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

A (cricket) shootout of OK Coral proportions will take place at Blake Park this Saturday afternoon, when the Greerton young guns take on the old hands from the Mount Maunganui premiers.

Both sides will take an unbeaten Baywide Cup record into the encounter, with the winner taking a big step to annexing the first piece of Baywide silverware this season.

In recent years Greerton have seemed to live life on a roller coaster, putting together a mixture of solid wins and some limp performances.

While in the past decade they have been perennial Williams Cup semi-finalists only to fall at the last couple of hurdles – all that was put behind them when they ended a 27 year drought, to win the Williams Cup for just the third time in the clubs history, late last season.

By contrast, Mount Maunganui has always been one of the Baywide heavyweights, with the side turning the number one wicket at Blake Park into a fortress.

Two seasons ago the team that wears green and gold with absolute pride, annexed all three Baywide trophies and added the ND Club championship for good measure.

In the last couple of years, the balance of power in Baywide cricket has shifted firmly to the Western Bay, with the 2012 winner certain to come from the region.

An extra edge has been added to the Baywide Cup with the winner going forward to represent the Bay of Plenty in the ND club championships.

Both the Mount and Greerton, warmed up for this weekends big match-up at Blake Park posting big scores last week, with the icing on the cake being a century apiece, posted by their one of their teams batsmen.

Brett Hampton, who led the migration of his clubs young guns from Tauranga Boys' College, put the boundaries at Pemberton Park under siege as he smashed 148 in his teams total of 357 for seven declared.

Hampton has been the catalyst for the three youngsters who played for Tauranga Boys last season to move down the road to Greerton.

The three are amongst the rising stars of Bay of Plenty cricket. Tommy Clout, Cameron Neal and Elliot Timoti all earned selection in the Bay Development team while still at Tauranga Boys, with Tommy making his Bay of Plenty senior team debut last Sunday against Northland.

By contrast the Mount Maunganui team is built around a core group of players that that has played for the club for a number of seasons.

Skipper Mark Divehall along with Pete Drysdale, Hilly, Dale Swan and Tony Goodin have all played for the clubs premier team for a number of years.

It was one of the teams newer recruits in Tim Clarke, who blasted a century for the Mount last weekend as he smashed 140 in his teams total of 276/4.

However, defending Baywide Cup champions Cadets could have the final say in deciding the 2012 Baywide Cup.

Lurking just off the pace setters, Cadets will play Greerton in the penultimate round before meeting Mount Maunganui in the last game.

Seeya at Blake Park on Saturday.