A STRONG recovery with the ball has placed Beechworth’s A grade side in a winning position in their two-day clash with City Colts.

Sent out to field in warm conditions at Baarmutha Park, the Wanderers were put onto the back foot in the opening overs following a 59 from 71 balls from Colts opener Mitch Giggins.

First drop Aaron Thrum (22 off 104 balls) occupied the crease while Josh Newton (29) kept the runs ticking over.

But as Thrum fell for the third wicket of the innings 40 overs in off the bowling of Tim Cogger, the tide began to change.

Just two more batsmen would reach double figures before the Colts were bowled out for 165 within 58 overs.

Beechworth captain Brenton Surrey said his side showed great resolve to turn things around in their favour.

“We didn’t bowl too well early, but we recovered well,” he said.

“It took us a while to get into our work which is not ideal, full credit to their top three or four who applied themselves and made life hard for us.

“Mitch [Giggins] played really well for nearly a run a ball and Josh [Newton] didn’t look like getting out.

“Once we got Josh out we got our stuff together a bit more and we were able to bowl better.”

Kayde Surrey was extremely economic for his 2/18 off 15 overs while opening bowlers Cogger (3/25) and Matt Ryan (3/51) did most of the damage.

Faced with a testy period before stumps, openers Jackson Cull and Clancy Ellett took the conservative approach to survive the 14 overs ahead of them, finishing unscathed on 0/16.

Surrey said it was vital to have 10 wickets in hand for the second day’s play on Saturday.

“It was good maturity, they faced a similar amount of balls each and it was a good result,” he said.

“Clancy was a little more watchful than he normally is, he likes to hit the ball if it’s there to hit and Jackson’s a steady bat.”

The top order were all in the runs in Beechworth’s last hit out against Yarrawonga Mulwala, led by Cull’s 57.

Surrey said their success against the Lakers gave them further confidence in chasing Saturday’s total, but the message before play on the weekend would be a simple one.

“Bat well this week and we win,” he said.

“The guys are starting to spend a bit of time out there which is key to get the feel of things, but it all means nothing if we can’t do it this weekend.

“Hopefully everyone can have a good hit, poke our way along and pass them.”

First ball will be bowled at 1pm at Baarmutha Park.

Both B grade and C grade will return to play this week after a league wide bye last weekend.

B grade will take on Rutherglen at Mayday Hills while C grade will head to Benalla to face Benalla Red.