RICHARD Hawker’s quickfire half century has given his Macquarie side the upper hand against Rugby in the Pinnington Cup.
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The Blues dismissed Rugby for 219 at Lady Cutler 4 and then had to survive a tricky 12 overs until stumps.
But that was no trouble for Hawker, who was dominant as he smashed an unbeaten 67 to lead his side to 1-72 at the close of play, needing just 148 more runs for victory next week.
Earlier, Joe Haylock came out firing with the ball for the Blues after Rugby won the toss and elected to bat.
Haylock took 3-12 in his first four overs with the new balls to reduce Rugby to 3-23.
Glenn Shepherd bailed Rugby out of trouble as he made 68 in a 90-run seventh wicket stand with Tyler Woodrow (41).
Haylock finished with 3-42 while Sandeep Poonia (3-21) and Waseem Marwat (3-58) also impressed.
Rugby began well with the ball, dismissing Brenton Morgan (1) early but Hawker then dominated the run scoring while Blake Jones (0 not out) held firm at the other end.
Woodrow (1-25) was the sole wicket-taker for Rugby on day one.
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CYMS have given themselves a big chance of recording their first win of the season but their match with Newtown is still in the balance heading into day two.
Cougars skipper Darryl Thompson led from the front, making 70 at the top of the order while Dale O’Donnell fired late on, making 63.
The total could have been even more for the Cougars but they suffered a collapse of 4-2 in the middle order before O’Donnell and Nathan Hawke (44) salvaged the innings and added 72 for the eighth wicket.
That saw last season’s runners-up finish with 259 and then Yogi Chawla struck when Newtown had to bat for the last two overs of the day.
Chawla removed the dangerous Craig Pettit for 8, leaving the Tigers at 1-12 at stumps.
Bailey Edmunds (1) and Tyler Spang (0) are the not-out batsmen.
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It wasn’t easy for South Dubbo on Saturday but the Hornets managed to bat out the day against a disciplined Colts attack.
Souths finished with 8-192 at stumps, scoring at just under three runs an over for the day.
Jordan Murphy top scored with 55 while Mick McCarthy made 46.
Sam Campbell was the pick of the Colts bowlers, taking 2-51 from 18 overs while Peter Bass (2-19) and Josh Smith (2-50) were the other multiple wicket-takers.
The defending premiers will begin their run chase with confidence next week, with the likes of Smith, Nathan Jones and Jakke Gardiner all having scored half centuries this season.