The Baywide Twenty20 Championship will be decided in Tauranga this weekend.
However, before today's title decider at Fergusson Park gets under way at 3pm, the last round of qualifying play to decide who will play in the final will take place in the morning.
Element IMF Cadets, who will sit out the last round bye, have already booked their berth in the final, after they dispatched Lake Taupo CC and Carrus Mount Maunganui last weekend. A highlight of Cadets' victory over the team from the Great Lake region was a blistering 93 from former New Zealand under-19 allrounder Sean Davey.
The key match in finding Cadets' opponents in the final is the encounter between Mount Maunganui and New World Te Puke in the last round of preliminary play. Ben Musgrave posted a vital half-century in the Mount's hard-fought win over Greerton last weekend. The Mount have a number of genuine young prospects in their premier line-up who could play a big hand in getting them through to the grand final.
Veteran Te Puke batsman Tai Bridgman-Raison knows all about the pressure of finals cricket and a big innings from the long-time premier player could propel his side to victory. Christian MacDonald has earned his stripes since joining Te Puke a few seasons ago and is a match-winner with bat and ball.
