Rugby opener Imran Qureshi hammered the Pat’s Old Boys attack to all corners of the ground on his way to a maiden first grade century, finishing on 128 before finally departing after smacking 12 fours and two sixes.

He and Dean Watkins put on 183 for the second wicket, the skipper chiming in with 65 as he got his first season as full-time captain off to a flying start.

The Bulldogs’ pace attack backed that batting performance up with a clinical display in Pat’s Old Boys’ run chase, as only Adam Ryan (39) was able to muster any real resistance.

“That was definitely the start to the season that we wanted, to get that many runs and still have a lot of depth on the boundary waiting to bat was great,” Watkins said.

“It [Qureshi’s century] has been a long time coming and he’d be the first to admit that, we all know he’s got a lot of talent and it was great for him and great for us to see the way he batted.

“He picked off the short boundary perfectly, he played himself in early as he does and wasn’t stupid. We got to drinks at about 80 and we were talking about a run a ball from there to get up to 200.

“He started putting away all the bad balls and some of the good ones as well. He was hitting the ball really well, and the ones he didn’t hit well were falling safely anyway.”

Qureshi dominated an opening stand of 42 with Chris Albon (10) before Ryan made the initial breakthrough. However, from there the afternoon nosedived for Old Boys.

The Blayney-based left-hander plundered every member of the opposition attack, in particular former Bulldog Scott Traves (0-61 from seven), while Watkins was the perfect foil.

Pat’s Old Boys didn’t help their cause with 30 extras. New recruits Nathan Dennis (1-38), and Shane Broes (1-40), along with Ryan (1-27), were the only bowlers to taste success.

Chasing a target of more than six an over put mountains of pressure on Old Boys, and though Alex Miller opened his season with four wides, he didn’t take long to find his range.

Jim Stanbridge (2-23) bagged two wickets in his first over and Jason Press (2-22) did the same before Miller (2-25) picked up two himself. At that point the contest was effectively finished.

Watkins also grabbed a brace, finishing with 2-22.

Ryan showed a glimpse of what he will bring to his team after missing most of last season with injury, but sundries (20) were his best ally in a disappointing batting display.

“The bowling performance was pretty impressive too, Alex Miller bowled as well and as quick as I’ve seen him bowl, and Jimmy Stanbridge was moving the ball all over the place, when he swings it, it moves feet from side to side,” Watkins said.

“Jeremy Thackray was super-tight and really built the pressure on them, it turned it into a Twenty20 for them virtually, so I was pretty pleased from that point of view.”