The Bay of Plenty Development cricket team have beaten their Counties Manukau equivalents in a match on Sunday.

Counties Manukau won the toss and asked the home side to bat first.

Bay of Plenty were in early trouble on a greenish deck that looked to have plenty of assistance for the Counties seam bowlers, losing two cheap wickets. Sean Dykes and Alastair Blackett dug in, before Blackett was caught trying to pull a short ball.

Another Bay of Plenty wicket fell two balls later with the home side again in trouble. Opener Sean Dykes and Jonty Grigson worked hard to push the Bay past the one hundred run mark, before Dykes was stumped on 35 and Grigson was run out for 22 runs.

Alex Gooding and Gurwinder Singh scored runs down the order and along with 44 extra's conceded by the Counties bowlers, took Bay of Plenty through to a respectable 175 all out.

Luke Tatley (3/23) and Gurwinder Singh (2/20) opened the Bay of Plenty bowling and had the ball bending and appearing to seam around corners. Both bowlers had good control making it difficult for the Counties batsmen to hit out.

Alex Gooding (3/27) and Brody Gilroy then took their turn at the crease and backed up the good work from the opening bowlers. Tauranga Boys College student Iman Singh, who was on debut for the Bay of Plenty second eleven, had very respectable start with figures of 2/18.

The match finished in a Bay of Plenty victory when Counties Manukau were bowled out for 121, to hand the Bay side a solid 54 run win. Bay of Plenty team management were well pleased with the Basil McBurney Trophy season start and also the performances from the younger players in the team, who had to face a step up against quality opponents.

This Sunday Bay of Plenty Development continue their ND Development campaign when they square off with Northland at the Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui.