Tennis reps underdogs, but still in with a sniff

Wairarapa player-coach Robin James concedes his team will be the underdogs in their Hawke Cup elimination cricket match with Nelson at Nelson over the weekend but he isn't conceding defeat.
James understands the relative inexperience of his side will be perceived as a weakness in some quarters but he himself takes the view that it could be a plus.
"They (Nelson) won't have the advantage of knowing too much about our players, will they?" he said. "So hopefully we can catch them by surprise."
James believes patience will be the key to a strong Wairarapa performance, especially in the bowling department
The pitches in Nelson are inevitably batter-friendly which means that bowlers have to be prepared to work hard for any successes.
James said the onus on the Wairarapa attack would be to maintain a consistent line and length and frustrate their opposition into making mistakes.
"We're probably not going to blast them out, we're going to have to force them to take risks and accept the chances when they come our way.", he said.
James himself is perhaps the sharpest of the Wairarapa bowlers, along with Seth Rance, while others sure to be utilised while the shine is still on the ball are debutantes Richard Lewis and Jarrod Watt. And another couple of newcomers in Matt Young and Jeremy Anderson are the specialist spinners in the line-up.
It should be to Wairarapa's advantage on a pitch made for run scoring that practically all of their bowlers fit the label of all-rounder and will consequently be expected to do their bit with the bat as well.
The vexed question of who will open the batting with Sam Curtis has been answered with James deciding to give Red Star's Daniel Stoneley that opportunity. He scored a timely 78 in his side's Umpires Cup win over Greytown last weekend and a continuation of that form would see him cement a place for himself in the representative team.
Stoneley's selection as opener gives the usually reliable Cameron Stone the chance to bat at first drop with the Academy pair of David Irvine and Jamie Perkin at four and five and Paul Lyttle of Greytown at six.
From all accounts Irvine was a heavy rungetter in Auckland club cricket last season and is the type of batsman who should thrive on pitches like that in Nelson where the ball tends to come onto the bat somewhat quicker than it does in the Wairarapa.
And the same goes for Perkin, who is also shaping impressively in the role of wicketkeeper.
Selector James considers the strength of their middle order batting could well be the key to a Wairarapa upset.
"We have a group of players there who are capable of taking toll on any attack and hopefully two or three of them will bat long enough to do just that," he said.
The composition of the Nelson team was not known at the time these notes were penned but word is former Black Cap top order batsman Mark Douglas will be there , along with another prolific scorer in Duncan Cederman, who has been a big thorn in the side of Wairarapa in past encounters.
Meanwhile, matches in the Umpires Cup senior men's competition continue tomorrow and with most teams weakened by the absence of their rep players results are difficult to predict.
Red Star have played all of their best cricket in the limited-over series this season but Stoneley's absence does weaken their batting to a considerable extent and they could find Wairarapa College a handful in their game at the Park Oval.
Rathkeale College are warming up for the Gillette Cup finals in Palmerston North next week and should account for Lansdowne at Rathkeale favpouritism will be evenly shared when Academy takes on Greytown at Greytown.