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The changing of the guard in the Bay of Plenty senior men’s team

Peter Drysdale

The changing of the guard in the Bay of Plenty senior men’s team, with Joe Carter picking up the skippers baton for the current season from long-time captain Peter Drysdale, is an ideal opportunity to recognize the contribution that RPO Drysdale has made leading the Bay of Plenty Cricket troops.

Pete made his Bay of Plenty senior men’s debut at the ND One-Day tournament on the 15th November 2009, against Hamilton, earning BOPCA Player Number 498.

Bay of Plenty captaincy came in the Hawke Cup Direct Challenge against Hamilton in January 2013, when then skipper Jono Boult, was required for Northern Districts duty. The Hawke Cup encounter, will be long remembered in Bay of Plenty Cricket history for the record Bay innings. 

After dismissing Hamilton for 255, Bay of Plenty simply batted the Waikato City side out of the match, when they were finally removed for a new Hawke Cup record of 701. Joe Carter set a new Bay of Plenty highest score of 187, before Brett Hampton surged past Joe, to post new figures of 194.

Under RPO Drysdale’s captaincy, the Bay of Plenty First XI repelled three challenges from Manawatu, Canterbury Country and South Canterbury in 2013, before defeating Hamilton again and then losing NZ Cricket prize to Manawatu in the summer of 2014.

The 2015/16 cricket season, was another champagne season for the Bay of Plenty Cricket senior men’s team. With Captain Supreme at the helm, the Bay side won the two Northern Districts big prizes of the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl and the Brian Dunning one day trophy. 

The icing on the cake in the 2015/16 season was bringing the Hawke Cup back to the Bay after a successful visit to Hawkes Bay. Bay of Plenty took a first innings lead after removing Hawkes Bay for 162 and then posting 318 in their first turn at bat. However the Hawke Cup holders made a determined attempt to hold onto the trophy, belting 361 for five wickets in their second innings. Led by a Ben Musgrave century the Bay of Plenty boys got home with six wickets to spare.
 
The first Hawke Cup defence of the 2016/17 season saw another massive Bay total when they tied their own Hawke Cup record, when finally removed for 701 by Counties Manukau. Visiting Yorkshire professional Alex Lees hammered the Bays all-time highest score with 223 runs. The match was also notable for a maiden century posted by Donavan Deeble, batting at eight.

Three more successful defences against Hawkes Bay, Nelson and Southland ensued, before the Bay lost the NZ Cricket minor association trophy to Counties Manukau at the start of this year. Under Pete’s captaincy, Bay of Plenty also went back to back Fergus Hickey triumphs in the 2016/17 season.

The Hawke Cup loss to Counties, ended RPO Drysdale’s magnificent Hawke Cup run of captaincy of ten wins and two losses. Pete also played in the 2010 Hawke Cup lesson administered by Manawatu, to take him to a record 13 Bay of Plenty Hawke Cup Direct Challenge appearances. 

Pete enters the current ND representative season with the outstanding Bay of Plenty statistics of 87 Bay of Plenty appearances, 2847 runs and 16 wickets. The batting tally contains three centuries with a highest score of 119.

We will leave the last word to BOPCA Convener of Selectors Tai Bridgman-Raison “During his tenure as captain, Pete has taken the team to new heights in terms of professionalism and leaves a legacy of success which teams of the future will strive to emulate. Despite no longer holding the captaincy, Pete will continue to be a leader and a role model among the group”.