Red Star win in own sweet time

Red Star skipper Joe Hull wasn't exactly saying "I told you so" after his team's first-innings win over Greytown in Cricket Wairarapa's Bidwell Cup senior men's final at Queen Elizabeth Park oval over the weekend, but he hopes the manner of victory silenced the sceptics.

Hull has always had faith in his team having the ability to bat out time but he has often heard the the opposite view - especially from opponents!

"They are always saying we are in trouble if we have to bat for long periods, maybe they won't be so quick to say that now," he said.

Not that Red Star, or Greytown for that matter, would have been thrilled with their first-innings batting displays in the decider, Red Star making just 99 and Greytown faring even worse with 96. A total of 20 wickets fell in the one day despite two hours of play being lost because of the rain.

For Red Star, however, their three-run advantage proved vital, because it meant they would take away the Bidwell Cup for the second successive season if they could bat Greytown out of contention on Sunday.

And that they did, their 277 runs in 107 overs basically closing the door on any chance Greytown had of making up lost ground.

"The whole idea in that second innings was to soak up time and score enough runs to give them (Greytown) no hope of coming back at us," Hull said. "We knew there was no hurry, that if we spent most of the day at the crease it would be all over."

As it happened it was Hull, in tandem with Central Stag all-rounder Greg Todd - who had not been available for Saturday's action - who spearheaded the Red Star batting effort.Their third-wicket partnership was worth 175 runs and they were together for 75 overs.

In the end, Hull fell for 56 and Todd just one run short of his century, caught at gully for 99.

"There were a few boundaries but it was more a case of picking up the singles and twos," Hull said. "We did play out a lot of maidens but that was never a worry, staying there was the important thing."

The Greytown bowlers toiled away and medium pacers Jacob Smith and Daniel Haxton each bagged three wickets.

Greytown's second innings was more of a token gesture than anything else because of the time constraints and six wickets fell for just 27 runs, Todd completing a brilliant all-round effort by taking 4-10, and Jared Watt 2-15.