The battle of the Bays for the minor association cricket bragging rights is in the balance in Napier today.
Hawke Cup holders Pay Excellence Hawke's Bay senior men's representative team have clawed their way back with the ball after the Bay of Plenty skittled them for 162 runs in thefirst innings at Nelson Park.
The challengers were still 51 runs shy at stumps for the loss of five wickets with Jono Boult unbeaten on four runs and wicketkeeper Tim Clarke not out on eight.
Bay seamer Ben Stoyanoff took 3-17 from 10 overs at first change while opener Liam Dudding and spinner GC Pretorius took one each.
Having won the toss, the Graeme Aldridge-coached BOP didn't waste time in electing to bowl on an autumn-like day whipped with brisk winds.
Hawke's Bay were back warming up to bowl not long after lunch.
No 5 Indika Senarathne was the top scorer in the hosts' innings, with 33 runs, in the three-day match to find who will keep the silverware over winter.
The CD white-ball cricketer from Sri Lanka fell to the spin of unwanted Northern Districts Knights player Boult who took three wickets.
Lower-order batsman Pretorius, of South Africa, was a run behind Senarathne after a concerted partnership with No 8 and wicketkeeper Scott Schaw who contributed 25 runs.
Tommy Clout and Brett Hampton also claimed three wickets each for the Peter Drysdale-captained BOP side.
Bay coach Colin Schaw named Jurgen Andersen 12th man while BOP counterpart, Graeme Aldridge, has Chris Atkinson running out the drinks.
