Wairarapa frustrated by negative approach in Hawke Cup eliminator

Wairarapa were done no favours by Horowhenua-Kapiti in their Hawke Cup elimination cricket match played at the Weharoa Domain in Levin on Friday and Saturday.
Desperate for an outright win which would have kept them in with the chance of earning themselves a Hawke Cup challenge against holders Hamilton next weekend, Wairarapa achieved their first target of a first innings lead with some 80 overs still left in the game.
But on a pitch which was batter-friendly to the extreme there was little chance of them bowling out Horowhenua-Kapiti for a second time, and leaving enough time for them to manage even a reasonable-sized run chance.
Therefore the prospects of an outright win largely depended on Horowhenua-Kapiti scoring quickly enough themselves so as they could declare, and leave Wairarapa a target which provided the carrot of possible victory for both sides.
Unfortunately for Wairarapa though Horowhenua-Kapiti were not interested in making a game of it.
Instead their whole intention was to play for the draw and through a combination of some painfully slow batting early on and then some lusty hitting late in the day as Wairarapa skipper Sam Curtis constantly changed his bowlers they managed that without any real difficulty.
So Wairarapa finished with seven points for their first innings lead and Horowhenua-Kapiti with one for the draw, not enough for Wairarapa to edge ahead of Hawke's Bay on the zone two points table and onto the challenge against Hamilton in the process.
The frustration in the Wairarapa camp at what they saw as Horowhenua-Kapiti's negativity was shown by Curtis asking the home team to take the field for one over at the completion of their second innings.
Wairarapa's Henry Cameron and Daniel Ingham smacked an entertaining 15 runs with some very unorthodox shots and then stumps were drawn.
Friday's play saw Horowhenua-Kapiti reach 228 in their first innings, thanks in the main to a gutsy seventh wicket partnership between A Simonsen (63) and D.Schlup (40).
They were in deep strife at 110-7 when they came together.
Opening bowlers Seth Rance and Robin James both revelled in a heavy workload for Wairarapa, Rance finishing with 4-63 off 19 overs and James with 2-61 from 20 overs. Spinner Brad Edwards was also economical in taking 1-31 from 17 overs.
Wairarapa were well enough placed at 103-2 when the first day's play ended with the ever-consistent Edwards out for 29 and Alex Treseder and Sam Curtis at the crease, Treseder on 45 and Curtis on 16.
Treseder brought up his first 50 for Wairarapa in Hawke Cup action early on Saturday and got through to 65 before being dismissed.
He hit 11 fours, an indication of his quickness to pounce on anything pitched either too full or short of a length.
But if Treseder was assertive in his approach Curtis was even more so.
His first six scoring shots were all fours and he registered 14 of them in all, along with one six, in a majestic knock of 71.
The other highlight of the Wairarapa first innings, which ended at 265, a lead of 37, was the typically hard hit 47 by Seth Rance, which included nine fours.
Daniel Ingham was the only other Wairarapa batsman to get into double figures, being 10 not out when the last wicket fell.
However, with the onus being fairly and squarely on taking risks in the effort to keep the scoreboard ticking over at a rapid rate some cheap dismissals had to be expected.
By far the most impressive of the Horowhenua-Kapiti bowlers was medium pacer Schlup who finished with 5-25 and he was also to play a leading role when the home team batted a second time, coming in late in the order and belting 78 of his side's 225 runs.
Wicketkeeper B.Rowney chimed in with a more circumspect 52 and K Trass made 55.
As if the placid nature of the pitch was not enough to have the Wairarapa bowlers earning their keep they also had to contend with a ball made soft by misty rain.
Robin James was again the mainstay of the attack, putting down 28 overs and finishing with 3-61.
Seth Rance also claimed three wickets at a cost of 46 runs from his 23 overs.