Cricket: Unbeaten Mount face big ask

Shane Wineti and Greerton face Tauranga Boys' first up tomorrow. Photo / George Novak

Three teams will take perfect records into tomorrow's Lonestar Baywide T20 action in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and Rotorua.

Sitting at the top of the standing courtesy of their run rate are Mount Maunganui, who with Eves Realty Greerton and City Sports Bar Te Puke, won both their encounters on the opening day of the Baywide T20 title race.

Mount Maunganui travel to Whakatane where they will face East Bay United in their first game. Eastern Bay usually thrive at home and the club is likely to field a strong line-up against the Mount visitors.

Two Eastern Bay players from different spectrums of playing experience could play a prominent part in the game. Veteran batsman Stephen Ford has been in good touch in the middle while Jeff Omar is a young bowler of real promise.

In spite of the Mount losing five players to the Bay of Plenty representative side that is playing Counties Manukau, Mount Maunganui will still field a strong line-up. Matt Golding, Alex Gooding and Mike Jones have all played Bay rep cricket, with their experience likely to be valuable in their team's attempt to keep their unbeaten record intact.

Eves Realty Greerton, who also lose several representative players, face a real test against defending T20 champions Tauranga Boys' College.

The form batsman in recent weeks is Tauranga Boys' Ben Musgrave, who blasted a century against Cadets on the opening day of the T20 competition. The Greerton challenge will be to shut down Musgrave and prolific run scorer Mark Orchard.

Element IMF Cadets will be expected to beat BOP Indians, however the Rotorua team has a number of all-rounders who could trouble the visitors to Rotorua. City Sports Bar Te Puke faces Central for the second successive weekend with the game likely to be a close run encounter.

Greerton have plenty to play for against Cadets in the late afternoon round in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

A couple of weeks ago Cadets posted more than 300 runs against Greerton in the Baywide Cup, with the memory still providing plenty of hurt. In other match-ups East Bay United will meet Central, BOP Indians square off against Tauranga Boys' College with the encounter between Mount Maunganui and Te Puke likely to be a hard fought battle.