Rain hands Nelson first innings points

The Queen Elizabeth Park pitch was the big winner when Nelson secured first innings points over Wairarapa in a Hawke Cup qualifying cricket match played there over the weekend.
When rain saw play abandoned with about two hours of the match still remaining over 750 runs had been scored at the Masterton venue with batsmen on both sides relishing the chance to play their shots on a true-paced surface.
Unfortunately for Wairarapa, however, it was the Nelson batsmen who made the better use of the conditions although, as it happened, a determined last wicket stand meant the home team were only about 30 minutes short of sharing the points.
The first day's play was dominated by the batting talents of Nelson right hander Greg Hay.
Not only did he bring up his maiden century but he went on to score a superb 188. He showed a wide array of shorts and was especially severe on anything pitched too full or too wide.
Hay's second wicket partnership of 110 with Mark Gardiner was vital for Nelson as Wairarapa opening bowler Hayden Spierling had claimed an early scalp when he cleaned bowled one of the openers and was extracting enough life from the pitch to suggest he could be more than a handful for the visitors.
Gardiner was finally out for a well-made 72 and the other major contributor in a Nelson innings which was declared closed at a very healthy 445-7 was Bryan Krammer. His fifth wicket stand with Hay was worth 154 runs with Krammer, who was quick to take advantage of anything pitched on his legs, making 60 of them.
It was not the most memorable of matches for the Wairarapa bowlers who toiled away earnestly enough on a pitch which favoured the batting side but whose line and length was too inconsistent.
Spierling's opening spell did indicate, however, that he is a young paceman with a bright future and he finished with 2-89 and also claiming two wickets was old hand Chris Jefferies.His came at a cost of 63 runs.
Despite chasing such a huge total for first innings points there was justifiable confidence in the Wairarapa camp that they could make a decent fist of their run chase.
Uunfortunately for them , however, too many of their batsmen lost their wickets through their own mistakes rather than through the prowess of the bowlers and their score stood at 305 when the last wicket fell.
The rock of the Wairarapa innings was top order player Cameron Stone who batted through 10 overs on the first day and through to just after lunch on the second for his 82. He was patience personified with the focus clearly being on playing each ball on its merits.
Lansdowne's Sam Curtis celebrated his return to the representative fold after a lengthy injury break by making 33 and Andy Roberts, whose choice over Will Rist for the wicketkeeping job was very much touch and go, batted sensibly for his 68.
He and Shane Mellor (27) did their best to keep Wairarapa's innings afloat until the always threatening weather closed in and it spoke volumes for their fighting capabilities that they came so close to achieving that target.
Nelson's attack , which was by no means terrifying in terms of pace or spin,largely centred around Greg Chitty, Kelvin Scobie and Duncan Cederman, all of whom snared three wickets each.
Rain also had the final say in the Hawke Cup qualifying match between Taranaki and Horowhenua-Kapiti. Taranaki batted first and made 318 and when stumps were drawn Horpowhenua-Kapiti were reeling at 122-9.
A similar situation occurred in the Wanganui v Marlborough match. Wanganui made 245 in their first innings and had Marlborough on the back foot at 74-4 when the rains came and any further play was impossible.