Lansdowne enjoy underdog status

Write us off at your own peril.
That's the warning Flight Centre Lansdowne skipper Sam Curtis is giving pundits leading into his team's Bidwell Cup senior men's cricket grand final with Greytown at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton on Saturday and Sunday.
Curtis says the defending champions are enjoying the prospect of going into a match as the rank underdogs, a feeling they have seldom experienced in recent times, and he wonders how Greytown will react to the favourite's tag.
''The pressure is all on them, isn't it?'' he said. ''Everybody is expecting them to clean us out and, quite frankly, I like that, it's a plus rather than a minus.''
Curtis acknowledges Greytown do have the better form of the two teams and that his own side failed miserably against them in the Umpire's Cup one-day final earlier in the season.
But he also notes the good results Lansdowne have returned against Greytown in two-day games over the past few seasons, including last year's grand final, which they won on the first innings.
''They won't intimidate us, we've beaten them before and there's no reason why we can't do it again,'' he said. ''We've heard all the talk about how strong they look but it's what happens over the two days which counts, not what they've done in games which don't have a championship resting on them.''
Lansdowne had hoped to have two Wairarapa senior reps from Rathkeale College, Matthew Stringfellow and Jamie Holmes, on board for the grand final, but they have been ruled out under the player eligibility rules
There is good news, however, in that experienced all-rounder Robin James has signalled his availability. James will be expected to play a prominent role with bat and ball in a Lansdowne squad in which other Wairarapa reps Henry Cameron, Alex Treseder, Brock Price and, of course, Curtis should also shine.
Former Central Districts A top-order batsman Mark Childs will be a spearhead of the Greytown line-up and he said yesterday that under the guidance of professional player-coach Steve Coleman, they have been focusing on getting their preparation right rather than worrying about the strengths and weaknesses of their opposition.
''As defending champions we know Lansdowne will be no push-overs. We are looking forward to a very competitive match.''
Childs says the difference between the current Greytown team and those of the recent past is that rather than relying on just a couple of players for the bulk of their runs, they now had several batsmen capable of scoring heavily and, what's more, most of them were in form.
And he also said the arrival of a quality spinner in Coleman meant what was already a proven attack made them even more well-rounded in that department.
Childs did agree, however, that the inability of Central Stags paceman Seth Rance to bowl in the grand final because of a side strain was a frustration, but he was quick to add that in Hayden Spierling, Greytown still had a new ball bowler who could work up a decent head of steam.