Nine weeks of Williams Cup action is about to get under way with an opening match between two clubs littered with championship titles.
The Versatile Tauranga Williams Cup title race starts tomorrow, with defending champions Ōtūmoetai's Element IMF Cadets facing off against New World Te Puke. The honours board of both clubs is littered with Williams Cup championship titles, with both teams sure to want to take bragging rights from the encounter.
The competition will feature seven qualifying rounds and two weekends of playoffs to reveal the winner of Cup at the Bay Oval on March 28.
For many years the Williams Cup was a challenge prize, which brought teams together from the various club competitions in the Bay of Plenty. Names on the trophy such as Ōpōtiki, Ngongotahā, Arawa, Taupō and (Tauranga) Albion reflect the strengths of Bay of Plenty cricket in times gone by.
One Western Bay of Plenty club that has successfully run the gauntlet of time is Te Puke, who leads the Williams Cup all-time victories. The first of their 17 wins came in the 1938/39 season, with the most recent in 2016. The competition started in the 1932/33 season.