Bulldogs Captain Daniel Solway won the toss and sent the Magpies in to bat at Bankstown Memorial Oval.
Once again it was Ryan Felsch (4 for 53 off 14) who decimated the top order batsmen, taking three of the top five batsmen’s wickets – including a stunning caught and bowled. The other bowlers were not to be denied either and Brad Simpson with 3 for 42 and George Balderson with an incredibly economical 3 for 20, rounded out the wicket-taking.
While wicketless, Liam Marshall provided so much pressure with his pace and only gave away a miserly 19 runs off 10 overs.
The Magpies hobbled to be all out for 138 in the 52nd over, with 44 overs left in the day’s play.
In reply, the Bulldogs batsmen made the run chase harder than it should have been, and lost wickets despite getting decent starts.
Young Ryan Freeman made his first grade debut on Saturday after consistently scoring very highly in seconds. Freeman (22) joined Solway (27) and Ahmed (37) in getting starts but not quite going on with the job.
Nevertheless, the Bulldogs only need eight runs to gain first innings points as they are 6 for 131 at the close of play.
Next week should include some tactical manoeuvring to see if the Dogs consider going for outright victory.
