Cricket: Tight finish expected in Baywide Twenty20 race

Greerton's Tom MacRury has the highest score, 91, in the Baywide T20 competition so far. Photo / File

Teams will spend the next two weekends dusting off the cobwebs in the Baywide Twenty20 competition.

With just three rounds of qualifying before the top two sides fight out the final, the title race is wide open. New World Te Puke, Eves Realty Greerton, Carrus Mount Maunganui and Element IMF Cadets are all even with a record of three wins apiece after the opening four rounds.

Theoretically, Mount Maunganui are in the box seat being the only side of the top four contenders to have sat out the bye so far. Today,Te Puke and Greerton will sit out a game apiece with Cadets drawing the bye in round seven next weekend.

Taking centre stage at Fergusson Park in the early afternoon action will be the clash between Greerton and Mount Maunganui. Both have Baywide club cricket experience in spades. Mount skipper Dale Swan wears his baggy cap, which recognises more than 200 premier games for his club, with pride.

For Greerton, Bay of Plenty representative batsman Tom MacRury likes nothing better than to take aim at the boundary ropes and has the T20 competition's highest score of 91 to his name.

In other round five encounters Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys' College will meet Bayleys Central Indians, while GM Painters Lake Taupo CC square off with Cadets.

Mount Maunganui and Cadets should produce a barn-burner in round six. There is no one in the Baywide T20 title race more experienced in the 20-over game than Cadets captain Jono Boult. Forty-seven Northern Districts T20 appearances, taking 43 wickets with best figures of 4-23 tells the story of the Cadets leader's understanding of the short form game.

Te Puke will play in the late afternoon round of matches against Tauranga Boys' College. Te Puke master blaster Stephen Crossan leads the competition batting stakes with 177 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 212.

Pride and bragging rights will be on the line when Central Indians and Lake Taupo CC meet in round six, with both searching for their first win.

BOPCA Baywide Twenty20

Round Five
Eves Realty Greerton v Carrus Mount Maunganui, Fegusson1; Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College v Bayleys Central Indians, Fergusson2; Element IMF Cadets v GM Painters Lake Taupo CC, Fegusson3; New World Te Puke the bye.

Round Six
Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College v New World Te Puke, Fergusson2; Element IMF Cadets v Carrus Mount Maunganui, Fergusson3; GM Painters Lake Taupo CC v Bayleys Central Indians, Fergusson1; Eves Realty Greerton the bye.

Points Table
New World Te Puke 13, Eves Realty Greerton 13, Carrus Mount Maunganui 13, Element IMF Cadets 13; GM Painters Lake Taupo CC 4, Cooney Lees Morgan Tauranga Boys College 4, Bayleys Central Indians 4.