Rance hopes for more magic

Greytown all-rounder Seth Rance had a big say in his team's fortunes on the first day of their Bidwell Cup senior men's inter-club cricket competition match with Flight Centre Lansdowne at Rathkeale College last Saturday, and he will be looking to weave his magic again tomorrow.
Rance, who played for Central Districts A last season and must already be a leading contender for similar honours in 2008-09, was pretty much a one-man band for Greytown last weekend.
While better-known at the higher levels as a quickish opening bowler he is no mug with the bat either and it was in that role he initially grabbed the limelight against Lansdowne, scoring 104 in Greytown's first innings of 188.
From all accounts there were some scratchy shots early on but the longer he stayed at the crease the more Rance blossomed and there were some scorching boundaries along the way.
But it wasn't only in the batting department where Rance made a huge impact on the game, he also took all four of the wickets to fall as Lansdowne recovered from a bad start to reach 120-4 at stumps.
The good news for Lansdowne is two of their best-performed batsmen, Sam Curtis and Robin James, are at the wicket with Curtis already gone past 50 and James in the early 20s, and therefore a first innings lead is still well within their capabilities.
One suspects the first hour of play could decide the fate of this encounter with the two sides having very different objectives.
Greytown spearheaded by Rance will be aiming to knock Lansdowne over and then score enough second innings runs in rapid fashion to give them a chance of bowling Lansdowne out a second time for the outright win.
And Lansdowne, on the other hand, will be wanting to build a big first innings lead with the idea of dismissing Greytown cheaply in their second "dig" so they are in the box seat for maximum points themselves. The makings are there for an exciting finish, that's
for sure.
Tomorrow will also signal the first day's play in the Bidwell Cup fixture between Red Star and Wairarapa College at the latter's headquarters.
Red Star were on the end of a first innings defeat by Rathkeale College last weekend but could take encouragement from the fact they were not beaten outright after being all out for 53 in their first innings.
The decision by Rathkeale to bat a second time rather than enforce the follow on probably helped the Red Star cause as it gave them time to recover from the pounding they took from the mainstay of the Rathkeale attack Dion van Deventer, who took eight of the wickets to fall at a cost of just 25 runs. His was an inspired spell of pace bowling with the Red Star batsmen constantly being surprised at both the bounce and movement he extracted from the pitch.
Rathkeale declared their second innings closed at 105, leaving Red Star 250 to get in 52 overs for the outright win.
On what had transpired earlier the odds still had to be in favour of Rathkeale picking up outright point, even more so when Red Star lost a couple of early wickets. However, with skipper Joe Hull playing an excellent captain's knock of 57 not out Red Star still had five wickets intact when stumps were drawn with their total standing at 150.
Wairarapa College had the bye last weekend and tomorrow will be their first appearance in the Bidwell Cup for this year.
They have lost a handful of their better players from last season but with all-rounders Paul Bracewell and Daniel Ingham leading the way they still have enough talent to still make a big nuisance of themselves.
One of the more interesting aspects of this game will be the battle of the spinners with Aaron Wilson and Brad Edwards giving Red Star strength in that department and Bracewell likewise for Wairarapa College.
Whoever gets the best of their duel could well decide the outcome of this one.