Vandalism at Masterton’s Queen Elizabeth Park Oval has forced the moving of tomorrow’s inaugural North vs South match to the Hadlow artificial pitch.
The game for the ‘Seth Rance Bat’ was to be the first on grass this season and was being used by new Post Office Hotel Wairarapa coach Mark Childs as an important buildup for the first Furlong Cup match in a fortnight against Taranaki.
However, damage caused by a car to the outfield and across the northern end of the pitch block left Wairarapa Cricket with no option but to move the game from their traditional home, much to the frustration of general manager Simon Roseingrave.
“It’s disappointing because we’ve probably had the best spring for a few years; the season has felt the best planned it has been for a few years; everybody was ready to go, and the North-South fixture, which was the inaugural game and an exciting way to start the season and we don’t have the use of our main facility,” Roseingrave said.
“It makes us nervous in terms of when the season can get on the block. We’re still hopeful for the Bidwill Cup on the 21st, but it all depends on what Rec Services can do to fix it with a bit of rolling and cutting and see what it looks like.”
Roseingrave reckoned that it’s probably the fourth or fifth time in his 10 years in the role that such vandalism has occurred, and he intends to talk with Masterton District Council to see what security improvements can be made.
“There’s no way we want to block off the park because it’s such a fantastic asset to the whole community, but we just need some community understanding about how it impacts an organisation like us.”
The Masterton District Council has asked police to review CCTV footage from the area to identify the culprits.
The council’s manager of community facilities and activities, Corin Haines, confirmed the park was unsafe to play on and would be closed to cricket this weekend.
“A huge amount of work has been done to prepare the pitch for the cricket season after a very wet winter,” Haines said.
“To see carefully prepared turf ripped up by this act of idiocy is heartbreaking, even for people not involved in cricket.”
Haines said any information on who is responsible should be passed to police.
It is thought the vehicle accessed the park via the green space opposite the Trust House Recreation Centre at about 3.45 a.m. yesterday.
Despite Mark Childs’ disappointment that the players won’t get their first chance to play on grass, he is keen to see a step up from their first outing last Saturday.
That one-day game resulted in a loss to Petone-Riverside, who scored 278 after being 160–6. Wairarapa fell about 40 runs short, with Robbie Anderson [40] and Ethan Childs [35] impressing in an opening stand of 75 before the latter was forced to retire after putting out his shoulder when playing a drive over cover. The injury could also have ramifications for the bowling depth for the start of the rep season, with the allrounder a spearhead in the medium-pace attack.
Jack Wakeling also stood out with a half-century.
Mark Childs said tomorrow’s game will be played under Furlong Cup conditions, with 112 overs for the day, and the team batting first limited to 60 overs. The teams will play for the ‘Seth Rance Bat’ to add a bit of spice to the contest.
The South side has been boosted with some players from North clubs so they can field a competitive team. Play will get underway at 10.30 am.
The teams are:
North – Robbie Anderson [c], George Deans, Jeremy Anderson, Mark Steventon, Jaco Vorster, Jack Wakeling, Nathan Elliott, Samuel Payne, Shamal Perera, Hugo Wakeling, Patrick Wootton, Trey Bidois
South – Quinn Childs [c], Hayden Ray, Caleb Burling, Robbie Speers, Rudo Erasmus, Seth Rance, Ed Lord, Cuong “Chopper” Troung, James Church, Angus Jaspers, Guyan Dissanayake, Alex Mason
