Cricket
Red Star skipper Joe Hull has played a lot of senior interclub cricket in Wairarapa.
However, no one game has been "crazier" than that which saw his team beat A1 Homes Kuranui Old Boys at Greytown on Saturday in their Umpire's Cup semifinal encounter.
"I've never been involved in anything like it, it was crazy stuff," Hull said of the 11-run victory which took Red Star through to a final against Wairarapa College, who secured a three-wicket win over Flight Centre Lansdowne.
Red Star batted first and an inspired spell of bowling by former Wairarapa pace bowler Hayden Spierling, who finished with 5-15 from his 10 overs, had them well and truly on the ropes at 36-9.
"There wasn't anything wrong with the pitch, he [Spierling] bowled brilliantly and there were a few too many loose shots," Hull said. "It looked like we were goners, absolutely."
Bowlers Aaron Wilson and Xavier McCluskey were the last two at the wicket for Red Star and while both had shown the ability to wield the willow to some effect in the past nobody could have anticipated what was to come.
Adopting a measured approach which revolved around playing each ball on its merits, they kept the scoreboard ticking over at a reasonable rate and by the time their partnership was broken they had added 113 runs to the score, taking it to a respectable 149. Wilson made 64 and McCluskey 39 and they both faced around 100 balls.
The fact Kuranui Old Boys chose to have Spierling and Tony Russo (3-38) bowl their 10 overs "on the trot" did help Wilson and McCluskey in that they had departed the bowling crease by the time they arrived but that could hardly detract from their effort.
"They showed us guys up the top of the order how to play ... and they are probably never going to allow us to forget it!" Hull said. "It was just good, sensible batting, that's all there was to it."
The drama wasn't over yet, though, with Kuranui Old Boys poised to take the spoils with their score sitting at 132-6 but being bowled out for 138. Peter Sigvertsen (4-25) and Nik Karaitiana (3-35) were the main wickets takers for a Red Star side which must have been pinching themselves as they left the field.
Runs were also hard to come by in the Wairarapa College v Lansdowne semifinal played at Wairarapa College.
Lansdowne batted first and were all out for 130 with only Wairarapa representative Alex Treseder batting well against an accurate College attack, spearheaded by Stefan Hook-Sporry and Hamish Woolgar. It was still anybody's game when the seventh Wairarapa College wicket fell at 107 but they managed to reach their target, thanks in the main to a fine half-century by Lucien Burt.