Cricket: Mount grab only victory

Rotorua's Central Cricket Club struggled in wet conditions at the weekend in the Bay Cup. Pictured is Central's Kyle Blanchard. Photo / Ben Fraser

Just one Baywide Cup game produced a result on a day blighted by rain.

Rotorua's Central Cricket Club and last year's champions Mount Maunganui played out the only game which went the distance on Saturday, due largely to Mount captain Peter Drysdale covering the wicket on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, two other Bay Cup matches also made a start on Saturday but heavy showers during the afternoon resulted in them being abandoned in the second turn at bat.

The game between Mount and Central at Blake Park started on time and the visitors took first use of the artificial surface.

However, runs were hard to find for the Rotorua side.

Central skipper Jason Trembath top-scored for his side with a hard-fought 29 runs, before being stumped from the bowling of Dale Swan.

The Mount spin bowler took four wickets for 39 to add to his six-wicket bag the previous weekend.

With the players coming on and off the field as showers swept over Blake Park, the Mount Maunganui reply became a battle of attrition.

Batting at five, Michael Corbett turned the tide for Mount Maunganui belting 26 off just 22 deliveries to greatly assist his side's four-wicket victory.

Vaughan Blanchard and Andrew Gibbs kept their side in the match grabbing two wickets apiece.

Despite their efforts, it was a case of not enough runs on the board for Central, who will be disappointed with their batting performance for the second match in a row.

In spite of the rain, City Sports Bar Te Puke batsman Mitch McCann posted a century against BOP Indians at the Te Puke Domain, in a match that was eventually abandoned.

McCann and Tai Bridgman-Raison put on an opening stand of 102 before Bridgman-Raison fell with 46 runs to his name.

The Te Puke captain continued on with Josh Dwight (51) before he was caught off the bowling of Prashant Dhanjee for 101.

Te Puke reached 246/7 with the game called off without a ball being bowled in the second innings.

Tauranga Boys' College had a rain-interrupted innings against Eves Realty Greerton at Pemberton Park which lasted four and a half hours, during which they posted 167/7.

Tauranga Boys' coach Mark Orchard reached the seventies, with Greerton 82/2 when the umpire called the match off.

A saturated outfield at Fergusson Park saw no play between Element IMF Otumoetai Cadets and East Bay United (Whakatane).