Cricket: Bay of Plenty take on rivals Hamilton in Tauranga

Sean Davey, who plays club cricket for Cadets, has scored 228 runs for Bay of Plenty this season. Photo / File

There is usually no bigger game for the Bay of Plenty representative cricket team than the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl two-day match-up with Hamilton.

The long-time rivals will square off todayand tomorrowat the Tauranga Domain. During the last five years, Bay of Plenty have edged Hamilton 3-2 in Fergus Hickey victories and have posted two Hawke Cup Direct Challenge wins in the same period.

Bay of Plenty coach Charles Williams said: "After the washed-out encounter with Counties Manukau two weeks ago, the Hamilton match is shaping as a very important match. We always look forward to playing Hamilton as we know that they will bring a strong line-up and seem to play a similar style to us.

"The side will be without regular captain Peter Drysdale, after Pete suffered a bad injury while mountain biking. We are lucky that replacement skipper Jono Boult has had a lot of experience captaining the side and has done a great job this season, with Otumoetai Cadets and the Bay T20 side in Taupo.

"While Fergus Hickey and Hawke Cup calculations are never far from our planning, we will be more focused on putting on the type of performance we all know the lads are capable of. If we play well enough on day one then we can look at the options we have for day two, we certainly won't be looking too far ahead," Williams said.

Two thirds of the way through the representative season, Otumoetai Cadets teammates Joe Carter and Sean Davey lead the batting and bowling stakes. Carter has smashed 284 runs, while Jono Boult and Sean Davey have also cruised past the 200-run mark. Carter also sits at the head of the highest score list, with an unbeaten 122 against Poverty Bay in a Twenty20 encounter.

Davey, who made his Northern Districts debut this season, has taken 17 wickets with best figures of five wickets at a cost of 34 runs, in a Hawke Cup game against Counties Manukau.

Tauranga Boys' College year 11 student Tim Pringle has made a real impression in his debut season for the Bay of Plenty First XI, with 13 wickets.

"With the weather that has been around in the last couple of weeks, we know preparations for the pitch at the Domain would have been difficult and we are expecting the first day to be tough for batsman, so winning the toss could be crucial, Williams said.

Fergus Hickey Rosebowl at Tauranga Domain

Bay of Plenty team

Jono Boult (captain), Tom MacRury, Bharat Popli, Joe Carter, Sean Davey, Ben Musgrave, Stephen Crossan, Tim Clarke, Tim Pringle, Tommy Clout, Tony Gooding, Chris Atkinson.
Coach: Charles Williams. Assistant Coach: Russell Williams

Bay of Plenty team statistics 2017-18

Runs: 284 Joe Carter, 261 Jono Boult, 228 Sean Davey
Highest Score: 122no Joe Carter T20 v Poverty Bay

Wickets: 17 Sean Davey, 13 Tim Pringle, 10 Jono Boult
Best Bowling: 5/34 Sean Davey Hawke Cup v Counties Manukau