City Sports Bar Te Puke won the Williams Cup for the first time in 10 seasons, when they demolished Eves Realty Greerton in the title decider at the Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui on Saturday.
Taking first use of the wicket at the headquarters of Bay of Plenty Cricket, Te Puke made a solid start with opening batsman Tai Bridgman-Raison in good touch, reaching 32 before dismissal. Coming in at four, recent Te Puke recruit Blair Parlane upped the ante to top score with a crisp 48. A solid lower order partnership between Jeremy Bates (37) and Stephen Crossan (28), batting at seven and eight respectively, upped the run rate before Te Puke were dismissed for 244, with one ball remaining.
Dan Spencer was the best of the Greerton bowling attack, taking 4/37.
The Te Puke bowling attack struck with the first ball of the second innings, removing one of the Greerton openers for a golden duck. When both the vaunted Greerton batsmen of Tom MacRury and Cam Neal were removed cheaply, the Pemberton Park-based side were in trouble. It was left to Ryan Parnell (28) and Richie Earl (25) to restore some stability to the Greerton run chase. Led by a five wicket bag from Te Puke pace bowler Jeremy Bates (5/26), Greerton were bundled out for just 109 to give Te Puke an easy 135-run victory.
The win was Te Puke's 14th Williams Cup victory since the 1938/39 season. The Williams Cup final stanza ended a season where the three pieces of Baywide silverware were shared around. Mount Maunganui annexed the first past the post Baywide Cup, Rotorua Central won the T20 trophy with Te Puke the Williams Cup.
