MACQUARIE captain Keiran Brien has placed the pressure on himself and the other batsmen in his team to support ageless veteran Jason Green as the Blues go in search of a place in the 2015-16 Whitney Cup finals.
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Green has plundered 396 runs, including three centuries, in six matches so far this season but it has mattered little as Macquarie have won just twice and find themselves in fourth spot with four rounds remaining before finals.
Each of the Blues' three losses could potentially have been wins but Brien said his side had nobody to blame but themselves and he was hopeful the break had been able to freshen them up.
"We've lost games we should have won and it's come down to nobody really supporting 'Greeny'," he said.
"That means we are in a position where we can't really afford another slip-up.
"I think the two-day cricket takes more of a toll on you too and a few of our guys, myself included, probably had our heads down and were waiting for the break."
Macquarie will face CYMS in their first game back post-Christmas with a squad pretty close to full strength.
They have been boosted by the return of Angus Cusack, who missed a significant amount of cricket in the first half of the season due to work and will add to their fast bowling ranks.
"I think having Angus back will just give me someone else I can go to when we're looking for a breakthrough," Brien said.
"We've now got Jeremy Dickson, Ben Taylor, Mitch Williams-Hedges and Angus as seam options and we've got Brad Johnson and 'Fuzz' (Dan Medway) who can get through some spin.
"Our bowling is strong and I have all kinds of combinations I can use but hopefully we can put the pieces together with our batting."
While CYMS are languishing at the bottom of the Whitney Cup ladder, they have been competitive and their only win came against competition frontrunners RSL-Colts.
Brien said his side could not afford to be complacent heading into the next two weekends.
"You can't walk into any match and just think you're going to win. The competition is too even and they have some very good players," he said.
"There's Stuey Naden and Ryan Medley who can handle the bat, and they have some good young kids as well.
"They're energetic in the field and they've got variety as well, and with Stuey and 'Meds' bowling spin if they get into a rhythm they can chew through overs pretty quickly and get you chasing your tail."
