The Blues opener made 119 as he anchored the innings and helped lift Macquarie off the bottom of the ladder.

Playing at No. 3 Oval both teams knew how important the victory was. The loser would remain at the foot of the table while the victor would give their finals chances a boost.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they slumped to a fifth straight loss, unable to chase down an impressive total of 8-275 by an in-form Macquarie batting line-up led by Haylock.

“Edward was over the moon. I was out there with him when he scored it and he just couldn’t wipe the smile off his face,” Macquarie’s Keiran Brien said.

“He’s a hard worker and that’s a great reward for him, he really laid the platform for us and without him, we would have struggled.”

Newtown won the toss and elected to send Macquarie in, a decision that would come back to haunt them.

Just a week earlier against Rugby the Blues had made 265 batting first and they were able to reproduce the effort.

Haylock was the star but he was ably assisted by an important 69 from Brien while Nic Cosier and Jason Green also chipped in with 26 and 28 respectively.

Cosier joined the century-maker with the score at 1/19 and they took the tally past 50 before he became the first of three victims of Troy Tracey.

Green came in with Macquarie on 3/68 and made 28 but it was the partnership between Haylock and Brien that really set the Blues up.

They quickly found a rhythm and added 125 together before Haylock was finally dismissed, bowled by Bailey Edmunds for 119. His innings included six fours and four sixes.

His departure came in the 47^th over and left the score at 5/246. Newtown began to make inroads, taking three more wickets, but Macquarie managed to add 29 more runs in the final three overs.

Tracey and Edmunds were the stand-out bowlers. Tracey finished with 3/47 off 10, while Edmunds claimed the crucial wickets of Haylock and Brien to finish with 2/45 off 10.

Newtown’s reply started well. 

Mick Kempston and Dan Holland raced to 34 off the opening four overs before Kempston was caught. Holland continued to bat on, keeping the score ticking over until he was bowled by Heraghty for 71.

Wayne Dunlop and Mat Skinner also made good contributions of 38 and 55 but there wasn’t enough support from the tail to get them closer to the total. The last wicket fell on 230, 45 short of Macquarie.

Brien said consecutive wins had given Macquarie a much-needed boost.

“Prior to Christmas we just couldn’t get it to work but now there is a spring in everyone’s step and everyone is much happier,” he said.