Bay of Plenty has an outstanding chance to cement its chances of winning the Fergus Hickey Rosebowl when they play Poverty Bay in a two day game this weekend.

The defeat of competition leader Counties Manukau in their last game has turned the Fergus Hickey prize into a three team race to lift the symbol of Northern Districts minor association representative superiority aloft in victory.

A Bay of Plenty outright victory at the BOP Cricket Oval at Mount Maunganui is vital to the Bay's chances of overhauling Counties Manukau and Hamilton, which sits three and one point respectively ahead of the Bay side.

A feature of this season's Bay of Plenty senior men's representative side has been the stability of the team selection.

However, the Bay selectors have a policy of rewarding Baywide cricket form – with Otumoetai Cadets batsman Scott Stewart being introduced for the Poverty Bay encounter.

Nearly 500 runs in Baywide cricket this season bear testament to Steward's ability with the bat.

Prolific representative batsmen Bharat Popli will receive his Bay of Plenty cap this weekend when he plays his 25^th game for the province.

Popli, who made his debut for the Bay just three seasons ago, needs just 12 runs to reach the magical 1000 runs in the Bay of Plenty uniform.

Jono Boult, who took over the skipper's duty last season, has become a prolific run scorer with over 1200 runs on his tally sheet.

Earlier this season he joined a small group of Bay rep players who have scored a century and taken six wickets in an innings when he took 6/66 against competition leader Counties Manukau.

Bay of Plenty v Poverty Bay @ BOP Cricket Oval, Mount Maunganui

Jono Boult (captain) Peter Drysdale, Joe Carter, Bharat Popli, Matthew Drake, Scott Steward, Tim Clarke, Brett Hampton, Dale Swan, Sean Davey, Tony Goodin, Amandeep Singh.

Fergus Hickey Points

Counties Manukau 24, Hamilton 22, BOP 21, Northland 9, Poverty Bay 8, Waikato Valley 4