Bay of Plenty comfortably retain Hawke Cup

FIRED UP: Northern Districts pace bowler Tony Goodin took three wickets in Bay of Plenty's win over Nelson. PHOTO: GEORGE NOVAK

Bay of Plenty have easily retained the Hawke Cup in their third defence of the season with a 194-run first innings victory over Nelson at Bay Oval.

After winning the toss on Friday, the home team took first use of a track that looked to have plenty of runs in it. Openers Peter Drysdale and Tom MacRury got the home side away to a solid start, reaching the 84-run mark, before MacRury was run out for 54.

Northern Knights' Joe Carter joined the Bay of Plenty skipper at the crease and the pair took the Bay through to 93/1 at lunch.

Drysdale and Carter took control of the Nelson bowling attack after lunch and added 82 runs before the tea adjournment. The pair continued after tea, until Carter was caught by Willem Ludick off the bowling of Joe O'Connor for 105. The Bay number three's innings was his sixth century for Bay of Plenty and contained a dozen boundaries and two over the picket fence.

Nelson struck back late on day one, removing Yorkshire professional Alex Lees for 21 and Ben Musgrave for 0, but at stumps Bay of Plenty were in a strong position at 284 for the loss of four wickets.

on Saturday it was the Sean Davey show. Batting at seven, the former NZ Under-19 allrounder scored 111 off 189 balls, which included 14 boundaries and three sixes. Davey is the first Bay player to score three minor association representative centuries in successive matches with 111 v Nelson, 141 v Hawke's Bay and113 v Hamilton.

Bay of Plenty declared at 469/9 shortly after the tea adjournment on day two. They opened their bowling attack with the Northern Districts pair of Tony Goodin and Jono Boult, with Goodin grabbing the first wicket at 30. At stumps on day two, Nelson were 74 for the loss of three wickets, with Mason Thelin 44 not out.

Bay of Plenty bowlers continued their on-going attack on day three and at lunch had Nelson trailing by 266 with just two first innings wickets in hand. Opener Mason Thelin played well before he was caught by Bay keeper Tim Clarke off Davey for his side's top score of 69.

Nelson's tail wagged with Nic Clarke scoring 63 and Felix Murray 41 before Nelson were bowled out for 275. Boult finished with the best Bay of Plenty bowlers figures with 3/59 with Tony Goodin also taking three bowling scalps.

Bay of Plenty 469/9 (SB Davey 111, JF Carter 105, RPO Drysdale 90, TJ MacRury 54, TC Goodin 28, AZ Lees 21; JM O'Connor 3/69)
Nelson 275 (MJ Thelin 69, NC Clarke 63, FM Murray 41; JJ Boult 3/59, TC Goodin 3/88, CM Atkinson 2/46, SB Davey 2/47)

Result: Bay of Plenty retain Hawke Cup by way of first innings points.