Weather man could have big say in Bidwell Cup

The weather man could have a bigger say than usual in the outcome of the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Bidwell Cup senior inter-club competition this season.
With the Rathkeale Cricket Academy no longer in operation just five teams were left to contest the premier grade, a situation which left officials with the unenviable task of running a two-day series which includes a bye.
WCA spokesman Chris Cogdale said the major problem facing the association with that scenario was coming up with a competition format which allowed for none of the participants to have more than one weekend off.
And so, with the unanimous agreement of the clubs involved, a staggered draw was decided upon which will mostly see one of the matches in each round of the Bidwell Cup played on successive days Saturday and Sunday and the other played over two Saturdays.
The danger with that format, of course, is that the weather could well differ greatly from weekend to weekend and that when points are tallied up at the end of the season the likelihood is that some teams will therefore have been penalised more than others in that respect.
"It's not ideal but it's the best we can do," Cogdale said.
"And we have the support of
the clubs, that's the important thing."
This weekend sees Rathkeale College and Red Star play their Bidwell Cup fixture tomorrow and Sunday while Flight Centre Lansdowne and Greytown will meet also at Rathkeale College in a match which will start tomorrow and end the following Saturday.
Red Star will be looking to their Wairarapa representatives Daniel Stoneley, Brad Edwards and Joe Hull to score heavily against a Rathkeale College attack spearheaded by their talented all-rounder Dion van Deventer, who will need to be a big force for his side with both bat and ball.
The ease with which Greytown disposed off Lansdowne in an Umpires Cup one-day match last weekend will see them start favourites for their Bidwell Cup encounter but they won't be taking Lansdowne lightly.
Only Alex Treseder of the specialist batsmen in the Lansdowne line-up got amongst the runs to any great degree last weekend but more can surely be expected from the likes of Sam Curtis, Brock Price and Robin James on this occasion.
Greytown, for their part, will be hoping that Jake Ross, Mark Childs and Seth Rance can all repeat their batting efforts of last weekend when Ross and Rance both got into the 60s and Childs into the 40s. Rance will also be keen to strike early with the ball although it was one of the slower bowlers in Patel who took five of the Lansdowne wickets last weekend.