ILLAWARRA CRICKET
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A wagging tail has put Balgownie in a commanding position in their top-of-the-table clash with Dapto at Judy Masters Oval.
The Magpies were struggling at 7-130 at the tea break, before Dylan Treadwell and Shannon Crewdson stepped up to guide the ladder leaders to 265.
Treadwell smashed 70, while Crewdson hit a season-best 68 after leading run scorer and skipper Adam Berwick had earlier made 49.
Patrick Hammond starred with the ball for Dapto, taking 5-93, but Berwick was satisfied with the total the Magpies had put up.
"It was probably the hardest wicket we have had to bat on in a long time at Balgownie," Berwick said.
"We had a bit of a storm on Friday night and on top of the rain, it was really sticky and slow.
"We did it tough for a while, but we hung around a bit at the top of the order and reaped the rewards later on when the wicket dried out a little bit.
"It is good that we have finally put it together down there. We have got the potential and we generally bat to 11."
Balgownie's effort with the bat was rewarded late in the day when they left a Dapto side, without NSW Country representative Dale Scifleet, reeling at 4-49 at stumps.
"I was thinking about declaring and giving us a few overs to bowl at them," Berwick said.
"With the wicket playing that way we wanted to knock over a few of their top-order guys early before the wicket dried out next week.
"The way it worked out, we got a few overs at them at the end of the day and took a few wickets."
Port Kembla are in a tight tussle with Corrimal. Port scored 113 and have the Cougars at 4-51.
Defending premiers Helensburgh (9-208) batted out the first day against University, as Wollongong (9-254) did likewise against Northern Districts.
At Figtree, 66 from Graeme Batty helped Keira to 176 before Wests Illawarra finished at 4-41.