HARD TIMES: Central Indians' Ben Sandford and his side had a difficult first innings on Saturday. PHOTO/ BEN FRASER.
Baywide Cricket
Bayleys Central Indians put in a disappointing batting performance in a seven wickets loss for their first home game of this season's BOPCA Baywide premier competition.
Central Indians, who batted first, fell to their second defeat in the Baywide Cup - bowled out for 108 by an impressive Element IMF Cadets side at Smallbone Park on Saturday.
Cadets' Gurwinder Singh, in his first season with the Tauranga Domain based side, took charge with the ball, on the artificial crease, grabbing five wickets for 27 runs.
The visitors then speedily chased down their target - reaching it in the nineteenth over conceding just three wickets.
Cadets' batsman Morton Freer finished on 58 not out in an innings which included several impressive sixes.
Co-captain Shonit Chandra said he was disappointed with his side's battling display, but said a "silver-lining" was the performance of debutant Ajay Kumar who hit 59 runs.
"We just didn't perform with the bat and Cadets got momentum," he said.
"Gurwinder was very hard to bat against and really stood out in a strong Cadet bowling line-up.
"Also sometimes you have to just sit back and applaud the opposition and that was the case with Freer. His batting was exceptionally. He hit some big sixes and we had to appreciate that.
"For us I thought Ajay did extremely well. He was cool, calm and collected in his first game and I think there's a lot more to come from him."
Chandra added that the artificial crease didn't do any favours for his team.
"The movement and quicker speed of the crease caused a lot of problems for us," he said.
"It was bouncing all over the place and we ended up with quite a few caught out in the field.
"Also the wicket provided no turn for our spinners and that's a big part of our bowling attack."
Meanwhile Carrus Mount Maunganui kept their position at the top of the table with a seven wicket win over Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College at Blake Park on Saturday.
Tauranga Boys batted first, setting a target of 192/9. Wicket keeper Tim Clarke posted his side's top score of 67 whilst Nick Smith was the best of the Mount bowling attack returning 3/20.
But two Bay of Plenty representative batsmen - Peter Drysdale and Ben Musgrave - played a big part in the Mount Maunganui victory, both posting 64 runs.
Defending Baywide Cup titleholder Eves Realty Greerton, stormed back into this seasons' competition with an emphatic seven wicket win over New World Te Puke at Pemberton Park.
Greerton bowled the visitors out for 129 with former Tauranga Boys College player Jared Tutty taking five wickets at a cost of just 24 runs.
And the Greerton batsmen went on attack from the start of the reply, with nearby Fraser Street under siege on several occasions, as they strolled to victory for the loss of just three wickets.
Cam Neal led the way smacking 38 runs in quick-fire fashion, while Brett Hampton, Tom MacRury and Shane Wineti also made solid contributions.
BOPCA Baywide premier competition
Baywide Cup results
Bayleys Central Indians 108 (Ajay Kumar 59, Gurwinder Singh 5/27, Morton Freer 4/11) lost to Element IMF Cadets 109/3 (Freer 58no)
New World Te Puke 129 (Alex Gooding 63, Stephen Crossan 22; Jared Tutty 5/24, Murray Jarvis 2/14) lost to Eves Realty Greerton 134/3 (Cam Neal 38, Brett Hampton 33no, Tom MacRury 31, Shane Wineti 27no)
Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College 192/9 (Tim Clarke 69, Sean Wakelin 30; Nick Smith 3/20, Peter Drysdale 2/30, Dale Swan 2/37) lost to Carrus Mount Maunganui 193/3 (Drysdale 64, Ben Musgrave 64, Matt Golding 32; Josh Ormrod 2/27)
Points Table: (Provisional) Carrus Mount Maunganui 62, Element IMF Cadets 54, Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College 34, Eves Realty Greerton 26, New World Te Puke 22, Bayleys Central Indians 14.