Quinn Childs took four wickets for Wairarapa. PHOTO/FILE
CRICKET
CHRIS COGDALE
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Highmark Homes Wairarapa slumped to an embarrassing innings and 113 runs defeat to Horowhenua-Kapiti in the opening round of the Furlong Cup two-day competition in Levin over the weekend.
In recent seasons, Wairarapa have dominated their opponents and had won last season’s fixture on the first innings.
But a green Wairarapa side struggled to match Horowhenua Kapiti on the weekend.
The visitors won the toss and batted on a greenish Donnelly Park pitch in Levin.
Opening bowler Ethan Childs made the early breakthrough with the wickets of former Wairarapa representative Kelsey Fahey [1] and Bailey Te Tomo [9].
Left-arm spinner Quinn Childs picked up the first of his four wickets having the dangerous Matthew Good [10] caught by Jake Jonas to have Horowhenua-Kapiti battling at 62 runs for the loss of three wickets.
Captain Andre Halbert and Chad Law put on 64 for the fourth wicket before Halbert was caught by Jonas off the bowling of Ethan Childs for 69.
Leg-spinner Hugo Wakeling picked up his first representative wicket on debut with Jamie Pinfold caught by Peter Sigvertsen to have Horowhenua-Kapiti 127-5.
The home side’s lower order dug in and added another 130 runs for the last five wickets, with Law [63] and Dylan Reder [51] leading the way.
After spending nearly 95 overs in the field, the effort told when Wairarapa went into bat.
Poor technique against medium pace bowling had Wairarapa lose five wickets in the final session of the first day to have them reeling at 27-5 overnight. Fraser Bartholomew did most of the damage, picking up four wickets.
The second day resumed in the same manner as the first finished and Wairarapa’s struggles against an accurate medium pace attack continued, to be rolled for 61 in 31.1 overs. Bartholomew finished with 6-22 off 13 overs.
Forced to follow on, Wairarapa’s prospects of saving the game were dealt a severe blow with the openers, John McKenzie and Gus Borren back in the pavilion without troubling the scorers.
Captain Brock Price went soon after to make the score 16-3. Jack Forrester [10] and Jaco Vorster [21] added 27 for the fourth wicket, which was Wairarapa’s highest partnership for the match.
However, the remaining batsmen offered little resistance and they were all out for 83 in 28.4 overs.
Carter Andrews [4-26] and Liam Pinfold [3-12] were the best of the Horowhenua-Kapiti bowlers.
Wairarapa’s lack of patience against an attack that was hardly express pace was evident with 15 of the 20 dismissals caught behind – 10 by wicketkeeper Jamie Pinfold.
Assistant coach Mark Childs said poor technique was behind most of the dismissals.
“The batsmen were playing too far away from their bodies and were trying to hit the ball on the up. They weren’t playing the right shots and lunged at too many balls.”
Mark Childs added that the batsman had only been practising on artificial pitches and that had not helped their preparation.
However, he said there were some positives around the bowling effort.
“We competed well in the first two sessions and restricted to them to about two runs an over and had them 150-6 at tea.
“Ethan picked up a couple of early wickets and Stefan [Hook] must have beaten the bat about 40 times. We had the upper hand, but we lost a bit of energy in the field in the third session and the effort took its toll.”
BRIEF SCOREBOARD
Horowhenua-Kapiti 257 [Andre Halbert 69, Chad Law 63, Dylan Reder 51; Quinn Childs 4-47, Ethan Childs 3-56] beat Highmark Homes Wairarapa 61 [Fraser Bartholomew 6-22] and 83 [Carter Andrews 4-26, Liam Pinfold 3-12] by an innings and 113 runs.
