Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount Maunganui is the team that all other eight contenders in the season-long Baywide Premier cricket competitions will want to knock over after they annexed all three pieces of Bay of Plenty Premier silverware last year.

In a new format where Twenty 20 cricket makes its Baywide debut, the BOP Cup will open the new cricket year. Bonus points on offer combined with the 110 overs available in each game, is sure to see a more tactical approach to the one day games.
The BOP Cup differs from the Williams Cup in that it is a first past the post (round robin) format.

Last season, Mount Maunganui took control of both the Williams Cup and the BOP Cup and waltzed away with the Hart Family trophy, which is awarded to the Baywide champion of champions.
Mount Maunganui also annexed the Western BOP Baker Cup and posted a season record of just a solitary defeat early in the season against Eves Realty Greerton.

When Baywide contenders are discussed at the start of each season, Element IMF Cadets are always to the forefront of the conversations. Since the Tauranga Domain based side first won the Williams Cup in the 1994/95 season, they have gone on to a win the long-time Baywide trophy on eight further occasions.
An influx of new recruits from Tauranga Boys' College will ensure there is plenty of competition for first team places.

While Rotorua side Eastern Pirates have fallen by the wayside, the big winner has been iTCo Central, who have picked up several of the EP top liners. Former Bay representative Kane Spiers, along with Jarrod Christoffersen and Julian Danby, will give Central plenty of additional firepower.

Eastern Bay of Plenty representatives East Bay United, will want to continue their Williams Cup momentum from last year into the new season. For the first time, the Eastern Bay side grabbed a place in the Williams Cup semi-finals, before being defeated by Tauranga Boys' College.

Fellow Western Bay sides Te Puke and Greerton can never be taken lightly, while Bay of Plenty Indians and Rotorua Boys' High School both showed their potential in the second half of the season in the BOP Cup, knocking over higher ranked contenders.

Today current BOP Cup titleholders Mount Maunganui is travelling to play Rotorua Boys High School at Boord Park. However the Western Bay visitors won't be taking the Rotorua students lightly, as in last years BOP Cup they took the scalps of Central, Greerton and Tauranga Boys' College.

With all early season encounters being played on artificial surfaces, Cadets will have a home game away from the Tauranga Domain at nearby Ferguson Park. The match will revive the rivalry between the home team and Te Puke, who were the two heavyweights in the Baywide ranks a decade ago.

The match-up between Bay of Plenty Indians and East Bay United will revive memories of a remarkable game of cricket played between the two sides in last season's BOP Cup. Batting first, the Indian representatives were rolled for a paltry 50 runs, however, in a game that firmly belonged to the bowlers from each side, East Bay United were dismissed for 49 to hand their opponents an unlikely one-run victory.

While Greerton will sit out the first round courtesy of the bye, iTCo Central and Tauranga Boys' College, will round out the opening day of the season at Nicholson Field. Both sides have annexed the Baywide top prize of the Williams Cup in the last five years and are sure to have their sights on a return to heavyweight ranks of Baywide cricket this season.

BOPCA Baywide BOP Cup Draw October 8, 2011

Element IMF Cadets v Te Puke, Fergusson4; Rotorua Boys' High School v Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount Maunganui, Boord1; BOP Indians v East Bay United, Boord2; Tauranga Boys' College v iTCo Central, Nicholson field; Eves Realty Greerton the bye.