Cricket: Cadets, Mount in clash of Titans

Cadets batsman Brodie Gilroy sneaks a shot past the Mount wicketkeeper Tim Clarke. Photo / File

The two heavyweights in Baywide Cricket since the dawn of the new millennium will battle out the 2015 Williams Cup final at the Bay Oval at Blake Park tomorrow.

Element IMF Cadets and Carrus Mount Maunganui have won the Williams Cup, which was first contested in 1932, seven times since 2001.

Cadets top the list of the all-time victories between the two clubs with nine wins, with Mount Maunganui winning the Baywide big prize five times.

Cadets last Saturday beat Rotorua Central in the major semifinal, while Mount Maunganui last weekend defeated Te Puke and Central on consecutive days.

Both sides will bring players with red-hot form in the qualifying rounds to the Bay Oval. Mount skipper Peter Drysdale is top batsman since the Williams Cup kicked off in January with 273 runs and a highest score of 111 not out.

Both teams have leaders who lead from the front, Cadets captain Ben Christensen finishing in second in the batting stakes with 248 runs with a best of 82 and a strike rate of nearly 80 runs per 100 balls. Former New Zealand Under-19 player Sean Davey has posted more than 200 runs in the Williams Cup and could play a big part in the Cadets batting line-up. However, Mount keeper Tim Clarke with a highest score of 125 and 16-year-old Blair McKenzie are other form batsmen in the Mount Maunganui side.

The bowling stakes are led by Mount Maunganui medium pacer Dan Hill and Cadets' Donovan Deeble. Hill tops the wickets list with 29 and is handy with the bat, scoring a half century batting at seven against Te Puke last weekend.

Season best bowling figures of 6/20 against Central last Saturday tell some of the tale of the rise of Deeble. He earned a place in the Bay of Plenty representative side and finished the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl season as the Bay's top wicket taker.

Williams Cup, Final: Element IMF Cadets v Carrus Mount Maunganui, Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, tomorrow, 12pm.