It is likely that there has been no more explosive start to the Bay of Plenty Cup than Saturday's opening round - with two centuries and a six wicket bag in one encounter and three heavyweight contenders tasting defeat.

Papamoa batted first in their matchup with Craigs Investment Partners Tauranga Boys College at Alice Johnson Oval. Xavier Lee (85) and Kade Smit combined for a 160 run partnership, with Smit going on to smack 111 runs off 103 balls, before dismissal.

Papamoa declared at 302 for eight wickets.

Tauranga Boys opener Sebastian Heath came to the wicket full of fight and proceeded to belt 125, including nine 4's and six 6's to give his team a grand start to their big run chase. Heath posted rare back to back centuries after striking 105 runs the previous week.

At 215/5, Tauranga Boys were still in the match, but a six wicket haul from Papamoa bowler, Allan Arora, did the damage as Tauranga Boys College were restricted to 237 for nine wickets.

Another six wicket bag was collected at Pemberton Park, where Craigs Investment Partners Geyser City, caused a big upset in beating defending titleholders Eves Realty Greerton. The visitors were bowled out for 193 with Cohen Stewart in top form with 65 runs.

Greerton bowler, Andrew Friskney, fresh out of Tauranga Boys College, will long remember his Bay of Plenty Cup debut for Yellow and Black brigade, taking six wickets at a cost of 53 runs

Greerton looked to be in a strong position at 102/3, before the Rotorua side tightened the screws and removed the hosts 20 runs short of their target.

Generation Homes Lake Taupo, seemed to have set eight times Bay of Plenty Cup champions Bond & Co Mount Maunganui, an easy target when they were removed for 110. However led by long-serving Taupo player Roger Urbahn who grabbed five wickets to have the Mount reply in tatters, being dismissed for 86.

The third big gun to pull up short was Element IMF Cadets who lost to Flying Mullet Te Puke. The visitors to the Te Puke Domain posted 163 all out. Led by 83 not out from Pip Thickpenny, the home side cruised to a six wicket win.

Lake Taupo joined Mount Maunganui at the top of the Baywide T20 leader board after posting two victories in Sundays leg of the competition. First up they beat Tauranga Boys College then got past Papamoa.

Sandford Wall Lawyers Central Indians also won two encounters in the busy weekend for the Baywide premier cricketers. The combined team dispatched Papmoa by seven wickets then got home against Tauranga Boys College with five wickets to spare.

Inclement weather intervened in the two Western Bay six round matches, with Cadets verses Greerton and Te Puke’s matchup with Geyser City, both abandoned in the second turn at bat.

Bayleys Bay of Plenty Cup 21 October 2023

Round One

Generation Homes Taupo 110 (Archie Harrison 35, Peter Drysdale 4/32) defeated Bond & Co Mount Maunganui 86 (Gus Tustin 31; Roger Urbahn 5/23)

Element IMF Cadets 163 (Tasman Carsons 4/29) lost to Flying Mullet Te Puke 165/4 (Pip Thickpenny 83no, Ben Vyver 48, Josh Earle 36)

Craigs Investment Partners Geyser City 193 (Cohen Stewart 64, Joshua Robinson 39; Andrew Friskney 6/53, James Boyd 3/42) defeated Eves Realty Greerton 174 (Charles Williams 48, Anish Desai 32; Ben Astwood 5/55)

Papamoa 302/8 dec (Kade Smit 111, Xavier Lea 85, Sam Wilson 41) defeated Craigs Investment Partners Tauranga Boys College 237/9 (Seb Heath 125, Reuben Swanepoel 52; Allan Arora 6/81, Matthew Rees 3/55)

Sanford Wall Lawyers Central Indians the bye.

Venture Developments T20 22 October 2023

Round Five

Craigs Investment Partners Tauranga Boys College 110/8 lost to Generation Homes Lake Taupo 111/2 17 (Nafis Shaikh 64no)

Papamoa 137/8 (Allan Arora 45no) lost to Sanford Wall Lawyers Central Indians 141/3 (Aaron Bennett 51, Lovely Sandhu 32)

Bond & Co Mount Maunganui 150/5 (Peter Drysdale 40, GS Samra 32) defeated Geyser City 116/7 (Sean Gapes 38; Peter Drysdale 3/20)

Flying Mullet Te Puke 129/8 lost to Eves Realty Greerton 130/2

Element IMF Cadets the bye.

Round Six

Craigs Investment Partners Tauranga Boys College 108/6 (Seb Heath 50) lost to Sanford Wall Lawyers Central Indians 109/5

Papamoa 136/7 (Xavier Lea 30, Allan Arora 30, Habib Malik 3/30) lost to Generation Homes Lake Taupo 140/3 (Nafis Shaikh 73, Michael Mitchell 41no)

Element IMF Cadets 155/8 20 (Marcel Collett 41, Joel Griffiths 35, Josh Espitalier 4/23)  Eves Realty Greerton 62/5 - game abandoned

Craigs Investment Partners Geyser City 180/7 (Alex Roy 60, Sean Gapes 42no) Flying Mullet Te Puke 33/1 - game abandoned

Bond & Co Mount Maunganui the bye.

Points Table: Lake Taupo 27, Mount Maunganui 27, Greerton 24, Cadets 18, Central Indians 15, Papamoa 9, Tauranga Boys College 9, Te Puke 9, Geyser City 6.

Barry Leabourn