While last weekend's successful Hawke Cup defence is still fresh in the minds of the Bay of Plenty representative team, they must now turn their attention to the two-day Fergus Hickey Rosebowl game against Poverty Bay, tomorrow and Sunday in Gisborne.
Bay of Plenty have already won the Brian DunningCup, by way of taking out the season one-day title, and now want to add the major Northern Districts prize of the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl to their trophy cabinet.
The Fergus Hickey champions are in exceptional form, with outstanding firepower with both bat and ball, having obliterated Bay all-time records during the season.
In the Hawke Cup win against Hamilton, the Bay batsmen annihilated the previous highest score of 553, when they smashed 701 runs to set a new Bay of Plenty (and Hawke Cup) record.
On the way to the huge Hawke Cup score, Joe Carter passed Simon Winter's previous highest individual score of 181, with a superb 187. However, the new record lasted just a couple of hours, before Brett Hampton made the record his own when he top scored with 194.
Both Hampton and Bharat Popli have passed 500 runs for the season, with Carter lurking just a few runs away on 481. Bay opening batsman Peter Drysdale is another in sterling form, having accumulated 320 runs in the Bay's nine games.s
Bowler Tony Goodin leads the Bay of Plenty wicket tally with 21 scalps. Last weekend, when the home team were behind the eight ball in the Hawke Cup encounter with Manawatu, Goodin grabbed five wickets to put his team in the box seat in the match.
Captain Jono Boult weaves some real magic with his spin bowling and has grabbed 16 wickets this season to add to his record tally off 33 last year. Brett Hampton has quickly developed into a genuine all rounder, with 14 dismissals to his credit, while New Zealand Under-19 bowler Sean Davey has returned from injury to take seven wickets.
One new recruit to the Bay First XI to travel to Gisborne is Mount Maunganui bowler Mike Jones. The former Auckland club player has performed with distinction for the Bay of Plenty Development side and has been rewarded with promotion to the Fergus Hickey team this weekend.
BOP team v Poverty Bay, Harry Barker Reserve, Gisborne, February 15-16
Jono Boult (captain) Peter Drysdale, Joe Carter, Brett Hampton, Bharat Popli, Tom MacRury, Mitch McCann, Tim Clarke, Sean Davey, Tommy Clout, Tony Goodin, Mike Jones.
