Predictions hard to make in Umpires Cup semis

The very nature of the limited-overs game makes the predicting of the two teams who will contest the final of the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Umpires Cup competition at Queen Elizabeth Park oval on Sunday a hazardous business
All four sides who will contest tomorrow's semi-finals - Rathkeale Cricket Academy, Red Star, Greytown and Wairarapa College- contain individuals capable of making a huge impression in the shorter version of the game and much will depend on which of them fires up on this occasion.
Academy and Red Star will meet at the park oval in what is a repeat of the Bidwell Cup two-day final which ended in a draw, a result good enough to give Academy that title.
In their only outing since then the two sides have experienced very different results in the one-day arena, a depleted Academy being pulverised by Greytown last weekend and Red Star successfully managing a decent run chase to beat Wairarapa College.
Of the two sides you'd have to say that Red Star does look the best equipped for the one-day game, especially now that Academy are without Chad Yates and Dan Stevenson, two of their best performers in limited-overs play.
Players like Daniel Stoneley, Brad Edwards and Jared Watt are capable of scoring big runs in quick time for Stars while medium pacers Watt and Carwyn Caffell and spinners Edwards, Aaron Wilson and skipper Shay O'Gorman help give them a well-balanced attack.
Adding to their motivation is that this weekend will signal O'Gorman's last appearance for them with Caffell perhaps in the same boat now that the body is starting to show signs of wear and tear.
Academy can never be discounted though. In Steve Coleman they have a very astute captain who knows how to get under the skin of the opposition and who is also a proven performer with bat and ball. Nick Hutchinson Fran Finnemore and Hussain Shabbir will be expected to give him solid support in the batting department while if the park oval pitch best suits the "slowies" promising spinner Jonny Samwell will become a possible match winner.
Greytown will go into their semi-final with Wairarapa College at Greytown as favourites but they will be acutely aware of the run scoring potential of the college side, spearheaded as they are by in-form opener Sam Curtis, Robbie Anderson, Alec Treseder and Daniel Ingham.
Therefore the onus will be on bowlers like Seth Rance, Hayden Spierling and Dean Southey to strike early for Greytown otherwise they could be chasing plenty of leather.
The return to the active scene of Mark Childs has been a huge boost for Greytown's batting resources, a point well illustrated by the blistering 158 he scored against Academy last weekend..Young Blake Lyford has also made pleasing progress in that department and with big hitters like Rance and Spierling down the order Greytown could give the Wairarapa College attack a decent workout as well.