Versatile Tauranga Williams Cup Kicks Off This Saturday

Posted: Thursday, 30 January 2020

Round One 1st February 2020

The oldest Bay of Plenty Cricket trophy, will carry a sponsors name for the first time since the silverware was first contested in the 1932/33 cricket season.

Seven qualifying rounds and two weekends of playoffs, will culminate in the winner of the Versatile Tauranga Williams Cup lifting the Baywide prize aloft in triumph, at the Bay Oval on Saturday 28 March 2020.

Versatile Tauranga franchisee Luanne Bettelheim said "Versatile Tauranga is a locally owned and operated franchise that is proud to support local cricket". "The partnership with Bay of Plenty Cricket is an opportunity for Versatile to give back to the wider community and assist in the future development of local players, supporting them moving through their cricketing careers".

"Versatile Tauranga operates from our new display centre in 15th Avenue, offering our customers a full range of buildings from garages, farm buildings, sleep outs, minor dwellings and homes. We also offer a show home at The Lakes in Pyes Pa".

For many years the Williams Cup was a challenge prize, which brought teams together from the various club competitions in the Bay of Plenty. Names on the trophy such as Opotiki, Ngongotaha, Arawa, Taupo and (Tauranga) Albion reflect the strengths of Bay of Plenty cricket in times gone by.

One Western Bay of Plenty club that has successfully run the gauntlet of time is Te Puke, who leads the Williams Cup all-time victories. The first of their seventeen wins came in the 1938/39 season, with the most recent in 2016.

The most successive victories was posted by the Arawa Cricket Club from Rotorua, who had their name engraved on the time-honoured prize, on eight occasions during the 1950's and 1960's. In the last three decades, Otumoetai Cadets have been the team to beat, with their name being engraved on the Williams Cup eleven times since the 1994/95 season.

The first stanza in the 2020 Williams Cup title race kicks of on Saturday (1 February 2020) - with defending champions Element IMF Cadets engaging in battle with New World Te Puke. The honours board of both clubs is littered with Williams Cup championship titles, with both teams sure to want to take bragging rights from the encounter.

Last season’s runner-up Bayleys Central Indians, who were beaten by Cadets by six wickets in the final, start their current Williams Cup campaign with a road trip to the

Western Bay of Plenty to square of with Bond & Co Tauranga Boys College at Nicholson field.

Revenge will be on the mind of Eves Realty Greerton when Carrus Mount Maunganui pays a visit to Pemberton Park. Just two weekends ago, the two premier teams battled out the 2019/20 Baywide T20 Final with Mount Maunganui squeezing home by just four runs.

Generation Homes Lake Taupo can be well pleased with their first eleven’s performance in the Baywide T20, reaching the top four playoffs for the first time, since joining the Baywide ranks three seasons ago. Round one sees Lake Taupo at home to Baywide newcomers Geyer City, who will experiencing the furnace of Williams Cup cricket for the first time.

Versatile Tauranga Williams Cup 2020 – 1 February Draw

Eves Realty Greerton v Carrus Mount Maunganui, Pemberton Park; Generation Homes Lake Taupo v Geyser City, Owen Delany Park; Bond & Co Tauranga Boys College v Bayleys Central Indians, Nicholson Field; New World Te Puke v Element IMF Cadets, Te Puke Domain.

Williams Cup Champions (2000 – 2019)

2019 (Otumoetai Cadets) 2018 (Greerton) 2017 (Otumoetai Cadets) 2016 (Te Puke) 2015 (Mount Maunganui) 2014 (Te Puke) 2013 (Mount Maunganui) 2012 (Greerton) 2011 (Mount Maunganui) 2010 (Cadets) 2009 (Tauranga Boys College) 2008 (Mount Maunganui) 2007 (Rotorua Central) 2006 (Cadets) 2005 (Cadets) 2004 (Te Puke) 2003 (Cadets) 2002 (Albion) 2001 (Te Puke) 2000 (AC United)

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