The Mount Maunganui defeat of Te Puke and Central's one wicket victory over Cadets, left the Mount team at the top of the Williams Cup standings after results were posted on Saturday.

Early morning wet weather reduced the Te Puke verses Mount Maunganui encounter at the Te Puke Domain to a 35 over a side match. Te Puke won the toss and put Mount Maunganui into bat. Mount skipper Peter Drysdale led from the front as his side posted 185/7 with a solid 54, with Ben Musgrave also in good touch adding 51 runs to his team's total. Ollie Smithson grabbed three wickets for the home side.

The Mount Maunganui bowling attack, strangled the Te Puke attempts to hit out, restricting the defending Williams Cup champions to 124/8. Sam and Scott Tallott were the only Te Puke batsmen to reach the twenties with Dale Swan taking three wickets for the victors.

A low scoring thriller was fought out at the Tauranga Domain between Cadets and Rotorua visitors Central. Cadets batted first and were removed for just 113 with Joe Carter top scoring with 42. Central skipper Jason Trembath wrapped up the Cadets tail taking four wickets for just five runs.

Cadets struck early in the Central innings and maintained the momentum to take the match down to the wire. At the end Central sneaked home by a solitary wicket to join Cadets, Te Puke and Greerton in second equal on the points table.

Greerton remained in contention to add the Williams Cup to the Baywide Cup that they won in the first half of the season when they overcame a spirited challenge from Whakatane United at Pemberton Park. The Eastern Bay side batted first and posted a solid 189/9 in what became a 35 over match due to earlier wet weather. Stephen Ford top scored with 43 with Alex Yates (34) and David Brent (26) making useful contributions. Batting well down the order Dean Butterworth smashed a quick-fire 21 off just seven balls.

Greerton openers Tom MacRury (29) and Charles Williams got the home side away to a flyer. The Whakatane bowlers struck back before Brett Hampton ratcheted up the action to take his side to five wicket win with a unbeaten 74. Stephen Ford and David Brent took two wickets each for the Eastern Bay side.

While rain eventually saw the BOP Indians encounter with Tauranga Boys' College abandoned – a fighting 108 off 118 balls by Bay master blaster Bharat Popli stood out like a beacon in the home sides total off 163 all out. Tauranga Boys' player/coach Mark Orchard took five wickets for 32 runs. The Tauranga students were 56 without loss when rain ended the game at Smallbone Park in Rotorua.

Bay of Plenty Cricket results, January 31 2015:

Williams Cup (Baywide Premier)

Whakatane United 189/9 (S Ford 43, A Yates 34, D Brent 26, D Butterworth 21; D Spencer 2/24, B Hampton 2/43) lost to Greerton 192/5 ( B Hampton 74no, T MacRury 29; S Ford 2/33, D Brent 2/40)

Mount Maunganui 185/7 (P Drysdale 54, B Musgrave 51, T Goodin 27; O Smithson 3/33) defeated Te Puke 124/8 (Scott Tallot 21, Sam Tallot 20; D Swan 3/20, N Smith 2/16, T Goodin 2/30)

Cadets 113 (J Carter 42, B Christensen 28; J Trembath 4/5, T Afridi 3/18) lost to Central 114/9

BOP Indians 163 (B Popli 105; M Orchard 5/32) – Tauranga Boys' College 56/0 - match abandoned due to rain.

Williams Cup Points Table

Mount Maunganui 12, Cadets 12, Te Puke 12, Central 6, Greerton 6, Tauranga Boys' College 0, Whakatane United 0, BOP Indians 0,.