Central Indians' Baywide Cup campaign ends in defeat (+video)

Rotorua's Bayleys Central Indians difficult Baywide Cup campaign has ended in a four wicket defeat.

Central Indians, who batted first, set a target of 187 all out for the visitors to chase at Smallbone Park on Saturday - with North Knights player Bharat Popli hitting a top score of 78 while Andrew Gibbs (31) and Stephen Nicholls (25) also impressed.

But in the second innings their fourth placed opposition were too strong at the crease and led by a scintillating 94 from Tom MacRury, Greerton reached their target with four wickets in hand.

Central Indians co-captain Shonit Chandra said he wasn't too disappointed with the result with a tough Greerton making very few mistakes.

"Too be honest we were beaten by the better side," he said. "I felt we had a really good game and I'm not disappointed with the result.

"We batted well and I was really impressed with how Stephen [Nicholls] performed. He knocked up some runs quickly and kept us ticking over. But with the bowling we found it very difficult to get the second wicket. They didn't give us a lot of chances and were too strong for us in the end."

Central Indians finished bottom of the table - picking up just two winning draw results in their campaign but Chandra said his team are now looking forward to compete strongly in next year's BOPCA Baywide premier competition - the Williamson Cup.

"For us the Baywide season is over and we move on. This has been a steep learning curve but I'm happy because we put in a solid display in each game. We can move forward with confidence."

Meanwhile Carrus Mount Maunganui won the Baywide Cup for the sixth time after a battle of attrition against Element IMF Cadets at Blake Park on Saturday.

Needing an outright victory to lift aloft the Baywide first round trophy, Mount Maunganui bowled first and removed Cadets for just 94 runs with skipper Dale Swan, who is the Baywide Cup leading wicket taker, grabbing 5/28.

Cadets' Daniel Maathuis, at number seven in the batting order, top scored with a hard fought 25, with Sean Davey and Morton Freer both reaching the twenties.

In the second innings Mount Maunganui also got away to good start and at 81/3 however a battle of attrition then took place - the Mount batsmen taking seven overs and the loss of two further wickets to reach their target.

The Mount victory drew them level with Cadets on 167 points, however the Mount Maunganui superior run rate during the competition, gave the home side the trophy.

BOPCA Baywide premier competition results

Baywide Cup:

Element IMF Cadets 94 (Daniel Maathuis 25, Sean Davey 23, Morton Freer 20; Dale Swan 5/28) lost to Carrus Mount Maunganui 95/5 (Brenton Thompson, 35 Ben Musgrave 33; James Birchall 2/16, Donovan Deeble 2/19).

Bayleys Central Indians 187 (Bharat Popli 87, Andrew Gibbs 31, Stephen Nicholls 25; Daniel Spencer 3/21, Jared Tutty 3/29, Brett Hampton 2/36) lost to Eves Realty Greerton 188/6 (Tom MacRury 94, B Hampton 30, Harrison Perry 26; Rohan Gosai 4/32).

Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College 253/7 (Charles Williams 94, Tim Clarke 34, Ben Pomare 25, Tom Renouf 25; Calem Taylor 3/9, Alex Gooding 2/61) winning draw from New World Te Puke 162/7 (Stephen Crossan 55, Tai Bridgman-Raison 24; Iman Singh 3/27, Craig Baldry 3/47).

Final points table: Carrus Mount Maunganui 167, Element IMF Cadets 167, Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College 151, Eves Realty Greerton 139, New World Te Puke 107, Bayleys Central Indians 25.