Wairarapa’s representative cricketers will have little time to find their form, with an early start to the Central Districts’ premier men’s and women’s competitions.
The first balls in the Furlong Cup [Hawke Cup elimination series] will be bowled on the weekend of October 29-30 with Post Office Wairarapa taking on Whanganui away.
The Southey Sayer Wairarapa Korus’ campaign also gets underway that weekend with an away game in the women’s Mike Shrimpton Trophy against defending champions Manawatu.
The men will only have a double header in the new T20 franchise competition to prepare for the two-day format.
As was the case last year, the Furlong Cup has been compressed into the first part of the season because of Hawke’s Bay being the holders of the Hawke Cup and their first defence being in late January.
The second round sees Wairarapa take on the holders in Napier on November 12-13.
That will be followed by home games against Taranaki and Horowhenua-Kapiti over the first two weekends in December before they complete their programme with an away fixture against Manawatu on January 14-15.
The Chapple Cup one-day tournament will be played over three days in Palmerston North in February.
The Korus, who were runners-up in last season’s Central District’s women’s championship, will have to wait until January before their first home game.
After Manawatu, they play Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and a doubleheader with Nelson away, before completing the season with home games with Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, and Manawatu.
Most of the Korus will have some cricket under their belts, weather permitting.
A warm-up game is planned against the Wairarapa Year 9-10 boy’s rep team, while the Year 11-13 girls, who have significant numbers in the Korus, have their Central Districts tournament in Whanganui over Labour Weekend. The Korus’ Central Hinds Melissa Hansen, Ocean Bartlett, and Gemma Sims will play in a T20 tournament in Taupo involving the four North Island first-class districts, also over the long weekend.
The focus over the early part of the men’s club season will be on Wairarapa Cricket’s premier club trophy, the Bidwill Cup, and the T20
