Turner, former captain Josh Bates, Jak Rowe and the Tallott brothers Scott and Robbie were in the Poverty Bay team who won the Kirk Cup when they rolled Hawke’s Bay for 57 here in November last year.
Hawke’s Bay have five players from that side in action tomorrow.
Rowe was unplayable in the win, taking seven wickets for 14 runs off seven magnificent overs, while Turner chipped in with 2-19 off nine.
“Obviously we’d love to do that again but that would be asking a lot and realistically I can’t see that happening,” Turner said.
“If we are to win tomorrow, it’s more likely to be by putting pressure on them with good bowling, backed up in the field.”
Turner said having Bates and Sam Tallott (vice-captain) was a bonus.
“Both are playing outside the district but they love to play for the Bay. Sam will probably open with our Bay of Plenty player Sean Dykes. We (Turner and coach David McDonald) haven’t decided on the batting line-up but ideally we’d like to have Sam’s brother Scott and Josh coming in late to push the score along.
“They’re both aggressive batsmen who like to go after the bowling.”
McDonald said 15-year-old Dykes was an opening batsman who had been performing well in the Bay of Plenty competition over the past month.
“Thorn Parkes impressed in the last rep fixture of last season. He did not look out of place at this level and will be bigger and stronger this season.
“It’s great news that Josh has recovered well enough from a serious football injury to play so early in the season.”
At 31, Ajay Kumar is the oldest player in the Bay side and, like Turner, he was delighted when told he was in the side.
“Making the Bay team was always my target when I came back from India, and I have been putting in all the hard work in the nets since April,” Kumar said.
“I played one game against Counties Manukau last year in Taupo but didn’t do myself justice and really wanted to show that I could play at this level.
“I’ve been going down regularly to the nets, along with some friends from India and some cricketers from Horouta, for the past eight months and it’s paid off.”
McDonald said that Kumar deserved the opportunity to play at this level.
“He’s been a consistent performer over a few seasons in local cricket and has started well this season. Robbie Tallott continues to impress with his training ethic and will be part of a pretty impressive bowling unit along with Mitchell (Turner), Jak (Rowe), Jarrod (Davenport) and Bay of Plenty leg-spinner James Boyd.
“The bowlers have been under the watchful eye of Lance Cairns in recent months and are good to go.”
