Wairarapa B cricket captain Sam Curtis attributed his team's 135-run loss to Taranaki B at Wanganui on Sunday to an indifferent effort in the field and an equally indifferent batting performance.
Taranaki batted first and with the Wairarapa bowlers struggling to get their line and length and the fielding lacking in
urgency Taranaki put on 125 runs for the first wicket and reached a healthy 265-9 in their 50 overs.
A plus for Wairarapa was their taking of some cheap wickets near the end of the innings with the best of their bowlers being Wairarapa College student Peter Sigvertsen. He took 2-36 of his 10 overs and impressed with his accuracy.
The Wairarapa innings got away to a bad start with Curtis himself being dismissed in the first over after making a flamboyant slash outside the off stump. The ball flew to gully where it was juggled and finally taken at second slip.
Henry Cameron, who along with Curtis had scored a century in club cricket the previous day, looked in good touch in getting through to 28 and he had good support from Aaron Bidlake whose last two scoring shots in his 27 were a four and a six.
Unfortunately for Wairarapa there were also four "ducks" on their score sheet and the only resistance in the lower order came from Johnny Matthews who finished on 11 not out.
Curtis said a couple of dubious Ibw decisions had not helped the Wairarapa cause but rather than complain he said it just highlighted the need to "hit the ball in the middle of the bat next time."
The Wairarapa captain said the match also illustrated the necessity for all players to take responsibility in all aspects of the game and he expressed disappointment at the late withdrawl of a number of key players.
"It seems like some guys aren't interested in getting up early on a Sunday morning to travel away to games," he said. "That's not the attitude we want to see from rep players."
Short scorevboartd: Taranaki B 265-9 (Cleaver 77, Dallas 61, Zame 3, Fleming 0,Barraclough 52, Judson 25, Hammersley 6, Stewart 0, Corlett 10 not out, Shelver 0; Rance 2-41, Thompson 0-31, Jackson 2-56, Curtis 1-60, Bidlake 1-35, Sigvertsen 2-36), Wairarapa 120 (Curtis 0, Cameron 28, Butler 0, Bidlake 27, Murphy 12, Broughton 6, Matthews 11 not out, Rance 0 Jackson 1, Thompson 0,Sigvertsen 2; Cruickshank 1-15, Shelver 1-15, Dallas 2-25, Corlett 1-28, Mason 4-30, Stewart 1-4).