Bay of Plenty Coastland are chasing a three-peat of titles at the Northern Districts Senior Secondary Cricket tournament being played in Gisborne this week.
The Bay of Plenty Coastland team and Lakeland team are taking part in the tournament, which starts today and runs until Friday.
While BOP Coastland wonback-to-back Northern Districts titles last season they had to dig deep in the semifinals to earn a place in the title decider.
Coastland were bowled out by Waikato Valley for what looked to be a relatively modest 153. At 138/4 the Valley team looked to have the match in the bag, before rain forced the players from the field.
On the return to the field, a remarkable bowling spell from Coastland's Keaton Taylor caused havoc for the Waikato Valley batsmen, the Tauranga Boys' College player taking five wickets for six runs.
Waikato Valley were removed for 148, which gave the Bay team a thrilling five-run victory.
Both Lakeland and Coastland have several players who have been playing senior men's cricket this season.
Lakeland's Jeff Omar and Rhys Keighly play for Whakatane United, joining Rotorua Central players Declan Keaney and Tom Yarrell, with Rohan Gosai regularly turning out for BOP Indians. Alastair Blackett made his Bay of Plenty Development team debut this year, in a friendly encounter with Northern Districts Under-19, grabbing a wicket with the ball then posting a valuable 13 runs with the bat. He will also line up for Lakeland.
