Bead drawn on Chapple Cup

Wairarapa selector Mark Brown has labelled his team's Chapple Cup limited overs cricket fixture with Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton on Sunday as "very winnable" despite his side being without gun allrounders Seth Rance and Dean Van Deventer.
"Obviously, it does weaken us because they can both be lethal with bat and ball but we've won without them before and there's no reason why we shouldn't do so again," Brown said. "We won't be using their absence as an excuse, not at all."
Just how lethal Rance and Van Deventer can be with the new ball was amply demonstrated in Wairarapa's impressive innings and 23-run victory over Horowhenua-Kapiti in a Hawke Cup game last weekend. They took all 10 wickets between them as the visitors capitulated for a paltry 66 in their second innings.
And there would be few interprovincial sides around the country who wouldn't enjoy having them in the middle of their batting order either, as they both have a penchant for taking the attack to the bowlers, often with telling effect.
The loss of Rance, who is playing for the Central Districts under-23s and Van Deventer, who has a prior commitment, sees Lansdowne duo Mark Scully and Brock Price return to the Wairarapa squad and it is comforting to know they have already shown the ability to make an impact at representative level, Scully as a medium pace bowler who can maintain a consistent line and length and Price as an allrounder with the skills to actually open the batting and the bowling if required.
It is more likely on Sunday, however, that Price will bat down the order with Tim Lucas and Jamie Holmes doing so well in the opening berths against Horowhenua-Kapiti to suggest they could become regulars in that role through to the end of the current rep season.
Holmes scored at a run a ball when making 60 in Wairarapa's first and only innings and one suspects he will look to continue in that vein this weekend, while Lucas, who fell just nine runs short of a century against H-K, is likely to be somewhat more circumspect in his approach.
His aim will be to anchor the innings and allow the likes of Henry Cameron, Sam Curtis and Matthew Stringfellow to play their normal attack-orientated games.
Wairarapa should be able to depend on a powerful lower order, which will include such proven rungetters as Steve Coleman, Robbie Anderson, Robbie Speers and Nicolai Karaitiana - not to mention Price - to come to the party.
Bowling-wise Wairarapa will have Ingham, Scully and Price competing to utilise the new ball.
To make Sunday's match even more interesting, Wairarapa will have a royal opportunity to assess Wanganui's strengths and weaknesses before they play them in a vital Hawke Cup encounter early next month. Win that outright and they could well earn the right to challenge for the cup a little further down the track.
On the club scene, matches in the More FM Cup Twenty20 senior men's competition will actually be played tonight. Unbeaten Greytown will take on Flight Centre Lansdowne at the park Oval and Wairarapa College will host Red Star. Both games start at 5.15pm.