Day one of play belonged to the Tigers, who decimated the Hornets for 146 before a blistering 93 from Greg Kerr had them 1-106 at stumps.

But before Kerr could play his scorching innings, it was the Skinner show for Newtown.

Off-spinner Steve Skinner took 6-69 off 11.5 overs while his brother Tom snared 3-21 from an 11-over spell.

Not to be outdone, captain Mat Skinner took three catches.

But the only non-Skinner wicket was arguably the biggest, with in-form Souths batsman Mitch Bower falling to Dan Holland for 59.

Batting at number three, Bower was one of just three Hornets to reach double figures, the others being Greg Rummans and Matt Finlay (23).

When it became time to bat, Newtown were in a hurry.

Kerr and Tom Skinner put on a 106-run stand for the opening wicket, with the latter providing seven of them.

While Skinner was patient and didn't take much strike, his fellow opener was particularly brutal.

He belted 14 boundaries and cleared the fence on another two occasions as he dominated.

For periods the Souths bowling was tight, with Will Lindsay chalking up five maidens in his eight overs while three of Tim Berry's handful of overs also came at no expense.

But when there was a loose ball to be hit, Kerr hit it before he eventually fell LBW to Sam Fraser seven runs shy of his ton.

A win for Newtown, combined with RSL-Colts first innings win over Macquarie and Rugby's imposing first innings score against CYMS, will create a real log jam on the Whitney Cup ladder.

The Tigers will jump back into the top three with Colts, while CYMS and Macquarie will likely fall out.

Rugby will be back snapping at the heels of those teams with a win while Souths lead at the top of the table will be trimmed, creating arguably the closest ladder seen in Dubbo first grade cricket for a long time.