Rathkeale in match-saving mode

Rathkeale College will be in match saving mode when the second day of their Wairarapa senior men's cricket Bidwell Cup match with Red Star resumes tomorrow.
Without the services of Doug Bracewell, Andy Dodd and Dean van Deventer, all of whom were involved in a national age group tourney, the students fielded a very depleted attack last weekend and they took a severe pasting from Stars who declared their first innings closed at 310-7.
The in-form Joe Hull led the way with 78 from 88 balls while Troy Burling made 55, Peter Sigvertsen his first 50 in senior club cricket and Corey Burling 40.
It was a score which put Stars clearly on the front foot and they maintained the pressure by claiming three Rathkeale College first innings wickets before stumps for a cost of 52 runs, Carwyn Caffell taking 2-9 and Shey O'Gorman 1-0.
With Bracewell, Dodd and van Deventer likely to be back in action tomorrow and just as capable with the bat as they are with the ball, Rathkeale will be intent on avoiding outright defeat.
It promises to be a long haul for them but the longer they bat on in their first innings the better the chances of them doing just that.
One suspects that Dodd could be the key to a Rathkeale revival.
He has been in good nick with the bat and has the temperament required to stay at the crease for long periods.
South African Gerrard Smith made a big impact with bat and ball when Lansdowne narrowly took the honours off Academy on the first day of their match at the Park Oval.
Smith smacked three huge sixes in a knock of 28 as Lansdowne battled their way to 152 in their first innings and then claimed three wickets with his medium pacers as Academy made 117-7 in reply.
Another highlight of the Academy innings was the run out of Wairarapa rep Dave Irvine.
It came from Doug Gardiner who hit the stumps with a throw from the boundary's edge.
The onus for both Lansdowne and Academy will be to press on for an outright win tomorrow with Academy sure to place the emphasis on quick runs when their first innings resumes.
A 20 to 30 run lead might be enough to give them the edge over a Lansdowne side whose batting has been somewhat frail, to say the least. However, they have picked up former Rathkeale player Brock Price and his ability with bat and ball will obviously strengthen their effort in both departments.
Greytown too have made a couple of valuable gains from Rathkeale,, top order batsman Andy Oldfield and all-rounder Simon Clinton-Baker although their stay will be brief as they will soon be off to university.
The southerners are making the pace in the Bidwell Cup series and have to be favoured to take maximum points off Wairarapa College tomorrow.
Yet again it was young all-rounder Seth Rance who provided the fireworks for Greytown last weekend.
He had outstanding figures of 6-24 as Wairarapa College were dismissed for just 138 in their first innings and then scored a quickfire 54 before Greytown declared at 160-6.
And it was Rance who claimed the wicket when Wairarapa College were 5-1 in their second innings when stumps were drawn.