A Reserve Grade hatrick and a Tauranga Boys' College batsman carrying his bat were the highlights of Saturday's Western Bay cricket.

Greerton Sikh XI all-rounder LS Bhatti, who bowls with great accuracy off a very short run-up, grabbed a hatrick against Cadets in their Twenty 20 Section Two clash. Almost as impressively he conceded just four runs to finish with figures of 3/4.

The Sikh XI posted a big target reaching 173 for the loss of seven wickets, with Bhatti top scoring with 56 runs.

Cadets then made a very determined charge for the win points on offer, with George Catto the best of their batting lineup with an unbeaten 60, before being restricted to 159/7 in their 20 overs as Bhatti turned the momentum in the game with his three successive dismissals.

In spite of sitting out the afternoon bye, the Sikh XI win over Cadets took them to the top of the Section Two standings after the first four rounds of the T20 competition.

Last season's Reserve Grade champions Te Puke, along with Mount Maunganui, lead the Section One points table. Te Puke chased down the 111 run target set by Aquinas College without losing a wicket, then posted a comfortable victory over Greerton in the later match.

Mount Maunganui won an absolute thriller in their matchup with R&A Sangha. Led by a solid 48 from Logan Carr, the Mount side reached 138/8. With both sides desperate for victory the tension was on in the final over. The Mount Maunganui bowlers managed to put the brakes on the Sangha batting, restricting them to 135/8 and claim a paper-thin victory.

Tauranga Boys' College third XI batsman Josh Manners carried his bat through his side's innings to post the best Western Bay Cricket score of the weekend with 81 not out, against new comers Papamoa Tangaroa in the B Grade competition. The Papamoa new recruits restricted TBC to 155/8 and then got home to a six wicket win.

Other sides to post wins on B Grade opening day were Papamoa PapaMOAs, Singh CC and Papamoa Wanderers.

Saturday's results:

WBOPCA Reserve Grade Twenty 20

Section One – Round 3:

R&A Sangha 166/5 (Deepak Singh 68, GS Mahal 31) defeated Greerton 103 (Rob Veltman

37, Kuldeep Singh 3/29)

Aquinas College 110/6 (Louis Robinson 28, Ryan Crossley 2/11, Cam Murray 3/12) lost to Te Puke 112/0 (Josh Earle 57no, Johnny Coulter 47no)

Round 4:

Greerton 95 (Chann Multani 33, Ryan Crossley 3/20, Luke Elliffe 3/8) lost to Te Puke 96/4 (Chris Rowe 29no)

Mount Maunganui 138/8 (Logan Carr 48, Gagan Singh 3/23) defeated R&A Sangha 135/8 (Gagan Singh 39, Jimmy Davis 4/18)

Points Table: Te Puke 6, Mount Maunganui 6, R&A Sangha 4, Aquinas College 0, Greerton 0.

Section Two – Round 3:

Greerton Sikh XI 173/7 (LS Bhatti 56, Rashpal Cheema 37, Morgan Bidois 3/20) defeated Cadets 159/7 (George Catto 60no, Kersley Corder 33, LS Bhatti 3/4 including a hat-trick)

Singh CC 164/8 (Jasper Bhullar 40, Kuljit Singh 29, Joe Smythe 3/31) defeated Tauranga Boys College 88/7 (Hunter Dickson 36, Ravi Brar 3/31)

Round 4:

Katikati 80 (Ravi Brar 3/4, Nasib Kumar 3/29) lost to Greerton Singh XI 84/2 (Kuljit Singh 42no)

Cadets 157/9 (Matt Manners 47, Scott Curtis 4/10) defeated Tauranga Boys College 121 (Scott Curtis 28, Sam Owen 3/17)

Points Table: Greerton Sikh XI 6, Singh CC 4, Cadets 4, Tauranga Boys College 2, Katikati 0.

WBOPCA B Grade Championship:

Mount Maunganui 127 (Jaskirat Singh 3/29, Kulwinder Singh 3/13) lost to Singh CC 128/6 (Jasvir Dhillon 52no)

Tauranga Boys College 155/8 (Josh Manners 81no, Aaron Barbour 3/37) lost to Papamoa Tangaroa 157/4 (Aaron Barbour 42, Andrew Boyd 41)

Papamoa Wanderers 173 (Mark Martin 34, Sarn Lee 33, Gurwinder Singh 3/17) defeated Albion 43 (Ivan Foord 5/13, Chris Uden 4/20)

Papamoa PapaOMAs 249/9 (Paul Dunn 53, Mark Divehall 49, Finn Watson 32, Brad Harding 32, Alex Tod 3/35) defeated Grasshoppers 210/9 (Grant Manners 60, Ray Body 56, Bob Curran 32, Tony Jackson 5/45)

Katikati v Cadets to be played at a later date; Greerton the bye.

Points: Papamoa Tangaroa 6, Papamoa PapaOMAs 6, Singh CC 6, Papamoa Wanderers 6, Mount Maunganui 0, Albion 0, Tauranga Boys College 0, Grasshoppers 0 – Cadets, Katikati, Greerton yet to play.