A disastrous middle section of the season had the Blues reeling prior to Christmas but a string of good performances has seen them consolidate third spot on the ladder with one round remaining.

Their upset win over the competition leaders was started on day one when teenage seamer James Hughes snagged six wickets, but it was finished off by a composed knock from wicketkeeper-batsman Hamish Smith (48no) on Saturday.

Macquarie resumed on 4/73 in reply to Colts’ day one score of just 137, however there were doubts whethed Dalton Medcalf would be able to bat if needed after he aggravated a knee injury in the McDonalds Megahit the previous evening.

In the end the youngster didn’t need to make a decision, as Smith combined firstly with skipper Keiran Brien and then the veteran Ben Taylor to see Macquarie home with not only the win but also two bonus points.

“It's always good to beat Colts and I think that will be a big boost mentally for us. But we still need to win next week before we worry about finals,” Brien said.

“In the past we might have relied on ‘Greeny’ (Jason Green) to get us home or maybe even stumbled and not chased that target down but I think winning the comp last year has settled us down a bit.

“We’ve learned to win games, and you need that against Colts because they have a lot of experience and generally find a way to win as well.”

Brien praised Smith’s innings, which started late on day one and continued through to the end.

“I didn’t say much to Hamish, he knew what he had to do and he did it well,” Brien said.

“The one thing I did mention though was the need for us to be moving our feet and not get caught on the front pad, because Colts tend to bowl pretty tight lines.

“We had the target of the bonus points, and that probably helped as well because we didn’t spend long periods getting bogged down.”