Cricket: Sinclair plays down rift in CD camp

A media report of a rift between the Central Districts Stags coach Dermot Reeve and
a player is a storm in the teacup, according to Mathew Sinclair.

"I'll be the first one to admit there was a certain incident and it was a game situation and it meant nothing," CD batsman Sinclair told SportToday before today's crucial HRV Cup Twenty20 match against the North Districts Knights at 5pm in Hamilton.

The former international felt the Sunday newspaper had sensationalised a heated verbal exchange between Reeve and a senior player during the Stags' first defeat at the hands of the Auckland Aces at Colin Maiden Park this month.

"We've discussed it in the team and we've moved on.

"It hasn't really affected us and getting into the final [this Sunday] is our main focus," Sinclair said, as CD try to clinch a home final tonight with a victory over ND to emulate the feat of the CD Hinds women's first-class team at the weekend who nailed both the 50-over and T20 finals in their competitions.
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The Hinds are relying on their male counterparts to secure a home final to avoid travelling because of their back-to-back final matches this weekend.

Sinclair said CD had treated their match against the Otago Volts last Sunday as a quarterfinal and, consequently, were on a high going into tonight's match as semifinal one against ND. Win or lose, the Stags are in the final.

He favoured a home final at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, but emphasised the team wasn't looking that far ahead.

"It's one of the top five grounds in the world for me. It's a weird nor'wester in New Plymouth that can bring rain," he said, not ruling out McLean Park as a venue but stressing it was a lottery at any venue considering rain that was affecting the entire country.

Unlike the report on friction within the team, he said opening batsman Peter Ingram's Black Caps selection for the Twenty20 and one-day internationals against the touring Bangladesh side next month was a good distraction.

"Peter deserves his selection because he has shown consistency in all three facets of the game.

"The timing of his selection against Bangladesh is also perfect considering Jesse [Ryder] is out for a year," he said of the 31-year-old Taranaki-born right-hander who lives in Palmerston North.