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Sports correspondent & historian with |
A sparkling century from Auckland Aces batsman Michael Scalanders on Saturday, laid down the markers of excellence at the Bay Oval this season.
The Auckland side was in the middle of a three-game visit to Mount Maunganui, to play their scheduled Ford Trophy (One Day) encounters, due to the unavailability of their traditional home ground in the City of Sails.
The South Africa-born batsman posted a career long milestone with his first Major Association three-figure score in belting 107 runs.
Auckland’s first two matches, against the Wellington Firebirds and the Otago Volts, highlighted the Bay Oval’s ability to provide a run-making strip while also giving assistance to bowlers.
The Aces were humbled for just 140 in game one, while chasing down 283 against the South Island visitors, in matches which favoured both bat and ball.
During the coming season, the Bay Oval will play host to visits from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australian Women, through to NZC Major Association matches, Bay of Plenty representative games, and grassroots club finals.
The Bay of Plenty senior representative side will play eight of their Northern Districts representative campaign matches at Blake Park this cricket year.
They kick off their ND season this weekend (November 2-3 2024), with a two-day match against arch-rivals Northland at the Bay Oval.
Former ND professional player Jono Boult will be in charge of coaching the team for his second term, after making his debut last year. Winning the time-honoured Brian Dunning One-Day Championship was a feather in the cap of the fledgling representative mentor.
As a player, Jono Boult, produced a number of notable milestones in his time in the Bay of Plenty representative ranks. Boult played 87 matches in the Blue and Gold strip.
His 2240 runs with a best of 107, alongside 155 wickets [including three six wicket bags reflects a player who knows what it is like to stand resolute in the trenches of a cricket battle.
Last season, Boult cast his net wide in the search of players who could step up from premier club cricket to the minor association game. He selected eleven premier club players to make their debut in the senior blue and gold strip.
In his bid to blood new players to the intensity of the ND competitions he went to a variety of sources. Firstly, Jono turned to the traditional Tauranga Boys College pathway, that has produced Black Caps such as John and Brendan Bracewell, Daniel Flynn and Kane Williamson.
He then went outside the usual Western Bay of Plenty Cricket shutout, to select players from Taupo and Rotorua, and also the Papamoa CC first representative selection.
Bay of Plenty Cricket sits squarely in the middle of the pathway to professional cricket. There is no better recent example of the transition from successful age-group player to Major Association representative, than Ben Pomare and Fergus Lellman, who have received ND contracts this year.
Pomare - a gifted wicket keeper - and top order striker Fergus Lellman, first made their entrance on the NZC Register of Players, when they earned selection for the New Zealand in the Under 19 World Cup in 2020.
From there they continued to learn their craft in the Bay of Plenty team before receiving temporary ND call-ups last season.
Bay of Plenty representative cricket followers will watch with interest, to see if any of this season’s Bay of Plenty team can make the jump up to the professional game.