Baywide Cricket to Sport Several Changes in the New Cricket Season

Posted: Monday, 26 August 2019

Update on Premier Grade Teams, Baywide T20 and Williams Cup

Two Rotorua Baywide Cup contenders, a mid-week Twenty 20 competition round with the final under lights at the Bay Oval and a straight seven round qualifying shootout for the Williams Cup playoffs - headline the upcoming Baywide premier cricket season.

Bay of Plenty Cricket Development Officer Scott Steward has been busy during the winter months, meeting and consulting with the Baywide premier teams, before the unveiling of the revamped 2019 Baywide cricket format.

During the off-season, Geyser City Sports Club submitted an application to Bay of Plenty Cricket to enter a team into Baywide premier cricket for the 2019-2020 season. The application was supported by strong organizational and governance templates and a robust club player development pathway.

“After a detailed review of the Geyer City Sports application, Bay of Plenty Cricket has offered the Rotorua Club temporary Baywide premier club status, for the 2019 Baywide Cup competition”. “Participation in the current season Baywide T20 and Williams Cup, is dependent upon performance and meeting Bay of Plenty Cricket objectives in the Baywide Cup” said Scott Steward.

“We welcome Geyser City Sports step-up to become the second Rotorua side in this year’s Baywide Cup and we receive the bonus of removing the competition bye”. “It is important to note that that the successful application is on a trial basis with the ball now firmly in the Geyser City camp”.

After the Baywide Cup, attention swings to the Baywide T20 and the Williams Cup competitions, with a white ball in play, instead of the more traditional red ball of the Baywide Cup. The white coating to the leather makes the ball smoother and changes the aerodynamics, making the white ball swing differently from its red counterpart, which means a altered approach from the batsmen.

A revamped Twenty 20 title race will bring two new innovations ramping up the ‘smash the ball to the boundary’ competition. For the first time there will be a twilight mid-week qualifying round played on Wednesday 15th January 2020. The Semi-Finals and Grand Final will be fought out at the Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui on Saturday 19th January, with the title decider played under lights.

Considered the biggest prize in Baywide premier cricket, the Williams Cup which dates back to the 1930’s, kicks off on the 1st February with the finale coming on the last day of the cricket season on Saturday 28th March 2020.

BOPCA Baywide Cricket Key Dates 2019

Baywide Cup

October 5th Baywide Cup Round One

December 7th Baywide Cup (& Plate) Finals

Baywide Twenty 20

December 14th Baywide T20 Round One & Two

January 15th Baywide T20 Mid-Week Round

January 19th Baywide T20 Semi-Finals & Final (Under Lights) @ Bay Oval

Williams Cup

February 1st Williams Cup First Round

March 28th Williams Cup Final @ Bay Oval

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