Cricket: Mount Maunganui win Baywide Twenty20 title

The 2021 Havana Eatery Baywide T20 Champions are Bond & Co Mount Maunganui.

Bond & Co Mount Maunganui took out the 2021 Havana Eatery Baywide T20 Championship with an emphatic victory over Eves Realty Greerton at the Bay Oval on Friday evening.

Mount Maunganui T20 captain Ben Pomare said: "To win four T20 titles in a row was very special. We have a good squad and it was good to bounce back from not getting our name on the Bay of Plenty Cup this season."

Greerton, who won the toss and elected to bat, were quickly in trouble losing their first wicket with just two runs on the board.

Pomare went to his spin attack early in the Greerton turn at bat, in order to blunt the big hitters, with immediate success.

Greerton opener Taylor Bettelheim steadied the ship, with Greerton at three down with 42 runs in the book, before being adjudged LBW to the bowling of Craig Baldry in the 11th over for 23 runs.

The introduction of Mount veteran Dale Swan continued the Greerton misery, with Swan grabbing three wickets, which saw Greerton in desperate trouble at 7/48.

The Greerton tail wagged a little, with number nine Mitchell Rush posting his side's second-highest total of 11 runs, before they were removed for a paltry 67 runs.

Baldry finished his outstanding spell with his team's best bowling figures in taking three wickets for 12 runs and Peter Drysdale chipped in with two wickets.

"Our slow bowlers did the damage bowling dot balls, testament to our bowlers' ability on the night in not conceding a single boundary in the Greerton innings," Pomare said.

The Greerton bowlers faced a Herculean task to reel in a super-confident Mount Maunganui side.

Ben Musgrave was the first Mount batsman to fall, with a valuable 17 runs, with his side reaching the 22-run mark. Fellow opener Peter Drysdale played a patient innings, with his side at 54 for the loss of four wickets, when he was removed for 14.

Dominic Crombie and David Hancock took the Mount through to a six-wicket win with identical totals of eight not out. Greerton strike bowler Dan Spencer troubled the Mount Maunganui reply and was rewarded with two wickets at a cost of nine runs.

The Mount Maunganui victory continued a remarkable run of Baywide T20 titles, Friday night's success their fourth in a row, since the Baywide T20 title was introduced a decade ago.

The Baywide T20 Final

Greerton 67 (Taylor Bettelheim 23; Craig Baldry 3/12, Dale Swan 3/16, Peter Drysdale 2/11) lost to Mount Maunganui 68/4 (Ben Musgrave 17; Dan Spencer 2/9).

BOP Twenty 20 Champions
2020/21 Mount Maunganui, 2019/20 Mount Maunganui, 2018/19 Mount Maunganui, 2017/18 Mount Maunganui, 2016/17 not played, 2015/16 Ōtūmoetai Cadets, 2014/15 Rotorua Central, 2013/14 Rotorua Central, 2012/13 Tauranga Boys' College, 2011/12 Tauranga Boys' College.