Brittle batting pounced on by bowlers

Brett Cameron scored 34 on day one of the Hawke Cup clash with Wairarapa. 011213WCSMCRICKET2

Another disappointing batting collapse before the rain set in on Saturday afternoon left Active Physio Wanganui facing a first innings loss and fighting to avoid defeat to Wairarapa by late yesterday afternoon.

Despite playing the Hawke Cup clash on the artificial pitch at City College which gave little help to the bowlers, Wanganui succumbed to the accuracy of Seth Rance, who picked up five wickets.

The home side were under the pump at 75 for 5, but made it to 112 without losing a wicket through the efforts of veterans Mark Fraser and Dominic Rayner, before wilting after lunch to lose their last five wickets for a handful of runs, all out for 125.

Wairarapa lost one wicket before the heavy downpour around 2.15pm saw stumps pulled for the day. Henry Cameron then shored up an end when play resumed the following morning - calmly accumulating 110 off 211 balls and giving his middle order in Alex Treseder (41) and Paul Lyttle (29) a chance to hit out.

Wanganui fought back through their slow bowlers and some good catching in the field to dismiss the visitors for 247.

By the dinner break yesterday had made their way through to 173-6 as Rance again found success.

The medium pacer picked up three top order wickets, while Henry Collier (35) and Rayner (20) fell when they were most needed, leaving Fraser (74 not out off 47 balls) to once again hold the line, with the team clinging on to a lead of 51.

A number of batsmen had a weekend to forget. After Max Carroll fell in the second over on Saturday, Brett Cameron (34) and Collier (26) hit some streaky shots but nonetheless negotiated their team through to 40-1 at first drinks.

But when wicketkeeper Lyttle took a great one-handed catch after Collier tried to sweep a delivery off his pads, the rot set in.

New captain Bryce Grant lost his stumps to Jamie Holmes while both the debuting Dan Gordon and then later Dominic Lock were beaten by Rance for golden ducks.

Fraser and Rayner put together a middle order recovery but Rance bowled straight and true to get Fraser in front as one of his three LBW decisions.

Wanganui's tail folded in only a few overs, with Trent Hemi picking up a wicket in reply for the home team before the rain came.

Henry Cameron picked up where he left off yesterday morning by providing something both teams with their deficiencies need - a true anchor batsman. When he finally fell to a good ball from Robbie Power, Treseder and Lyttle cut loose with some big sixes, including one into the City College swimming pool and another hooked away off a Nick Blundell no-ball.

However, Blundell got Treseder caught by Lock while Wanganui's spinners managed to entice Wairarapa's tailenders into playing their shots. Gordon picked up Lyttle then added Rance after a good juggling catch by Carroll.

With a lead of 120 and only one wicket left Wairarapa chose not to declare at the lunch break, but still had Wanganui working hard to survive by the late afternoon.

Carroll and Gordon again fell cheaply to Rance, while Collier and Fraser put on a decent 62-run partnership. By press time, Fraser was batting with the tail to increase the slender lead.