Cricket: T20 rank 'injustice' to pool of talent

CD Stags bowling coach Jacob Oram presides at the nets as Seth Rance, of Wairarapa, rolls his arm over at Nelson Park, Napier, yesterday. Photo / Warren Buckland

SPORT is seldom ever fair and to pretend otherwise would be a calamity but that doesn't mean teams have to accept it.

Consequently, when bowling coach Jacob Oram looks across Nelson Park, Napier, to see the Devon Hotel Central Districts Stags training, his frustration is understandable, if not palpable, as the Georgie Pie Super Smash Twenty20 campaign enters the business end.

"This team's bloody talented and it almost doesn't seem right that we are fifth and nearly out of it," says the former Black Cap, before the Heinrich Malan-coached Stags host last-placed Wellington Firebirds in the penultimate round of the T20 domestic competition tonight.

For "justice in this game and for Mother Cricket", Oram said, it was imperative CD clinched the remaining two games to, hopefully, nail a top-three berth for the playoffs in the lucrative white-ball format.

But newly crowned captain George Worker and his troops will need a couple of other results to go their way after today's 7.10pm televised start at McLean Park, Napier, before that happens.

It didn't help that Oram arrived with the Manawatu contingent of CD players a shade before 11am at Nelson Park yesterday only to see Ryder wheeling out his coffin (cricket bag) and heading in the opposite direction for Wairarapa.

"It goes without saying that not having Jesse will be massive. We haven't had him all summer and it would have been nice to have his explosiveness and strike rate at the top of the order but, you know, we can still have our top three of George Worker, Mahela [Jayawardene] and Will [Young].

"Look, it's not the worst top three in the first place but, obviously, Jesse Ryder is a freak when it comes to hitting the ball so it would have been great but, much like the results, it is what it is."

A bunch of predominantly "no names" last summer engineered the Stags to Ford Trophy glory in 2014-15.

"This a group of an average age of 24 and the skill and talent level is unbelievable, more than I've ever seen with a Stags side."

"It would be nice if our destiny was in our own hands and we were in a position where we could win games to be assured [of a playoff spot].

"We need to win these two games but we also need other results to go our way.

"It's not ideal but it is what it is, with rained-out games and a couple of games going against us with poor performances, but we're still not completely out of it so it's what we've got to hang on to."

The bowling department, he felt, was pretty much the analogy of the team where they had done some good stuff and in patches where they haven't been at their best.

"It's not through a lack of effort or even a lack of skills because, sometimes, you don't execute correctly but I know the guys are training their arses off working towards plans and tactics we talk about before a game."

Oram said, at times, one simply had to tip the cap to the batsmen.

While it was expected of England-based Australian professional Mitchell Claydon to deliver, he said the likes of Adam Milne, Andrew Mathieson at the start of the campaign, Seth Rance recently and Bevan Small in the last game - four overs for 18 runs at Pukekura Park in the demolition of Northern Districts - showed immense talent.

"As is the case with any format, it's about consistency and we're trying to get that."