THE Blayney Bushrangers will be chasing quick wickets and the possibility of an outright result when their Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade match with City Colts resumes at Loco Oval this afternoon.

Colts will take a 34-run lead into day two with four wickets in hand after chasing and passing Blayney’s 138 all-out on day one.

Colts’ current position of strength owes much to Matt Stephens’ seven-wicket haul, while Callum Hotham (50 not out) will spearhead their hopes of some quick runs in the first hour of play today.

While Colts have already earned first innings honours, there is plenty of scope for both teams to pick up a big haul of bonus points.

There is also more than enough time for an outright win for either team.

Still chasing their first win of the season, Blayney have very little to lose according to senior batsman Jameel Qureshi. That is something that could work in their favour.

“If we can come out and clean them up quickly in the first half hour and keep that lead to 50 or so, it leaves us still in the game,” he said.

“From there it just takes one good innings and you can set up a bit of a chase for Colts, dangle the carrot there for them to have a go at. We’ve got nothing to lose.

“At the end of the day those sorts of decisions will rest with Birdy [captain Nick Bird]. He batted very well last week and hit a few very 

big balls, unfortunately he didn’t get the support he needed.

“Matt Stephens bowled very well. It has to be said there were a few pretty ordinary shots in there too, but he certainly bowled a great spell.”

Colts captain Daniel Casey revealed that he may pull a surprising rein before play gets underway today.

He is pondering a declaration, though he admitted he was still leaning towards batting on.

“With the way the bonus point situation is, now that we’ve won, it is almost pointless batting on in the first innings,” he said.

“But I don’t think I want to take the risk of an outright loss, so I’d prefer to probably bat on for an hour or so and hopefully try and put that idea out of reach.

“There won’t be any great tactical change for us with the batsmen we’ve got to come. All of the guys we’ve still got left score quite quickly and are pretty aggressive, so I won’t be giving them any special instructions.”

So far in 2014-15 one of the most noticeable aspects of the first grade competition is the quality of cricket generated by the Loco Oval surface, with big scores and big bags of wickets coming with regularity.

The Colts captain couldn’t be happier with the way the field has impacted their matches.

“The deck is just awesome at the moment,” Casey said.

“If you really bend your back and bowl with some purpose, as Stevo showed you can get a lot out of it with the ball. And there’s been a couple of massive scores there too, so if you apply yourself and pick the right ball, there’s no reason not to score runs.”