Launceston and Westbury both came close to scruffing hold of the game before the day’s play wrapped up, leaving the Lions with a target of 258 on what is expected to be a drizzly second day.

A 119-run fifth-wicket partnership between Richard Howe and Jake Williams formed the backbone of Westbury’s innings, taking the Shamrocks into a strong position after Tom Gray (4-37) had removed Nathan Parkin and James Tyson in consecutive balls.

The pair spent three hours each at the crease to see their side to a solid 257, with Howe falling just eight runs short of his first ton of the season. 

“We both had a couple of lives early and were probably a little bit lucky, but thankfully for us we cashed in from there which was pretty handy,” Howe said.

“If someone had have said at the start of the day we’d make 260 out there you would have taken it, especially as we were 4-60 at one point so to get 260 we’re really happy.

“Launceston have some pretty dangerous batsmen so we need to be on our game and not take anything for granted.”

Howe’s opposite number Alistair Taylor praised Gray, Luke Badham and Tom Bennett for their efforts and said his side would not flinch at the run chase.  

“We’d probably say it’s evenly-poised I think, we’re pretty comfortable with the score they got and we think we can chase that down,” he said.

Taylor said his batsmen would look to replicate the Howe-Williams partnership.

“That’s an exact blueprint of how you go about it, we need a couple of boys to dig in and get some big scores.

“They batted extremely well and didn’t give us too many chances and played some shots, that’s the way to go about it I think.”

Richard Howe 92

Dane Anderson 40

Jake Williams 39

Tom Gray 4-37

Tom Bennett 2-28

Luke Badham 2-63