Shock win for Wairarapa Korus

By Gary Caffell

Team spirit played a huge part in Southey Sayer Wairarapa Korus’s shock win over Hawke’s Bay in their Central Districts interprovincial women’s cricket match at Queen Elizabeth Park oval in Masterton on Sunday.

There was absolutely no semblance of a fluke about the 113-run victory over opposition which had not tasted defeat on this stage for four years and it meant the Korus became the new holders of the Copeman Challenge Trophy which they will defend in the last of their games for the 2016 season, against Whanganui at Whanganui on December 11.

To say the Korus went into Sunday’s game as underdogs would be a rank understatement.

After all they were a mainly young and inexperienced side who had only returned to the senior women’s interprovincial scene at the beginning of the season after an absence of several years.

Yes, there had been definite signs of improvement between the first-up loss to Manawatu and their second game defeat at the hands of Taranaki but surely even the thought of extending the powerful Hawke’s Bay unit was a bridge too far.

Well, they did far more than just extend, getting through to a respectable 212-8 from their 50 overs and then dismissing the Bay in 28 overs for 99.

For captain Esther Lanser it wasn’t so much the size of the victory which mattered most but the manner in which it was achieved.

And she was quick to pay tribute to coach Simon Roseingrave for formulating a game plan which had the squad divided into small support groups who were responsible for “geeing” each other up, particularly in the field.

“Simon does a fantastic job, he understands the importance of everybody working as a team, of keeping the spirits up even when things aren’t going too well.

“We have a lot of young players new to this environment and they need to be encouraged, and we focus on that a lot.

“It’s a very happy team and we’re prospering because of it.”

Reflecting on Sunday’s game Lanser said she was “pretty satisfied” with Wairarapa’s run total although she was also acutely aware that Hawke’s Bay had two or three players capable of scoring big runs at a rapid rate and that if they got going it would very probably not be enough.

“There were key wickets we needed to take cheaply and fortunately we did that through some really good bowling and fielding.

“We kept the pressure on all the way through, we didn’t give them the chance to hit themselves out of trouble.”

Roseingrave’s immediate thoughts after the game revolved around the self-belief the surprise result would give his side going forward into the Whanganui game, and seasons ahead.

“We have a lot of young players who are still learning the ropes and there’s no better way to build confidence than come up against strong teams like Hawke’s Bay and beat them,” he said.

“And the big thing was that everybody in the squad contributed positively, there was no one outstanding individual performance, they all did their bit.”

If there was any one aspect, however, which particularly pleased Roseingrave it was the energy displayed in the field, and he said skills coach Doug Bracewell had a big part to play in that area.

“We talked about the need to chase the ball as hard as they could, to cut possible twos into singles, and they responded really well to that challenge.”

Roseingrave was also delighted with the way his bowlers overcame sometimes tentative starts to maintain a steady line and length and ensure the opposition batswomen were given few opportunities to free the arms and hit out.

“If you were being critical you could still point to too many wides being bowled in their first over or two but but they were quick to adjust and it wasn’t really a problem.”