Hawke Cup returns to park

Dominic Rayner and Dave Woolston putting some final touches on the Centennial Park pitch for the first Hawke Cup game on it in nearly 24 years this Saturday. Photo/Bevan Conley

Hawke Cup cricket will return to the village green setting of yore tomorrow as Marton's Centennial Park hosts the two-day senior representative competition for the first time since 1990.

With the Wanganui Festival of Cricket's final tournament being held on Victoria Park, Active Physio Wanganui had their last match against Hawke's Bay moved down south to Marton, rather than go back to the scene of their 10-wicket loss in Napier last summer.

It will be a proud day for player-coach Dominic Rayner, as his Saracens club members including volunteer groundsman Dave Woolston, have done a lot of work to bring the pitch up to representative standard.

Saracens took over maintenance of the ground from the Rangitikei District Council's appointed contractors and with help of funding from the Rangitikei Cricket Trust began work to upgrade the pitch and park surroundings.

"The last two years we've done these picket fences, bought the roller and a couple of mowers," said Rayner yesterday after taking a turn on the roller.

"It was falling below standard, big time, so we thought we'd take it into our own hands.

"It does help having a few builders in the club."

The club also used trust money to allow a coach to visit six local schools for two days a week to run skills sessions and organise Kiwi Cricket games.

Rayner said visiting teams often make the mistake of inspecting the green Centennial wicket and choosing to bowl first, however, local knowledge dictates that if it is not going to be a hot day then the pitch can be deceptively slow.

He is hoping Hawke's Bay's unfamiliarity with Marton may play into Wanganui's hands, given three Saracens players are in tomorrow's lineup while the rest all play there regularly during the club season.

Both teams bring some desperation to bear as Hawke's Bay need a comprehensive victory while hoping the unbeaten Manawatu slip up badly against Taranaki, while Wanganui will want any kind of points after a very disappointing campaign.

The usual strain from player unavailability has not dissipated as Under-19 World Cup-bound Henry Collier has been ordered to stand down by the national coaches after picking up a slight injury playing for Central Districts U19 in Christchurch, while his CD teammate Nick Blundell is remaining in Wellington and Dominic Lock's ankle injury rules him out.

However, batsman Brett Cameron makes a welcome return from captaining the CD Under-17 team at the national tournament in Wellington, where he was named in the tournament team after his team finished tied for second/third.

"Having Brett back is going to help our cause a bit, and a few of the rep guys took wickets and got runs on the [club cricket] weekend," said Rayner.

Ross Kinnerly joins the team alongside brother Fraser, after both bowled well for Bayer Marist in their Premier League win over Property Brokers United last Saturday.

Despite a strong wind in Marton, weather is expected to be fine today but a little doubtful tomorrow, as Wanganui again confront the task of putting together two solid batting innings to give themselves a shot at a respectable outcome.

In December 2012 in Napier, they were blown off the park for a team total of 79 in reply to Hawke's Bay's 252, and while the follow-on score of 212 was a better effort, it still left the hosts only 39 to chase for victory.