"To be honest, I'm feeling extremely sore."
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Macquarie Cricket Club high-scorer Ben Strachan could be forgiven for feeling that way after slashing out one of the biggest totals seen in the RSL-Whitney Cup in recent memory on Saturday.
"I didn't think swinging a bat could hurt so much," Strachan laughed after picking up 188 runs during Macquarie's bounce back win over South Dubbo on Saturday.
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The pressure was on for Macquarie's batting line-up to come alive after a disappointing first round showing saw them fall to last year's premiers to start off the latest season.
"It was good," Strachan said of his side's turn-around.
"We needed to bounce back after the loss to CYMS last week, we didn't play well as a team in that game, so we needed that kind of return."
The Hornets, who got started with a win over Rugby last weekend, were unable to match Macquarie's firepower, with Josh Williams reaching the side's high-mark with a total of 42 en route to a 132/10 showing.
An early dismissal of Macquarie's opening batsman Ricky Medway seemed to pave the way for more success, but Strachan's quick entrance and red-hot start put to bed any hope of Souths catching up.
"As a whole team, I thought our performance was outstanding," Strachan said.
"We did the job with the bat and then just as importantly we did the job with the ball."
Despite the early loss of Medway, Strachan says there was little pressure thanks to the solid start from the opening pairing.
"Green was up the other end and he was going quite well and we've got that long batting line-up, we're a very handy batting team," Strachan said.
"It was more that myself, Rick and Jason, well, we're not all that quick between the wickets, we were trying to attack the bowling early then have the younger guys come in and push their singles, twos, threes."
"But yeah, I wouldn't say there was much pressure on me at all, I just went out and got myself in and tried to put in a score that we could defend and luckily enough it went my way."
Jason Green put up the next best offering for Macquarie from his opening spot on the batting roster, with a neat 56, with his side ending up at 321 for five wickets by the time all was said and done.
The result was a welcome showing for the side, that had been tipped to enjoy the new one-day format due to the strength of their batting line-up.
Macquarie will next have a chance to test their newfound success and stability against the early competition favourites in the form of the RSL Colts in the upcoming third round ahead of the switch to T20 cricket.