Despite the impressive efforts in knocking the Cougars over for 160, there will be some concerns in the Colts camps after they lost three wickets before stumps and finished the day at 3-60.

Currently sitting fifth and 12 points off a finals place, Colts began the day after the Cougars won the toss and batted.

Dave McAlister (12), Troy Tracey (10) and Gavin Weekes (0) all departed inside 15 overs and CYMS were soon in real trouble when Jaspal Bansal (13) fell to make it 4-40.

Juniors Callan Braithwaite (21), Will Graham (20) and Tom Nelson (17) tried to get the innings back on track but Marty Nelson was the only one to spend some meaningful time at the crease as he kept the innings alive.

Jakke Gardiner was impressive all day and finished with 4-44 while Tim Howarth showed his consistency on his way to claiming 3-17 from 11 overs.

Nelson finished unbeaten on 47, helping his side pass 150.

Colts began the run chase positively and took the score to 28 before Mick Davis fell for 10.

Josh Ware then grabbed his second scalp when he picked up the huge wicket of Brad Cox for 27 while the afternoon got even better for the Cougars when Gardiner (7) fell shortly before stumps.

With plenty to play for next week there will be pressure on not out batsmen Adam Barraclough (9) and Sam Campbell (3) to begin day two positively.

South Dubbo's finals chances may be slim but the competition's bottom side showed plenty of fight on Saturday to take day one honours against Macquarie.

Michael McCarthy's unbeaten 81 led the Hornets to 221 before they held the Blues to 1-41 by stumps.

Things had earlier looked shaky for Souths with McCarthy coming to the crease at 7-125 but a 76-run stand with Jeff Shanks (13) got things back on track.

Vinay Kapila had earlier ripped through the Souths top order to finish with 4-63 while Ben Calder came back on to knock over the tail and claim 4-65.

But neither could stop McCarthy, who hit seven fours on his way to 81 not out.

Chasing more than 200, third-placed Macquarie needed a good start but it was far from perfect as Brenton Morgan was dismissed on the very first ball of the innings.

But Luke Patis (12 not out) and Sidhu Shaik (29 not out) steadied things and then attacked to finish at 1-41 after the final nine overs of the day.

Much like the other two matches this round, Rugby's impressive efforts in the first of half of day was undone by late blows leaving their match against Newtown far from certain.

Second placed Rugby are still well-placed despite losing two late wickets, finishing day one at 2-21 in reply to the Tigers' 137.

Veteran Glenn Shepherd was the destroyer for Rugby as he claimed 4-7 from seven overs to help knock over Newtown, who had only Chris Beattie (51) make a meaningful score.

Chasing a reasonably low target, things didn't begin well for Rugby with Dale Watmore (3) and Nick Karydis (4) both departing in one Craig Edenborough (2-14) over.

Charlie Kempston (12 not out) and Lachlan Harper (0 not out) will be tasked with steadying the innings and leading their team to victory when the match resumes next week.