Wairarapa eye cup final chance

Wairarapa has every chance of sneaking in the back door to a Hawke Cup cricket final this weekend.
They take on Horowhenua-Kapiti in a do-or-die match at Queen Elizabeth Park which, if they win and other results go their way, could mean they will be meeting Nelson in the final.
Wairarapa are on 20 points, one behind Hawkes Bay, who meet Nelson in their final round-robin match this weekend.
If Wairarapa knock off an outright against Horowhenua-Kapiti and Nelson hold off Hawkes Bay's challenge then a final is a definite possiblity.
To get there, though, they will have to run through Horowhenua-Kapiti twice this weekend, and that's no easy task, particularly as they are likely to be without star strike bowler Hayden Spierling.
They are also missing batsman Henry Cameron, who was one of the stars of their recent win over Wanganui.
But Wairarapa still have a strong pool to choose from and they will be pushing hard for success this weekend.
Meanwhile, stand-in Horowhenua-Kapiti cricket captain Mark Fox wants nothing less than a win against Wairarapa this weekend to exorcise the demons of last year.
Fox takes over the captaincy of Horowhenua-Kapiti from Greg Paynter who has wedding commitments and said a win would be the right way to finish their last Hawke Cup match for the year.
"We want to finish on a high note," he said.
Horowhenua-Kapiti were well-placed for a meritorious third place finish in the Hawke Cup last year when playing Wanganui in the final match for the season, and were one extremely stubborn wicket away from scoring an outright victory.
That was the difference between third and seventh place.
Fox said while they realised their chances of winnings the Hawke Cup were gone he said it would make all the difference if they could finish in the top half of the competition ladder.
"I think this is a pretty important game for us. If we finish well it will be a success and if you look at last year if we had won the last game we would have finished third," he said.
"Wairarapa are one point in front of us and we're fourth at the moment."
Fox said they would miss Paynter, an opening batsman with more than 10 years Hawke Cup experience having also played for Hutt Valley and Taranaki.
"He's a leader and a very good batsman and an experienced player," he said.
Newcomers to the team for this match were David Schlup and Ryan Taylor who replace Paynter and Josh Hamilton.
Hamilton, 17, is also a handy rugby player and is likely to move to Otago in the next month.
It is still a solid looking Horowhenua team though with Central Districts under 19 representatives Sam Cameron and Chris Turkington hitting their straps.
Cameron was a batsman of considerable promise.
Coach Roydon Trask agreed with Fox and said a second-place finish was a possibility with an outright win this weekend.
WAIRARAPA: (from): Simon Clinton-Baker, Richard Wylie, Camus Wyatt, Aaron Bidlake, John Peters, Jacob Oosthuizen, Chris Jeffries, Robin James, Shane Mellor, Seth Rance.
HOROWHENUA-KAPITI: Jeremy Simpson, Benjamin Rowney, Haydn Morgan, Robert Francis, Samuel Cameron, Kahlil Craig, Mark Fox, Stuart Cope, Donald d'Ewes, Christopher Turkington, David Schlup, Ryan Taylor. Coach: Roydon Trask. Manager: Mike Abraham, Ricky Bartlett.