Greytown bowler in exalted company

Seth Rance will be rubbing shoulders with some of the world's best-known cricketers when he heads to South Africa a week tomorrow with the Central Districts squad for the lucrative Champion's League Twenty20 competition.
Greytown's Rance, who turned 23 on Monday, was always a strong contender for a place in the 15-strong line-up after impressive performances for the Stags in all forms of cricket last season and expects a recent stint with the Louth club in Lincolnshire premier league in England to help him force his way into the starting XI.
Rance joined Louth as their sole overseas player about three months ago and the medium-pace bowler made a huge impact by taking more than 40 wickets in a mix of one-day and Twenty20 games and racking up one century, a 60 and a couple of 40s.
"Things went pretty well. I think they [Louth] were happy with how I went," a modest Rance said yesterday.
"The bowling was better than the batting but I guess that's what I was mainly there for, so I can't complain too much."
Central Districts will play warm-up games against Bangalore Royal Challengers and South Australia in Johannesburg before their Champion's League programme begins on September 11 with a group A fixture at Durban against the Chennai Super Kings and Rance is keen to make an early impression.
"The better you do in those games the better chance you will have of keeping a regular spot in the team," he said.
Rance sees Central Districts skipper Jamie How utilising him much as he did as the Stags dominated proceedings in Twenty20 play on the national stage last season. Then he tended to bowl in tandem with Black Cap Jacob Oram through the middle overs, a time when opposition teams are usually intent on increasing the scoring rate.
It can be a high pressure situation for bowlers who have to keep their nerve knowing batsmen are aiming to come after them.
But Rance relished the challenge. "You just keep focusing on what you are doing, every ball might be a possible boundary but it's a possible wicket too," he said.
Joining Rance in the Central Districts squad is former Rathkeale College first XI player Doug Bracewell, now in Hawke's Bay, while Micheal Mason is a former Black Cap who received his early cricket education in Greytown. A star act for the Royal Bangalore Challengers will be current Black Cap captain Ross Taylor who led the Wairarapa College first XI in his schoolboy days.
Chennai Super Kings, CD's first opponents in the Champion's League, will be captained by MS Dhoni and includes big names like Doug Bollinger, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Albie Morkel.