Cricket
By Gary Caffell
Wairarapa chalked up their first victory in this season's Hawke Cup cricket competition in Masterton during the weekend, and it was achieved in impressive fashion.
The win over Horowhenua-Kapiti by nine wickets came after Wairarapa had dominated the action with bat and ball.
Batting first on a Queen Elizabeth Park wicket which provided some early assistance to the quicker bowlers, Wairarapa looked in some strife at 34-3 but a 134-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Henry Cameron and Harry Clinton-Baker steadied the ship and by the time they were dismissed after 65.5 overs they had reached a respectable 289.
Skipper Cameron survived a couple of leg before wicket appeals before he reached double figures but was always prepared to take the battle to the bowlers. He played some thunderous attacking shots on his way to 113. He faced 148 balls and struck 19 fours and three sixes.
Clinton-Baker, coming off the back of a ton against Hawke's Bay in the previous two-dayer, again looked a promising youngster. He played second fiddle to Cameron in the scoring stakes but still managed to register seven fours in his 52 made off 102 balls.
The other innings of note came from Dean van Deventer, making his first appearance for the province this season. His unbeaten 42 came off just 44 balls and included five fours and two sixes. Alex Treseder (27) and Jared Watt (20) also played useful cameo roles with Watt coming in at the bottom of the order and smacking three fours and a six from the 11 balls he faced.
Former Central Stag and Wairarapa rep Ewan Thompson was the best of the Horowhenua-Kapiti bowlers, cleverly varying his length in an 18 over stint which saw him take 3-52.
It was van Deventer who shone when Horowhenua-Kapiti were dismissed for a paltry 106 in their first innings which lasted only 29.5 overs. He extracted good pace from the wicket in taking 5-22 from his 10 overs while the other three Wairarapa bowlers used also got among the wickets, Watt taking 3-29, Stefan Hook-Sporry 1-30 and Harry Greenwood 1-18.
Not surprisingly Wairarapa then asked Horowhenua-Kapiti to follow on and, apart from Thompson, whose entertaining 90 came from 125 balls and included 13 fours and three sixes, they were again easy fodder for the Wairarapa attack, being all out for 197 from 65.5 overs.
This time Wairarapa used six bowlers with van Deventer (3-49) and Watt (3-30) providing most of the thrust, abetted by Hook-Sporry (2-43) and Treseder (2-26).
Short scoreboard: Wairarapa 289 (Lucas 7, Herbert 0, Hull 1, Cameron 113, Clinton-baker 52, Curtis 3, Treseder 27, van Deventer 42 not out, McKenzie 6, Greenwood 0, Watt 20) and 15 for 1 beat Horowhenua-Kapiti
106 (Thompson 18; van Deventer 5-22, Watt 3-29) and 197 (Thompson 90 not out; van Deventer 3-49, Watt 3-30, Hook-Sporry 2-43, Treseder 2-26).