Greerton, which just sneaked into fourth place in the Williams Cup semi-finals, caused a major upset when they downed defending champions Mount Maunganui at Blake Park on Saturday.

Greerton will fight out the time honoured Baywide championship next weekend against Otumoetai Cadets, which won a battle of attrition with Tauranga Boys' College.

After winning the toss, Greerton elected to bat first.

After some recent ordinary batting performances, the Greerton top order found a new resolve to weather the early Mount pace bowling pressure.

Ben Williams, who brought up 50 Bay of Plenty appearances during the season, stood up to everything the Mount bowlers threw at him and was rewarded with his team's top score of 81.

Shane Wineti (31no) and Richie Earl (23no) produced a sterling partnership as Greerton reached 194/5 in their allotted overs.

Mount Maunganui was in early trouble losing its top order relatively cheaply.

Mount skipper Daniel Hill produced a true captain's knock to almost take his side through to victory, posting an unbeaten 62 runs.

However, three run outs did the damage as Mount Maunganui were removed for 186 – just nine runs short of grabbing a berth in the Baywide final.

Richie Earl was the Greerton star affecting two of the run outs with his first throwing down the stumps with a direct hit.

Cadets, which is chasing its 10th Williams Cup silverware in the last two decade, had a real battle with Tauranga Boys' College at the Tauranga Domain.

The Tauranga Boys' bowlers won the early tussle with the home sides batsmen having them three down for 55 runs.

However, Mathew Drake (67) and skipper Jono Boult (62) came together to produce a 122 run partnership.

The Tauranga Boys' bowlers then struck back to take the four wickets for 20 odd runs to restrict the home side to 214/9.

Tauranga Boys' bowler Myles Timoti took 3/58 with Henry Conway in good form returning 2/17.

Tauranga Boys' mentor Mark Orchard led the way with his teams batting performance, top scoring with a solid 65.

Bay of Plenty captain Jono Boult continued his outstanding season with the ball taking a four wicket bag as Tauranga Boys' was bowled out for 145.

New Zealand Under-19 representative Sean Davey finished with figures of 3/33.

While Cadets has played in numerous Williams Cup finals since there first success in the 1994/95 season – local cricket fans were scratching their head to remember if Greerton had featured in a Baywide title decider, since last winning the Williams Cup in the 1984/85 cricket year.

Bay of Plenty Cricket Results March 17

Williams Cup Baywide Semi-Finals

Cadets 214/9 (M Drake 67, J Boult 62; M Timoti 3/58, H Conway 2/17) defeated Tauranga Boys' College 145 (M Orchard 65; J Boult 4/32, S Davey 3/33)

Greerton 194/5 (B Williams 81, S Wineti 31no, R Earl 23no; D Swan 2/24, T Goodin 2/29) defeated Mount Maunganui 184 (D Hill 62no, T Clarke 52; S Wineti 3/17)