Red Star dazzle Lansdowne

WINNERS: Back, M Elliott (left), Red Star president, A Wilson, C Bevan, S Jarvis, J Watt, W Kelleher, M Fisher, R French, W Syben (manager), S Elliott (coach). Front, N Karaitiana, C Wenden, J Hull (vice-captain), S O'Gorman (captain), R Anderson, D van Deventer. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Red Star were a class above Flight Centre Lansdowne in the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Bidwell Cup competition final, winning by an innings and 17 runs at Queen Elizabeth Park oval at the weekend.
The platform for Red Star's comprehensive success was laid on the Saturday when they recovered from 61-6 to make a respectable 230 in their first innings and then dismissed Lansdowne for a paltry 61.
From that point, the main interest centred more on whether Lansdowne could score enough runs in their second innings to make Red Star bat again rather than the end result, which was almost a foregone conclusion. Again they struggled to get worthwhile partnerships going and were all out for 152.
Matthew Stringfellow (35), Jamie Holmes (25) and Brock Price (23) provided the main resistance to a Red Star attack in which spinner Aaron Wilson was the dominant figure, finishing with an impressive 5-14 off eight overs. Jared Watt took 2-43 off 13 overs.
It was Red Star's first Bidwell Cup title since 1995-96, guaranteeing they would end this season as the most successful Wairarapa premier side, having also won the More FM Cup Twenty20 series.
Ironically, however, they are already out of the running for the still-to-be-finalised Umpires Cup competition. Most of those matches occurred before the Christmas break, when Red Star struggled to find any semblance of form, largely through lacklustre batting displays.
Skipper Shay O'Gorman said the early season showings were frustratingly disappointing but he - and the team as a whole - had believed things would get better as the season progressed.
"We often talked about hanging in there, of working towards improvement rather than dwelling too much on past results," O'Gorman said.
"The team spirit was fantastic and that counted for plenty, we could have dropped our bundle completely otherwise. Everybody stayed positive and that got us through in the end."
It was no surprise that Red Star's dramatic change in fortunes should coincide with the acquisition of former Rathkeale College all-rounder Dean van Deventer, who had been playing club cricket in Canterbury.
A highly skilled practitioner with bat and ball, van Deventer invariably made a big impact in one, or both, of those departments.
It would be wrong, though, to see the side as a one-man band. For instance, spinner O'Gorman ended the club season with a haul of 37 wickets and Nicolai Karaitiana was perhaps the most reliable of all the batsmen, and a tidy medium-pace bowler too.
The all-round abilities of Aaron Wilson, Sean Jarvis and Jared Watt and the skills of wicket-keeper batsman Robbie Anderson were valuable as well.
Red Star will, however, need a new leader in 2011-12. O'Gorman has announced he won't be available for the job then, with a holiday in Ireland one of the main factors in that decision, as well as the "wear and tear on an ageing body".
The captaincy will go to Joe Hull, a talented batsman who has played for Wairarapa.