Unbeaten Wairau a T20 target
Marlborough senior cricket resumes after the festive break with a round of Twenty20 matches on Wednesday.
Horton Park is the venue for the fifth round of competition in the most abbreviated form of the game.
The big question pre-Christmas was, ‘‘who can beat Wairau Valley?’’, as the competition leaders repelled every challenge in all three formats of the game leading up to the break.
The latest threat to the one-day champion’s winning streak will be Wairau, who have underperformed in the T20 competition and are yet to register a point at this stage.
Injuries and untimely absences have hit the Marlborough/Nelson Kelvin Scoble Trophy winners hard and, despite the fact five games remain to be played before the T20 final, they need to start winning if they are to get back in the competition.
They will be without Harry MacDonald on Wednesday but welcome the return of allrounder Chris Turkington, plus former Renwick and Marlborough medium pacer Hayden Taylor.
Valley will front with much the same side that served them so well last year, and will be hoping key players such as Rikki Bovey, Matthew and Greg Stretch, Tim Abrahams, Heath Murphy, Ben Allan and Reuben Kepes can continue their dominating form.
The Wairau Valley v Wairau game begins at 5.15pm on Horton Park 3.
At the same time, Celtic and Wairau Cavaliers will do battle on Horton Park number one, both teams possessing players capable of match-winning performances.
Cavaliers’ opener Geoff Barnett averages 66 after three outings, the former international batsman playing a more subdued role than usual at the top of the order.
In Hamish Greenwood, Greg Logan and Barnett, they have proven wicket-takers but will have to back their bowlers up in the field if they are to tip over a handy Celtic outfit.
Former rep player Ben McLennan is a key bowler for the green and golds, currently producing an economy rate of 5.08 runs per over. Jaden Adams, Gandharv Sharma, Ben Blackman and Matt McCormick form a potent attack, especially in the shortened version of the game.
In their early games Celtic have relied on a team approach to batting, with Sharma, Blackman, rep skipper Landon Neal, James Croker, McCormick and McLennan chipping in with handy scores.