Cricket: Williams Cup final berths on the line

Eve's Realty Greerton host Rotorua's Bayleys Central Indians at Pemberton Park in the major semifinal.

A Bay of Plenty inter-city derby and a replay of last weekend's contest between long-time rivals Element IMF Cadets and Carrus Mount Maunganui will open proceedings in the Williams Cup playoffs tomorrow.Eve's Realty Greerton, who finished the Williams Cup qualifying competition with an unbeaten record, will host Rotorua's Bayleys Central Indians at Pemberton Park in the major semifinal tomorrow.The winner will progress straight to the Williams Cup final next Saturday and the loser will play the winner of the minor semifinal this Sunday.

Both sides will look to their top and middle order batsmen to get them home on a track that has produced bucketfuls of runs this season. Greerton's Pip Thickpenny and Lee Watkins sit in the Williams Cup top five run-scorers and aren't afraid to seek out the boundary ropes when on attack.

Central Indians have a genuine master blaster in Stephen Nicholls, who has fired with the bat throughout the three Baywide competitions. Last weekend he opened his shoulders to smash the season highest Baywide score, scoring 147 runs at Owen Delaney Park in Taupo.

Bay of Plenty Lakeland senior secondary player Ryan Neves is another in good touch with the bat having scored more than 150 runs in the Williams Cup title race.

A sudden death clash will take place at Blake Park, where Mount Maunganui will play Cadets for the second successive weekend. Last Saturday Cadets had to defeat their arch-rivals to grab a semifinal berth. Batting first Cadets posted 249/6 as Ruben Clinton blazed away to post a hard-fought century. Cadets skipper Jono Boult then got on to the Williams Cup honours board, taking six wickets for 15 runs as Mount Maunganui were removed for 114.

While the Baywide Cup match between the two sides was washed out, they met twice in the Baywide Cup Twenty20 competition. Cadets won the first match-up in qualifying play, before the Mount reversed that result in the final.

Both Williams Cup contenders have one hand on the Hart Family Trophy, which is awarded to the Baywide champion of champions. Cadets won the Baywide Cup and went on to represent Bay of Plenty in the Northern Districts club champs - with Mount Maunganui winning the T20 prize for the first time.

Williams Cup, March 17-18

Saturday:
Major Semifinal: Eves Realty Greerton v Bayleys Central Indians, Pemberton Park
Minor Semifinal: Carrus Mount Maunganui v Element IMF Cadets, Blake 2

Sunday:
Preliminary Final

Williams Cup Honours Board 2018

Batting (Centuries)
147 – Stephen Nicholls (Central Indians v Lake Taupo)
146 – Tai Bridgman-Raison (Te Puke v Lake Taupo)
109 – Ruben Clinton (Cadets v Mount Maunganui)
103 – Joshua Bates (Element IMF Cadets) v Greerton

Bowling (Five wickets)
6/15 – Jono Boult (Cadets v Mount Maunganui)
5/19 – Gurwinder Singh (Cadets v Lake Taupo CC)
5/46 - James Boyd (Greerton v Cadets)