Two Tauranga cricket clubs are squaring off at Bay Oval on Easter Saturday to decide the winner of the 2024 Williams Cup.

It’s a rare privilege for club cricket to be played on an international cricket wicket in NZ, however, the Bay Oval Trust fosters the grassroots game by inviting significant Bay of Plenty club cricket matches to be played on their world class venue.

The Otūmoetai-based Element IMF Cadets and Eves Realty Greerton side have both won multiple Bay of Plenty Cricket Williams Cup crowns.

On Saturday, March 30, the Cadets will return to the scene of their last two back-to-back Williams Cup wins to defend their title against the Greerton team.

Both teams have a number of game-winners in their ranks who’ve inked their credentials in the 2024 Versatile Williams Cup preliminary competition.

Cadets’ top order batter Marcel Collett tops his team’s Williams Cup batting tally with 197 runs. Blayne Fraser is another key batting talent with 145 runs at an impressive average of 36.25.

Cadets’ NZ Under-19 representative Fergus Lellman has proven his ability with the bat since returning from a stint in the UK.  Cameron Murray and Liam Collett have also been in solid form with the ball, taking 11 wickets apiece.

The Eves Realty Greerton. Photo: Owen Thompson.

Greerton’s Tom MacRury sits at the top of the Williams Cup batting statistics with 306 runs, at an average of 51, including two centuries.

Tim Clarke is a further Greerton batsman with an average of 50 runs or better, while captain/coach Anish Desai leads from the front with 167 runs to his name. Tom MacRury is at the front of his team’s bowling achievements, with 15 wickets, while Jared Tutty and James Boyd have both reached double figures with the ball.

Both teams will need no more motivation than to look at their clubs’ respective honours boards, which showcases their Williams Cup titles.

The Cadets have been the heavyweight of Williams Cup competition since the mid-1990s. They launched their title domination with five successive titles, kicking off in 1995, and are currently paused on 13 Williams Cup crowns, after back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.

Greerton preceded their Easter weekend rival’s first Williams Cup triumph, going back-to-back in 1984 and 1985. However it was 27 long years before the big Baywide prize was returned to the Greerton trophy cabinet. Further Williams Cup success came in 2018 and 2020, to take the team’s Williams Cup tally to five.

The BOPCA Versatile Tauranga Williams Cup Final for Element IMF Cadets versus Eves Realty Greerton is Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, on Saturday, March 30, with a 12pm start.