Wairarapa tipped

By Gary Caffell Wairarapa will start favourites when they meet Marlborough in a Hawke Cup senior men's qualifying cricket match at Queen Elizabeth Park oval tomorrow and Sunday. They earned that distinction with a strong performance against Hawke's Bay last weekend, a match in which bad weather stopped them from picking up first innings points and possibly even forcing an outright win. Marlborough, on the other hand, didn't fare so well in their first round game, losing to Horowhenua-Kapiti by 100 runs on the first innings. The Wairarapa bowlers exploited the conditions well on the park oval last Saturday , having a powerful Bay batting line-up struggling at 103-7 when stumps were drawn in reply to Wairarapa's 255. Paceman Hayden Spierling enhanced his reputation with a fine display of bowling which saw him claim 3-28 and there was a lot to like too about the sustained accuracy of his Greytown clubmate Shane Mellor. It will be this duo who will again spearhead the Wairarapa attack this weekend and on a wicket likely to give them assistance they should test the mettle of a Marlborough side reputed to be somewhat inconsistent in the batting department. At least one change will have to be made to the top order batting for Wairarapa with Henry Cameron, who impressed with a well-made 50 last Saturday, being away captaining the Central Districts under-19s at their national tournament. Cameron and Bidlake fronted up well to what was at times a fiery Hawke's Bay pace attack with Bidlake doing enough to suggest he will be retained there for the Marlborough game. His opening partner had not been confirmed at the time these notes were penned but it would not surprise to see Sam Curtis take up the role. He has considerable experience in the position and would seem the logical choice. Look too for first drop John Peters to force the pace early in his innings. He is a fine stroke maker and is about due to have some luck at the batting crease. If he and experienced middle order player Chris Jefferies-who scored a valuable 38 against Hawke's Bay- hit their straps Wairarapa should be able to play themselves into a position from which maximum points are achievable?..weather permitting of course. UMPIRES CUP The unpredictability of matches in the Umpires Cup senior men's limited-overs competition when they clash with rep fixtures was well illustrated last weekend with high fliers Greytown and Lansdowne both suffering defeat. The same situation occurs of course tomorrow and again there is no saying what will happen. Rathkeale College will be at home to Red Star, and while the students lost to the Bracewell Academy last Saturday they did score a healthy 231 runs A repeat of that effort could have Stars in trouble, especially if Rathkeale can snaffle the wicket of opener Daniel Stonely early on. He is unquestionably the form player in the Stars batting line-up, having scored 113 against Greytown last weekend,and if Rathkeale get him cheaply you'd have to fancy their chances of winning this one. Wairarapa College should be close to full strength for their encounter with the Bracewell Academy at Wairarapa College and are quite capable of giving the competition front runners plenty to think about. The academy side should have the edge in both batting and bowling but if they give the gritty Wairarapa College team even a sniff of victory they are capable of making the most of it. Lansdowne and Greytown will meet at the Park Sportground and a lot will depend on the ability of the teams to find adequate cover for their rep players. If experienced campaigners Mark Childs and Josh Doherty are on deck for Greytown they could wing the game in their favour.
Named this week for play in Wanganui was the Wairarapa under-13 boys team. It is: Aiden Crimp, Cameron Linton, Daniel Ingram, Dion Field, Harrison Greenwood, Jamie Holmes, Gordon Reisima, Matthew Stephenson, Ruben Molnar, Glenn Terry, Leighton Calkin, Campbell Love.