Wairarapa out of running

Wairarapa found themselves with no chance to earn a Hawke Cup challenge at stumps on the first day of their senior men's representative cricket match with Wanganui at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval in Masterton on Saturday.
Needing an outright win for any prospect of leapfrogging zone leaders Hawke's Bay on the competition table at the last round of qualifying games, Wairarapa were in danger of conceding vital first innings points.
Their task had been made even more difficult by news that Hawke's Bay scored a mammoth first innings victory over Taranaki in their match played on Friday and Saturday. This meant that even if Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay were even on points the Bay would finish on top on a countback of runs per wicket.
Then there was the shock for Wairarapa to find on Saturday their bats had been stolen during a break-in at the pavilion overnight.
Saturday's play saw Wairarapa lose the toss and bat first on a wicket which provided an unpredictable bounce. The top order of Tim Lucas, Jamie Holmes, Henry Cameron and Sam Curtis all got among the runs but once Wanganui introduced their spinners into the attack, wickets started to tumble and it took a well-made 49 not out by tail-ender Dean Van Deventer to get the home team through to 235.
When the first two Wairarapa bowlers fell early, the push for a healthy first innings lead was on but a combination of solid Wanganui batting and blemishes in the field saw those hopes fade. Stumps came with Wanganui well poised at 165-4. Seth Rance, Van Deventer and Holmes had shared the wickets for Wairarapa.
On the senior interclub front Rathkeale College scored an upset 23-run win over Red Star in their Umpires Cup fixture.
Rathkeale captain Ben Foster elected to bat first and with Elliot Mason (38), George Falloon (19), Harry Clinton-Baker (28) and Josh Mann (17) leading the way the students were well placed with 66 runs off the first 13 overs.
Red Star then struck back with good bowling from skipper Shay O'Gorman, Aaron Wilson and Matthew Fisher and Rathkeale were dismissed for 138. O'Gorman finished with 4-10 from eight overs, Wilson 2-18 from 10 overs and Fisher 2-27 from 10 overs.
Red Star's chase never got going and they were in trouble at 41-5. Chris Wenden (24) and Sean Jarvis (19) did their best but once they were out there was little resistance and Red Star were all out for 115.
Rathkeale's best bowler was Harvey Mason, who ended with 5-13 from 10 overs and was well supported by Xavier McClusky, who took 3-27 off eight overs..
Red Star's loss removed them from Umpires Cup contention.