Corowa was destroyed for just 77 in 39 overs by the bottom-placed Blues, with Gathercole taking 5-29 from 19 overs to tear through the Roos’ middle order.

Greta batsman Justin Triffitt said Gathercole didn’t give Corowa any room to breathe.

“It was a quick deck, no doubt about it,” he said.

“Matt bowled a tight line for the whole innings, he really restricted them early on and gave them nothing.

“There was certainly a lot for the bowlers early on, the new ball was doing a fair bit.”

Greta changed its line-up around in a bid to salvage something from its season, bringing young medium pacers Liam Barber and Joe Moyle in after impressive junior Country Week campaigns.

They took a wicket each, with Triffitt praising the pair as the future of the club.

“Those two have really matured in the under-16s, they put in a fantastic effort,” he said.

“We’re a close group, and with the season being what it is for us it’s really exciting to see two young guys get out there and do as well as they have done.

“Hopefully from here we’ll be able to get a roll on and wreak a bit of havoc.”

Matthew Wilson topscored with 24, but his run-out triggered a middle-order collapse, with Luke Melville (13) the only other player to break into double figures.

Corowa hit back late with the ball to give itself a glimmer of hope, but the Blues should still get home from 4-59 at stumps.

Triffitt said while there was plenty of life in the pitch, he had faith in their remaining batsmen to bat the day out.

“We’ve got some good bats yet to come, Gathercole is pretty experienced, so hopefully we can get ourselves over the line,” he said.

“If we’re still there at the end of the day it will be a huge result for us.”

There were similarly low scoring affairs elsewhere, with Myrtleford taking first innings points despite mustering just 84 against Rovers United.

Mark Drage (4-16) and Josh Schonafinger (4-20) did the damage.

But Rovers only offered 71 in reply as Ben Paul (5-22) and Nelum Peishantha (5-29) ran riot.

Yarrawonga-Mulwala’s Ben Doyle took 3-28 to bundle Bruck out for 109.

Paul Marshall finished the day unbeaten on 51 as the Lakers cruised to 1-71 at stumps.

City Colts and Wangaratta Magpies are locked in a close tussle at Bill O’Callaghan Oval, with the Colts at 3-28 chasing 118.

The Magpies were in good shape as Simon Patterson (41) and Rhett Mitchell (33) helped them to 2-97 before they lost their last eight wickets for just 21.

But Zac Guilfoyle got the defence off to a flying start, taking 3-18 from eight overs.