Hawke Cup challenge in the balance

Wairarapa's chances of earning themselves a challenge for the symbol of supremacy in minors associations cricket, the Hawke Cup, later in the season could depend on the result of their match with Hawke's Bay at Nelson Park, Hastings tomorrow and Sunday.
The loss to Nelson in the opening round of elimination games last weekend means Wairarapa now have to make up lost ground, and another defeat here would very probably mean the end of their Cup aspirations.
Strangely enough, however, the Nelson performance probably boosted rather than dampened the confidence of Wairarapa going into the Hastings game.
On the face of it an outright loss would seem rather less than palatable, but against a strong Nelson unit on a batter-friendly wicket Wairarapa dominated the first day action to such an extent that if any team was set to pick up maximum points the betting would have been on them.
However, after having Nelson on the ropes at 118-7 chasing 255 for a first innings lead, Wairarapa suffered at the hands of a magnificent fightback by the Nelson "tail" and actually found themselves going into their second innings seven runs in arrears.
Wairarapa were not done with yet though. Aware they had to score enough runs quickly in their second innings to at least give themselves an outside chance of an outright win they understandably threw caution to the wind and their declaration at 240-6 left them 31 overs to bowl Nelson out before they reached their target of 233 runs for maximum points.
It was a tall order and one which proved beyond Wairarapa with Nelson making the required runs with just seven balls to spare.
While David Irvine with knocks of 63 and 64 and Seth Rance with unbeaten innings of 88 and 31 were the stars of the Wairarapa batting effort it was pleasing that apart from Daniel Stoneley, who made just four and two, most of the key performers in that department had at least one handy return.
As has been said often in the past finding consistency at the very top of the order has been elusive for Wairarapa for more years than most would care to remember so the 79-run partnership for the first wicket between captain Robin James and Sam Curtis in the second "dig" was clearly a highlight.
The promotion of James, who scored 62 from 39 balls, from the middle order was, however, prompted by the need for quick runs to be scored and he is very unlikely to bat there again this weekend??.unless, of course, a similar need occurs.
It will be interesting then to see who partners Curtis in the opener's berth.
His Lansdowne teammate John Hannam, who comes in as the replacement for wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Perkins, is an obvious candidate along with Stoneley, a promising youngster whose Nelson efforts were no indication of his ability.
Perkins, who misses out because of a NZC ruling over player eligibility, is one of two Academy players who were part of the action in Nelson not playing on this occasion. The other is Richard Lewis, the medium pace bowler who suffered a side strain on the southern trip which confined him to just 7.4 overs in Nelson's first innings.
Up until that time Lewis had conceded less than two runs an over and Wairarapa will be depending on his replacement, Carwyn Caffell, to do much the same job against Hawke's Bay .
It will though be Rance to whom Wairarapa will be looking to make inroads into what is likely to be a useful Hawke's Bay batting line-up. He was just as impressive with the ball as he was with the bat against Nelson, taking a splendid 6-87 in the first innings and 1-27 in the second.
Apart from Rance , however, the other Wairarapa bowlers still have something to prove with most of them going for between eight to nine runs an over in Nelson's second innings Sure, a flat pitch and Nelson's cavalier approach didn't help but from all accounts they too often strayed in line and length, and were punished accordingly.
The Nelson Park wicket at Hastings has a history of favouring the batsmen as well so any inconsistencies in the Wairarapa bowling effort is likely to mean the boundary being peppered there too.
UMPIRES CUP
Rathkeale College's participation in the finals of the Gillette Cup national secondary schools knockout competition in Palmerston North means their Umpire's Cup match against Greytown tomorrow will be arranged at a later date.
In other Cup games Red Star will play Academy at Queen Elizabeth Park oval and Lansdowne will take on Wairarapa College at the Pugh Sportsbowl.
Both Red Star and Academy will have weakened attacks due to players being involved in Wairarapa's Hawke Cup match, so there should be plenty of runs scored there.
They are the pacesetters in the Cup competition and whoever wins this one will be well on the way to making the final. Lansdowne and Wairarapa College will also be missing key players, so here too the result is difficult to predict.
The students might have more depth in both batting and bowling though and that could be the key factor in the end result.