Last Sunday I was on hand at the Bay of Plenty Cricket Oval at Blake Park when the Bay Development team took on the Northern Districts under 19 squad.
While there were no prizes at stake, the game was a chance for both teams to get game time before embarking on their respective representative campaigns.

The Bay second XI will take part in the ND development team competition, chasing the Basil McBurney trophy with the ND youngsters participating in the New Zealand under 19 championships early in the new year.
Both teams are part of the cricket pathway, where the players are making the transition from promising talent, to performing in the representative arena. The purpose of a strong Bay development side is to put pressure on the established senior men's team players.
The ND youngsters have all played age group rep cricket, and are the next group of 'stars in waiting” who will be hopefully push on to the Northern Knights and beyond, in the next few years.
For the record, the Bay side won the match after bowling the ND team out for 142. Campbell Wilson and Ben Christensen, who play premier club cricket for Otumoetai Cadets, did the damage with the ball for Bay of Plenty removing three ND middle order batsmen for just one run.
One of the real hidden jewels in the Western Bay sports venues is the Bay Cricket Oval at Mount Maunganui.
The Bay of Plenty Cricket dream of Blake Park, Mount Maunganui again hosting top class cricket became a reality earlier this year when a Twenty20 game between the Northern Knights and the Wellington Firebirds took place.
During the previous three seasons, a wasteland had been transformed into the Bay of Plenty Cricket Oval. Three years of development has seen the production of a top class wicket that passed a Cricket WOF (Warrant of Fitness) audit. The Oval has also been successfully measured against ICC requirements for new international venues.
In three short years the development of the BOP Cricket Oval had produced a ground capable of hosting international cricket. The Blake Park redevelopment is designed to have a ‘village green' atmosphere capable of hosting up to 10,000 spectators.
This season NZ Cricket has got serious about Twenty20 cricket – signing HRV to a three year sponsorship agreement, and creating a standalone window in January 2010, where all the Black Caps will be available to play.
The major beneficiary of the new format is the Bay Cricket Oval who have been allocated three matches in the summer holiday season. The prime dates of January 2-3, 2010, will see the Northern Knights face the Auckland Aces and the Otago Volts – with the Wellington Firebirds the Knights opponents on January 15.
The HRV series kicks off at Mount Maunganui, mainly as a result of Sky Television specifically requesting that the series start in the summer holiday capital of New Zealand.
In the bigger picture the Bay Oval is in the equation as a venue for the 2015 World Cup to be hosted in New Zealand.