Cricket: Nothing separating four teams at summit

Central bowler Andrew Gibbs (right) celebrates the wicket of Indians batsman Bipul Das during the Rotorua derby match at Smallbone Park. Photo / Stephen Parker

The logjam at the top of the Williams Cup standings continues with Cadets, Greerton, Mount Maunganui and Rotorua Central all on 24 points, with just two rounds of round-robin action left before the semifinals.

In the Rotorua derby match between Central and the Bay of Plenty Indians it was the in-form Central side who did the damage at Smallbone Park on Saturday.

The Indians mustered just 85 in their turn at bat before Central cruised to victory with captain Jason Trembath scoring an unbeaten half century.

Central remain in strong contention to make the semifinals after beating the Indians by eight wickets.

In the Eastern Bay of Plenty, the Whakatane United bowlers clean bowled seven Mount Maunganui batsmen to remove them for 178.

The game was headed for the wire, with the home side needing 30-odd runs in the last seven overs with three wickets in hand. However, the Mount removed the Eastern Bay side 22 runs short of victory.

In the other two matches, Otumoetai Cadets defeated Te Puke at the Tauranga Domain, and Greerton defeated Tauranga Boys' College at Nicholson Field.

- Williams Cup results (round five):

BOP Indians 85 (Yohann Irani 37) lost to Central 86/2 (Jason Trembath 50)

Cadets 255/9 (Tom Boorman 74, Donovan Deeble 38) defeated Te Puke 167 (Mitch McCann 38; Ben Christensen 3/25, D Deeble 2/23)

Greerton 233 (Cam Neal 41, Brett Hampton 37; Mark Orchard 3/54) defeated Tauranga Boys' College 169 (Luke Aldersley 38, H Perry 25; Harris Aslam 6/27, Shane Wineti 2/17)

Mount Maunganui 178 (Dan Hill 36, Tim Clarke 23; Alex Yates 2/27, David Brent 2/33, S Cameron 2/34, Joel Mathews 2/34) defeated Whakatane United 156 (Dale Swan 4/33, Nick Smith 22)

- Williams Cup points table:

Mount Maunganui 24, Cadets 24, Central 24, Greerton 24, Te Puke 18, Tauranga Boys College 3, BOP Indians 3, Whakatane United 0.