Bay of Plenty's development cricket team have warmed up for their remaining Northern Districts assignments with an eight-wicket win over Hawke's Bay.
Hawke's Bay won the toss and elected to bat at Owen Delany Park in Taupō on Sunday, setting the Craigs Investment Partners Bay of Plenty Development team a solid target when they were dismissed for 236, with two balls to spare in their innings.
Rohan Fendall top-scored for Hawke's Bay with 59 runs. Josh Earle did plenty of damage with the ball, taking four wickets for 41 runs, with Jacob Logan returning figures of three wickets at a cost of 34 runs.
An opening 116-run partnership, between Taylor Bettelheim and Jacob Logan, put Bay of Plenty in the box seat. When Logan was removed for 59, Bettelheim continued on to post an unbeaten 100 from 135 balls, in an innings that contained 11 fours.
Dan Price continued the momentum with a quick-fire 60 not out, with the Bay of Plenty eight-wicket victory coming in the 44th over.
Bay of Plenty Development coach Russell Williams said it was great to build two solid partnerships that controlled their reply.
"Some great ball striking from Dan Price quickly put us back on the front foot and a fantastic 100 runs from Taylor Bettelheim was a pleasure to watch," Price says.
"We now have three tough games in the ND Development title race, so we need to build on the moment and keep working hard," he says.
The Bay of Plenty second XI will now endeavour to win back-to-back ND Development titles, in the three remaining games in their Basil McBurney Trophy campaign.
They face Counties Manukau in the heart of Counties territory, before home matches to round out the season with longtime rivals Hamilton and Waikato Valley.
Inter-Provincial Development match results:
Hawke's Bay 236. (RF Fendall 57; Josh Earle 4/41, Jacob Logan 3/34) lost to Bay of Plenty 239/2 (Taylor Bettleheim 100no, Daniel Price 60no, Jacob Logan 59).
2020 ND Development Schedule:
February 1: vs Counties Manukau at Karaka Sports Park.
February 16: vs Hamilton at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.
March 1: vs Waikato Valley at Tauranga Domain, Tauranga.