By Gary Caffell
Wairarapa Korus women’s cricket coach Simon Roseingrave isn’t trying to paper over his team’s massive nine-wicket loss to Whanganui in the last of their Central Districts inter-provincial competition matches at Whanganui on Sunday.
Rather he sees it as a timely reality check for a mainly young and inexperienced side which had justifiably hit the headlines after their upset victory over defending champions Hawke’s Bay in their previous game.
“I think there might have been an expectation from some of the players that after the Bay match further success would follow as a matter of course and this should make them realise that’s not the case.
“They’ve seen for themselves that there is no substitute for hard work and application.
“Hopefully we will be able to look back on this loss as part of a pretty harsh learning curve.”
Batting first, the Korus never got any momentum in their innings with Monique Graves, coming in at number nine, top scoring with 12 and actually being the only batter to get in double figures.
In fact, all of the other 10 were out for five or less and the scorecard would have looked rather more tragic but for the fact that Whanganui conceded 44 runs from extras, including 34 from wides.
Roseingrave puts the batting woes down to a lack of patience.
“It is telling when the batting order from number seven down apply themselves better than the top six…….they faced almost double the deliveries than those at the top.”
With such a small total to defend the Wairarapa bowlers were always going to be facing an uphill task and Central Hind Michelle Bunkall, a recent acquisition for Whanganui, was not in a mood to make life any easier for them.
Her unbeaten 48 came from 44 balls and included six fours.
Short scoreboard:
WAIRARAPA KORUS 78 (Hansen 1, G.Sims 0, Greenlees 3, Lanser 2, K.Sims 4, Atkinson 1, Pomare 5, Barrell 4, Graves 12, Jones-Dennes 1, Roseingrave 1 not out, extras 44; fall of wickets, 7, 17, 26, 28, 33, 36, 53, 55, 73, 78; Bunkall 5.4-3-13-3, Peters 5-1-10-2, McCarthy 4-1-9-2, Watkin 6-1-12-3, Cameron 3-1-6-0, Stone 3-0-6-0 and Grant 4-1-12-0) lost to WHANGANUI 80-1 (Bunkall 48 not out, Mitchell 1, Grant 19 not out, extras 12; fall of wickets, 19; Hansen 4.5-1-19-0, Roseingrave 2-0-10-0, K.Sims 1-0-13-0, Lanswer 3-0-19-0, Greenlees 2-0-12-0, Atkinson 1-0-7-0) by nine wickets.
Reflecting on his team’s first foray into the Central Districts competition for several years, Roseingrave said the win over Hawke’s Bay, who has been unbeaten for four years, was obviously the high point.
And that while the hefty defeat to Whanganui was anything but a good note to finish on it should not be allowed to overshadow the many positives achieved.
“Every opposition we have played have been delighted to have Wairarapa back in the fold and have also been impressed with the potential we have within our squad.
“Yes, there have been disappointments and our planning for next season will be all about alleviating those and coming back stronger and even more competitive.”
The core of the Korus side now has just over two weeks to prepare for the Central Districts under-18 tourney in Whanganui and Roseingrave is confident the experience and lessons from regular play against the best senior teams will be put to good use there.
