By Gary Caffell
Twin brothers Ethan and Quinn Childs will both make their debuts for the Wairarapa senior men’s cricket team in the last of their 2016-17 Hawke Cup qualifying round matches against Hawke’s Bay at Ongaonga this weekend.
The 16-year-olds who have been prominent members of the Rathkeale College first XI over the past couple of seasons will be following in the footsteps of their father Mark Childs, who himself had a long stint in the Wairarapa side, starting in the early 1990’s.
And the family involvement doesn’t end there with first cousin Liam Burling a regular in the current side as well.
Wairarapa coach Neil Perry is confident the two Childs boys will give a good account of themselves at the higher level.
“They have been impressive performers in age group cricket and we believe what while they are still at the developing stage they are ready to take the step up.”
Understandably Mark Childs, who is still playing for Greytown seniors on the club scene, was “stoked” at the news his sons would be debuting for their province’s premier side on the same day.
“Obviously it’s a big ask but they love the game and they’ll give it their best shot, that’s all you can ask of them.”
Ethan Childs will open the batting and will be hoping for more luck than had by his Rathkeale College teammate Kelsey Fahey when he did that job for the first time in the first innings win over Horowhenua-Kapiti earlier in the month.
Fahey was clean bowled by Central Stag Ryan McCone from the only ball he faced over the two days.
He was not available for this weekend’s fixture.
Quinn Childs will head to Ongaonga fresh from playing for Central Districts at the national under-17 tournament in Christchurch.
He is an orthodox left-arm spinner and is replacing Greytown’s Peter Aiken, who was also unavailable for selection.
Perry said there was every chance that Quinn Childs would have a heavy workload at the bowling crease as the word was that the Ongaonga pitch was likely to suit the slower bowlers more than the seamers.
The other new face in the Wairarapa side from the 12 which fronted up against Horowhenua-Kapiti is all-rounder Dean van Deventer, who gets the nod ahead of Rathkeale College’s Stephen Sprowson.
Perry said that was a tough call to make with Sprowson having done everything expected of him in what his Wairarapa debut but that with van Deventer returning from England and joining up again with Red Star it was difficult to overlook his skill with both bat and ball.
In fact, it was likely he would share the new ball with Central Districts A rep Stefan Hook-Sporry.
The full Wairarapa line-up is: Choi Jackson, Ethan Childs, Liam Burling, Brock Price, Robbie Speers, Gordon Reisima (captain), Dean van Deventer, Paul Lyttle, Jack Forrester, Stefan Hook-Sporry, Quinn Childs, Jared Watt.
