Poverty Bay rep cricketers on the road to Rotorua

Horouta's James Birrell with the Fraser Shield for Premier Grade batting aggregate, which he accepted on behalf of teammate Gautam Sareen at the Poverty Bay Cricket prizegiving.

Poverty Bay versus Bay of Plenty Lakelands has the look of a juicy steak.

The first and only fixture for a Poverty Bay men’s representative team this season has quality cricketers lining up on both sides for their inaugural meeting.

The venue for the last game of the season, a 40-over match with the first ball to be bowled noon on Sunday, is Smallbone Park in Rotorua.

It is a boutique ground with artificial and grass pitches, the turf deck historically taking turn.

“It’s a little bit dry to be honest - a spinner’s paradise,” according to Lakelands selector-coach Paul Wylie.

Poverty Bay are well-armed in that area, with the pinpoint accurate Daniel Stewart and skipper James Birrell both good off-spinners.

Birrell took 5-20 in six overs to set up an eight-wicket win to Horouta over Gisborne Boys’ High School in the Premier Grade 30-over championship final.

Lakelands have a genuine leg-spinner, Rotorua Boys’ High School student Kai Turkington, 15, and are led by Tokoroa’s hard-hitting opening batsman Micheal Walmsley.

Northern Districts and Aotearoa Māori left-arm pace bowler Johnathon Gray, who is finishing his secondary schooling at King’s College, is in the Poverty Bay squad.

Two allrounders will travel from Hamilton for the match - Waikato University first-year student Nathaniel Fearnley and Patrick McInnes, who shifted from Gisborne Boys’ High to Hamilton BHS this year and is in the school’s First XI.

Horouta allrounder Gautam Sareen gives PB a wrist spin option.

GBHS opening batsman Joel Kirkpatrick goes into the match on the back of an excellent DJ Barry Cup Premier Grade campaign that featured knocks of 75, 65 and 49 not out.

Left-handed Czech Republic representative Martin Worndl, named Poverty Bay Cricket’s Player of the Year last weekend, is a classy batsman.

Well-performed HSOB allrounder Pushpinder Kumar lends valuable experience to the mix.

“I’m hoping that this game will be the start of something great for our cricket community and I’m looking forward to a competitive game that will showcase our skills and pride in playing for our clubs and association,” Birrell said.

“We hope that this game away will show that we’re eager and capable of providing good competition in other areas of ND (Northern Districts), while being able to grow and provide more opportunities within Poverty Bay cricket.”

Bay of Plenty premier official Will Morris, 17, of the ND Emerging Umpires panel, and Hamish Forbes are the umpires.

Poverty Bay: James Birrell (captain, Moshim’s Spice Horouta Te Waka), Anthony Boyder (Bollywood High School Old Boys), Nathaniel Fearnley (Marist, Hamilton), Hansa Fernando (Horouta), Tharuka Fernando (Horouta), Johnathon Gray (King’s College), Joel Kirkpatrick (Gisborne Boys’ High School), Patrick McInnes (Hamilton BHS), Gautam Sareen (Horouta), Daniel Stewart (OBR), Pushpinder Kumar (HSOB), Martin Worndl (Coastal Concrete OBR).

Bay of Plenty Lakelands: Micheal Walmsley (c), Alan Twiddy, Jordan Bowles, Tejveer Dhaliwal, Mitchell Kane, Neeraj Kumar, Kunal Mahajan, Jesse Russ, Harry Singh, Kai Turkington, Hamish Wilde, Kaiden Young.