Rep side can only improve on last season
Marlborough’s senior rep cricket team will look to take their first steps in bouncing back from a horror season when they play Wellington club side Johnsonville on Saturday and Sunday in Blenheim.
Two unproven players, but with proven pedigree, are included in the Marlborough XI for a 50-over match on Saturday and one or two Twenty20 matches on Sunday at Horton Park.
Teenager Harry MacDonald, whose father Leon MacDonald has won the Hawke Cup twice with Marlborough, will turn out for Marlborough, the all-rounder having made his senior club debut in 2014/15.
Fanie de Villiers will also get a shot, the youngster the son of the South African test and one-day player of the same name. De Villiers is in Marlborough to play for Wairau Valley in the senior club competitions.
‘‘There is pedigree there,’’ Marl-
Marlborough XI: Jerrym Lamb, Josh Poole, Ma’ara Ave, Sam Boyce, Rikki Bovey, Matthew Stretch, Matt McCormick, Hayden Taylor, Nick Weaver, Harry MacDonald, Fanie de Villiers.
borough coach Andrew Cavill said of de Villiers. ‘‘We have heard good things and he gets the ball through at a reasonable clip. Lets have a look. It is only a pre-season game so we will throw him the ball.’’
Any impact de Villiers or MacDonald can offer will be welcomed, with Marlborough having gone winless last summer.
All-rounder Jerrym Lamb returns to captain the side in matches in which Cavill says the focus will be ‘‘for batsmen to spend some time in the middle and bowlers to get some rhythm. If we get a couple of good performances out of it, that is a bonus.
‘‘It is about transition from an indoor to an outdoor environment.’’
He is planning on using only the bare 11 players for both (or all three) matches, with several other squad members unavailable.
The squad has been training as a unit for around a month, while individuals have had their own training programmes over winter.
Saturday’s 50-over match will start at 11am, while start times for Sunday are yet to be determined and will depend on weather conditions, as will a decision as to how many games can be played.
Former Black Cap Luke Woodcock is expected to turn out for Johnsonville.
Marlborough’s rep season will begin with the Chapple Cup on the last weekend of October.