AshColl Second XI bowler Ben Peek sends down a ball to a St Andrew’s College Colts XI batsman at the Ashburton Domain on Saturday. Photo supplied.Ashburton College First XI is in a good position heading into day two of its match against Riccarton High School First XI.

The two sides met at the Ashburton Domain on Saturday, with AshColl bowling out the visitors for 76 in the 32nd over.

Opening bowler Harry McMillan bowled Riccarton’s opening batsman and captain in the fourth over, with the score on 12 and wickets continued to tumble at a steady pace.

Chris Spittal took two wickets for just seven runs off his six-over spell and an excellent spell of bowling by captain Tom Middleton as Riccarton’s middle order yielded a five-wicket bag for him, with just 11 runs conceded in his six overs.

In reply, AshColl battled hard for runs as the pitch slowed throughout the day and were 101 all out in the 44th over, giving them a first innings lead of 25 runs.

Runs were spread evenly throughout the order with Devon Flannery on 12 and Isaac Bazley on 10.

A batting highlight was James Forbes’ massive six into the hockey ground – it was one of only three boundaries scored.

AshColl’s aim was to bowl at Riccarton again by the end of the day, and that plan paid dividends.

A fired-up Forbes and McMillan removed Riccarton’s opener and number three batsman for single scores, Spittal took another and Angus Jemmett pitched in to take another in the last over, leaving the visitors at 37/4.

The match resumes this Saturday.

Meanwhile, in the battle of the lower grades, St Andrew’s College Colts batted first and were all out for 148.

The best bowling for AshColl’s second XI was that of Robert McDonald with 28/3 off 10 overs, followed by Jakob Smith 29/3 off 10. AshColl was bowled out for 121, the highest scorer being Jack Soal 29, then Thomas Henderson 21.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 6 March 2018