Former Black Cap Jesse Ryder and Central Stag paceman Seth Rance will be part of a powerful Wairarapa senior men’s cricket squad for the Chapple Cup tournament in Napier this weekend.
Ryder and Rance will bolster the batting and bowling stocks of a side which will also include former Rathkeale College captain Liam Burling, who represented New Zealand under-21 at indoor cricket last month and who is taking a break from his studies at Waikato University.
Central Districts under-17 rep Kelsey Fahey is also included as are Stefan Hook-Sporry, fresh from a winter’s cricket in Darwin and Daniel Ingham, who has completed a stint in the Lake District in the United Kingdom.
Captaining Wairarapa this season will be Greytown’s Gordon Reisima, who took over the reins for the latter part of last season’s campaign when Henry Cameron moved to Adelaide. Reisima has a fine pedigree, having led Greytown to a clean sweep of the three major domestic trophies last season, the Umpires Cup, The Rock Twenty20 and the Bidwill Cup.
The Wairarapa coaching role will again be filled by Neil Perry, after a successful debut season in 2015/16, in which the senior representative team enjoyed their best results for five years. Palmerston North-based Perry is delighted to be back at the helm.
“We made solid progress as a squad last season and enjoyed some good results. We are under no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead, but are excited about the challenge and confident in our ability to meet those challenges head on.”
Perry said there was an abundance of raw talent in the district and a real desire to represent Wairarapa with pride.
“Our bowling will once again be our strength, along with our team spirit. We certainly have plenty of runs in our squad, chock full of positive batsmen, our challenge will be to turn cameo performances into match winning scores and partnerships.”
Perry and Reisima have been joined on the selection panel by association president Chris Cogdale, who will act as convenor. Lansdowne’s Gareth McEwen takes over as senior team manager from stalwart Laurie Curtis, who has stepped aside after many years of service.
Wairarapa has traditionally performed well at the Chapple Cup, the premier one-day competition for Central Districts sides. They open their account against Hawke’s Bay on Friday, with the winner going through to the semifinals and the loser competing in the Cave Cup over the rest of the weekend.
The Wairarapa team is: Alex Treseder, Gordon Reisima (captain), Liam Burling, Jesse Ryder, Brock Price, Paul Lyttle (wicketkeeper), Robbie Speers, Seth Rance (vice-captain), Daniel Ingham, Stefan Hook-Sporry, Kelsey Fahey, Dane Buchanan.
