Te Puke ready to rock and bowl in club cricket

STAFF REPORTER
The Western Bay of Plenty premier two-day cricket championship starts in earnest tomorrow with the entrance of Te Puke - last year's Baywide champions - into the competition.
Te Puke sat on the sideline during the first two weeks after drawing the bye. During the last two seasons there has been a real rivalry between Te Puke and IMF Westland-sponsored Otumoetai Cadets, with the two teams fighting out both the Western Bay and Baywide championships.
Tomorrow, Te Puke start their season with home advantage against Tauranga Boys College at the Te Puke Domain.
Te Puke have had few changes from last season with Mathew Hart and Roger McBrydie heading the older brigade of players.
Ben Williams and Tai Bridgeman, who both played in England during the winter, are two relatively young players that will be expected to playing a leading role this summer.
Tauranga Boys made their best season start for a number of years when they grabbed first innings points off Mount Maunganui in the first round of the two day championship.
Boys College's batsman showed ability to remain at the crease for extended periods but the match against Te Puke will see the team need to continue their resolve at the crease.
With Greerton sitting out the bye in round two the only other premier match this weekend is between Cadets and Mount at Tauranga Domain.
After struggling a little in their first turn at bat against Greerton in round one, Cadets then put together a comprehensive total in the second innings to capture the first outright victory of the season.
A number of premier players will backup on Sunday in the first Attrill Cup match of the season between Tauranga and the Te Puke/Mt Maunganui Associations.
The Attrill Cup is the symbol of Bay of Plenty association supremacy with this season heralding a change of format. The victor from the local derby will meet the winner of a round robin series between Taupo, Rotorua and Western Bay of Plenty.
Six regular players are attending a Northern Districts camp, however this has opened the way for the debut of some youngsters, including Laxman Popli, Adam Peacocke and Dale Swann.
Tauranga Attrill Cup team: Campbell Wilson (capt) Jonno Boult, Cameron Burns, Ryan King, Richard Rice, Barry Folster (Cadets) Laxman Popli, Adam Peacocke (Tauranga Boys College) Charles Williams, Steven Ford, Marcus Niles (Greerton).
Mt Maunganui/Te Puke: Shane Neilson (capt) Tai Bridgeman, Brett McLeod, Nathan Burt, Kelvin Jones (Te Puke) Dale Swann, Danny Sczygiol, Rob Curran, N Smith (Mt Maunganui), two to be added.