MACQUARIE Hotel will resume on day two of their clash with Port City Leagues Magpies in a strong position.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
When Fraser Carroll and Michael Pelley resume at the crease at Laurieton Oval, the Macca will be 100 runs in front of the Magpies.
Macquarie captain Josh Hyde said the focus would be on quick runs before sending Leagues back in again.
“Fraser Carroll gets an opportunity to score his maiden 50 in first grade cricket,” he said.
“He’s batted really well for us this year without luck and will deserve it if he gets there.”
Fraser Carroll gets an opportunity to score his maiden 50.
- Josh Hyde
Hyde said his decision on when to declare would be based around time and not whether his side had scored enough runs.
“You just never know what’s going to happen with the weather, so we’ll look to get them back in there again within an hour or so,” the captain said.
“We’ve got a couple who have to leave early, so we want to leave ourselves enough time.”
Out at Wauchope, Port Pirates will resume at 6-45 and still 82 runs behind Wauchope RSL’s first innings score of 127.
Despite the scoreline, Pirates captain Shane Williams remains confident of a positive outcome.
“I think we can still get the runs required,” he said.
“We’ve got a couple of really quality bats coming in so if you had have said to me we needed 4-80 I’d be pretty comfortable with that.”
Adam Carrall (2) and Dave Firkin (1) will resume at the crease with Jamie Carroll, Rob McColl and Dom Ashe still in the shed.
Williams said it was important for his batsmen to put a price on their wicket as Pirates have had successive late-day batting collapses in recent weeks.
He knows they have to continue to work hard.
“We’ve been letting ourselves down,” he said.
“So as long as we get first innings points we aren’t concerned how long it takes to get there. Either way it’s going to be difficult for either side to get an outright now.”
Wauchope RSL captain Matt Day said his side was in a good position, but knows they still have some work to do.
“I’d rather be in our position than theirs, but they’ve still got a few good bats to come in,” he said.
“We’ve got a job to do so hopefully we can take these final four wickets and get batting as quickly as we can.”
Day said thoughts of an outright win were “always in the back of your mind, but we’re focused on first innings.”
“When it comes our turn to have a bat the first 10 to 15 overs will dictate the rest of our innings.”