The results made sad reading for Wairarapa at the Chapple Cup inter-provincial limited-overs cricket tournament played at Nelson Park, Hastings, over Labour Weekend.
The young and inexperienced Wairarapa squad were beaten in all three of their matches, and by wide margins in two of them.
First up they played Manawatu with the latter batting first and reaching a massive 340-7 in their 50 overs. Highlight was the knock of Black Cap Jamie How who smashed nine fours and 11 sixes in a brilliant 145.
"He was unstoppable, he played all the shots in the book," Wairarapa coach Sam Curtis said of How. "We didn't bowl too badly, he was just so good that he could put anything away"
It was mainly due to How that the Wairarapa attack managed just the two maiden overs. Jared Watt took 2 for 60, Stefan Hook 1 for 67, Nash Patel 2 for 61 and Henry Cameron 1-52.
The Wairarapa batting was dismal and they were all out for 64 - of which Joe Hull made 23 - with Curtis saying his players had huge trouble coping with the pace of a Manawatu attack spearheaded by two other Black Caps in Adam Milne and Michael Mason, plus another speedster in Bevan Small. "They were simply too quick, we didn't have the technique to handle that sort of pace."
Wairarapa batted first in their second match against Marlborough and another low score seemed certain at 10-4 and 63-5, but three of the younger members of the squad in Gordon Reisima, George Deans and Matt McKenzie provided a late-order revival that got them through to 177. Reisima made 43 (four 4s), Deans 23 and McKenzie, batting at No10, cracked four 4s and four 6s.
A wicket off the first ball gave Wairarapa a flying start when Marlborough set out on their run chase and at 30-3 Wairarapa were in the box seat. However, the Marlborough middle order batted sensibly and they overhauled the Wairarapa total with three wickets to spare. Jared Watt was the pick of the Wairarapa bowlers.
It was Central Districts squad member Ben Smith who was the main catalyst to Wanganui reaching a healthy 236 against Wairarapa in their final match. Smith made 87. Bowling for Wairarapa Jared Watt took 3-29, Nash Patel 1-46, Sean Jarvis 1-49 and Henry Cameron 2-36.
A poor start again had Wairarapa in strife early and they never recovered, being all out for 113.
Wairarapa will play a "friendly" against the Onslow club this Sunday and their next official match is a Hawke Cup fixture against Wanganui in Masterton on November 10 and 11.
Curtis says changes to his squad for the Manawatu match are "very likely" with the most pressing need being a strengthening of the top order batting. "The application and shot selection needs to be better, there were too many soft dismissals."