By Gary Caffell
It was the Jarred Watt Show as Red Star scored an upset win over Hutt Academy in their Wairarapa Cricket Bidwill Cup match at Queen Elizabeth Park oval, Masterton on Sunday.
Watt was in sublime form with bat and ball as Red Star won by 16 runs to completely make a nonsense of the form book which showed that when these two teams met last month in a rain-affected fixture Hutt Academy had triumphed by 111 runs.
On that occasion they had scored 159-3 and then dismissed Red Star in just 13.5 overs for 48.
Batting first this time round, Red Star skipper Peter Sigvertsen promoted himself from the lower order to opener and he and Nathan Elliott put on 28 runs before Sigvertsen was out in the fifth over for a breezy 18 including two fours and one six.
Elliott went on to reach 26 and and it was then left to Robbie Anderson to play the role of anchorman.
His 39 came off 105 balls and he struck five fours.
The real momentum in the Red Star innings, however, came when Jarred Watt joined Anderson at 99-5 with Watt being the aggressor.
Anything pitched short or too full whistled to the boundary as he raced through to 59 made from 61 balls and including nine fours and one six.
His dismissal at 183-8 also brought about the Red Star declaration.
Hutt Academy lost their first wicket before a run had been scored and with others falling at 8, 14 and 19, all of them to Watt, they were in deep strife.
An 89-run partnership for the fifth wicket did get them back in contention but, in the end, the early damage took its toll and they eventually came up 16 runs short.
Watt’s figures of 7-28 from 15 overs was an illustration of just how well the medium pacer bowled on a pitch which did not have a lot of life in it.
His sustained accuracy meant that if batsmen missed the ball they were in trouble, as depicted by three of his victims being clean bowled and another three being adjudged leg before wicket.
Wairarapa College suffered a narrow one wicket loss to St Bernard’s College in their Wellington secondary schools competition match over the weekend.
Just three batsmen got into double figures as Wairarapa College made a paltry 103 but St Bernard’s fared little better, their unbeaten last wicket partnership of 18 runs snaring them the victory.
