Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

With the weather gods smiling on the Western Bay of Plenty over weekend it was a good opportunity to catch up with some cricket watching.

The best part was the chance to see some first class cricket at the Bay Oval, interspersed with Bay of Plenty playing Hawkes Bay in two pre-season games at the Tauranga Domain. Then on Monday, the local stars of the future were on show in Colts age-group competition.

The Plunket Shield four day match at the Bay Oval, between the Wellington Firebirds and the Auckland Aces was unusual in that it was a Wellington home game. With Wellington's home ground unavailable in the nation's capital city, they chose to play on what they believe is one of the best grounds in the country.

The attraction of better weather and a short walk from their accommodation to the ground were some of the attractions to come to the Bay Oval.

An interesting aside is that the first class match was the seventy-fifth International or Major Association game at the Bay Oval since the Northern Spirit played their Canterbury counterparts in a NZ Cricket Women's T20 game on the December 7, 2007.

Over at the Tauranga Domain there were bragging rights on the line, with Bay of Plenty hosting Hawkes Bay in two one-day pre-season hit outs. There was an extra edge to the encounters with Bay of Plenty having taken the NZ Cricket prize of the Hawke Cup from Hawkes Bay last March.

The final 2016 Hawke Cup match of last season was a classic, with Bay of Plenty snatching the trophy from the holders, in a four innings thriller.

The two matches over the long weekend saw honours shared with Hawkes Bay sneaking home on Saturday with two wickets to spare, while it was even closer on Sunday with the home side getting home by a solitary wicket. In both games, Bay of Plenty showed a heap of resolve and determination to come back after losing a number of cheap wickets.

Several youngsters were introduced to a higher level of cricket over the weekend, with the experience of playing alongside the two Knights players in Jono Boult and Brett Hampton, likely to pay dividends in the future.

It was a change of pace on Labour Day Monday with six games of Western Bay Colts cricket. The pick of the local primary, junior secondary and senior secondary players represented four local clubs of Otumoetai Cadets, Greerton, Mount Maunganui and Te Puke, to further develop the age-group game in the Western Bay.

A major factor in the quick-fire three week competition was to introduce the youngsters to the clubs in the hope that they would go on to play senior cricket for their selected club.

Western Bay of Plenty Cricket is to be commended for the addition of the Colts competition to the WBOPCA cricket pathway. The pathway kicks off with in the introduction to cricket program in local schools, which has attracted some 6000 youngsters this season, followed by the NZ Cricket Superstars Cricket Academy program.

Saturday morning competitions and a thriving secondary school program, lead through to age -group rep cricket, which has become the springboard to the professional game for a number of a Western Bay players in recent seasons.

Tony Goodin, Bharat Popli, Daniel Flynn, Joe Carter, Jono Boult and Brent Hampton along with Black Caps Trent Boult, and Kane Williamson, have all graduated from Western Bay of Plenty junior cricket ranks to the professional game.