Cricket: CD coach says batsman up for another big one

Former international Mathew Sinclair was last year cut from the contracted players list. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Central Districts coach Graham Barlow is confident Mathew Sinclair has another big innings in him before deciding where his future lies.

Sinclair heads into the State Championship final starting against Wellington at the Basin Reserve today on a high following a summer of rich pickings.

The five-day final potentially looms as Sinclair's last match for Central Districts as he ponders an offer from Eastern Province in South Africa.

Barlow has his fingers crossed Sinclair, 30, will remain in this country although he appreciates that is largely in the hands of the New Zealand selectors, who last year cut the former international batsman from their list of contracted players.

Sinclair has raised the prospect of heading overseas and has said any decision he makes will be in the best interests of his family.

For now, though, it is the interests of Central Districts that Sinclair will serve as they attempt to go one step further than they managed this summer in the State Shield one-day competition, where they lost the final to Canterbury.

Barlow said Sinclair had answered the rebuff from the national selectors in the best possible manner.

He has scored 655 runs in the championship this season, including three centuries, at an average of 54.66, figures which last week saw him awarded the Redpath Cup for first-class batting.

That leaves him with a career tally of 4550 first-class runs for the province, one shy of the all-time Central Districts record held by Mike Shrimpton following an 18-year career which ended in 1980.

Barlow acknowledges the match could prove to be the last time Sinclair strides to the crease for Central Districts, a prospect which does not thrill him.

"I'd be very upset and disappointed if he did go," Barlow said yesterday.

The equation facing Central Districts at the Basin Reserve is simple.

They have to win outright to secure the title while Wellington, by virtue of qualifying top, require only a draw.

Barlow thinks this suits the mentality of his players, particularly his batsmen, who are not the types to sit back and allow others to dictate.

Seamer Greg Hegglun has been brought into the Central Districts 12 to cover for allrounder Jacob Oram, who leaves on Wednesday with the New Zealand team for three tests in South Africa.

He is likely to carry the drinks, with Brendon Diamanti excepted to join a well-oiled bowling attack.

Wellington's preparations were thrown into disarray by injuries leaving question marks over the availability of stout-hearted seamer Mark Gillespie and wicketkeeper Chris Nevin.

Gillespie, who has taken 43 championship wickets at an average of 23.16 this season, was struck a nasty blow in the face while batting against Canterbury last week while Nevin pulled a back muscle during the same match.

Wellington will not make a final decision on either player until this morning.

Wellington lost their round robin game to Central Districts at the Basin Reserve in December when the visiting bowlers better utilised a sporting pitch. 

 
The final
Wellington v Central Districts
Basin Reserve, Wellington
Starting today

Central Districts (from): Jarrod Englefield (captain), Geoff Barnett, Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor, Tim Weston, Bevan Griggs, Ewen Thompson, Min Patel, Lance Hamilton, Michael Mason, Brendon Diamanti, Greg Hegglun.

Wellington (from): Matthew Bell (captain), Luke Woodcock, Michael Parlane, Jesse Ryder, Neal Parlane, Grant Elliott, Chris Nevin, Sam Fairley, DeWayne Bowden, Mark Gillespie, Dale Rasmussen, Stu Mills.

- NZPA