It would be a huge undertstement to say the bowlers had the edge during the first day's play of Cricket Wairarapa's Bidwell Cup senior men's inter-club final at Queen Elizabeth Park oval on Saturday.
A total of 20 wickets fell as neither Red Star nor Greytown managed to get pastthree figures in their first innings on a day in which play was cut short by about two hours by rain.
Batting first on a dampish pitch that did provide some extra "nip" for the medium pacers, Red Star were always struggling and were finally all out for 99. Jared Watt with 20 and skipper Joe Hull with 19 were the top scorers in an innings in which most of the dismissals came through catches behind the wicket. Blake Lyford and Quentin McKenna claimed three wickets for Greytown at an economical cost.
With such a paltry total to overhaul Greytown must have fancied their chances of building a handy first-innings lead, but they too failed to master the conditions and were all out for 96, Seth Rance being the only player to make it into the 20s.
Outstanding with the ball for Red Star was Nicolai Karaitiana, who finished with 5-28. Red Star's second innings stood at 7-0 when stumps were drawn.
