Wairarapa senior men's cricket selection convenor Dermot Payton was delighted his side managed to finish their 2007-08 season with a win over the Doug Catley XI in a limited-overs match at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval on Sunday & despite half the original selection not being available.
Payton said the seven-wicket success
highlighted the depth of talent currently in Wairarapa cricket and was a good sign for the future.
"When you have six players pull out and still win it does show that the depth we have now is probably better than it has been for a good while," Payton said. "It wouldn't have been so long ago that if that happened we wouldn't have been able to even field a team."
Payton is adamant, however, there is still room for improvement in the attitude of some of the district's better players.
"We have a situation where from time to time players put other interests ahead of their cricket and that's something which needs to be addressed," he said.
"As a selector you want players to be fully committed to the side, it's very frustrating when they start picking and choosing over what games they will play."
One of the success stories of Sunday's match was former Lansdowne player Henry Cameron, who was a regular selection in the Wairarapa side a couple of seasons back but who has been playing his cricket in the Poverty Bay area this season. Payton said Cameron was asked to join the current Wairarapa squad when the list of unavailables continued to grow and he was "very impressed" with his knock of 117 which was typically belligerent in nature.
"He's always liked to give the ball a decent nudge and there was no stopping him once he got going, he just flayed them all over the park," Payton said.
