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

In less than a decade, the Bay Oval at Blake Park has risen from a wasteland awaiting development to an international cricket venue, which will once again attract worldwide cricket stars to the Western Bay of Plenty this season.

The original catalyst for the Bay Oval was the decision by New Zealand Cricket to take away the holiday season major association one-day games from Blake Park, because of what was deemed sub-standard pitches.

The Mount Maunganui matches were played in front of large crowds, with thousands pitching sun umbrellas around the boundary ropes, to watch the best players in the country smash the ball to the boundary and blast the stumps apart.

On the first day of March 2005, the first sod was turned on the new ground at Blake Park. The two Black Caps encounters against South Africa last October saw the Western Bay wicket pass the test as an international cricket venue with flying colours.

And the current cricket season will see a multitude of top class games at the Bay Oval.

The Black Caps will return to play Sri Lanka on two occasions during the peak of the holiday season. On Tuesday, January 5, the two teams will battle out a One Day International before returning two days later to play a late-afternoon smash and bash T20 encounter.

With both the Black Caps and Sri Lanka currently ranked in the top five of the ICC ODI rankings, cricket fans in attendance can expect a battle royale.

The Bay Oval ODI is the fifth in the ANZ series, with the likelihood of the ODI trophy being decided in Mount Maunganui. Sri Lanka will pose a huge challenge in the T20 match-up, as the tourists sit at the top of the ICC T20 rankings, with New Zealand currently in seventh place.

During February, it doesn't get any bigger than the White Ferns taking on the Australian Women's team at the Bay of Plenty Cricket headquarters. Kicking off on Wednesday February 20, the three-match ODI series will be played out at the Bay of Plenty's premier cricket ground.

Interspersed with the international matches at Blake Park are three matches in the NZ Cricket Domestic competitions. In just over a month's time, the Northern Knights will do battle with the Auckland Aces in a Plunkett Shield match.

The best part of the international and first class games at the Bay Oval is the opportunity for local cricket fans to get up close and personal with the Bay of Plenty cricketers, in the Black Caps and the Northern Knights.

Kane Williamson and Trent Boult are both graduates of the Western Bay junior cricket programs, while Cory Anderson calls the Western Bay home and is registered with Otumoetai Cadets.

Kane became the first representative player to post a century at the Bay Oval when he blasted 131 for Bay of Plenty Under-19s against their Waikato Valley counterparts back in March 2007.

Kane, Trent and Corey are likely to have little game time for the Northern Knights in the coming months, because of their Black Caps commitments.

However, the ND side has plenty of Bay of Plenty talent in their ranks in Jono Boult, Joe Carter, Daniel Flynn, Brett Hampton, Bharat Popli and Tony Goodin, who all came along the Bay of Plenty Cricket pathway to play professional cricket.

See ya at the Bay Oval over the summer!