No team will attract more interest when matches in the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Umpires Cup limited-overs competition gets under way this weekend than the Bracewell Academy XI.
Made up of overseas players attending the cricket academy based at Rathkeale College under the leadership of former New Zealand pace bowler Brendan Bracewell
they are something of an unknown quantity but reports suggest they should be a competitive unit.
They will, however, face a tough assignment in their opening match against a Rathkeale College first XI including Wairarapa representatives Doug Bracewell, Andy Dodd and Simon Clinton-Baker and other promising players in Andy Oldfield and Brock Price.
Lansdowne were a dominant side last season but with the loss of key players like Henry Cameron, Ngatai Walker and Sam Curtis they will be relying hugely on the all-round skills of newly-appointed Wairarapa skipper Robin James.
Up against Lansdowne this weekend is Red Star and they should make a close game of it. Daniel Stonely, Jarod Watt, Corey Burling, Carwyn Caffell and Peter Sigvertsen are all back in action again and they could well be the surprise packets of the Umpires Cup series.
Greytown and Wairarapa College should also have a battle royal.
The southerners don't have Hayden Spierling or Shane Mellor to spearhead their pace attack this season but have snared Seth Rance, the young seamer who was a regular member of the Wairarapa senior squad last season.
Rance will be out to make life miserable for a Wairarapa College side of which he has been an integral part for the past two or three years.
The students will again be led by teacher Cameron Stone, who is very useful with bat and ball, and they should not be under-estimated.
