Burger King Red Star’s slim hopes of making the Coastal Challenge semifinals disappeared with a two-wicket loss to Kapiti Old Boys in a rain-affected clash on Saturday.
Having been put into a bat on a “green seamer” at the Paraparaumu Domain, a severely weakened Red Star were 56-3 when the heavens opened, forcing a lengthy delay and a reduction in the number of overs to 43 a side.
Wicketkeeper Nathan Elliott continued his excellent form, top scoring with 39 and being part of the innings’ top partnership of 70 runs with Jeremy Osborne [23].
However, their batting never really fired with six of their top and middle-order batters, all representative players, missing.
Red Star picked up regular Kapiti wickets, but the home side captain and Horowhenua-Kapiti representative Jayden Rose-Miles ensured victory with an unbeaten 61 at almost a run a ball.
Best of the Red Star bowlers was Kuranui College legspinner Alex Mason, who picked up four wickets for 28 runs in an impressive spell.
“He bowled outstandingly, and they couldn’t read him, and they had no idea,” said stand-in captain Pete Sigvertsen, who was impressed with the effort of the players who stepped up in the particularly tricky conditions.
“We did such a good job with how many people were missing, and the people who came in really stood up, so it was good,” he said.
“It [the pitch] wasn’t easy, and we thought it would play a bit better because it felt quite firm, but as soon as you walked on it in spikes, it was actually a bit tacky and soft underneath.
“It was always going to be a low-scoring game, and I would say that if we had maybe 20 more runs or if we had batted our 43, we would have had an adjusted total, and I reckon that would have been just enough.”
Sigvertsen said the result was a continuation of the bad luck that has plagued the side, with two home games abandoned and a one-run loss to Weraroa costing them a semifinal spot.
“It’s been one of those seasons where it’s just been so hard with the couple of games we had rained out were very winnable games, and if we got a win against Weraroa, we’re probably in the semis, but it’s just been one of those seasons really where we’ve had heaps of things go against us at the wrong time.”
Sigvertsen added that the team was determined to finish the season on a high against the unbeaten championship leaders Whanganui United at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval on Saturday.
BRIEF SCORES
Burger King Red Star 135
[Nathan Elliott 39, Jeremy Osborne 23; Kiran Scarrett 3-17, Daniel Franks 3-21] lost to Kapiti Old Boys [Jayden Rose-Miles 61no, Daniel Browne 39; Alex Mason 4-28] by two wickets on DLS.
