Baywide cricket returns on the weekend. Photo / NZME
The two Bay of Plenty Cricket premier teams that held aloft Baywide trophies in triumph last season have reappointed the same team leadership for the 2023-24 season.
Element IMF Cadets won the big prize in Baywide premier cricket, beating Bond & Co Mount Maunganui by two wickets in the 2022-23 Versatile Williams Cup title decider.
Andrew Mascall will captain the team based at the Tauranga Domain for the fourth year in succession, with Cadets club coach Sam Owen mentoring the premier troops.
Eves Realty Greerton have again appointed Anish Desai to the dual role of leading his team on the field and tutoring the finer points of the game in the nets.
The 2022-23 season was a vintage year for the Greerton premiers, who won both the Bay of Plenty Cup and the Baywide T20 competition.
Consistency over the three Baywide competitions was rewarded with the Hart Family Trophy Champion of Champions award presented to Bond & Co Mount Maunganui at the annual prizegiving.
Bay of Plenty skipper Ben Pomare will guide Mount Maunganui as they endeavour to add to their 11 Hart Family Trophy titles.
Experience in spades on the field of play has seen Ben Musgrave move into the premier coach’s role at Blake Park. The new Mount mentor played 64 games in the Bay representative strip, including skippering the side for two seasons.
Rotorua Baywide contenders Sandford Wall Lawyers Central Indians finished last season with a flourish, taking out the Williams Cup Plate.
Jeff Simmons returns to the combined premier team to captain and mentor the side, which has had little change from last year.
Long-time Flying Mullet Te Puke coach Pete Swan is sure to have his troops well prepared to build on last season’s solid performances.
Te Puke were denied the opportunity to lift aloft the Baywide T20 trophy when rain blighted both the semifinal and title decider. They were awarded second place in the 20-over-per-team competition after finishing second on the ladder in the regular season play.
Mikare Leef and Iman Nahal will co-captain the oldest Bay of Plenty premier club team.
Generation Homes Lake Taupō, who made their Baywide entrance in 2016, will look to build on their first Baywide top-four finish after reaching the Williams Cup semifinals last season.
Habib Malik retains the captaincy with Nafis Shaikh and Archie Harrison bringing impressive credentials from Derbyshire in the UK.
Craig’s Investment Partners Tauranga Boys’ College has provided a springboard of future success for the multitude of graduates of the TBC cricket pathway. New player coach Scott Curtis is joined by Nina Parmar from Japan and a new batch of First XI players from the TBC pathway.
Sebastian Heath has earned the captain’s role for the new cricket year.
Pāpāmoa Cricket Club made their first appearance on a top-four competition leaderboard six months ago, winning two Williams Cup Plate encounters, to meet Central Indians in the final of the competition.
The Alice Johnson Oval-based team will be co-captained by Nikhil Vishwanath and Edward Sclater and coached by Simon Herbst.
Craig Investment Partners Geyser City have a policy of promoting and developing young cricket talent in the Rotorua region.
There have been few changes from last season’s young lineup. Alexander Roy and Ravi Yarwood-Paintal will travel from the UK to join the team.
Roy, who will captain and coach the Geyser City premiers, brings impressive credentials of representing the Netherlands.
The new premier cricket season kicks off with two weeks of the Baywide T20 competition.
Players and fans alike will be hoping for better weather than 12 months ago when the semifinals and the final were rained out, with the title being awarded to Greerton who finished as the top qualifier in preliminary play.
BOPCA Baywide T20 Draw for October 7:
Round one:
Generation Homes Lake Taupo v IMF Element Cadets, Bond & Co Mount Maunganui v Craigs Investment Partners Tauranga Boys College (Blake Park) Eves Realty Greerton v Craigs Investment Partners Geyser (Alice Johnson Oval), Sanford Wall Lawyers Central v The Flying Mullet Te Puke (Gordon Spratt Reserve) Papamoa the bye
Round two
Bond & Co Mount Maunganui v Generation Homes Taupo, IMF Element Cadets v Craigs Investment Partners Tauranga Boys College (Blake Park) Papamoa v Craigs Investment Partners Geyser, (Alice Johnson Oval) Eves Realty Greerton v Sanford Wall Lawyers Central (Gordon Spratt Reserve) The Flying Mullet Te Puke the bye.