Thumping for Wairarapa XI

A SEVERELY depleted Wairarapa XI was on the end of a decent beating by the Doug Catley invitation XI in a limited-overs cricket match played at the Park Oval in Masterton on Sunday.
Wairarapa selector Dick Kendall was already without a good number of his senior representative squad when he originally named his side and had to call for more replacements when Rathkeale College players withdrew because of their inter-school clash with Lindisfarne College this week.
Batting first on a pitch which was taylor-made for free scoring, the Catley XI took heavy toll on the Wairarapa attack to reach 300 in their 50 overs.
Former English international Paul Jarvis entertained by smacking six sixes in his knock of 46 while other major contributions came from Crichton (57) and Edwards (79).
The most successful of the Wairarapa bowlers was Sam Curtis who took three wickets but his four overs cost a hefty 44 runs.
Dion Van Deventer took 2-57 from eight overs, Gerard Smith 1-18 from four overs, Choi Jackson 1-50 from five overs, Henry Cameron 1-52 from seven overs and Will Rist 1-55 from eight overs.
Wairarapa were always struggling at their turn at bat and they were all out for 130, the only scores of any substance coming from Van Deventer (20) and Wairarapa College trio, Tim Butler (22), Robert Anderson (19) and wicketkeeper Alex Treseder (17). Van Deventer's knock came to an end when a ball richocheted onto his face from his bat and necessitated him being taken to hospital where stitches were inserted into a mouth cut.
While disappointed that Wairarapa were unable to field a competitive side against what was quality opposition, Kendall said the emergence of the young Wairarapa College players as possible representative material in the near future was a positive sign.
"Right now we are fortunate to have a number of youngsters who have outstanding potential and the test now is to develop that potential to the point where they get the best out of their skills," he said.