Rochester recruit Adam Ward made his presence felt in his second game for the club, blasting 130 runs off 92 deliveries against Bamawm-Lockington United.
Ward peeled off 10 fours and six maximums, driving Rochester to an imposing day one total of 252 at Windridge Oval on Saturday afternoon.
In a spot of bother at 5-69 after some miserly bowling from Simon Van Duinen and speedster Jeremy Felmingham, Ward and Adrian Pappin (43) combined for a valuable sixth-wicket partnership of 82 to keep Rochester in the game.
Hunting just their second victory of the season, Rochester was dismissed in the 68th over, Van Duinen finishing with figures of 3-39 and bowling well in tandem with Luke Thompson, who snared a tightly controlled 2-22 off 15 overs.
Second-place BLU batted eight overs, with Declan Pearse (2) and Liam Hamilton (16) to resume next week.
Day one
Rochester 252 (Adam Ward 130, Adrian Pappin 43) plays BLU 0-18 (Simon Van Duinen 3-39)
14°C