Burger King Red Star’s bogey team and semifinal hoodoo came back to haunt them in Sunday’s Coastal Challenge 14-run semifinal loss to Kāpiti Old Boys.
In their seven years in the combined Wairarapa, Whanganui and Horowhenua-Kāpiti one-day championship, Red Star have yet to beat Kāpiti or progress past the semifinals. The trend continued in the game which was scheduled for Saturday at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval but was deferred to the reserve day on Sunday after overnight rain resulted in water getting under the covers.
That also meant Red Star would go into with a weakened side, with Wairarapa captain and hard-hitting opener Robbie Anderson ruled out with work commitments and off-spinner Shamal Perera unavailable, to go along with Quinn and Ethan Childs being away.
An undermanned bowling attack did well to restrict Kāpiti 245–9 off their 50 overs, which looked to be short of a good total on the flat pitch and a lightning-fast outfield. Opener Daniel Browne [60] and talented allrounder 17-year-old Tristan Cloete [48] produced the outstanding partnership of the Kāpiti innings, adding 85 runs for the fourth wicket.
Veteran Pete Sigvertsen picked up five wickets for 54 runs for Red Star, while leg spinner Zach Anstis [1–34] and off-spinner Trey Bidois [1–32] impressed in limiting the Kāpiti batters scoring opportunities.
Red Star were in control at 150–2 and needing only 96 runs at less than five an over, but when Mark Steventon went in the next over for an excellent 72, the middle order failed to build on their foundation with poor shot selection and lack of patience resulting in regular wickets. That left it to the tailenders, but the task proved too much, and when Patrick Wootton holed out at deep mid-off, Red Star’s dream was over.
“We fielded well and bowled reasonably well, and I thought they were 30 runs short of what they needed to be,” Red Star captain Jeremy Anderson said.
“When we were 150–2 off 30 overs, we were certainly in the box seat, but then we lost Steventon, Nathan Elliott and Jaco Vorster for 25 runs. Even down to the last pair, there was no need to go for the big shot; there was a big gap at mid-on, but it shouldn’t come down to 10 and 11, and you can’t blame them.”
Although gutted to miss out on hosting the final, Anderson was philosophical, saying there has been a massive improvement since last season when Red Star finished sixth of the seven teams.
“The way we played during the season, we probably deserved to be in the final, but that’s finals for you; you’ve got to win the knockout games, and unfortunately we couldn’t do that. Overall, it has been a pretty good season, and we only lost that one [round-robin] game,” he said.
“The other exciting thing is there are some really good young cricketers coming through. Mark Steventon is going to be pretty handy [ he already is], and he’s only 20, and Zach Anstis bowled brilliantly yesterday [on Sunday], and he’s only 17, so that’s looking good for the future.”
One player Red Star could’ve done with on Sunday was Jake Jonas, who was in outstanding form for Central Districts ‘A’ against Wellington ‘A’. Batting at number three, Jonas scored 46 and 133 in their five-wicket loss. Younger brother Luke capped a great week for the talented family, scoring 100 not out against Wairarapa College Baabaas, 47 against Whanganui Collegiate School 2nd XI and 108 not out against Marist.
BRIEF SCORES
Kāpiti Old Boys 245-9 [Daniel Browne 60, Tristan Cloete 48, Brayden Meikle 34no, Daniel Franks 37; Peter Sigvertsen 5-54] beat Red Star 231 [Mark Steventon 72, George Deans 43, Jeremy Anderson 27; Carter Andrews 3-44] by 14 runs.
