COLLEGE has a strong grip on the Dundas Cup after the first two days of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade Grand Final at Monivae Turf last weekend.

At stumps after two days play, College is 2-37 with a first innings lead of 64 after the Eagles bowled well on Sunday to restrict the powerful Grampians batting order in its chase of the College’s first innings total of 196.

Day one dawned blustery, hot and sunny and Charles Murrie called correctly at the toss of the coin, quickly deciding to bat first.

Murrie and Heath Schmidt began the match against Stefan Burnell who bowled from the northern end with Ryan Burgess also taking the new ball.

Schmidt was the first to fall as he offered Burnell a return catch in the fifth over with 13 on the board.

Murrie (17) followed his partner back to the pavilion on the half hour mark as he left the ball outside his off stump but was horrified to see it jag back to hit the top of his stumps to give Burnell another wicket.

Carl Joyce was introduced into the attack and the all-rounder produced one of the most memorable spells in a grand final, as his battle with Hamish Bailey was a highlight of the first hour.

Bailey refused to hand over his wicket to Joyce, dead batting the ball time after time trying to wear the bowler out, but with 15 next his name Bailey was trapped in front of his stumps by Joyce, as the Eagles slumped to be 3-60.

Adrian Burn and Russell Bennett joined forced in the middle to try and recover the innings for the Eagles, with no necessary need to score quickly.

Harrison Wood was introduced into the attack from the southern end and produced a spell of leg spin bowling that captivated the batsmen and crowd.

Wood delivered 25 unchanged overs, as he looked to bamboozle the batsmen and removed Burn (46), Jack Austin (zero), Kane Uebergang (24), Lachie Brown (nine) and Bennett (58) to claim 5-51 and help the Pumas dismiss College for 196 just before stumps on day one.

Grampians had six overs to see out play, but Lachie Watt had both Pumas opening batsmen back in the pavilion by the time stumps were drawn.

Will Collins (two) chased a wider ball outside his off stump and feathered the ball through to Angus Brown, while the last ball of the day had Joe Sutherland (10) trying hit the cover of the ball with a cut shot but handed another catch.

Sunday dawned much cooler than the previous day and the College bowlers were all over the Grampians batsmen with a diligent line and length that made the batsmen play every ball.

Joyce and Zac Burgess began the day in the middle for Grampians and Joyce was soon on his way, as Henry Bensch bowled the all-rounder neck and crop for only two to hand the Eagles the perfect start to the second day.

Burgess was joined by Tom Polkinghorne and the pair began the revitalisation of the innings with Burgess the aggressor, sending sent some straight drives to the boundary while Polkinghorne was content to turn the strike over.

With the dismissal of Burgess for 35, the Grampians batsmen failed to make the most of the opportunity to bat on a very good wicket and only Polkinghorne (58) offered any real resistance, as the Pumas were dismissed for 132, a deficit of 64.

“I’m pretty happy with our performance to date, especially with the way that Lachie Watt bowled,” Murrie said.

“We’ll go away this week and look after our process and we are looking forward to another great day next Saturday, as the first two days have been a real grind.

“There is still a lot of cricket to be played in the match and while it’s disappointing to have a deficit after the first innings, we knew the game was going to be a grind between two very good teams,” Grampians captain, Will Collins said.

“We know what we have to do next Saturday to win and we’ll be doing everything in our power to dismiss College quickly, and then get in and chase down whatever the target is.”