Row over abuse cuts final short

CHANCE SEIZED: Lansdowne's Sanjay Patel takes a slip catch much to the delight of his skipper Jamie Holmes during the Bidwill Cup final on Saturday. PHOTO/CHRIS KILFORD

The season from hell for senior men's cricket in Wairarapa has ended with claims of player abuse cutting short the grand final of the premier club competition, the Bidwill Cup.

Umpires Johann Fourie and James Sprowson had little alternative but to pull stumps at tea on Saturday when the batting side, Greytown, decided enough was enough and refused to continue their first innings They were 38-6 at the time in reply to Lansdowne's 130.

A Greytown spokesman said later their team had forfeited the game due to an "intolerable level of personal abuse directed at our players". He said Greytown were of the belief this type of behaviour had no place in the game and they had made a formal request to the Wairarapa Cricket Association board to investigate the circumstances.

Lansdowne club were also keen to see the match situation discussed at the highest levels. A spokesman for them was not willing to apportion blame, saying both teams might well have something to answer for.

Board chairman Sam Rossiter-Stead was quick to respond that a full investigation was already under way.

"It is totally unacceptable that our club cricket season has ended in this way and we have launched a full investigation into the events which took place on Saturday," Rossiter-Stead said.

"Without pre-empting the findings of that investigation, it is inevitable that there will be consequences for those responsible. With so many people working hard to build the game throughout our district, it is almost beyond belief that our showpiece final has reached such an unsatisfactory conclusion.

"On Friday evening we awarded life memberships to five of our former players and administrators who have each given more than 25 years' service to the association, as well as paying tribute to the army of volunteers who give up their time freely so that others can enjoy the game.

"We will also shortly be announcing a major national award for one of our coaches whose work in developing the game is the envy of the rest of the country. These achievements make Saturday's debacle even harder to accept and everyone associated with cricket in the Wairarapa needs to pull together to ensure that there is never a repeat."

Playing a big part in the investigation will be a match report from the two umpires who had spoken directly to the two captains during the game regarding the behaviour of some players from both sides. Initially most of the comments made on the field basically fell into the realms of light-hearted banter but the more the game progressed the more provocative they became.

Even with Saturday's poor show, the 2014-015 senior men's cricket season in Wairarapa would have been regarded as one of the most depressing on record.

On the club scene there were a number of games where teams failed to field a full complement of players and even a default in the Bidwill Cup series which only attracted three teams in the first place.

At representative level, Wairarapa could not have achieved worse results in the Hawke Cup qualifying round, losing all five of their games outright.

A much brighter note was the appointment of well-credentialled former English country cricketer Keven Cooper to the role of senior men's coach.