When Bay of Plenty captain Peter Drysdale walks out for the toss with Northland at the Bay Oval this morning in their Fergus Hickey Rosebowl two-day game, he will become just the 11th Bay player to play 50 matches for his province.
Derek Beard leads the all-time appearance list thatdated back to 1932, with 105 games, followed by the only other Bay of Plenty centurion in Mike Wright with 102 appearances. Recent Bay players to post 50 games or better for Bay of Plenty, include Jono Boult (58) Ben Williams (55) and Matthew Drake (50).
Universally known to teammates and opposition players as Pete, the allrounder made his debut for Bay of Plenty, at the ND One-Day tournament in Taupo in 2009. Since his debut, he has blasted 1763 runs with a highest score of 102, which places him seventh on the all time list of runs. To add to his achievements Pete has taken eight wickets as a part-time bowler.
The Bay of Plenty side will be strengthened by the release of Joe Carter, Bharat Popli and Tony Goodin from the Northern Knights, to play in the Bay's first Fergus Hickey challenge of the season.
All three are genuine match winners, who all feature prominently on the Bay of Plenty honours board. Popli owns the Bay of Plenty record of most centuries with six tons and an aggregate of 2105 runs.
The Bay's only double century was blasted by Carter last season when he smashed an unbeaten 215 against Poverty Bay.
Goodin is one of just six players who have taken over 100 wickets in the Bay uniform grabbing 128 wickets and best bowling figures of 7/42. Bay of Plenty senior men v Northland at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.Start times today 10.30am and tomorrow 10am.
Bay of Plenty side: Peter Drysdale (captain), Tom MacRury, Joe Carter, Bharat Popli, Mitch McCann, Brett Hampton, Ben Musgrave, Tim Clarke, Tony Goodin, Donovan Deeble, Tommy Clout, Andrew Gibbs.
