Payton canes team for batting capitulation

Selection convenor Dermot Payton has caned his Wairarapa senior men's cricket team's for their second innings capitulation in the Hawke Cup elimination match against Hawke's Bay at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval over the weekend.
After obtaining a slender first innings lead of seven runs Wairarapa were bowled out for a paltry 121 at their second turn at bat, thereby leaving Hawke's Bay just 129 runs to get for the outright win, something they managed for the loss of only four wickets.
The result returned Hawke's Bay 8 competition points to Wairarapa's 7 and while Payton was pleased to pick up that many points against such powerful opposition he was "very disappointed" at the Bay being let off the hook by such a poor second innings batting display.
"They (Hawke's Bay) should have come away with nothing, that's the truth of it," Payton said. "We created a situation from where we should never have lost and that we didn't take advantage of it is very disappointing."
With the notable exception of opener Brad Edwards, who followed his first innings effort of 58 with another dogged knock of 47, Wairarapa's second "dig" was a case of mainly soft dismissals through a mixture of lack of resolve and poor shot selection.
"There was a lot of sensible discussion in the changing rooms about how we needed to put our heads down and bat sensibly but unfortunately the message seemed to get lost out in the middle," Payton said. "There was not enough resilience there, we were more like a team of mediocre schoolboys having an off day."
Payton said there was little chance of the Wairarapa attack being able to bowl a team of Hawke's Bay's calibre out at the Park Oval when they had such a small total to chase.
"Everybody knows how difficult it can be to defend a low score there because the size of the boundaries and the quickness of the outfield," Payton said. "We had to bat time to avoid getting into that position and we didn't do it, you can't blame the bowlers for that."
Payton was, however, impressed with the way in which some of the Wairarapa bowlers coped with a heavy workload in the Bay's first innings, particularly pacemen Seth Rance and Robin James. Rance finished with six wickets and continually tested the batsmen with the movement he got off a "sporting" pitch while James was similarly consistent, at one stage bowling seven successive maiden overs.
"The bowling was a plus, no doubt about that," Payton said. "They toiled away really well, it was a good effort on their part."
The Chapple Cup limited-overs match between the two provinces on Sunday also saw Hawke's Bay emerged triumphant but not without a fight. Several of the Wairarapa batsmen got starts as their team posted a respectable 231 although again they failed to achieve one of their prime objectives, batting out the full 50 overs. They still had more than two overs available to them when the last wicket fell.
Hawke's Bay reached their target with six wickets down but were faced with the task of scoring 22 runs from their last three overs to get home, which they did with more than an over to spare.
The blot on the Wairarapa performance there was their fielding display with a number of catching chances, albeit difficult ones, going to ground.
"It wasn't a bad effort overall but again it could have been better," Payton said. "Excuses don't count, it's how you deal with pressure which decides the end result."
Wairarapa will continue their Hawke Cup and Chapple Cup programmes at the Park Oval this week when they meet Nelson over the three days from Friday to Sunday, the first two days of which will involve Hawke Cup action.
Major changes from the 13-strong squad named for the matches against Hawke's Bay are unlikely although Rathkeale College all-rounder Dean van Deventer will be a definite starter in the Hawke Cup game after only being able to play the one-dayer against the Bay.
It seems certain too that spinner Paul Bracewell will play a full part in the Hawke Cup match after not being able to bat against Hawke's Bay because of a blackened and swollen eye suffered during a practise session on the Friday. He impressed with his accuracy at the bowling crease though, his 10 overs in the Chapple Cup game costing just 22 runs.
A heavily bruised thumb, suffered in the Hawke Cup match when a Marc Calkin shot flew at him in the gully, meant skipper Sam Curtis missed the one-dayer but he is optimistic at being available for both forms of the game this coming weekend. Seth Rance took over the captaincy reins in his absence and will do so again if Curtis is sidelined.
MEANWHILE, THE DRAW FOR INTER-CLUB CRICKET IN WAIRARAPA THIS COMING SATURDAY IS:-
SENIOR (Umpires Cup, start 12 noon): Greytown v Flight Centre Lansdowne, at Greytown, Wairarapa College v Rathkeale at Wairarapa College.
OPEN GRADE (1 pm start): Rathkeale 2 v Red Star 2 at Rathkeale, Greytown 3 v Lansdowne 3 at Carterton, Marist Old Boys v Greytown 2 at Chanel, Wairarapa College 2 v Wairarapa College Colts at Wairarapa College artificial Lansdowne 2 v Cossie at Park Sports 3 artificial.