Joe Carter was one of three Bay of Plenty batsman to reach 50 in a dominant first innings victory over Counties Manukau at Bay
Joe Carter was one of three Bay of Plenty batsman to reach 50 in a dominant first innings victory over Counties Manukau at Bay
Bay of Plenty has used a tried and true formula to get their Fergus Hickey campaign back on track with a decisive first innings win over Counties Manukau at Bay Oval.
Indeed, had it not been for a spell of rain taking the players from the field on Saturday afternoonthe home side may very well have secured full points and placed themselves back in the box seat in the race to claim Northern District's 2015 Hawke Cup challenge berth. The decision not to play a specialist spinner again paid dividends, with frontline seamers Donovan Deeble (3/41), Brett Hampton (2/46) and Tony Goodin (2/53) combining to take seven wickets and remove Counties for just 233.
The usual suspects of Tom MacRury (36), Bharat Popli (80) and Joe Carter (64) set up the pursuit, before Mitch McCann (58) and Jason Trembath (32no) continued on ahead of a declaration at 356/8.
The decision gave the Bay a couple of hours in which to roll their opponents for an outright win, which they nearly did.
The visitors were 2/2 in quick time and then 39/4, but a fine counter-attacking innings from Rhodes (56no) and a good hand from Harley Jenkins (38no) allowed Counties to avoid some blushes.
The Bay had to be content with a strong all-round performance, although they will look at allowing the Counties tail to wag in the first innings as the recurrence of a problem that threatens to become an Achilles heal.
On a positive note, the continued emergence of Deeble as a quality quick and McCann as a legitimate all-round option gives the selectors plenty of flexibility this summer.
