, for providing the platform for Jesse Ryder, Indika Senarathne and Christian Leopard to launch their innings.

Leopard, according to Smidt, stopped action on the other two games after pummelling veteran Cornwall spinner Jono Hall for six sixes off an over.

"I've never seen anything like it in a games, apart from seeing it a few times on TV. The other two games stopped to watch the last six.

"Although he didn't get hold of the sixth six as well as the others it was a bit of a special moment to get all six," he said of the former New Zealand under-19 representative who scored 73 runs.

But the top scorer of the day went to Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay import GC
Pretorius who made his intentions clear with 76 runs in the first dig after he was promoted to opener in their seven-wicket win over Bayleys Real Estate Havelock North.

The South African legspinner also took 4-26 with the ball in a game that meant a lot to CHB who had joined other teams on the park to observe a minute's silence at 10.20am as a mark of respect for stalwart Mike Lewis who died suddenly last month.

"It was a good day for Mike Lewis and us," said CHB coach Colin Atkinson who will miss the services of some key players, including Pretorius, this Saturday because of the annual CD inter-district one-day Chapple Cup tournament at Nelson Park.

The villagers had to restart their innings after three overs when umpires realised CHB were inadvertently bowling with a lower-grade "senior tour" Kookaburra ball, rather than a premier level one.

"We had the wrong ball. The umpires found out we were not compliant," said Atkinson with Havelock, who had lost two wickets, reloading for the restart of their innings.

Havelock North bowler Jeremy Ketel was the pick of the bowlers , claiming a five-wicket bag, while Taradale's CD spinner Ajaz Patel picked up four scalps.

All teams echoed the sentiments of Atkinson that the recent inclement weather had robbed their players of the grass-wicket feel after weeks of indoor training.

Said Smidt: "We're a bit undercooked on the grass and it wasn't easy for batsmen with the ball seaming and swinging everywhere on a green surface."