Want to play cricket? Junior Cricket Senior Cricket
Bay of Plenty Cricket 2018-19 Season Review

Bay of Plenty Cricket 2018-19 Season Review

Posted: Monday, 6 May 2019

Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to a look back at the Bay of Plenty Cricket season. In 2004 the BOPCA commenced a printed yearbook, which morphed into an annual report detailing the season’s cricket activities. In recent years a limited number of annual report copies have been printed, which after a cursory glance were put away to gather dust.

In the current age of digital media and communication, it has felt more approximate to put our annual season review on-line, available to all of our extended Bay of Plenty Cricket family.

The first review to be posted on the BOPCA website is our flagship senior men’s representative team, who had a sterling cricket year annexing the ND Twenty 20 title and finishing in second place on the ND Fergus Hickey Rosebowl standings.

It is interesting to look back to the first annual reviews from the 2003-04 season. There were just two Baywide competitions, with the Williams Cup being taken out by Te Puke and the McNaughton Trophy won by Cadets (see below).

2003-04 Williams Cup Final: Te Puke 228/8 (Brett Farquhar 47, Tai Bridgman-Raison 45, Wayne Louw 35, Andrew Hamilton 34; Jono Boult 2/38) defeated Otumoetai Cadets 108 (Graham West 45no, Roger McBrydie 5/35, Mathew Hart 2/12, Ben Williams 2/30)

2003-04 Baywide Reserve Grade Final (McNaughton Trophy) Otumoetai Cadets 337/3 (Paul Wadsworth 107no, Peter Albutt 102, E Dixon 41, Ryan King 40) defeated Mount Maunganui 98 (David Albutt 3/15, David Phizackea 3/39, J Stewart 2/18)

It is interesting to go back fifteen seasons to when Kane Williamson was starting out on his representative cricket journey. "The BOP Coastlands under 14 team returned from the ND competition held in Gisborne with an unbeaten record and equal first place in the tournament”. “The outstanding player of the ND under 14 tournament was Bay of Plenty Coastlands Kane Williamson. The talented youngster finished the tournament with 420 runs from four turns at the batting crease and was dismissed just once".

During Easter 2004 Otumoetai Cadets became the only ND team (to date) to win the National Club Championships title. The following story in the 2004 Bay of Plenty Cricket Yearbook, chronicled Cadets journey to become the best premier cricket team in the country.

The path to the National Club Championship title was long with the Otumoetai champions losing just one match from eight on the journey. The passage to the national finals played at Cornwall Park began when Cadets defeated Pukekohe-Metro in the ND semi-final. Cadets had reached the semi-final by virtue of being the current (2003) Bay of Plenty one-day champions.

Ryan King and Mathew Drake blasted Otumoetai Cadets into the National Finals when they faced Kaipara Flats (Northland) in the ND Final played in Hamilton. After winning the toss, the Cadets top order made a solid start before Ryan King and Mathew Drake arrived at the wicket. The two new players set a mammoth target for the Northland team, of 277/7, with both batsmen still at the crease at the conclusion of fifty overs. King, who had been in great touch in Baywide cricket in recent weeks, punished the opposition bowling attack with a magnificent 107 not out. No less impressive was Mathew Drake who finished with an unbeaten 88.

Kaipara were never in the match, with highly promising youngster Jono Boult grabbing six wickets to be the main contributor in dismissing the Northland side for just 134. The right hand off spinner mesmerised the opposition to return the superb bowling figures of 6 wickets for 24 runs.

Cadets arrived in Auckland to commence play on the Tuesday prior to Easter and emerged as National Champions on Easter Sunday, after six days of continuous cricket. The National Champs format is five days of round robin play, between the champion club sides from the six New Zealand Cricket major associations, followed by finals day.

On their way to claiming the title of champion club team in the country, they beat all five teams in the tournament. While beaten by tournament favourites Upper Valley from Wellington, in the last of the round robin matches, the defeat was reversed in a dramatic action packed final.

In a final that turned into a real cliff-hanger, Cadets batted first and appeared to have lost their way when they reached a modest 161/9. Ryan King was the only Cadets player to post a significant total posting a half-century. With rain interrupting the Wellington side turn at bat, they were set a target of just 144 from 44 overs.

The Cadets bowling pair of Barry Folster and Gavin Donne restricted the batting total, while steadily grabbing wickets. The tension was electric, as Upper Valley required three runs from the last over with their last two batsmen at the wicket. Barry Folster took the last wicket with three balls left for Cadets to snatch victory by two runs.

Share this page:

responsive website by xeno