Stefan Hook bowling for Wairarapa. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
JAKE BELESKI
It didn’t look pretty on the scoresheet, but Wairarapa cricket coach Neil Perry was happy with the fight his team showed in their Furlong Cup match against Hawke’s Bay at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton.
Hawke’s Bay took first innings points in the two-day match after amassing 289 in 76.1 overs, and Wairarapa crumbled in their reply.
Perry had highlighted the need for Wairarapa’s top order batsmen to negate the new ball when they batted, but that didn’t happen as Hawke’s Bay made early inroads.
“We were bowled out for 109, which was a bit of a recovery after we were 35-6,” Perry said.
Wairarapa were asked to follow on, and they put up a much better fight yesterday in their second innings.
Brock Price scored his maiden representative hundred, and Jack Forrester his maiden representative 50, as Wairarapa were eventually all out for 283.
That gave Wairarapa a lead of 103 runs, and Hawke’s Bay were 7-2 in their second innings when bad light stopped play.
Perry said it wasn’t the result they wanted, but he was pleased with the fighting spirit his side showed in their second innings.
“On the scoresheet it looks like we haven’t competed, but if you take Stoyanoff’s (Hawke’s Bay bowler Ben Stoyanoff) spell out, where he took 6 wickets, we’re actually going pretty well.”
Captain Dan Ingham had taken four wickets for Wairarapa in Hawke’s Bay’s first innings, and Stefan Hook picked up three in the first innings and both Hawke’s Bay wickets in the second.
“We bowled very well for long periods,” Perry said.
“They were playing and missing and nicking it wide of the slips and things like that.”
Spending 70 overs in the field had taken its toll near the end of the innings, Perry said.
“We got a bit tired in the overs we’re not used to bowling at the moment.
“We were in the field for about 70 and the last 20 was tough – they don’t field for that long in club cricket.
“It was the same for them in our second innings when we kept them in the field for a bit longer.”
Ingham had backed up his bowling display with a 40-run contribution in the second innings, putting on a century partnership with Price in the process.
Wairarapa’s next match is in two weeks’ time against Taranaki in New Plymouth.
