QUICK wickets will be the order of the day for RSL-Colts today as they chase an outright victory over CYMS at No. 3 Oval.
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The competition leaders dominated day one of the match, rolling the Cougars for just 95 and then reaching 2-138 at stumps.
The gameplan today will be simple for Colts - reach 300 as quickly as they can to confirm all bonus points and then return to the field and take 10 wickets to seal an outright win.
Paul Hulthen will resume on 80 not out and will be searching for his second Whitney Cup century of the season while Jason Ryan will be at the other end on 17.
Making the task more difficult for the Cougars is the fact they will be without regular bowlers Ben O'Donnell and Nick Guthrie but leg-spinner Ryan Medley does return after missing most of day one due to Western Zone commitments.
Much of the bowling duties will fall to Medley and fellow spinner Stuart Naden while Dale O'Donnell, Salman Rasool, Brandon Dodd and newcomer Mark Asher will all be keen to keep the run-scoring to a minimum.
Ryan is the perfect man to have at the crease for Colts with his destructive style of batting capable of taking a game away from the opposition quickly while Greg Buckley has proved in the McDonald's Megahit he can score as quickly as any batsman in Dubbo.
As well as Buckley waiting in the wings, Chris Morton and Wes Giddings are also yet to bat and are capable of scoring at a rapid rate.
While things appear to be stacked against the Cougars today they will be keen to forget last week's performance and return to the form which has seen them be a competitive force in this season's Whitney Cup.
If they do bat again today, the likes of Naden, Medley, Harry Brennan and Matt Ellis will be determined to show more fight at the crease and avoid an outright.
The evenness of this season's competition is evident by the fact there has only been one outright win recorded all summer and the Cougars will be determined to keep it that way today.
On top of being well-placed with the bat, Colts also welcome Tim Cox and Buckley back into the bowling attack after both had limited impact on day one due to representative duties.
Today's match resumes at 1pm.
