Greytown unfazed by Cornwall match

PIVOTAL: Greytown batsman and skipper Tim Lucas.PHOTO/FILE

Whatever is in the Greytown water, the rest of Wairarapa's sporting community should be falling over backwards to get some of it.

The 2013 club rugby season saw Greytown make a clean sweep of the two major trophies at stake, the Chris Kapene Memorial Cup for first round winners and the Tui Cup main championship, while the Greytown senior men's cricket side has started their 2013-14 season in memorable fashion, having yet to taste defeat in any of the three competitions in which they compete.

The southerners have already wrapped up the Umpire's Cup limited-overs series and they seem certain to at least make the finals of the Bidwill Cup two-day and The Rock Twenty20 competitions as well.

This coming weekend will be a big one for the Greytown squad. The second day of their Bidwill Cup fixture with Red Star will be a highlight of their club's old-timers weekend and with big numbers of past players watching they will be keen to push home the advantage achieved last weekend. There they racked up 268 in their first innings and had Red Star 31-2 at stumps.

Sunday promises to provide a more testing assignment for the Greytown premiers. Their Umpire's Cup success qualified them to represent Wairarapa in the national club playoffs and they will host powerful Cornwall from Hawke's Bay in a match which will decide which of the two teams go forward to the Central District play-offs in Palmerston North on February 1 and 2.

Ace allrounder and club captain Seth Rance sees "absolutely no reason" why Greytown shouldn't give Cornwall a decent run for their money.

"Obviously they are a good side but then so are we. I think we can go into the game with a lot of confidence," Rance said. "It will be our toughest test yet but we'll be ready for it."

It says something for the depth of talent in the Greytown line-up that while they will be missing a handful of their regular players for Sunday's match, they will still be fielding a formidable side.

Their attack, with Central Stag Rance the spearhead and Wairarapa representatives Ben Foster, Harry Greenwood, Quinton McKenna and Steve Coleman in support, looks particularly strong while captain Tim Lucas, deputy Gordon Reisima, Jake Ross, Jackson Kibblewhite, Robbie Speers and Paul Lyttle are the frontline batsmen.

Sunday's match will get under way at 11.30am.