Bay Harbour: January 13, 2021

Wednesday January 13 2021
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 5
Akaroa’s hat-trick and batting maestro
SCALP: Inderjett Waraich and Stephen Fleming after
the Akaroa-based all-rounder claimed the former
Black Caps’ skipper’s wicket.
• By Chris Barclay
INDERJEET WARAICH used
to be a net bowler who offered
teammates technical advice after
tossing up some gentle medium
pace to boost their egos.
Turns out he is not as benevolent
to an opposition, given the Akaroabased
Indian all-rounder took backto-back
hat-tricks for Halswell in
the Metro Division One Twenty20
competition.
Waraich recorded the milestones
this season against Heathcote
and Sydenham. He also claimed
two wickets to close out his spell
in another clash with Heathcote
before Christmas.
“I used to bowl to make the
batters more confident,” he
explained.
“Sometimes your teammates
need to learn a little bit more. If
there are problems for me when
I go batting, I can’t notice myself
what I’m doing, but the bowler
can.”
Eventually the 26-year-old upped
his pace and mastered in and outswing.
Five of his hat-trick victims
were bowled.
Those batsmen are in good
company, with former New
Zealand captain Stephen Fleming
another to fall to Waraich’s guile.
Fleming was caught out – literally
– when he misjudged the Punjabi’s
pace during an All-Star game
against Queenstown’s T20 players
at Arrowtown in 2019.
“He thought I was going to bowl
spin but I bowled quick and he was
caught at mid-on,” Waraich smiled.
Still, stroke-making is Waraich’s
forte, with the top order batsman’s
output suggesting he might be
equipped to step up to senior grade
in 2021-22.
He is on the brink of tallying 800
runs across the T20 and one-day
formats. After nine rounds of the
50-over schedule his aggregate of
472 at 52.44 is 112 runs clear of his
closest rival.
Waraich has two one-day tons
and he also slugged 324 runs in 10
T20 knocks at 54 and a strike rate
of 129.60.
Ironically, Waraich would
not be starring for Heathcote
had Covid-19 not ended his
housekeeping job at a Queenstown
hotel, a setback that forced his
return to Christchurch in May, the
city he landed in from India as a
student in 2015.
Waraich started playing in a
lower grade T20 competition for
Sydenham and then switched to
Halswell before his move south.
“I was not playing that serious
(in Queenstown), now I’m mentally
prepared,” said Waraich, who
doesn’t train with this side because
he lives in Akaroa.
“At home I try and focus on
what I can do at the ground. You
will laugh but I put out my bat
and when I walk past it, it reminds
me I’m going to make some more
runs.”
Halswell president Mike
Chatterton was rapt to have
Waraich back in the side but
accepted he may be playing
elsewhere next summer.
“If he wanted to play seniors he
could. I’m more than happy to push
his case,” he said.
Waraich was also open to
promotion, though admits living
in Akaroa could be problematic in
terms of actual training during the
week.
“I am ready to take any challenge,
I would take the chance but I would
need to spend more time on my
cricket,” he conceded.
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