Dropped catches may have cost CYMS victory in their Whitney Cup clash with Rugby on Saturday, but Cougars captain Ben O'Donnell still took plenty of positives out of the match.

Needing just two wickets in order to beat the defending champions, CYMS' charge was cut short by rain and lightning as Rugby limped to 8-146 in pursuit of the 222 O'Donnell's side scored on day one.

Aidan Bennewith (72no) and Zac Murphy (46) did the bulk of the scoring for Rugby, who had rallied from being 5-18 but still required 77 runs to claim first innings points.

Despite being unable to finish the match, O'Donnell said he was in the main happy with his team's effort.

"We probably let it slip a bit. We dropped five catches and missed a stumping but our batting was very good on day one and that's a big thing for us," O'Donnell said.

"Even though the game was cut to 63 overs, it has been a while since we've batted out a whole day.

"Our bowling was probably a little bit short and we didn't take the chances but we were competitive against a pretty good side, and in the end, probably unlucky not to win."

Nick Guthrie starred for the Cougars on Saturday, taking four wickets in a spell that also saw him warned twice by umpire Peter Singh for running on the pitch.

His early burst put CYMS in a strong position, as he removed opener Jacob Hill (0) and the dangerous Nathan Munro (3) within the first three overs before claiming Glenn Shepherd (10) and Nick Karydis (0) to leave Rugby 5-18 after just nine overs.

That became 6-35 when Ben Taylor fell to the bowling of Stuart Naden but an 80-run stand between Bennewith and Murphy ended up saving the match for Rugby.

"At one stage we were a big chance of knocking them over for less than 100 but then we missed those chances and the pitch started drying out a bit and batting became easier," O'Donnell said.

"When the storm came we could have stayed around and waited and gone back out to try and get those last two wickets but I had doubts whether we'd be able to be out there long enough.

"Getting a draw from the game won't hurt us hopefully. Newtown and Colts have cleared out a bit but we're still in the mix to get third and get into the finals.

"That was our goal at the start of the year, and we're still in with a shot leading into the Christmas break so I couldn't ask for much more at the moment."

CYMS will round out the first half of the season when they face Macquarie in a two-day game starting this Saturday.