Wairarapa adopts positive approach

New skipper Sam Curtis says Wairarapa will be adopting a positive approach in their Hawke Cup elimination cricket match with Horowhenua-Kapiti at Greytown tomorrow and Sunday.
Curtis is determined the furore created by the decision of former captain, selector and coach Robin James to stand down because of what he considered a lack of player commitment won't have an adverse effect on his team's performance this weekend.
He said his squad had benefitted from a "good chat" at a training session midweek and were keen to do Wairarapa proud.
"We have to put what has happened behind us and get on with the business of playing cricket," he said. "We won't be letting any negative thoughts get in the road, that's for sure."
Curtis admits the Wairarapa line-up for tomorrow lacks experience with only himself and vice-captain Chris Jefferies having played for the side on a regular basis in recent times but he is optimistic their enthusiasm will counter that to a large degree.
"Again it's all about being positive, we will give it our best shot and see what happens,' he said.
The top order batting has long been a problem area for Wairarapa and this weekend will see Curtis and his Lansdowne clubmate John Hannam open the innings.
Hannam is something of a free spirit at the crease and Curtis said he would be encouraged to play his natural game. "My job early on will be to stick around while John gets on with it. He can be quite unorthodox and hard to contain and that's why he is there."
Other specialist batsmen in the squad are the Red Star pair Daniel Stoneley and Joe Hull while also expected to play a big part in that area are Academy's Adam Bennett, Lansdowne's Brock Price and Jefferies and wicketkeeper Paul Lyttle from Greytown.
And also in Wairarapa's favour is that while Seth Rance, Ewan Burt, Simon Clinton-Baker and Jeremy Anderson ? who all just happen to come from Greytown as well are mainly there for their bowling they are all very capable batters too, especially Rance who has been a prolific run-getter on both the club and rep scene.
Curtis says he will be impressing upon his batsmen the need to build a healthy first innings total as that was usually a must in two-day games if outright points were to be achieved.
"The first innings tends to decide what happens after that and it always helps if you have plenty of runs on the board," he said.
Likely to take the new ball for Wairarapa are Rance and Price with Bennett, Jefferies and Burt giving support with their medium pacers and Curtis, Clinton-Baker and Anderson a trio of handy spinners.
Curtis sees the variety of the attack as being a strength for his side. "It means we can mix things up a bit, keep them guessing," he said
The Wairarapa skipper is disappointed that this weekend's match is being played at Greytown rather than at the headquarters of local cricket, Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton.
The transfer came about because of another event being scheduled for the park oval and means Wairarapa will have played just the one Hawke Cup game there this season.
"Quite frankly it's gutting not being able to play on our main ground??.it's such a great venue for cricket ," he said.
While Curtis and Jefferies will lead Wairarapa on the field of play this weekend one of the province'e best-known cricketing identities in Dermot Payton has been appointed to the managerial role, both for this game and that against Marlborough in Blenheim next weekend.
Meanwhile, the decision to allow the Greytown and Rathkeale College sides to play the first day of their Bidwell Cup match on Sunday rather than Saturday last weekend seems likely to rebound unfavourably on the other four senior sides tomorrow.
This was because all play on the Saturday was abandoned because of the weather and so the chances of maxmum points being picked up in the Red Star v Academy and Lansdowne v Wairarapa College games are now slight, to say the least.
Not so in the Greytown v Rathkeale College game though. Stumps at the end of the first day's action saw Rathkeale at 59-4 in their first innings in reply to Greytown's 193.
With play so well advanced an outright win to either side is a very real possibility with Greytown seemingly having the inside running despite missing so many players through rep duties.