Sevens lures players from cruicial club match

Red Star are likely to be without four key players for the first day of their crucial Bidwell Cup senior men's cricket match with the Rathkeale Cricket Academy at the Pugh Sports Bowl tomorrow.
With the two protagonists currently joint leaders on the competition table whoever wins this game is certain of a spot in the grand final of the two-day competition and Red Star's woes will see Academy start a firm favourite.
Missing from the Red Star line-up will be three of their regular bowlers, Carwyn Caffell, Jared Watt and Aaron Wilson, and top order batsman Troy Burling. Caffell has a back injury which is almost certain to sideline him while the other three will apparently be amongst the big crowd attending the sevens rugby in Wellington.
Skipper Shey O'Gorman concedes the loss of so many of his regular players would be a blow to Red Star's chances but, at the same time, he is taking a positive stance on the situation.
"It's the old story, when someone is not available another player gets the chance to step in and do the business," he said. "You can't dwell on who's not there, you have to do the best with what you've got."
O'Gorman's comments notwithstanding though Red Star's bowling stocks for tomorrow's action will almost certainly persuade Academy to bat first, especially with the match being transferred from the original venue of Rathkeale College to the Sports Bowl.
The latter has a very slick outfield and you can wager that in-form Academy batsmen like Chad Yates, Dan Stevenson , James Brocklebank and Steve Coleman will fancy their chances of scoring heavily against the depleted Red Star attack.
The flip side to that coin, of course, is that should Red Star win the toss they too will be keen to bat with the idea of spending most of the day at the crease, thereby negating the loss of so many of their front line bowlers to a large degree.
In Brad Edwards, Daniel Stonely and Joe Hull Red Star have three batsmen who have consistently repped for Wairarapa at senior level this season and they are all capable of batting for long periods, especially Edwards whose stickability has been a feature of his batting efforts on both the club and representative scenes.
It is in Red Star's favour too that at least one of the replacements for the "unavailables", Wairarapa College teacher Julian Cosgrove, is no mug with the bat either and will probably fill one of the top order slots as a consequence.
It will also be interesting to see the make-up of the Lansdowne team for their Bidwell Cup fixture with Wairarapa College at Wairarapa College tomorrow.
They benefited immensely from the return of old hands like Chris Jefferies and Robin James in their surprise win over Red Star in a catch-up Umpires Cup fixture last Sunday and if they are back on deck again the students will have a real battle on their hands.
In that victory over Stars Lansdowne batted first and racked up an impressive score of 253 with Jefferies and James both making half-centuries, Brock Price 39, Dane Buchanan 34 and the ever-consistent Doug Johnson 28.
They then dismissed Red Star for just 159 of which Stoneley made 32, Hull 33 and Watt 32. Bowling for Lansdowne Buchanan took 4-30 from his 10 overs and James 3-22.
Wairarapa College, for their part, should be strengthened by the inclusion of Wairarapa skipper Sam Curtis who has returned from his commitments with the Central Districts team which finished fourth at the provincial A tournament in Christchurch. Curtis scored in the 60's in one knock down south and in the 30's in another and if he spends any length of time at the crease tomorrow Lansdowne will be in trouble.
It is disappointing that the other Bidwell Cup match scheduled for this weekend, that between Greytown and Rathkeale College, will not be played because Rathkeale have defaulted due to the second day clashing with their annual inter-school game with old foes Wanganui Collegiate.
Already being guaranteed a win will be good news for Greytown though as they currently sit third on the points table and could move into second depending on the outcome of the Academy v Red Star encounter.
Interestingly enough too the fate of Greytown in the last two rounds of Bidwell Cup play will now dictate the time and venue of the competition decider.
If Greytown make the final it will be played at Greytown on March 8 and 9 but if they don't it will be at Queen Elizabeth Park oval on March 1 and 2.