There is no bigger prize at stake in Bay of Plenty club cricket than the time honoured Williams Cup, with competition for it this season starting today.

The first name engraved on the symbol of Baywide premier cricket supremacy, is the City Cricket Club from Rotorua, which won the cup in the 1932/33 season.

Over the years there have been some titanic battles for the Williams Cup, with the Te Puke Cricket Club leading the number of championship titles, winning the Williams Cup on 14 occasions.

In recent years Element IMF Cadets has been the team to beat in the annual competition, with the trophy having been won by the Tauranga Domain based side on nine occasions since the 1994/95 season.

Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount Maunganui has contested the last five Williams Cup finals, winning in 2008 and last year.

The defending champions will go into the 2012 edition of the Williams Cup with a strong batting and bowling line-up.

Bay of Plenty representative Pete Drysdale led the pre-Christmas BOP Cup batting statistics, compiling 329 runs with a highest knock of 140 not out.

The Mount representative bowling trio of Andrew Hoogstraten, Tony Goodin and Dale Swan, were all well placed in the BOP Cup bowling statistics.

Cadets also has plenty of firepower in its ranks.

Ben Christensen and Jono Boult, who are prolific run scorers in both representative and Baywide cricket, lead a batting line-up that can score runs right down the order.

Evergreen bowler Campbell Wilson finished the BOP Cup with 14 wickets and the best strike rate in the competition.

A record number of Williams Cup victories on the honours board of the Te Puke Cricket Club, will provide all the motivation that the premier team requires in the Baywide flagship competition.

Mitch McCann, who scored a century on debut for the Bay Development team a couple of seasons ago, is a run scorer of real ability – while premier newcomer Shera Singh made a real impression in the BOP Cup bowling ranks.

Baywide newcomer, BOP Indians, possess a number of players who finished well up the order in the final BOP Cup individual rankings.

Sanjay Unka finished sixth in the BOP Cup batting totals, with Mehul Chhagen and Phrashant Dhanjee taking ten wickets apiece in the Baywide first round competition.

East Bay United is the real enigma of the Baywide competition.

Good enough to beat the leading contenders one week, only to slump to defeat the following weekend.

Their Baywide hopes and fortunes will largely rest upon the batting skills of Alex Yates and James Mitchell and the bowling fortunes of Joel Mathews and captain Dean Butterworth.

A Williams Cup title in 2007, testifies to the capabilities of the iTCo Central team that represent the Sulphur City in Baywide cricket.

Bay Development team batsmen Jared Christoffersen, along with Matt McLaughlin and Andrew Gibbs, who possess venom with the ball, are likely to be amongst the major contributors to Central success in the Williams Cup.

Tauranga Boys' College, who lifted aloft the Williams Cup in triumph three seasons ago, are another to have a strong line-up with both bat and ball.

Tauranga Boys' teacher and team coach Mark Orchard, who has previously played professional cricket, leads a young unit who play with real enthusiasm.

College bowlers Tom Clout and Josh Dwight have both posted six wicket bags in Baywide cricket since October, while Elliott Timoti can put bat to ball in spectacular fashion.

While consistency is sometimes a problem for Eves Realty Greerton, the Pemberton Park based side have become perennial Williams Cup semi-finalists, in recent seasons.

All-rounder Brett Hampton, who recently earned a Northern Knights call-up (without taking to the field) posted a BOP Cup batting average of 53 runs per game.

Former Tauranga Boys' College bowler Campbell Thomas led the BOP Cup bowling with 15 wickets, while Dutch Academy player Sebastian Braat, who is spending the summer in the Western Bay of Plenty finished in the BOP Cup top echelon of wicket takers.

BOPCA Williams Cup Draw January 14

Element IMF Cadets v BOP Indians, Tauranga Domain; Eves Realty Greerton v iTCo Central, Pemberton Park; Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount Maunganui v East Bay United, Blake Park; Te Puke v Tauranga Boys' College, Te Puke Domain.