Bay of Plenty simply batted Counties Manukau out of the Hawke Cup Direct Challenge, played at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui over Auckland Anniversary weekend.

More than a few eyebrows were raised when Counties won the toss and asked the defending Hawke Cup titleholders to bat first, on a wicket that had produced an avalanche of runs this season.

The home team batted for just over two full days, in a clinical batting attack that equalled the Bay of Plenty all-time highest total in 85 years.

Bay of Plenty were 75 for one, when Yorkshire County professional Alex Lees strode the crease. When the Bay number three was caught by Ash Vodnala, after 301 minutes at the crease, he had rewritten the Bay of Plenty representative batting history. The Yorkshire professional blasted 223 runs that included 22 boundaries and one over the Bay Oval boundary picket fence.

Lees finished his turn at bat with the all-time highest score, going past Joe Carter's 215 against Poverty Bay in 2014. He also took ownership of the Bay of Plenty highest Hawke Cup score, along with the most runs of a Bay player on debut. Another statistic unlikely to be repeated for a long time, was a century apiece to Lees and Donovan Deeble (108) who were both making their Hawke Cup debuts.

When Bay of Plenty were finally removed for 701 early on day three, they had equalled their all-time highest total when they relieved Hamilton of the Hawke Cup in 2013. Bay of Plenty Captain Peter Drysdale produced a gritty performance, finishing with 84 runs to his name, with Lees and the Bay skipper putting on a partnership of 197 for the second wicket.

Ben Musgrave (61) Sean Davey (53) Tony Gooding (46) batting at nine and keeper Tim Clarke (45) also spent long periods at the batting crease. Another big partnership came from Deeble and Davey who produced 157 runs for the sixth wicket.

Counties Manukau were quickly in trouble, losing their first wicket with just three runs on the board. The Counties innings was a short sharp affair, which came to an end when they were removed for 220, to hand Bay of Plenty a massive 481 run first innings advantage. Barry Rhodes top scored for the visitors with 65 runs.

Chris Atkinson, who was making his first Bay of Plenty first eleven outing of the season, did plenty of damage taking four wickets for 22 runs. Donovan Deeble backed up his batting exploits with two wickets while young leggie Iman Singh also grabbed two bowling scalps.

The Bay of Plenty representatives have a busy time in front of them, with a two-day Fergus Hickey Rosebowl against long-time rivals Hamilton next weekend, before backing up in their second Hawke Cup defence against the NZ Cricket Zone two challengers in two weeks' time.

Hawke Cup Direct Challenge Results

Bay of Plenty 701 (AZ Lees 223, DM Deeble 108, RPO Drysdale 84, BS Musgrave 61, SB Davey 53, TG Goodin 46, TJ Clarke 45; BA Rhodes 3/97, VE Davies 2/135)

Counties Manukau 220 (BA Rhodes 65; CM Atkinson 4/22, D Deeble 2/39, I Singh 2/83)

Result: Bay of Plenty won by way of first innings points.