MACQUARIE Hotel captain Josh Hyde led the way as his side regained top position on the Mid North Coast Premier Cricket League ladder.
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Hyde (71) provided the backbone of Macquarie’s 8-166 before their bowlers all chipped in to dismiss Taree United for 99 in the 29th over.
He had to overcome the challenge of inconsistent bounce from one end of the Wayne Richards Park pitch at the beginning of his innings.
Ethan Hyde (15) and Tom Salter (26) provided a solid opening stand of 30 to get their side off to a good start in challenging conditions.
“The ball was landing in some areas of the pitch and doing all sorts of things,” Hyde said.
“I was a bit battered and bruised for the first 10 overs and had to dig in for a bit.”
Hyde’s said his knock was the best he had felt since Christmas.
“I’ve been a bit scratchy and the wicket was really hard and you could only attack from one end,” he said.
He then backed up his effort with the bat with two important wickets at the top of the innings as the third-placed Taree side slumped to 3-5.
“The key moment for us was going to come in the first 12 overs and we won that,” Hyde said.
“After they were 3-5 they were always going to struggle to chase anything down.”
Hyde said the win was one of their best all season although he admitted they still had some improvement to do with the bat.
“I’d like to see us score 200,” he said.
“We’ve found it hard all year at Wayne Richards Park to bat our innings out and accelerate a bit towards the end of the innings.
“It’s not a big problem, but most of the games in the semi-finals will be won or lost in the last 10 overs with bat or ball.”