Stars in their eyes

Motivation shouldn't be a problem for Red Star when they take on Lansdowne in the final round of Bidwell Cup senior men's inter-club cricket matches at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval this weekend.
Not only do Red Star need a victory to edge out Lansdowne in the race to see who meets Greytown in the Cup decider but the first day's play has been billed as a feature of their club's 75th jubilee celebrations.
Predicting winners in Wairarapa cricket this season has been a hazardous business because teams have tended to differ greatly from match to match.
But if Red Star and Lansdowne are both at full strength the smart money would be on a win to Lansdowne simply because of the greater depth they have in the batting department.
Leading the way for Lansdowne there are Wairarapa representatives Henry Cameron and Sam Curtis, both of whom have been in grand form lately.
Cameron has already scored three "tons" on the club scene this season, one of them a knock of 133 against none other than Red Star!
His willingness to place the emphasis on attack no matter the quality of the opposition bowling or the condition of the pitch means Red Star will need to see the back of him early, or suffer the consequences.
Curtis is slightly more conservative in his approach than Cameron but, at the same time, he too likes to dominate the bowling
He has often shown the ability to bat for long periods so if he gets a start watch out!
But even if Cameron and Curtis fail Lansdowne have plenty of other capable batsmen in their side: Aaron Bidlake, Robin James, Lee Ewington, John Hannam and Ngatai Walker being names that come quickly to mind.
Red Star's batting unquestionably lacks the depth of Lansdowne.
They will be relying heavily on Daniel Stonely to make an impact at the top of the order and in the likes of Adam Phelps, Corey Burling, Shane Tyacke and Camus Wyatt coming to the party as well.
These are players who have shown the ability get into the 30s or so but they have seldom kicked on from there.
It will be vital to the Red Star cause that their batsmen "click" in the first innings as they go into this game trailing Lansdowne by five points on the competition table.
So with seven points awarded for a first innings lead Star's chances of making the final will basically be ended if they don't have the advantage at that stage of the game.
The other Bidwell Cup match being played this weekend is between Rathkeale College and Wairarapa College and it will double as the game in which the trophy donated by two stalwarts of those institutions, Craig McBride and Ashley Petersen, is at stake.
Considering that Rathkeale College made it through to the semi-finals of the Gillette Cup national secondary schools competition earlier in the season and that they have three current Wairarapa senior reps in Doug Bracewell, Andy Dodd and Simon Clinton-Baker in their side they deserve to start favourites.
Wairarapa College will take confidence from the fact however that they beat Rathkeale by five wickets in an Umpires Cup limited-overs game late last year and that in Seth Rance and Cameron Stone they have two Wairarapa senior reps of their own to lead the way.
Greytown have already picked up the maximum 10 points from Academy after the latter defaulted this weekend's match.
That gives the southerners 36 points in total , enough to guarantee them a place in the final. Lady luck has certainly been on their side as they also received maximum points when Rathkeale College defaulted to them in the previous round.
Provisional Bidwell Cup points up until last weekend are: Lansdowne 32,Red Star 27, Greytown 26, Wairarapa College 15, Academy 11, Rathkeale College 11.