Cricket: Bay Indians eager to nail first trophy

DRY SPELL: Mehul Chhagan, Bay of Plenty Indian Sports bowler, hopes his side can break a near-50 year drought to win the annual New Zealand Indian Sports Association cricket tournament this weekend in Rotorua. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

Bay of Plenty Indian Sports premier-grade cricketers will hope to break a drought of almost half a century when they host the New Zealand Indian Sports Association cricket tournament this weekend.

Since the tournament started in 1966 the Rotorua-based club have never had their hands on the winners' trophy, said player/organiser Mehul Chhagan.

"We have most of our top players available this weekend so we hoping to step up and take the trophy for the first time," he said.

Not helping their cause, however, will be the absence of leading batsman Bharat Popli, who will playing for Northern Districts A at Lincoln Oval, Christchurch.

Popli, who made his Northern Districts debut last month, recently joined the Bay of Plenty honours board when he became only the fifth Bay player to pass 2000 runs in representative cricket.

The popular annual NZISA tournament was always held in the New Year when players didn't have any club commitments to restrict their availability, Mr Chhagan said.

Around 70 players from six teams will be involved in the two-day tournament at Boord Park, with each team playing two 30-over games a day, including a final to find the event's outright winner on Sunday.

Two teams each from Auckland and Wellington and one from Waikato will join Bay of Plenty Indians, with Auckland the pre-tournament favourites.