Bay of Plenty well and truly avenged the loss of the Rigden Shield to Poverty Bay back in March with a comprehensive victory by an innings and 70 runs in Gisborne over the weekend.
In the first Fergus Hickey game of the 2016/17 season, Poverty Bay won the toss and elected to bat. They were quickly under attack from the Bay of Plenty bowlers and lost their first two wickets with just seven runs on the board.
Led by a five-wicket bag from Tony Goodin, Bay of Plenty removed the home side for a modest 101, with Poverty Bay's highest score of 20 reflecting the damage done by the Bay of Plenty bowlers. Sean Davey also bowled with enthusiasm to return figures of 2-7.
Bay of Plenty hammered the Poverty Bay bowling attack to declare at 304-4. Opening batsmen Tom MacRury became just the 22nd Bay of Plenty player to reach 1000 runs when he blasted 105 off just 116 balls. Skipper Peter Drysdale (73) and Ben Musgrave (65) both made significant contributions to Bay of Plenty's big total.
"We put on quick runs on Sunday morning before bowling Poverty Bay out again to take home an innings and 70-run win," Bay of Plenty coach, Graeme Aldridge, said.