Counties Manukau has come up agonisingly close but lost to Bay of Plenty by seven runs in their Brian Dunning Cup opening match at Bay Oval on Sunday.

Skipper Sam Varcoe won the toss and elected to insert Bay of Plenty in the first representative white ball fixture of the summer.

The home side was bowled out for 235 in the 48th over – Ben Hawkes (3-43) and Rohit Kumar (3-39) the pick of the Counties Manukau bowlers.

Counties Manukau lost wickets at regular intervals, but most batsmen were able to make a start.

They were well in the game most of the way through the run chase but were eventually bowled out for 228 with four balls remaining.

Marcel Marconi top scored with 38 while Aryandeep Mann (35), Reid Somani (32) and Rohit Kumar (30) all contributed.