Allrounder chases provincial spot

Cricket

Ace allrounder Seth Rance is keen to be part of the Wairarapa senior men's cricket squad next season.

Rance, 25, confirmed yesterday he was returning to the Greytown club after having a successful stint for Johnsonville in the Wellington competition last year and would be available for provincial selection as well.

The news will be a huge boost for Wairarapa officials as Rance's skills as a new ball pace bowler and hard-hitting middle to lower order batsman were missed during the 2013 Hawke Cup and Chapple Cup campaigns

Race said his move from Wellington was prompted by two factors; firstly he was getting married in January and would be living in Greytown and, secondly, the "word" from the capital was representative-wise he was likely to be part of their Wellington A squad, whose main tournament was in January too, meaning his availability would be in doubt anyway.

"It just seemed to make a whole lot more sense to play for Greytown and, hopefully, Wairarapa," Rance told the Times-Age, saying the injury hassles which had followed him over the past couple of seasons now seemed to be behind him.

"Right now I'm 100 per cent, couldn't be better."

While he labelled his efforts for Johnsonville as "pretty good" bare statistics suggest that is a gross understatement. Taking 48 wickets and scoring 500 runs at an average about 30, he was named their Cricketer of the Year and was second on the overall Wellington club most valuable player list.

Rance hopes his efforts for Greytown and Wairarapa will also put him in the reckoning for Central Stags selection. He has played for them in the longer and shorter versions of the game in the past and believes he still has plenty to offer at first-class level.

"I'd jump at the chance to play for the Stags again but it's all about having the form on the board, and that's up to me."

Meanwhile, a regular member of last year's Wairarapa squad Joe Hull won't be on deck next season.

A teacher at Lakeview School, Hull leaves in 10 days' time to take up a position at an international school in China and will be there for at least one year.

A reliable top order batsman and excellent fieldsman, Hull also made his mark as a captain, leading his Red Star club to success in the Umpires-Cup one-day and More FM Cup Twenty20 competitions last season.

They were also runners-up in the Bidwell Cup two-day series having gone through the preliminary rounds undefeated before losing in the final to Lansdowne.