This weekend sees some big local traditional derbies. The Te Puke Mount clash will be a boomer. If Greerton can knock off the top order of Cadets they could be in with a great show of winning.

As for the Black Caps it was great to see three of our attack in the top 10 of ODI cricket.
Kyle Mills has maintained his spot in the BC's due to his ability to bowl at a target area. He can put the ball in a space the size of an ice cream lid when it passes the batsmen.
This means that when he bowls to the top world players (those who will target what we think of as good length bowling) – he can still tie them down.
Pace really means nothing, except if the lights are poor, at dusk when the lights change over or with reverse.
For instance when you bowl to Jayasuria you have to hit a spot just above off to contain him. Kyle can do this.
Dan is interesting. I wonder if other sides play him out to target the rest of our attack at times. I know we did this with quality spinners for the BC's. Just say, lets get 35-40 off him and plunder the rest.
Bondy looks back to good bowling speeds; close to where he used to be. Unfortunately in the final he did not have the late in-swing which is very dangerous. Pace does not phase top quality batsmen. It is pace plus late movement which stuffs them up, or 135-140 km/h with late movement. Top batters mainly want inaccuracy which is opportunities to score.
I remember Mark Richardson saying to me, "I always breathed a huge sigh of relief when Brett Lee came on to bowl after McGrath as I knew there would be balls to score off."

This week I have talked to three of the big players in the derby matches as to their views of the weekends' play and lead up.

Mount v Te Puke with Mark Divehall and Kane Williamson

Mount View – Mark Divehall

Pre-season
The weather has played a big part in the Mount's preparation, with the premiere team missing out on playing Parnell in a pre season friendly and the only time that we have all gotten together at strength being the first round on the WBOP championship. We have been having a fantastic turnout at pre season training with numbers up to and exceeding 25 players from a mixture of the clubs' four teams. The intensity has been high with a lot of guys floating around the club and there will be pressure on positions across all of our club teams.
We have been very lucky to pick up some great young talent from the College teams in Bharat Poplie and Brian Jurisich over the winter, and the return of Tony Goodin is a big gain to our bowling line up.

Mount's strengths
We are starting to build a real winning culture at the club, this started about three years ago under the captaincy of Simon Taylor and then taken to another level under Dean Busch. We are looking to continue this under Blair Parlane this season. We have in the past used the motto 'find a way to win” and to date it seems to have worked, no better example than last week against Eastern Bay. We were in trouble with the bat and we really guts-it-out to put something on the board that we could defend. We have a strong bowling line up with two quicks and two medium pace bowlers, all who are playing for positions in the Bay men's side, so it will be interesting to see who does well. We have three spinners who have all had good success for the Mount or their previous teams – so we have plenty of depth with the ball. Our batting in the past has been steady enough to put winning scores on the board, but this season we should be able to play with real confidence with the bat given the resources with the ball.

Fiery rivalry
I think that the matches played between Te Puke and the Mount have traditionally been close battles. Te Puke probably had the ascendancy when I joined the Mount Club a few years ago but the Mount have come up winners over the last couple of years. Games are always played hard with no one wanting to lose, especially since we are district associates.

Bowling order
Blair Parlane will have fun choosing who takes the new ball and who has the preference of ends. I think that we are lucky enough with our resources that we can bring on another bowler if the situation dictates as we did against Eastern Bay.

Dale Swan
Swanny is back, I think he got a wicket with his first ball on Saturday too – a rank full toss. He's looking a lot fitter than last year and I'm sure that we can expect 120 per cent for the Mount from him. He's the kind of guy that you want in your team, not only for his cricket ability.

Hoogy's form
I think that Andrew is nursing a knee injury at the moment, he didn't bowl too many overs on the weekend but did save the innings with the bat along with the other lower order players. We all hope that Hoogy will be back to full fitness ASAP, it would be great to see him and Tony Goodin running in at top orders with the new ball around the Bay.

Te Puke's weakness
Te Puke are going to be a tough opposition, especially since after last week's game against Cadets they will be hurting. They have a strong looking batting line up on paper with the likes McCann, Williamson and Williams, but if we can consistently put the ball in the right areas and build some scoreboard pressure I think that we will go a long way to winning the battle. We will be trying to replicate what Cadets did with the ball to them again this week. If we put their better players back in the hut early I think we will be able to topple them.
As a batting unit we need to front up and not leave the hard work to the lower order, a lot of emphasis is needed on batting periods and in partnerships. We have the talent with the bat to post good scores we just need to trust our ability to do so.

Te Puke View – Kane Williamson

Te Puke's strengths
We have a young side and we are looking to build a strong culture. We had a really good chat after the match against Cadets last weekend on how to improve. Our batting is strong and all round we have a talented side.

Mount's strengths
Their bowling is really good and they have some good batsman as well.

Changes after last week
We really want our attitude to improve. We want to build a culture of winning. When you play teams with older guys in them they are used to winning and expect it. We want to build this with our young team. We need to believe we can win. As a young team we see ourselves going forward and taking this mantle of having the strong winning culture.

Greerton v Cadets with Marcus Niles and Jono Boult

Greerton View – Marcus Niles, captain

Coming up with a tie versus TBC
Batting first TBC got a good platform, but we came back real well to restrict them to 206. We were on top for most of our innings and put ourselves in a position to win at 180/4. Then we lost wickets quickly with the rain threatening and should have lost when our number 11 was bowled with 5 to get, but the bails didn't fall off. We also survived a couple of run out chances late in the game that would have won it for TBC – so probably a fair result in the end.

Te Ahu's form
He bowled quickly with good control, but his overstepping was a major problem. If we can fix that he will be a real weapon for us and Northern Districts this season.

How to beat Cadets
It's no secret our bowling is our strength and we know some of the Cadets batsmen pretty well. So with that and the home pitch, hopefully we will have a slight advantage. It's always a fun game for us with plenty of healthy banter on the field. It's a game we target every year for sure.
In good touch
Tevita Levao is in good form with the bat and he is a player who can change a game if we are in trouble, or really nail down an advantage if we are on top. Kurt McCarthy looks like he could be a really useful player for GCC this year so we are stoked to have him in our attack.

Greerton team front runners
Mo Singh and Te Ahu Davis will be picked at some level for the Bay this year I'm sure. Tav Levao, Mike Brown & Kurt McCarthy should also press to be rep players this season.

Cadets Captain – Jono Boult

Cadets' strength
Our top order batting is strong, we are powerful there and can really put teams under pressure. Also our senior seamer Campbell Wilson has had a long and illustrious Bay club career. He can put other sides into trouble.

Greerton; who to watch out for
In the batting Tevita Lavao and Marcus Niles are very dangerous. Murray Jarvis with both the bat and the ball.