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

The passing of the baton from summer sport to the winter games will be ably demonstrated in Mount Maunganui over the Easter weekend holiday break.

On Easter Friday, the Williams Cup cricket title decider will be played out at the Bay Oval - while the same day, Baywide rugby kicks off just up the road at Grenada Park with Arataki squaring off with long-time rivals Mount Maunganui.

The Arataki first fifteen have fought their way back to the top echelon of Bay of Plenty club rugby, after defeating Rangiuru in the Division One Final last July.

The title decider at Centennial Park in Te Puke was an absolute thriller.

Arataki led the home side 11-6 at the half time break in play, with a penalty apiece in the second spell seeing Arataki win promotion to the premier ranks this year with a hard fought 14-9 victory.

This will be the first time the two Mount Maunganui clubs have met in premier battle for a number of years, courtesy of the two teams playing in the separate divisions of Baywide rugby.

Much of the success of Baywide rugby stems from the automatic promotion/relegation each season.

While the automatic promotion/relegation rewards clubs with higher aspirations, it's a two-edged sword, with clubs on the cusp of relegation playing for their lives in the later rounds of the season.

Mount Maunganui and Te Puke, who fight out the Williams Cup premier title on Easter Friday, have long histories which date back to a completely different era's in Western Bay of Plenty history.

Te Puke was formed in 1887 and has won the Bay of Plenty Cricket big prize of the Williams Cup on fifteen occasions, since it was first contested in 1933.

While Mount Maunganui had been in recess on a couple of occasions in earlier years, a photograph in the BOPCA history book shows a photo of a Mount Maunganui cricket team in 1923.

Mount Maunganui are the defending Williams Cup titleholders and have held the Hart Family (Champion of Champions) Trophy since 2013.

Both teams possess genuine match winners with bat and ball, who can change a game in a couple of overs.

A batting duel could take place at the Bay Oval on Friday with the two top run scorers in the Williams Cup round robin play, likely to square off in head to head battle.

Bay of Plenty captain Peter Drysdale has been a prolific run scorer for Mount Maunganui over the years and leads this season Williams Cup batting stakes with 317 runs.

A highest score of 131no, and an average of 104.00, testifies to a genuine match winner with the willow.

Long-time Te Puke premier player Tai Bridgman-Raison sits second on the Williams Cup batting standings with 266 runs and a season best score of 122.

The Te Puke master blaster equalled ADG (Andy) Roberts long standing record of ten Te Puke premier centuries, when he blasted a ton against Mount Maunganui in February.

Te Puke attack bowler Christian MacDonald showcased his talent in last weekend's semi-final clash between the two teams.

MacDonald in his first season in the Te Puke strip grabbed a six wicket bag.

While MacDonald bowls medium pace, he can swing the ball in either direction, which proved a real handful for the Mount Maunganui batsmen, who were bowled out sixty odd runs short of their target.

Mount Maunganui has a trio of bowlers who could trouble the Te Puke batting attack. Long time Mount player Dale Swan, along with Luke Tatley who still at secondary school and Chris Atkinson, all sit in prominent positions on the Williams Cup bowling stakes.

Gazing into my crystal ball – it is too close to call, with both sides having an even chance to grab the big prize at the Bay Oval on Friday.