The start of the Bay of Plenty Baywide Premier Cricket season on today starts a marathon, with three competition trophies and the Hart Family Baywide Champion of Champions title on the line.

Leading the charge will be Mount Maunganui who annexed the Baywide and Williams Cup and also picked up the Hart Family Trophy Champions of Champions title last season. The other piece of Baywide silverware went to Tauranga Boys College who won the Baywide T20 crown in a dramatic final.

For the first time the Baywide Cup will feature a final encounter between the top two qualifiers. In the past the first round of Baywide competition has been a straight first past the post competition, however this season the top two finishers will battle out a title decider.

The opening day of the season on Saturday (5 October 2012) will see Te Puke host Greerton at the Te Puke Domain with Tauranga Boys College at home to East Bay United. The two games at Boord Park in Rotorua, have Central hosting Otumoetai Cadets with Bay of Plenty Indians squaring of with defending Baywide Cup champions Mount Maunganui.

Baywide Cup Draw 5 October 2013

Te Puke v Greerton, Te Puke Domain; Tauranga Boys College v East Bay United, Nicholson Field; Central v Otumoetai Cadets, Boord Park; BOP Indians v Mount Maunganui, Boord2.

BAY OF PLENTY CRICKET BAYWIDE PROFILES 2013/14

Mount Maunganui

Home Ground: Blake Park

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup Winner – T20 5^th – Williams Cup – Winner (Winner Hart Family Trophy - Baywide Champion of Champions)

Player Gains: Chris Davies (England)

Player Losses: Mark Divehall (retirement)

Captain: Peter Drysdale

Wining three of the four pieces of Baywide premier silverware on offer testifies to the success of Mount Maunganui last season. A winning draw against Otumoetai Cadets on the last day of the first past the post Baywide Cup, was enough to win the first Baywide trophy of the season. After bowling Greerton out for 161 in the Williams Cup final stanza, the Mount representatives cruised to five wicket victory to annex the long time Bay of Plenty Cricket trophy for the fifth time.

Mount Maunganui master blaster Peter Drysdale will captain the Mount premiers for the first time. While Mount Maunganui has a largely unchanged premier line-up, one significant addition is Englishman Chris Davies. The left hand batsmen can also bowl at a good pace and should prove a handy addition to the Mount ranks.

Greerton

Home Ground: Pemberton Park

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup 3rd – T20 3^rd eq – Williams Cup R/U

Player Gains: Tom MacRury (TBC)

Player Losses: Matt Earl

Captain: Shane Wineti

Greerton had a solid season in 2012/13, finishing no worse than third equal in the three competitions. However the Pemberton Park based unit won't forget the last game of the Baywide Cup, where they hand one hand on the Cup, after dismissing East Bay United for a modest 161. Former Greerton player Steven Ford created havoc with the ball taking five wickets for 28 runs, as Greerton were bundled out for 105. They made the Williams Cup title decider before tasting defeat when beaten by Mount Maunganui.

A notable gain for Greerton is Tom MacRury, who will further strengthen a solid Greerton batting attack. A sparkling 132 not out for Tauranga Boys in early February, earned MacRury a berth in the Hawke Cup defence against Manawatu and he went on to play a further five games in the Bay uniform. Skipper Shane Wineti along with MacRury and Brett Hampton should provide the Tauranga suburban side with plenty of batting firepower.

Te Puke

Home Ground: Te Puke Domain

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup R/U – T20 3^rd eq – Williams Cup 3^rd eq

Player Gains: William Good (Auckland) Sam & Scott Tallot (Poverty Bay)

Player Losses: Sean Gibson, Ben Willgoss, Ben Williams

Captain: Mitch McCann Vice/Captain: Steven Crossan

Coach: Peter Swan Manager: Paul Dwight

The big improver in Baywide cricket last season was Te Puke. After struggling somewhat in the previous couple of seasons - under the watchful eye of Coach Pete Swan the Te Puke side were in contention in all three competitions, with the best result a close second in the first past the post Baywide Cup.

Three new arrivals from outside the region should further bolster the Te Puke team this season. Scott Tallot who is also an accomplished rugby player and his brother Sam have transferred north from Poverty Bay to further their cricket ambitions. Williams Good has played Auckland age group cricket and has experienced the red hot action of premier club cricket in the city of sails.

Otumoetai Cadets

Home Ground: Tauranga Domain

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup 6th – T20 R/U – Williams Cup 3^rd eq

Player Gains: Julian Bradley (Otumoetai College) Alex Oakley, Henry Conway, Elliot Jensen (Tauranga Boys College) Mark Basarge (Auckland) Chris Norton (Tauranga) Amit Dhiman (Kaipara) Myles Timoti (overseas)

Player Losses: Campbell Wilson (retirement) Josh Evemy

Captain: Ben Christensen

For the first time for a number of years, Otumoetai Cadets endured a season where they failed to win any of the Baywide silverware on offer. During the last two decades Cadets have dominated the Williams Cup, winning the long time symbol of Baywide cricket superiority on nine occasions.

A post season review has resulted in the Tauranga Domain based team recruiting a number of very promising youngsters. The Tauranga Boys College trio of Alex Oakley, Henry Conway and Elliot Jenson give the side plenty of options, with Oakley and Conway having already earned selection in Bay of Plenty senior rep teams. Another extremely promising youngster is Julian Bradley who has transferred from Otumoetai College after starring in the Western Bay first eleven competitions last season.

Tauranga Boys College

Home Ground: Nicholson Field

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup 7th – T20 Winner – Williams Cup 5th

Player Gains: Grayson Kite, Ryan Balsom, Harry Semple (TBC Pathway)

Player Losses: Tom MacRury, Alex Oakley, Henry Conway, Nathan Aldersley

Captain/Coach: Mark Orchard

Tauranga Boys College won back to back Baywide T20 titles in a dramatic final game of the T20 competition. Facing Otumoetai Cadets in the T20 title decider, the Tauranga students batted first and posted a modest 93 with Gareth Wallace top scoring with 34 runs. However no one watching could have imagined the mayhem that the four Tauranga Boys spin bowlers would cause. At 26/6 Cadets were in desperate trouble and with Ben Noakes leading the way with 4/16, Cadets were bundled out for just 58 to hand Tauranga Boys the title.

One of the real successes of the Tauranga Boys first eleven over many years, has been the promotion of young players through the College cricket pathway. This season Grayson Kite, Ryan Balsom and Harry Semple have earned promotion to the school's first team.

Rotorua Central

Home Ground: Smallbone Park/Boord Park

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup 5th – T20 6^th – Williams Cup 6^th eq

Player Gains: Vaughan & Kyle Blanchard (Counties/Manukau) Ryan Pedley (UK) Matt McLaughlin

Player Losses: Ben Watkinson, Kane Spiers, Pete Wood

Captain: Jason Trembath

One of the oldest clubs in Bay of Plenty cricket is Rotorua Central, that had its origins as the Rotorua RSA team after WW2, before becoming Rotorua Central in the 1950's. While last season was an up and down year for the Rotorua club, they provided Greerton with a real headache defeating the Western Bay team when they were on the cusp off the Williams Cup playoffs. A sparkling 74 from Julian Danby led his team to 239 all out before they restricted Greerton to 226/8.

The loss of last year's skipper Peter Wood, who is off on his big OE, is more than countered by the addition of a Counties Manukau stalwart. Vaughan Blanchard who played a multitude of Fergus Hickey matches for Counties Manukau, is an all-rounder equally adept with bat and ball in hand. During the last five New Zealand winters he has joined the annual trek to the Northern Hemisphere. In the just completed 2013 season, he smashed 743 runs for the Swanton CC Premiers and finished his tour of duty with 66 wickets.

East Bay United

Home Ground: Rex Morepeth Park

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup 4^th – T20 7^th eq – Williams Cup 6^th eq

Player Gains/Losses: Minimal

Captain: Alex Yates

Fourth place in the Baywide Cup provided evidence of the ability of the sole Eastern Bay of Plenty representatives. A significant scalp for the Eastern Bay side was Tauranga Boys College who they beat three times in the season. On the afternoon of the T20 title decider, the Eastern Bay side beat Tauranga Boys in the last round of preliminary play, before the students went on to annex the T20 Final.

Alex Yates, who will captain the side, is a player who can change the momentum of a match when he strides to the crease. In the last preliminary round of the Williams Cup, the Eastern Bay master blaster smashed 139 against Mount Maunganui, who went on to annex the 2013 Williams Cup. Further evidence of his prowess with the bat was provided with Yates posting the most runs (199) in his three games for the Bay Development team.

Bay of Plenty Indians

Home Ground: Smallbone Park/Boord Park

Last Season Finishes: Baywide Cup 8^th – T20 7^th eq – Williams Cup 8th

Player Gains/Losses: Nil

Captain: Prashant Dhanjee Vice/Captain: Sanjay Unka

While the Bay of Plenty Indians' best finish in the Baywide competitions was seventh equal in the T20 competition, they showed marked improvement from the previous season. There undoubted highlight was defeating East Bay United in the Williams Cup. Led by Shyman Bhimjiyani and Prashant Dhanjee who both posted scores in the 90's, the Rotorua based side posted 289/9 then bowled the Eastern Bay side out for 149 to cruise to victory.

The addition of Bay batsman Bharat Popli for their Williams Cup campaign gave the side some genuine firepower. All-rounder Prashant Dhanjee who was selected for the BOPCA Development team is another player with genuine class.