Friendly against Wanganui a chance to press selection claims

The Wairarapa senior men's cricket squad will be involved in a "friendly" limited-overs match with Wanganui at Wanganui on Labour Monday.
Convenor of selectors Dermot Payton said the game would provide an ideal opportunity for participants to press claims for selection for the combined Chapple and Hawke Cup matches against Wanganui, Manawatu and Taranaki later in the season.
"Obviously there is nothing hanging on the result but I'd imagine both sides will be taking it pretty seriously with a view to what is coming up," Payton said of Monday's game.
"I know we will be anyway."
The Wairarapa line-up will be selected from a group of players chosen to attend a training session at the Rathkeale academy tomorrow night, starting at 5.30pm.
Already named as skipper for the 2007-08 season is Wairarapa College all-rounder Sam Curtis and joining him at the session will be Robbie Anderson (Wairarapa College), Daniel Stonely, Brad Edwards, Joe Hull, Aaron Wilson and Willie Thomson (Red Star), Brock Price and Robin James (Lansdowne), Hayden Spierling, Seth Rance, Paul Lyttle and Ewan Burt (Greytown), Dean van Deventer (Rathkeale) and three as yet unnamed players from the Academy club.
Payton expects Wairarapa to be a competitive unit on the representative scene this season although he concedes that captain Curtis will have to lead by example on the batting front, in particular.
"We don't have a lot of experience in the top order batting and Sam will have a big responsibility there," Payton said.
"But we're confident it will bring out the best in him."
On the bowling front the return of Greytown paceman Hayden Spierling after a season's absence is a big plus for Wairarapa and he and clubmate Seth Rance will give Wairarapa plenty of zip with the new ball.
Rance was a huge success story for Wairarapa last season and, along with Curtis, should be pressing hard for Central Districts selection in the weeks ahead.
Hawke Cup rules only allow for one of the overseas players from the Academy side to play for Wairarapa at any one time, a pity taking a line through their big win over Rathkeale College in a Umpires Cup club match played at Rathkeale on Sunday.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dan Stevenson posted the first century of the season when he scored 103 in Academy's innings of 271-9. The other major contributor was their bowling coach Steve Coleman, who made 27.
Rathkeale was then dismissed for just 121 with the main wicket-taker being right arm spinner Chad Yates, a very talented all-rounder who claimed 6-31.
Academy currently have a squad of 20 which will be increased to 22 after the Christmas break all of them from the United Kingdom and manager John Lammas, who is also the fitness coach, expects them to continue to make a decent impact on the club scene.
"There are some very handy cricketers here and they should certainly hold their own," he said.
Spin bowling has been an area of weakness in the Wairarapa for some time now so it's interesting that the Academy have no fewer than nine players who can bowl spin but very few who are medium pace or quicker.