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Williams Cup Preview 17th February 2018

Williams Cup Preview 17th February 2018

Posted: Thursday, 15 February 2018

Two Unbeaten Teams Square Off In Williams Cup Action At Blake Park

Two unbeaten teams in the 2018 Williams Cup title race, square at Blake Park on Saturday (17 February 2018) with the winner taking a big step to booking a berth in the playoffs.  Carrus Mount Maunganui will host Bayleys Central Indians who call Smallbone Park in Rotorua their home base. The Bay of Plenty inter-city battle, sees the two sides enter the contest with two victories from the opening two rounds of the Baywide competition and shared points from last weekends rained out matches.  Mount Maunganui will be without three first-pick players who are required for Bay of Plenty representative duty against Hamilton. However a real strength of the Mount Club, is the ability to seamlessly slot players into teams whenever required. Logan Carr and Nathan Byrnes, are two good examples of Mount players who have moved between premier and reserve grade cricket with ease this season.

Long-time Rotorua premier player Andrew Gibbs, who skippers the Central Indian troops, is a key player with both bat and ball. Twelve wickets and 106 runs in Baywide cricket this season, testifies to his tag as a genuine all-rounder. Stephen Nicholls leads the Rotorua sides batting with 239 runs.

Eve's Realty Greerton who also hold a share of the Williams Cup competition lead, will face a solid challenge at home at Pemberton Park, when New World Te Puke pay a visit on Saturday. Greerton has a strong batting line-up with Lee Watkins, Tom Renouf, Pip Thickpenny and skipper Shane Wineti are all no stranger to putting their home boundaries under attack.  Long-time Te Puke batsman Tai Bridgman-Raison, who holds the record of 12 premier centuries for his club, is a genuine match winner when he is on song with the willow. 

Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College will be favoured to defeat GM Painters Lake Taupo CC, when they travel down the state highway, to square off with the Taupo side. 
While the Lake Taupo XI is the first team from the Great Lake region to play Williams Cup cricket for many years, during the 1960's and 1970's, Taupo region teams dominated the Baywide cricket prize, winning eight straight Williams Cup titles. Taupo Cricket Club won the Williams Cup in 1968, 1969 and 1970 with Taupo Old Boys annexing the Baywide trophy in the next five seasons. 

Bay of Plenty Baywide Cricket Draw 17 February 2018
Williams Cup
Eves Realty Greerton v New World Te Puke, Pemberton Park; Carrus Mount Maunganui v Bayleys Central Indians, Blake2; GM Painters Lake Taupo CC v Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College, Owen Delaney Park; Element IMF Cadets the bye.
Points Table: Central Indians 15, Mount Maunganui 15, Greerton 15, Te Puke 3, Cadets 3, Tauranga Boys College 3, Lake Taupo CC 3.
BOPCA Williams Cup Honours Board 2018
Batting (Centuries) 103 – Joshua Bates (Element IMF Cadets) v Greerton
Bowling (Five wickets) 5/46 - James Boyd (Eves Realty Greerton) v Cadets

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