Time of the essence for outright wins

Time will indeed be of the essence for three teams seeking outright wins when second round matches in the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Bidwell Cup two-day competition end tomorrow.
Red Star, Greytown and Academy will all start the day with maximum points very much on their minds but they will also be aware that timely declarations will need to be made to boost their prospects in that respect.
Of that trio Academy would have to rate as the best chance to achieve their objective as they have already established a 100-run lead over Rathkeale with three first innings wickets still in hand.
It is an advantage which may even entice Academy to declare at the start of tomorrow's action and back their attack to dismiss Rathkeale for under three figures for the second time in the match.
Judging by the manner in which the pitch played last weekend with most batsmen struggling to come to terms with the variable bounce.
It was spinner Chad Yates with five wickets who did the damage for Academy in the first innings and no doubt he and the plethora of other quality spinners in the Academy line-up will be keen to demonstrate their skills again.
The danger of an early declaration for Academy is that some of the talented youngsters in the Rathkeale side like Dean van Deventer, Jamie Holmes, Matt Dalley and Matthew Stringfellow just might get their act together in a batting sense and gain a big enough lead to give their side a chance of victory when Academy starts their second innings.
For that to happen though Rathkeale would probably need to score in the vicinity of 250 at least and you could forgive Academy for thinking that may be beyond them.
Red Star resume their first innings against Wairarapa College at Wairarapa College tomorrow at 139-4, just six runs shy of the college's first innings total of 145.
Providing there is no threat of bad weather one imagines the Red Star tactics will be to bat through the first session with the idea of building a handy lead before asking Wairarapa College to start their second innings.
It is a tactical approach which would make sense judging by the manner in which the pitch played last weekend with most batsmen struggling to come to terms with the variable bounce.
It was a situation taylor-made for lbw decisions and they came and thick and fast, the three most notable being those which gave Red Star medium pacer Willie Thompson a somewhat novel hattrick.
Despite the variations in the pitch though Wairarapa College did manage to last for 65 overs in their first innings and that won't have escaped the notice of Red Star skipper Shay O'Gorman who will want to ensure his bowlers have time on their side when
the college's second innings begins.
The prize scalp for Red Star then will undoubtedly be the in-form Robbie Anderson who was one of the few players from either side to make batting look a relatively comfortable art last weekend.
Promoting him a little further up the order might be a wise move for the students as he combines a solid defence with the ability to find the boundary on a regular basis.
Given a couple of hours at the wicket he just might score enough runs to have Red Star in strife when they come to bat a second time themselves.
After all Red Star have not exactly starred with the bat here either, something indicated by the fact that of the 139 runs they have so far scored in their first "dig" Joe Hull has 83 of them, a massive effort on this particular pitch and one thoroughly deserving of a century.
Greytown's 308 in their first innings against Lansdowne would have had the form analysts completely baffled as in their previous Bidwell Cup match against Red Star they had struggled to total 100 in two innings!
Interestingly enough though the one Greytown batsman who did show commendable patience and fight in that particular game was Wal Tatham and it was Tatham who led the way against Lansdowne too, scoring what could be a match winning 111.
His return to his best batting form is a welcome sign, not only for Greytown but for Wairarapa as he is sure to be a key member of their Hawke Cup side.
The onus in the early stages of tomorrow's action, however, won't be on Tatham but on his pace attack who will do their team a huge favour if they can claim the remaining seven Lansdowne first innings wickets for little cost.
Lansdowne, on the other hand, will be desperate to at least double their current scoreline of 102 so that the pressure is then put back on Greytown to set Lansdowne a second innings target which gives them at least an outside chance of turning the tables.