Intriguing Umpires Cup contest on cards

Last year's finalists Red Star and Greytown will meet in an Umpires Cup senior men's inter-club cricket match at Greytown tomorrow with an intriguing contest on the cards.
Both teams should be close to full strength now that representative players are once again available for duty and the quality of the Greytown pitch promises to have a big say in the end result.
Red Star, for their part, have two good reasons why they will be hoping for a batter-friendly strip.
Firstly, opener Brad Edwards has been in such fine form at the top of the order for Wairarapa over the past fortnight that it's hard not to imagine him again taking full advantage of excellent batting conditions.
And he can anticipate strong support from Daniel Stoneley and Joe Hull, both of whom have been out of favour with the Wairarapa selectors this season despite showing consistent form on the club scene.
Tomorrow is a royal chance for them to further push their claims for inclusion in the Hawke Cup elimination and Chapple Cup matches to be played early in the New Year.
The second and perhaps most important reason why Red Star would prefer a placidly-paced pitch is that it would help ease the threat posed them by Greytown pace bowler Seth Rance, whose form at both club and rep level this season has been outstanding.
On a wicket providing bounce and seam Rance can be lethal and with Red Star's batting having a brittle look to it through the middle and lower order that's the last thing they need.
Rance is also, of course, a huge threat to Red Star with the bat. Indeed he is Greytown's most in-form player in that department as well although the likes of Jake Ross, Willie Tatham, Mark Childs and Duncan Didsbury are capable of cutting loose too.
The strength of Red Star's bowling is their consistency with medium pacer Peter Sigvertsen the prime example of someone who regularly picks up wickets by maintaining a steady line and length and frustrating the batsmen into mistakes.
Spinner Aaron Wilson is pretty much in the same category.
The more you analyse this game the more it becomes clear that the effect Seth Rance has on it will have a huge bearing on the outcome. By largely nullifying his influence a Red Star win is very possible, fail to do so and they are much more likely to finish second.
The other Umpire's Cup match tomorrow sees Flight Centre Lansdowne taking on Rathkeale College at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton with Lansdowne welcoming back no fewer than seven players who have repped for Wairarapa in the past two weeks. On that basis they should win in a canter for the only Rathkeale player in the Wairarapa side has been all-rounder Dean van Deventer.
No doubt, however, the Rathkeale camp would have noted the mixed form with the bat of Lansdowne players Sam Curtis, Henry Cameron, Alex Treseder, Simon Butler, Robin James and Brock Price in the rep matches and they will be keen to take advantage of any lack of confidence on their part.
No one is better equipped to do that than van Deventer, who seems to have gained a metre or two of pace this season and with this being his final appearance for the college and possibly in Wairarapa cricket as well he will have every reason to fire up. Cole Eru and Jamie Holmes are other Rathkeale bowlers capable of making a nuisance of themselves.
The problem for Rathkeale though is that against a Lansdowne attack spearheaded by James, Mark Scully and Dane Buchanan their own batting frailties could be exposed to the point from where overall victory would be very difficult to achieve.