Ninety-four runs from opener Wayne Dunlop has set Newtown up with a great chance to record back-to-back victories in the opening two rounds of this season's Whitney Cup.
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Batting first against RSL-Colts at Lady Cutler 2, the Tigers made 256 before Colts made it through the final two overs of the day unscathed and will resume next week at 0-15.
"It was (a good day), I guess with the start we had we could have hoped for a score closer to 300 so we're a bit disappointed not to get closer to that but 250 will still win you a lot of games in Dubbo so if we bowl and field well next week we're a big chance," Dunlop said.
Dunlop failed to trouble the scorers in the opening match against Rugby but made up for it yesterday as he overcame a slow start to fall just short of a century.
The stoic opener combined with Steve Skinner for a vital 125-run partnership before Colts spearhead Tim Cox trapped Dunlop in front for 94.
Skinner went 35 runs later in the same fashion for 68 but there were also contributions from Mat Skinner (29 not out) and junior Marty Jeffrey (20 not out).
Dunlop admitted he had a poor pre-season with very little batting but after spending a long time in the middle on Saturday, he feels he's finding his form again.
"I've had a long layoff and not much training or trial matches but the feet gradually started moving a bit and that was the main thing," he said.
"I was pretty scratchy early on and then I didn't realise I was that close to 100 but that's the way it goes, it was a good ball and I had a bit of luck earlier."
Cox finished with 3-18 from 12 overs while Chris Morton and Wes Giddings picked up two wickets each.
"Tim's their big strike bowler and he was tight but Wes bowled really well and probably the most tight I've seen him bowl in a long time," Dunlop said.
"There was very few bad balls and he really held things together in the middle there."
With 10 wickets remaining and Colts needing 242 more runs, Dunlop admitted his side feels confident about their chances next week.
"We're feeling confident after last week's win over Rugby where we took 20 wickets in a day and there's a good feeling around the club," he said.
"We've got some scoreboard pressure now and that's a big thing."
