Wairarapa rescued by rain to earn draw

Cricket

The weather gods came to Wairarapa's rescue in their Hawke Cup qualifying round cricket fixture with Taranaki at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth on Sunday.

To say Wairarapa were facing an outright loss at the end of the first day's play would be a gross understatement.

They made just 34 in their first innings and then took similar punishment in the field, Taranaki declaring their first innings closed at 245-1. And by stumps Wairarapa had lost three second innings wickets for 52 runs, thereby needing a further 159 runs to make Taranaki bat a second time.

Under those circumstances it seemed certain that only rain could save Wairarapa from a hefty defeat and that's exactly what occurred with Sunday's play being washed out to make the result a draw.

Matches in the Bidwell Cup senior men's interclub competition will be played on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, play from noon on Saturday and 11am the following day.

The interclub draw for this week is: The Rock Twenty20, Thursday, 5.15pm start: Newbolds Marist Old Boys v Flight Centre Lansdowne at Park Sports 1 (H Qualtrough and M Elliott); A1 Homes Kuranui Old Boys v Red Star at Kuranui College artificial (J Sprowson); Rathkeale College v Wairarapa College at Rathkeale Oval (B Campbell and D Lee); Turkey Red Greytown a bye.

Bidwell Cup, Saturday and Sunday: Red Star v Greytown at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval (J Sprowson and H Qualtrough); Wairarapa College v Marist old Boys at Wairarapa College No1 (D Lee and B Campbell); Kuranui Old Boys v Lansdowne at Greytown (C Cogdale and M Elliott).

Open grade, Saturday, 1pm start: Wairarapa College No2 v Wairarapa College Colts at Wairarapa College No3, Greytown No2 v Lansdowne No3 at Park Sports No1, Marist Old Boys No2 v Lansdowne No2 at Park Sports No2, Rathkeale College a bye.