Baywide cricket: Te Puke and Greerton secure home semis

Central Indians' Steve Nicholls. Club cricket. Photo / File

Baywide premier cricket competition semifinals are set, with Greerton and Te Puke banking enough points for home games.

Defending Bay of Plenty Cup champions Eve's Realty Greerton, have already booked a home semifinal courtesy of their unbeaten record, albeit only just preserved against Bond and Co Tauranga Boys' College last weekend.

This weekend, Greerton will square off against long-time rivals Carrus Mount Maunganui and are certain to receive a good workout in the penultimate qualifying round.

The second semifinal venue has also been decided, with New World Te Puke having enough points to host a post-section game at Te Puke Domain. The form book would suggest that Te Puke will pick up a further six points when they travel to Rotorua's Smallbone Park to play Geyser City tomorrow. A vital encounter in the last round of qualifying play will be fought out at Owen Delany Park in Taupō tomorrow, when Generation Homes Lake Taupō host Element IMF Cadets - with the winner grabbing a berth in the Bay of Plenty Cup semifinals.

While the two sides are locked together on 23 points apiece, entering the contest in the Great Lake region, they come from completely different spectrums of Baywide cricket.

Cadets have become one of the heavyweights of the Bay of Plenty premier club competition, having won the Bay of Plenty Cup three times and triumphed in the time-honoured Williams Cup 11 times.

The Tauranga Domain-based club have produced myriad Northern Districts and Bay of Plenty representatives, with Black Caps bowling star Trent Boult having played all his senior club cricket in the Cadets strip.

Lake Taupō have made big strides since joining the Baywide ranks in the 2017/18 season.

Three 2019 Bay of Plenty Cup wins have taken them to the cusp of making the playoffs, contested by the top four from the qualifying rounds. Individual playing performances suggest that Bay of Plenty representative honours await the club in the future.

Meanwhile, Tauranga Boys' College and Bayleys Central Indians, who meet at Tauranga Boys' home base at Nicholson Field, look destined to meet in the Bay of Plenty Plate, which is contested by the second echelon from the qualifying rounds of play. Both sides have put up some strong performances and with a little luck could have squeezed a spot in the top four.

BOPCA November 16 Bay of Plenty Cup Draw:
Lake Taupō v Cadets, Owen Delany Park; Geyser City v Te Puke, Smallbone Park; Mount Maunganui v Greerton, Blake 3; Tauranga Boys' College v Central Indians, Nicholson Field.

Points: Greerton 41, Te Puke 35, Mount Maunganui 26, Cadets 23, Lake Taupō CC 23, Central Indians 17, Tauranga Boys' College 14, Geyser City 5.