THE Tigers will need to bat their hearts out this weekend if they want to chase down the substantial total set for them by Benalla Bushrangers.

After winning the toss and electing to bat on an absolute road at McNamara Reserve, the Bushrangers declared their innings at 5/234 from 67 overs.

Benalla’s skipper Brayden Stepien set the tone early, pulling out all the shots in the book to blast his way to a quickfire 60 from 63 deliveries.

He would eventually be trapped LBW trying to reverse sweep Geeth Alwis.

Benalla’s opener James Carboon was less aggressive, steadily accruing runs, allowing Ross Cavill to score with freedom.

Cavill would end the day unbeaten on 73* from 147 deliveries.

Charlie Bull (10) and Jonty Priest (1) were kept relatively quiet, but Lucas Ham picked up a handy score of 31 from 62.

The Tigers’ bowlers worked hard all day, battling away on a deck which was not giving them much at all.

Alwis bowled the lion’s share of the overs, but was handily rewarded, finishing with 4/40 from 23 overs with an economy of 1.73.

Gregor Fraser picked up the other wicket, bowling eight overs for 26 runs, while Glenn White (0/23 off eight), Cooper Thomason (0/18 off eight) and James Neary (0/39 off 10) toiled hard all day.

The declaration came after the 67th over, with Benalla trying to snag some early wickets before stumps, but were unsuccessful.

The Tigers will resume at 0/9, with Fraser (3*) and Seamus Phillips (6*) at the crease.

Given the pitch’s leaning towards the batting side, Ovens Valley skipper Dylan Bursill was surprised when the declaration was made.

“The pitch is pretty flat at McNamara at the minute, the ground's pretty quick so there’s value for shots,” he said.

“If you look at the scores across the board at McNamara over the last few weeks, I was a bit surprised they declared at 230, I don’t know what was going on there.

“Ross Cavill was batting well, so we’re glad we didn’t have to bowl those remaining eight overs at them because they could’ve got 50 extra runs, and 280’s a lot more than 235.

“They were going at five an over until we got the first wicket, then we really reined it back - by the end of the day it was only about three or three and a half an over, so we did well to pull it back.”

A strong effort will be required from the batting unit, with Phillips and Fraser able to dig in and accumulate runs.

Geeth Alwis is the big wicket, with 586 runs to his name averaging 97.67 this season.

Bursill said the Tigers’ batting depth would be imperative.

“Hopefully we can get a good start with Greg and Seamus and go from there, because I think we bat right down,” he said.

“We went with an extra batter this week, played 12, and we bat right down to nine - someone’s got to bat at nine who’s actually there to bat.

“I think we’ve got a strong enough batting order to chase it down, we’ve just got to build partnerships and don’t think it’s going to happen in the first 10 overs, we’ve got to be there in the last 15, that’s the key.”

The innings resumes with the Tigers on 0/9, needing a further 226 runs for victory – play recommences at 1pm at McNamara Reserve.