In spite of three of the top four in the Williams Cup title race suffering defeats in the penultimate round of the Baywide championship, the standings remained the same with Te Puke, Cadets, Mount Maunganui and Greerton likely to advance to the playoffs.
On Saturday, the expected battle of attrition at the Tauranga Domain, between Element IMF Cadets and Mount Maunganui, wasn't decided until late in the afternoon. Cadets posted 208/7 led by a defiant knock from Ben Christensen who smashed his way to 116, with James Birchall chipping in with a handy 27. When Christensen was out, he had scored 116 out of the team total of 187.
Mount Maunganui were behind the run chase for much of their turn at bat and at 145/5 had plenty of work to do. But Ben Guild was in fine touch and was rewarded with his side's top score of 75. The visitors were again in trouble with just two wickets remaining, however a 26-run partnership between Dale Swan and Mike Jones took their team to victory.
Competition leaders Te Puke suffered their first loss of the Baywide competition, when Tauranga Boys' College mentor Mark Orchard scored an outstanding century to see his side home to an easy seven-wicket win. Te Puke set the Tauranga Boys' a target of a neat 200 after they reached 199/9, with Orchard and Keaton Taylor doing the damage with the ball taking three wickets each.
Orchard, who opened the innings, took the game by the scruff of the neck to smash the ball to all corners of the Te Puke Domain, and he finished unbeaten on 121, with Gareth Wallace adding 29 to his side's total.