Greytown will not lay down for Academy

Unbeaten Rathkeale Cricket Academy could have a fight on their hands when they play Greytown in an Umpires Cup senior men's inter-club cricket match at Greytown tomorrow.
Academy has been in impressive form throughout the limited-overs competition but it will be interesting to see how they cope against a Greytown attack which generally produces the goods on their home track.
There is no question that the Academy batsmen will be tested while the shine is on the ball.
In Seth Rance, Greytown have an opening bowler capable of working up considerable pace on the most placid of pitches and Hayden Spierling and Ed Butler aren't far behind him in that respect.
Englishman Butler is a relatively new name on the local scene and there has been a lot to like about his aggressive attitude at the bowling crease. He'll be no doubt be looking forward to locking horns with an Academy side who are basically all from the Mother Country as well.
That the Academy has plenty of fortitude in their batting line-up can't be argued with their match with Lansdowne last weekend a good case in point.
That game was played on a Queen Elizabeth Park pitch which, quite frankly, simply wasn't good enough for senior cricket with the boot-high bounce meaning survival at the batting crease was just about as much a matter of good luck as good management.
In those sort of circumstances the resilience of the batsmen is put well and truly under the spotlight and, led by century maker James Brocklebank, the Academy came through with flying colours.
The emphasis from Brocklebank was to get to the ball before the wicket had the chance to play its tricks and the other Academy batsmen did their best to follow suit, although not with quite the same level of success.
In Greytown's case their batting has been inconsistent, to say the least, this season and while the Academy attack is not especially lethal in terms of pace they have enough variety to take full advantage of any lapses there.
The onus for Greytown will therefore be on the likes of experienced campaigners like Wal Tatham and Josh Doherty to weather the storm at the top of the order so as to allow big hitters like Paul Lyttle, Rance and Spierling to provide the fireworks later on.
An intriguing match is in prospect then with Academy deservedly starting favourites but Greytown a definite upset hope.
It will be the state of the pitch as much as the performance of the two teams which will be the centre of attention when Red Star and Wairarapa College play their Umpire's Cup match at the Queen Elizabeth Park oval tomorrow.
As said previously the oval wicket simply wasn't up to the required standard last weekend and, with Wairarapa due to play Chapple and Hawke Cup matches there next Friday through to Sunday, you can bet that Wairarapa Cricket Association officials will be keen to see sharp improvement in that regard on this occasion.
They will certainly be keeping their fingers crossed that the weather doesn't turn sour and cause tomorrow's games to be postponed because they would then have to make a decision on the venue for the representative games without the benefit of seeing another match played there.
At least the Greytown and Rathkeale wickets have been playing well enough of late to make them a viable alternative but to transfer the matches from the province's headquarters would still be a big blow to the profile of the sport here.
Red Star and Wairarapa College should have an interesting duel with both sides desperate to pick up the maximum points which would keep them in the running for the Cup semi-finals.
As the defending champions Red Star must be frustrated at currently sitting just one place off the bottom of the table and they will be worried that the batting talents of Wairarapa College players such as Sam Curtis, Robbie Anderson, Daniel Ingham and Alex Treseder could again make life very difficult tomorrow.
In Red Star's favour though is that if the pitch does again provide a variable bounce most of it low and slow they have enough guile in their attack to turn that into a winning advantage.
Rathkeale College have probably been the surprise packets of the Umpires Cup to date with the youngsters placed third on the competition table, behind Academy and Greytown and 10 points clear of their opposition tomorrow, Lansdowne, who are yet to break their "duck".
On that basis you'd have to expect Rathkeale to win tomorrow's clash but one suspects it won't be anywhere near as easy as that with Lansdowne having enough individual talent to make a liar out of the form book.