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

During the weekend, two young Western Bay cricket players burst into the headlines with their performances with the bat at Ferguson and Blake parks.

Tauranga Boys' College batsman Ben Musgrave took the game between his school team and long-time Baywide heavyweights Otumoetai Cadets, by the scruff of the neck. In the Twenty 20 encounters, where blazing away with the bat often takes centre stage, Ben took his prodigious talent to another level.

This wasn't school-boy cricket but a serious senior men's Baywide Twenty 20 match-up. In a match where cadets had set a formable target of 159, in the allotted 20 overs, Ben blasted 103 off just 59 balls, which included 11 boundaries and three sixes. Spectators at Ferguson Park were entranced as the youngster seemed to have the ball on a string, as he put the park's boundaries under seize with his blitzkrieg-like attack. Ben turned what had seemed like a formidable challenge for the defending Baywide T20 champions into a walk in the park

To prove his Saturday heroics were no fluke, the Tauranga Boys' star backed it up at Blake Park the following day, playing for the Bay of Plenty Coastland senior secondary side against their Lakeland counterparts. This was also no casual outing, but was a serious hit-out, as the two sides prepare for the Northern Districts annual tournament in Gisborne in December.

Coming in at three, Ben quickly took aim on the boundary ropes and smashed 81 runs off just 43 balls, at something like an amazing two runs a ball. However, the Tauranga Boys' youngster is no overnight sensation, having smashed an unbeaten century on debut for the Bay of Plenty Development team, against ND heavyweights Hamilton earlier in the year. Coincidently, the last Bay Development player to blast a ton on debut, was current Bay representative Mitch McCann, who also achieved the feat while a student at Tauranga Boys' College.

Not to be outshone on Saturday, was Cameron Neal, who is another of the multitude of graduates from the Tauranga Boys' College cricket pathway. Playing for Greerton against East Bay United in the second round of the Baywide T20 comp, Cam smashed the ball to the boundaries to finish with an unbeaten 104 to his name.

While I seem to keep banging on about the Western Bay cricket pathway, four recent Black Caps – in Kane Williamson, Graeme Aldridge, Trent Boult and Daniel Flynn – all started junior cricket in the Western Bay, with a number of fellow graduates currently playing professional cricket.

There have been few better snapshots of the start and finish of OUR pathway, than a moment during the recent Western Bay Mini World Cup. Kane Williamson, who had been working out in the nets was eagerly sought out by the youngsters for autographs and photo shots, when he stopped off to catch some of Mini World Cup play.

Seeya at the Game