Nobody could begrudge Red Star their upset six-wicket win over Turkey Red Greytown in the final of Cricket Wairarapa's Bidwill Cup competition played at Queen Elizabeth Park oval in Masterton over the weekend.
The plain truth was that Red Star out-batted and out-bowled a Greytown side which was looking to complete the treble, having already won the Umpires Cup one-day and The Rock Twenty20 competitions and qualified for the national one-day finals to be played in Auckland early next month along the way.
On this occasion, however, the writing was pretty much on the wall for Greytown come the end of the first day's play. Trailing Red Star by 59 runs on the first innings they commenced Sunday's action at 9-1 in their second, not a significant arrears in normal circumstances but with the pitch playing tricks and showers always likely to cause delays in play the task was uphill, to say the least.
With that in mind Greytown's effort to reach 185 at their second turn at bat was not without merit. Leading the way were experienced campaigners Steve Coleman and Tim Lucas, Coleman's 44 coming from 68 balls and including seven fours and Lucas making 40 from 50 balls, including two fours and one six. It was a handy double for Lucas who had top scored with 35 in Greytown's first innings of 85.
Outstanding with the ball for Red Star was medium pacer Nik Karaitiana whose ability to main a steady line and length was rewarded with the excellent figures of 5-37 from 13.5 overs.
