Batting resolve key to Bidwell Cup glory

An intriguing battle is in prospect when Rathkeale Cricket Academy and Red Star go head to head in the final of the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Bidwell Cup competition at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton tomorrow and Sunday.
Both teams have a handful of players who are capable of tipping the scales with a brilliant individual performance but one suspects the end result will depend to a large degree on which of the two sides shows the greater resolve in the batting department.
Neither have any shortage of players who like to get on with the game and consequently are prepared to go for the flashy shots early in their innings but this is a two-day match where occupation of the crease for lengthy periods could play an even more crucial part in the outcome.
Academy are in the unfortunate position of losing three of their batting stars, Chad Yates, Dan Stevenson and James Brocklebank, all of whom have returned to England to further their blossoming cricketing careers.
It is understood Yates a classy all-rounder who was such a success for Wairarapa as well and Stevenson are now involved with the Leicestershire academy and in the reckoning to play for that county at professional level and Brocklebank has similar prospects at Warwickshire.
Normally losing three players of that calibre would be enough to make any club side the underdog in a game of this magnitude but Academy team manager John Lammas was toeing a much more optimistic line this week.
"We've got good depth and we'll be backing that to get us through," he said. "Obviously it's not a good time to lose key players but it's something we won't be dwelling on, we'll front up and hopefully come away with a positive result."
As the top seeds going into the final, Academy only have to avoid outright defeat to have the Bidwell Cup in their trophy cabinet, something which adds to the importance of their batting effort, especially in the first innings. The longer they spend at the wicket then the less time there will be for Red Star to push for the outright win.
With that in mind Academy will be placing considerable reliance on the ability of batsmen like Francis Finnemore, Andy McElnea, Hussain Shabbir, Nicky Hutchinson and Steve Coleman to not only score heavily against the Red Star attack but to keep them at bay for long periods.
Coleman will also be looking to make a decent impact with the ball. He has taken a big haul of wickets already this season with his medium pacers and it will be his job to make early inroads into the Red Star batting line-up. Supporting him there will be
recent acquisition to the Academy in Manchester medium pacer Luke Littlewood while, with Yates gone, promising youngster Jon Samuels will be the first string spinner. The placidness of the park Oval pitch might well see him have a heavy workload over the weekend.
Red Star's batting strength very much involves around their current Wairarapa representatives Brad Edwards, Daniel Stoneley and Joe Hull although wicketkeeper Camus Wyatt came to light with a spectacular 99 in their Umpires Cup win over Greytown last Saturday and opening bowler Jared Watt can smite a ball a country mile, something he did with telling effect in his scintillating century a few weeks back. If Red Star get into the position of chasing quick runs for victory there would be few better players around than Watt to take up that challenge.
A back injury continues to trouble one of Red Star's most prolific wicket takers in Carwyn Caffell and he is a very doubtful starter this weekend. Therefore the onus will be on Watt, Pete Sigvertsen and Willie Thomson to utilise the new ball effectively before spinners Aaron Wilson, Edwards and captain Shay O'Gorman are required to strut their stuff.
In this department too, the aggressiveness of Watt could be a vital component in the Red Star performance. He hits the deck hard and is always dangerous when he gets his tail up, as was illustrated when he took nine wickets in an innings in a recent club match.
Play on both days is scheduled to run from 10.30am to 6.30pm.