Bay of Plenty Cricket: Williams Cup final at Bay Oval this weekend

The big prize in Bay of Plenty premier club cricket is up for grabs on Saturday when the 2021 Versatile Tauranga Williams Cup Championship title is fought out at the Bay Oval.

Williams Cup cricket dates back to the early days of Bay of the Plenty Cricket in the 1930s.

The first name engraved on the silverware was the City Cricket Club in the 1932/33 season.

This year’s decider sees Bond & Co Mount Maunganui and Element IMF Cadets engage in a battle to lift the cup in victory on Saturday evening.

Both contenders have impressive Williams Cup credentials.

Cadets have won the trophy 11 times, since their first success in 1995 which started a run of five titles in a row.

The Mount Maunganui name has been engraved on the silverware six times dating back to 1988.

Both team captains, Cadets’ Andrew Mascall and the Mount’s Matt Golding, are leading their troops into Williams Cup battle for the first time.

Mascall said: “Our expectations are to go out there on Saturday and continue our form and momentum, we have built up in this years Williams Cup campaign.

“The strength of our side is our batting depth in that we bat right down to No 11. Our team is a young, enthusiastic side mixed in with a couple of experienced old heads.

“The Mount are a very well balanced team with a very good seam attack and a strong top order. A Williams Cup victory for our club would be massive, as we came into the current season with a new look young side, with which no one gave us a chance of success.

“The lads have put in plenty of work and developed as cricket players and into great blokes.”

Golding said: “We are expecting to put up a strong performance in the final as we have done most of the season.

“Our team bats a long way down and our first, second and third change bowlers are very strong in their own rights. Experience is a big key for us, with bucket loads of club cricket games in the bank and hopefully we can call on some of that experience, in tough times on Saturday.”

Looking at the quality of the opposition the Mount captain said Cadets had some serious quality throughout their side.

“With (Donovan) Deeble, (Jono) Boult, (Tim) Pringle and (Fergus) Lellman who are four of the best all-rounders in the Bay. Any of those four are capable of carrying their side a long way to victory on Saturday”.

“The Williams Cup is, without doubt, the pinnacle of Bay of Plenty Club cricket. I know that it means a lot, especially to some of the older guys in the team.

“Opportunities to win it are essentially why some of the older guys still play the game.”

Meanwhile, the inaugural Williams Cup Plate will be fought out at the Te Puke Domain between Flying Mullet Te Puke and Holland Beckett Law Tauranga Boys’ College.

Last weekend, Te Puke beat Pāpāmoa in the semifinals, while Tauranga Boys’ won a nail-biter by just four runs against Generation Homes Lake Taupō.

Williams Cup Final
Mount Maunganui v Cadets at Bay Oval.

Williams Cup Plate
Te Puke v Tauranga Boys’ College

Williams Cup titles

Ōtūmoetai Cadets (11): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2017, 2019.

Mount Maunganui (6): 1988, 1992, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015.