Cricket: Cricketing stars set to shine in Bay

Mount Maunganui's Dean Brownlie will be one of several Western Bay players in action for the Northern Knights at Bay Oval today.

The NZ Cricket Ford Trophy road show comes to town today following on from the frenetic action of the two Black Caps versus Sri Lanka sold-out encounters at Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval.

The last qualifying round of the Ford Trophy 50-over championship will see the Sky City Northern Knights square off with competition leaders Canterbury at the Bay Oval. Local cricket fans are in for a treat with plenty of high-profile batsmen and bowlers in both sides.

The Bay Oval wicket showed during the two recent international matches that it can produce big scores, while also giving the bowlers plenty to work with.

While the Northern Knights are off the pace in the Ford Trophy title race, they will want to go out with a bang in the one-day competition in front of a home crowd.

One Knights player likely to ignite the fireworks is Black Cap Anton Devcich, who is second in the Ford Trophy batting stakes, having blasted 342 runs during the competition.

Western Bay interest will be provided by several players including Dean Brownlie who is registered to the nearby Mount Maunganui Cricket Club. Brownlie who is chasing a recall to the New Zealand side, has been in dynamic form in recent games and sits in the top 10 in the run-scoring stakes.

A strong Bay of Plenty contingent is likely to again wear Northern Knights colours in the Bay Oval match-up today.

Skipper Daniel Flynn always leads from the front with the bat, while Joe Carter who owns the Bay of Plenty's highest representative score of 215 not out, is a fierce striker of the ball.

Bay of Plenty representation in the Knights bowling ranks is also strong.

Off-spinner Jono Boult has taken more than 100 wickets for the Knights, with quick bowlers Tony Goodin and Brett Hampton both being outstanding attack weapons when playing at their best.