Rathkeale?s run set to pay dividends

Wairarapa cricket has been given a huge boost by the effort of the Rathkeale College first XI to win through to the semi-finals of the Gillette Cup national secondary schoolboys knockout competition.
And it's not as if they have been favoured by a comfortable draw either. Along the way to making the top four they have defeated defending champions Palmerston North Boys High along with two of the more favoured contenders, St Pats Silverstream and Wanganui Collegiate.
So impressive have Rathkeale been that despite their youth a number of their players must be in the reckoning for places in the Wairarapa senior rep side this season.
At the forefront of them would be pace bowler Dougie Bracewell, who is following in the footsteps of his father, former New Zealand paceman Brendon Bracewell.
His value was never better illustrated than in the thrilling one-run quarter-final victory over St Pats Silverstream.
He terrorised the top order in taking 2-7 from his first five overs and then came back later to snare the wicket of the danger man in the St Pats batting line-up, Ronald Karaitiana, who was on 72 at the time and threatening to see his team past their target.
Karaitiana has close Wairarapa connections too of course, being a son of a former long-time Wairarapa senior rep in Mike Flood
Spin bowler Simon Clinton-Baker and top order bat Andy Dodd are two other Rathkeale players who must be on the verge of Wairarapa senior selection and if the likes of skipper Tim Lucas and medium pacer Deon van Deventer continue to show good form they too could be in the reckoning.
Having said all that Rathkeale have a fight on their hands to avoid outright defeat in their current Bidwell Cup senior inter-club match with the Academy XI.
The latter look to have every chance of taking a decent first innings lead and if that's the case the onus will be on the Rathkeale batsman to show more resilience than they did in their first "dig".
Then they were all out for 157 with Dodd (68) and Bracewell (30) being responsible for the bulk of the runs.
Greytown and Lansdowne were expected to have a close tussle in their Bidwell Cup encounter but the first day's play was something of a one-horse race with Greytown calling the tune thanks to the all-round abilities of Hayden Spierling.
He claimed seven wickets as Lansdowne was dismissed for 141 and then made 46 not out as his own team raced away to a 46-run first innings lead with two wickets still in hand.
Greytown will be aware though that Lansdowne do contain a number of batsmen capable of scoring heavily in quick time and that there is still some work to do before outright points are achieved.
A similar situation occurs in the Red Star v Wairarapa College match. Red Star held a 25-run first innings lead at the end of the first day's play with two wickets in hand but that is hardly enough to suggest maximum points are a formality for them.
Wairarapa College do have a solid look to their batting order and it would surprise if they do not improve greatly on the 113 they made in the first innings when they bat a second time.
Teams are reminded to have scoreboards to the Times-Age office by 10am on Sunday mornings.