Injury rules out Curtis

Wairarapa skipper Sam Curtis will be off the cricketing scene for some weeks.
Curtis had surgery on a broken bone in his left hand this week and will miss not only Wairarapa's final representative match for 2010-11, a Chapple Cup one-day fixture against Manawatu this coming weekend, but also the remainder of the club season.
The top-order batsman and spin bowler will be a big loss to Lansdowne as they strive for the major spoils in the Umpires Cup and Bidwell Cup competitions.
The hand injury first surfaced towards the end of last season and, while Curtis has since been able to fulfil club commitments in England and here as well as being a regular for Wairarapa, he always knew the time would come when surgery would be necessary.
And with a knee strain forcing him from the field early in Wairarapa's drawn Hawke Cup fixture with Wanganui at Queen Elizabeth Park oval on Sunday, he might well have been struggling to keep playing anyway.
"I think the body might have been telling me it was time to take a rest so maybe it's all for the best," Curtis said.
Curtis isn't fazed at the criticism levelled at him by the Wanganui camp after running out one of their batsmen in somewhat controversial circumstances. Chasing down a ball hit off his own bowling, Curtis turned to see the two batsmen chatting up the pitch and, with the ball not having been declared "dead" by the umpires, he removed the bails and had an appeal for run-out upheld.
"Everything I did was within the rules, they shouldn't have left their ground before the ball was considered out of play," Curtis said. "Obviously, they weren't too happy with it but, at the end of the day, all I did was take advantage of their mistake."
The loss of that wicket came at a vital time as Wanganui closed on a first-innings lead, something they failed to achieve by seven runs, and followed Wairarapa being denied numerous leg before wicket appeals which, from the sidelines at least, seemed to have merit.
"I suppose it wasn't a good look and, maybe on reflection, it's not something I would do again but rules are rules so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it," Curtis said.
The failure by Wairarapa to turn their first-innings lead into an outright win meant any hopes of a Hawke Cup challenge went by the board but Curtis is still delighted with the side's progress this season.
"We have a lot of good young guys coming through and, providing we can keep them, there's no reason we shouldn't go all the way," he said.
Curtis will head to England again in April to continue his association with the Oxted and Limpsfield team that won promotion to the premier Surrey league last season and he intends to return to play for Lansdowne in 2011-12.