Two sparkling centuries from Bay players Tim Clarke and Brett Hampton have set up an enthralling finale to the Williams Cup on Saturday when Mount Maunganui and defending champs Greerton will meet at the Bay Oval.
Eves Realty Greerton's master blaster Brett Hampton took the encounter away from Element IMF Cadets at the Tauranga Domain with a brilliant innings of 103 not out.
Cadets batted first and were made to work hard for runs against determined Greerton bowlers. The Greerton breakthrough came when former NZ Under-19 batsmen Joe Carter was dismissed for four after being dropped without scoring.
While Sean Davey (41) and Scott Steward (27) provided some defiance at the wicket, the Cadets innings came to a close when they were bowled out for 154. The Greerton wickets were shared around with Hampton, Matthew Earl, Campbell Thomas and Tommy Clout taking two each.
Greerton captain Shane Wineti was particularly pleased with his bowlers.
"We worked hard at training mainly focusing on our fielding, which had been our Achilles heel over the last month. We also concentrated on consistently bowling on one side of the wicket and making sure that individual bowlers were hitting the mark."
The defending titleholders made an inauspicious start at 20/3, before ND-contracted Hampton launched his assault on a Cadets bowling attack that could only stand and watch the ball sail to the boundary. Such was Hampton's early dominance he scored the first 50 runs of the partnership with Cameron Neal.
Neal played an excellent supporting role to finish with 34 not out. Hampton smashed a four to bring up his third century of the Baywide club season and win the game for his side.
"We were a little nervous losing three cheap wickets at the top of the order. However, the team always felt that 150 runs was very chaseable," said Wineti.
"Hammer's (Hampton) performance was simply outstanding with his timing of the ball and finding the gaps with ease.
"Our boys are looking forward to next week's final against the Mount and we believe if we stick to our game plan, we can grab back-to-back Williams Cup titles."
Te Puke started well after deciding to bat on a quality deck at Te Puke Domain, with opening pair Tai Bridgeman-Raison and Mitch McCann blunting the new ball with sound judgment and alert running between the wickets. The dangerous McCann, who played and missed several times between bouts of beautiful stroke play off the front foot, was the first to go for 29 when he chipped a delivery from Daniel Hill to square leg.
Jared Carter joined the Te Puke skipper and played well after initially struggling, moving the score along to 99 before hitting a return catch to Peter Drysdale.
Bay spinner Dale Swan then had key all-rounder Jeremy Bates caught behind in dubious fashion with the score at 104, before Drysdale had Charles Williams stumped for five moments later.
Brideman-Raison was the next to go for a patient 49, leaving his side 129/6 before powerful left hander Steven Crossan took 20 off Swan's final over. He was needlessly run out for 49 soon after, limiting the home side to a score of 210/8.
Mount openers Tim Clarke and Drysdale, fresh from their return from representative duties with the Bay's Hawke Cup side, went about the chase in their typically contrasting fashion, seemingly unburdened by one of the finest lunches seen this season.
Clarke crashed 16 fours and six sixes on his way to a match-winning knock of 113 before hitting a long hop down the throat of the boundary rider with the score at 156.
That triggered a mini-collapse in diminishing light as the Mount lost six wickets for 53 runs. However, in the end Clarke's innings was enough to decide the contest by three wickets with four overs to spare.