Drama engulfs Cup after poor pitch, default

Drama surrounded the Bidwell Cup senior men's cricket match scheduled for Saturday between Flight Centre Lansdowne and Greytown.
Firstly, a late change of venue was announced on Friday after Wairarapa Cricket Association officials inspected the pitch and outfield at Park Sportsground No2 in Masterton and decided it was not up to the standard for senior competition play.
They transferred the match to Greytown but it did not eventuate, with Lansdowne being forced to default because of a shortage of players.
Lansdowne skipper Sam Curtis said the change of venue did not prompt the default, rather it was a case of many of their regular players being unavailable because of other commitments.
''We had spent most of the week trying to make up the numbers but by Friday night we still only had seven players and we had little alternative but to pull the plug,'' Curtis said. ''It was gutting but there was nothing else we could do.''
Lansdowne, the defending Bidwell Cup champions, had more than half their regulars in the Wairarapa squad this season but the default means they could now have to win their last two preliminary rounds games outright to have any chance of making this season's grand final.
Wairarapa College have a taken a 15-run first innings lead over Red Star after the first day's play in the other Bidwell Cup fixture being played at Wairarapa College.
Red Star batted first and were always struggling against an accurate college attack. They went from 10-2 to 37-5 and 77-7 before being all out for 102. Most of their runs came from the middle order, with Aaron Wilson making 20 and J. Navar 25.
Bowling for Wairarapa College, Daniel Haxton showed his recent elevation to the Wairarapa senior squad was well merited by taking 3-12 from his 14 overs while Stefan Hook from 3-31 from 11 overs.
Wairarapa College started their first innings disastrously, with the first two wickets falling for just five runs and while they never got on top of the Red Star bowling they did manage to achieve a first-innings lead, finishing the day's play at 117-8. Major contributors were A Williams (35) and T Lett (22), while spinner Aaron Wilson did most of the damage for Red Star, taking 4-18.