George Rhodes enjoyed a trio of successes with the ball but his side, North Canberra Gungahlin, came off second best on the opening day of the ACT Premier Cricket Douglas Cup match away to Western District.
The Worcestershire all-rounder has now established himself as the Northies leading wicket-taker for the campaign with 11 victims in five appearances since travelling out to Australia in October.
He has so far registered the impressive figures of 3-50 in 12 overs, two of which were maidens, against Western District.
North Canberra elected to bat on winning the toss and opener Rhodes made only two before becoming the first wicket to fall with 19 on the board.
The visitors reached 58-1 but then nosedived to 79-6 and 124-9 and it needed a last wicket stand of 40 to lift them to a more respectable total of 164 all out in 60.3 overs.
Rhodes then enjoyed his treble success with the ball when Western District launched their reply.
But by the close they had already nudged ahead in reaching 167-3 from just 35 overs.
The fixture will reach its conclusion on Saturday December 5 with Rhodes looking to add to his wicket tally and surpass his previous best figures this winter of 4-53.
But North Canberra are facing the prospect of conceding a possible sizeable first innings deficit and then having to bat out the remainder of the day to avoid defeat.
