The final Bay of Plenty Hawke Cup defence of the season starts today at Rotorua's Smallbone Park and will bring the curtain down on what is arguably the best representative season in the 81-year history of Bay of Plenty Cricket.
The two ND trophies - the Brian Dunning trophy and the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl - are already safely locked away in the Bay of Plenty trophy cabinet. This weekend's Hawke Cup challengers South Canterbury are an unknown quantity and the Bay go into the three-day encounter after three successful Hawke Cup defences.
After snatching the Hawke Cup from Hamilton, the Bay side has mounted two successful defences against Manawatu and Canterbury Country. The Manawatu win showed the steely resolve within the team, when they came back to grab an outright win after conceding first innings points.
The Bay's outstanding success in the current season has been built upon a number of outstanding individual performances. A number of the Bay players have raced up the Bay of Plenty Hawke Cup honours board in just three matches.
Brett Hampton and Joe Carter smashed Simon Winter's highest Hawke Cup score of 181 when the Bay wrested the Cup from Hamilton. Carter set the new mark making 187 but that lasted two hours before Hampton posted 194.