Poor form dogs Rotorua sides in William Cup

Rotorua's premier cricket teams' poor form continued in the Williams Cup competition, as both Central and the Indians suffered losses at the weekend.

It's been a baptism of fire for the Indian team who are in their second year at the top level. The club team have shown glimpses of what could be but are yet to register a win.

However, Central - a team made up of some class players such as Jarrod Christoffersen, Andrew Gibbs and a number of former Eastern Pirates players - have, it appears, struggled to come to terms with the new dynamics.

Central hosted Tauranga Boys' High at Smallbone Park at the weekend.

Tauranga set a target of 191 runs which Central struggled to reach despite Christoffersen 38 and Pete Wood 46 making good starts.

It's Central's third loss on the trot and has helped Tauranga into tied fourth with Eastern Bay United.

Greerton booked a Williams Cup semi-final berth, by comfortably beating the Indians at Pemberton Park.

The Indian side batted first and were all out 146, with Prashant Dhanjee top scoring with 30. Greerton made easy work of the target, led by Bay rep Brett Hampton who blasted 55, as the home side got home with five wickets in hand.

The top of the table clash between defending champions Mount Maunganui and Otumoetai Cadets, was a low-scoring battle.

Mount Maunganui won the toss, and put the visitors in to bat.

The decision to bowl paid immediate dividends for the Mount, with Cadets in desperate trouble at five wickets down with just 36 runs on the board.

Batting at six, Scott Steward steadied the ship a little before being run out for 28. After Steward's dismissal, the Mount bowlers took control to remove Cadets for a modest 90 runs.

The home side looked to have the game in the bag at 52/2, before Cadets struck back. Three cheap wickets turned the match into a battle of attrition, before Mount captain Daniel Hill arrived at the crease. Hill was patience personified as he took his side through to a three-wicket win, scoring 12 not out off 49 balls.

Cadets skipper Jono Boult took six of the seven Mount wickets, finishing with bowling figures of 6/32. The Mount Maunganui victory resulted in the defending champions joining Cadets at the top of the standings - which virtually assured both sides of home semi-finals, with just one round in the preliminary Williams Cup competition remaining.

Te Puke's recent return to form will be too late to grab a post section berth.

They posted 218 all out against East Bay United in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, and then restricted the home side to 197/4.

Williams Cup Baywide results;

Element IMF Cadets 90 (Scott Steward 28; Tony Goodin 3/12, Peter Drysdale 2/5, Steve Charman 2/9, Dale Swan 2/24) lost to Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount Maunganui 91/7 (Dan Phillips 29; Jono Boult 6/22)

BOP Indians 146 (Phrashant Moraji 30; Brett Hampton 2/25, Sebastiaan Braat 2/31) lost to Eves Realty Greerton 147/5 (B Hampton 55, Craig Budd 23, James Gruijters 21; B Das 2/24)

Te Puke 218 (Paul van Meekerin 55, Mitch McCann 30, Matt Dwight 30; Joel Mathews 4/46, Alex Yates 2/8) defeated East Bay United 197/4 (Steven Ford 49, Ross Shapley 36)

Tauranga Boys College 191/5 defeated iTCo Central 174/all out

Williams Cup Points Table;

Cadets 30, Mount Maunganui 30, Greerton 24, East Bay United 18, Tauranga Boys College 18, Te Puke 12, Central 6, BOP Indians 0.