Hawke's Bay coach laments loss of key Stags

Hooray! No games for Central Districts until Thursday next week so the Hawk Cup team should have a shadow Stags look about them.
Steady on because that's definitely not the case as leaders Hawke's Bay travel to New Plymouth today to play their match in the district to earn the right to challenge for the bragging rights to minor association cricket supremacy in the country.
While some Bay stalwarts will see red, the coaches of both teams are circumspect about where they stand in the player-availability stakes.
"The stalwarts will be grumpy ... and I could say a lot more but nothing good will come of it," Bay senior men's coach, Lincoln Doull, lamented.
It frustrates Doull that rested CD players can play premier club cricket but are not available for representative duties but the former first-class player appreciates the dilemma CD coach Alan Hunt is facing.
"CD pay their wages so they call the shots," Doull said, after meeting Hunt and co-selector Scott Briasco this week before the undefeated, table-topping Stags resume their four-day Plunket Shield domestic cricket campaign next Thursday against the Northern Districts in Whangarei.
He felt CD had the right to rest the right people as they saw fit but whether he agreed with it was "another matter".
He needed some of the Stags now rather than in two to three weeks.
"I've spoken with Alan and Scott and we've left it at that. I don't want to dwell on it," said the director of sport at Hereworth School.
Hunt said yesterday the reality was it was going to be an arduous season for the Stags, with seven four-day matches in the space of seven weeks.
"It's a tough itinerary if you add the travelling to that so they'll need to recover and recharge their batteries," Hunt said, as the Stags come off a mediocre one-day domestic campaign where they staved off finishing last on the table with only their second win.
Veteran batsman Mathew Sinclair also alluded to defending champions CD still coming to terms with the disappointment of losing in the HRV Cup Twenty20 Cup final against the Auckland Aces early last month, thus missing out on the lucrative T20 World Championship League in India later this year.
In releasing just batsman Brad Patton and all-rounder Kieran Noema-Barnett from his squad, Hunt said the Stags were just one or two injuries away from putting a strain on their bowling stocks.
With leg spinner Tarun Nethula nursing a knee injury, Hunt isn't keen to risk his fast bowlers, Doug Bracewell and Mitchell McClenaghan, who returned this season after a hip injury robbed him of most of last season.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Kruger van Wyk and Sinclair are also out though squad members Carl Cachopa and Jeremy Kuru are available.
"Kruger's roughly had two days off each last month and in December so sleeping in your own bed can sometimes be quite relaxing too," Hunt said.
He believed staying away from home for long spells could also put a strain on players' marriages.
The Aucklander, on debut as CD coach, said the Bay team would not have the benefit of playing Stags even if they got a challenge against Otago Country, who took the cup off holders North Otago Country in Oamaru a fortnight ago.
He was loathe to tell Doull how to prepare for his games but didn't want to entertain the thought of not monitoring Bracewell's cup workload at Pukekura Park from tomorrow, let alone the one-day Chapple Cup match on Sunday.
"I'll be thinking the same as some Bay stalwarts but I think they would also like the Stags to win the Plunket Shield."