Taranaki women’s side start trophy campaign this weekend
The Taranaki women’s team start the representative season this weekend as they embark on their Mike Shrimpton Trophy campaign.
The Taranaki team will look to go one better than last year as they were narrowly pipped by Manawatu¯ for the title.
Round one will see them travel to Whanganui to take on their Hawkes Bay counterparts.
Even though Taranaki find themselves with a number of players unavailable this weekend they will start favourites for the game.
They welcome some experience back into their squad with Kate Baxter returning to the province after her OE, and the Central Districts Hinds representative should add some depth to the batting and bowling units and will captain the side.
Natalie Dodd has decided to play for the Hinds this season and Taranaki will benefit from her playing amongst the side even though she is unavailable this weekend.
The full team for this week is: Aimee Watkins (player/coach), Aimee Wisnewski, Emily Cunningham, Kate Baxter (c), Taila Hurley, Jordan Bolger, Mel Megaw, Lucy Mitchell, Lydia Profitt, Nelley Chapman and Caitlin O’Sullivan.
The game is scheduled to start at 11am on Sunday. Scoring can be found on Taranaki Cricket’s Facebook page.
Revital Fertilisers Premier Grade
Round 4 was a complete washout so all teams head into round 5 refreshed and ready to start the road to the finals.
New Plymouth Marist United (NPMU) still lead the way and welcome New Plymouth Boys’ High School (NPBHS) to Lynmouth Park. Francis Douglas Memorial College (FDMC) play host to Ha¯wera United while Woodleigh do battle with Stratford at Sutherlands Park.
The match of the round will see a top-four contest between New Plymouth Old Boys (NPOB) and Inglewood.
Both teams sit in a tie for 2nd with the winner of this game looking good for a home semifinal.
The last time these two teams met in a one-day encounter was in round seven last year where NPOB were victorious and leapfrogged Inglewood into the 4th and final spot for the semifinal.
NPOB, however, will take the field with a predictable line-up and will be looking for the top order to finally fire.
They have underperformed so far this season and with the Hawke Cup campaign only a week away there are some players who will want to find some form very quickly.
Inglewood, on the other hand, will field a settled unit with Richard Clough making way for captain Hayden McIntyre to return to the side that was beaten by Woodleigh in round three. Inglewood have a well-balanced team and if they gel they are a match for any side.
With semifinals only three rounds away the predictions for this round are NPOB to take out the match of the round, while NPMU will be too strong for NPBHS, Ha¯wera should score their first win of the season against FDMC and Woodleigh should keep Stratford winless this season.
However, the weather forecast is looking miserable and that might beat them all.