Bulls finished Saturday’s opening day in a strong position at 2-70 chasing ORC’s 182 but Centennials need to score well beyond that target in their bid for second innings points.

Those points are the only thing that can propel the Bulls into the top four after the final round of the regular season is done and dusted.

Centennials currently have two big hitters at the crease in Ryan Gurney (23 not out) and Aaron Seymour (36 not out) and the duo have at least put their team in a prime position to take first innings’ points.

“We won the toss and it was a pretty simple choice,” Bulls captain Andrew Brown said.

“When you need to get 20 wickets that’s the best thing to do, try and get them out quickly and put on the runs.”

ORC endured a frustrating day at the Sportsground crease, with batsmen making starts but being unable to convert them into big scores.

Tim McKinnon fared best with 33. Others who contributed among the Tigers’ top and middle order were Trent Fitzpatrick (31), Dave Sellers (29), Jeremy Judge (22) and Brad Glasson (20).

At 4-141 ORC had enjoyed a slow but consistent day of batting but their last six wickets fell quickly.

“They started off quite quickly with Trent and Dave but by the end the team had batted 60 overs overs for their total. They were almost at 50 after their first 10 overs,” Brown said.

Jem Nash has continued his stellar season with the ball, taking 5-36 from his 20 overs. It’s his second five wicket haul of 2017-18.

Bulls were content to use only four bowlers throughout the day, and all picked up at least one wicket.

Seymour (2-36), Chris Redding (1-52) and Gurney (2-35) were the other bowlers used.

McKinnon removed Brown (6) and Troy Kenny (0) in the same over to give the Tigers a dream start, but in the space of just 10 overs Gurney and Seymour have made a big impact.