Cricket: Bay of Plenty v Hamilton preview

Jono Boult steps up to captain Bay of Plenty against Hamilton this weekend. Photo / File

There is usually no bigger game each season for Bay of Plenty than the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl two-day match-up with Hamilton.

Weather permitting, the two long-time rivals will square off this Saturday and Sunday at the Tauranga Domain. Over the last five years, Bay of Plenty have edged Hamilton 3-2 in Fergus Hickey two-day victories and have posted two Hawke Cup wins.

"After the washed-out encounter with Counties Manukau two weeks ago, the Hamilton match is shaping as a very important match," Bay of Plenty coach Charles Williams said.

"We always look forward to playing Hamilton as we know that they will bring a strong line-up and seem to play a similar style to us. While Fergus Hickey and Hawke Cup calculations are never far from our planning, we will be more focused on putting on the type of performance we all know the lads are capable of.

"If we play well enough on day one then we can look at the options we have for day two. We certainly won't be looking too far ahead."

Bay of Plenty will be without regular captain Peter Drysdale who suffered a bad injury while mountain biking.

"We are lucky that replacement skipper Jono Boult has had a lot of experience captaining the side and has done a great job this season with Otumoetai Cadets and the Bay T20 side in Taupo," Williams said.

After two thirds of the way through the season's representative program, Otumoetai Cadets teammates Joe Carter and Sean Davey lead the batting and bowling stakes.

Carter has smashed 284 runs with Boult and Davey also cruising past the 200-run mark. Carter also sits at the head of the highest score list, with an unbeaten 122 against Poverty Bay in a T20 encounter.

Davey, who has made his Northern Districts debut this season, has taken 17 bowling scalps with best figures of 5-34 in the Hawke Cup game against Counties Manukau.

Tauranga Boys' College Year 11 student Tim Pringle has made a real impression in his debut season for the Bay of Plenty First XI with 13 wickets while Boult has shown his all-round skills with 10 wickets.

"With the weather that has been around in the last couple of weeks, we know preparations for the pitch at the Domain would have been difficult and we are expecting the first day to be tough for batsman, so winning the toss could be crucial," Williams added.

■Fergus Hickey Rosebowl February 17-18, Tauranga Domain
Bay of Plenty team v Hamilton
Jono Boult (captain), Tom MacRury, Bharat Popli, Joe Carter, Sean Davey, Ben Musgrave, Stephen Crossan, Tim Clarke, Tim Pringle, Tommy Clout, Tony Gooding, Chris Atkinson. Coach Charles Williams, assistant coach Russell Williams

BOP statistics 2017-18
Runs: 284 Joe Carter, 261 Jono Boult, 228 Sean Davey
Highest Score: 122no Joe Carter T20 v Poverty Bay
Wickets: 17 Sean Davey, 13 Tim Pringle, 10 Jono Boult
Best Bowling: 5/34 Sean Davey Hawke Cup v Counties Manukau