Star heading to town

FIERY STUFF: Seth Rance, top all-rounder.

International cricket will come to Kuranui College in Greytown next week.

In what will be one of the highest-profile sporting events to be held at their East street grounds, the college will host on October 8 and 9 a two-day fixture between a star-studded side from the Cricket Drome Academy from Chennai in India and a Copper Kettle Kuranui Old Boys invitation XI.

Spearheading the Drome Academy side in what will be their first game on a New Zealand tour will be former Indian player Sridhharan Sriram, scorer of 32 centuries and 36 fifties in a career spanning 133 first-class games.

Players of his calibre seldom grace the cricket fields of Wairarapa.

Sriram will bring with him a squad packed with young talent, containing players with first-class and international age group experience such as Arjun Sarathy, Madhu Subramani and Vipinal Manikoth.

The full Kuranui Old Boys invitation XI squad is still to be confirmed but definitely lining up will be Greytown's Seth Rance, who has represented Central Stags on the first-class scene here and who was Wellington Club Cricket of the Year last season when playing for the Johnsonville club.

Rance is back with Greytown for 2013-14 and is sure to make a huge impact with his skills as a pace bowler and rapid-scoring middle-order batsman.

Also part of the invitation line-up will be Sam Curtis, a prolific-scoring top order batsman who has repped for Central Districts A and is now regional development officer for Cricket Wairarapa.

He plays his club cricket for the Kuranui Old Boys club.

The visit by Drome Academy was organised in large part by Kuranui Old Boys skipper Darren Dingle through the contacts he made during a recent playing stint on the sub-continent.

He has drawn valued sponsorship from Copper Kettle, A1 Homes, South End Dairy and Blue Bucket Express.

Apart from the entertainment on the field, the Wairarapa sporting public will have the opportunity to meet with the current Central Stags squad who will be mixing and mingling with supporters during the lunch break on day two.

There will also be the chance for any budding young cricketers looking to brush up their skills before the start of the summer season by participating in skills sessions to be run by Cricket Wairarapa on the first day.