Bay retain title with outright win over Counties

DEFENSIVE: Bay of Plenty's Alex Lees in action against Counties Manukau. PHOTO: ANDREW WARNER

Bay of Plenty won back-to-back Fergus Hickey Rosebowls when they beat Counties Manukau outright in the last round of the ND competition over the weekend.

The visitors opened the batting at the Tauranga Domain and were under the pump from the Bay of Plenty bowlers from the opening ball. Batting at six, Ollie Pringle got his side back into the match with a gritty 58. Opener Tristan Payle was the next best of the Counties batsmen with 46 as they were bowled out for 169 in mid-afternoon on Saturday.

Northern Knights pace bowler Tony Gooding did plenty of damage with the ball grabbing 5-42 with fellow Northern Knight Brett Hampton taking three wickets and Donavan Deeble returning 2/34.

The first day belonged to the bowlers from both sides as Bay of Plenty reached 166 for the loss of six wickets at stumps on day one. Hampton showed his class with a hard-hit 77 while skipper Peter Drysdale made 31.

The Bay batsmen kicked on in the resumption on day two, reaching 264 all out to take a solid first innings lead. Keeper Tim Clarke finished on 39, with Deeble following with his side's second top score of 40 runs. Sean Davey chipped in with a handy 28.

A fired up Bay of Plenty bowling attack knew they needed an outright win in order to have a chance of retaining the title. A procession of Counties batters came and went as they were bowled out for just 107.

Chris Atkinson bowled well to remove four Counties batsmen at a cost of 17 runs. His last wicket came from a stunning one-handed catch by skipper Drysdale. Jono Boult took 2-21 with Luke Williamson the best of the Counties batsmen making 32.

Bay of Plenty's latest Fergus Hickey Rosebowl victory is the province's 16th in the Northern Districts two-day championship since the Bay's first win in the 1979/80 season and ninth since 2000.

Counties Manukau 169 (O Pringle 58, T Payle 46; T Goodin 5/42, B Hampton 3/48, D Deeble 2/34) & 107 (L Williamson 32, S Patel 27; C Atkinson 4/17, J Boult 2/21) lost outright to Bay of Plenty 264 (B Hampton 77, Deeble 40, T Clarke 39, P Drysdale 31, S Davey 28; OM Pringle 5/45) & 6/0