Cricket: Baywide Cup competition starts this weekend

Central Indians batsman Cam Ingram during the Baywide Williams Cup semifinal against Greerton earlier this year. Photo / File

In the decade since the inception of the Baywide Cup just three Western Bay of Plenty clubs have won the first leg of the Bay of Plenty Cricket Association one-day competition played each season.

The Baywide Cup, which starts this weekend, is played in the first half of the cricket year, with the top two sides in the round-robin series meeting in a shootout on December 15.

The second leg of the BOPCA 50-over per-side championships is the Williams Cup, which dates back to the 1930s and will be played in the first three months of 2019.

Carrus Mount Maunganui (6) Element IMF Cadets (3) and Eves Realty Greerton (2) have all scored the Baywide prize during the past 11 seasons, with Mount Maunganui the only club to win the Baywide/Williams Cup double, achieving the feat in the 2010/11 and 2012/13 seasons.

Cadets go into today's match as the defending Baywide Cup title holders after defeating New World Te Puke in last year's final.

A Baker Cup challenge at Blake Park between current holders Greerton and Mount Maunganui will open the 2018 Baywide Cup season.

The former Tauranga Cricket Championship trophy has been reborn as the Western Bay of Plenty Cricket challenge trophy and will be on the line each time the holder plays a Western Bay side in the Baywide premier competition.

Greerton took the Baker Cup from Cadets in the opening round of last season's Williams Cup and held it throughout the competition, courtesy of an unbeaten record in the second half of the 2017/18 season.

In other Baywide Cup opening day action, Cadets meet Te Puke at the Tauranga Domain.

Owen Delaney Park in Taupo will host a Lakeland region clash between GM Painters Lake Taupo Cricket Club and Bayleys Central Indians.

The Taupo side learned plenty of lessons in their first season of Baywide cricket last year and should give the Rotorua visitors a good battle for the win points on offer.

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BOPCA Baywide Cup Draw for October 27:
Carrus Mount Maunganui v Eves Realty Greerton, Blake3
Element IMF Cadets v New World Te Puke, Tauranga Domain
GM Painters Lake Taupo CC v Bayleys Central Indians, Owen Delaney Park one
Bond & Co Tauranga Boys College the bye

Baywide Cup Champions
2017/18 Otumoetai Cadets, 2016/17 Mount Maunganui, 2015/16 Greerton, 2014/15 Greerton, 2013/14 Mount Maunganui, 2012/13 Mount Maunganui, 2011/12 Otumoetai Cadets, 2010/11 Mount Maunganui, 2009/10 Mount Maunganui, 2008/09 Mount Maunganui, 2007/08 Otumoetai Cadets.