Defending their day one score of 237, the Hornets had Macquarie 1/15 when play resumed and an early blitz saw them reduce the Blues to 6/48 when Jason Green was dismissed for a duck just 16 overs into day two.

But his dismissal brought Gavin to the crease and the veteran went about playing an innings Berry could only describe as “unreal”.

Gavin hit 13 boundaries and one six on his way to 104 but his effort was in vain as he was the last man dismissed with the score on 210.

“He didn’t give us any chances, it was an unreal innings and one that almost took the win away from us,” Berry said.

“In the end I’m just pleased we got the win. We’ve still got a lot of improvement in us and to have to work like we did for the win will be good for the boys.

“That’s two-day cricket. You have to really stick it out and be prepared to dig in, and even though ‘Gavo’ made it hard for us it was a good way to start our season.”

Berry himself took five wickets, including the one of Gavin to end the match, but heaped praise on his batsmen for setting up the win on the first day of the match.

Asher Robins (58) and Will Wolter (48) joined with Adam Wells (27) to help the Hornets make a defendable total, and Berry believes the confidence they will take out of that will be vital.

“I was really proud of Asher and Will for the way they batted, and ‘Wellsy’ complemented them and got a few as well,” he said.

“They all got starts and 

even though they didn’t go on with it and make a big score they set things up.

“If anything us blokes in the middle order let them down a bit, but that’s something we can work on as we go along.

“We’ve got an early win on the board and the more of them you can get the easier you make things on yourselves. 

“The blokes stay keen if they’re winning and with this year’s competition looking to be pretty even there will be no easy games so getting points on the board will be vital.”