In almost all games of cricket, the wicket is usually fairly placid and offers a little assistance to either bowlers or batsmen.

However, the pitch at the Grange has a personality all its own, and one look at it on Saturday was enough to convince Crookwell captain, Jake Patterson, to bowl first against the Tatts Stags.

This proved a wise decision.

The new-ball pair of Josh Patterson and Jacob McGregor, though slightly erratic, extracted a wicket and showed that the pitch, particularly from the northern end, was hostile.

But it wasn't until the pace was taken off the ball that it became nigh on unplayable.

When Danyon Bush was brought on to bowl left-arm orthodox, with Stuart Parsons' wily slow-medium pacers from the other end, the batsmen found scoring especially tricky.

Bush consistently got the ball up at the batsmen's chests from back of a length, while Parsons' seam movement, combined with the erratic pace off the wicket, made aggressive shots extremely risky.

Stags captain Dan Cooper played a lone hand towards the end of the innings, in which he capitalised on some good fortune to strike several sixes, but his partners at the other end fell regularly.

Eventually the last man in, Dan Hunt, was run out to end the Stags' innings at 137.

"When we went out to bat, we all said this is a pretty generous total," Josh said.

"Anything over 130 is tough to chase in Crookwell, so we went out knowing it wouldn't be easy to get."

With Hunt and Andrew Tivey sharing the new ball, the Stags made life difficult for Crookwell in the opening overs.

Jake was caught in the slips off a ball from Tivey which reared nastily off a length, before Braiden McCarten copped a similar delivery from Hunt and was caught behind.

Soon after his brother was dismissed, Josh strode in with the score at 2-4, knowing that he and opener Marty Travers needed to play within themselves.

"We realised that you've got to play sensibly and play normal shots," Josh said. "Eventually it'll get easier, and that's what happened."

Josh's 23 turned out to be crucial in snatching the momentum away from the Stags, while Travers defied his usual swashbuckling instincts for an unbeaten half-century.

"I thought [Travers' innings] was really good, he showed a lot of discipline because he's usually really aggressive," Josh said.

"I thought it was one of his best innings for us."

After Josh was dismissed, a collapse threatened as Will Croker came and went for a duck. However, young Zac McGregor picked that moment to play his best innings of the season.

With six fours and one six, McGregor's 59 not out drove the nail into the Stags' coffin as Crookwell sealed victory with six wickets and ten overs remaining.

"We know that Zac and his brother [Jacob] are aggressive and we knew Zac could get the job done," Josh said.

"We didn't tell him to go out there and attack, it's the way he plays and it's good to see it come off for him."

The win catapults Crookwell into second place on the ladder, one spot above the Stags and one below Hibo Cricket Club.

"[The win is] really satisfying, we walked into that game knowing that it's going to be a good game, being two of the top teams," Josh said.

"Especially against the Stags, who won the T20 competition, it gives us a lot of confidence knowing we can beat any team."

Meanwhile on Saturday, Hibo demolished the Astor Rats by 219 runs - courtesy of a barn-burning Luke Hayward century - and the Warriors defeated the Gordon Goats by four wickets in the other First and Second Grade fixtures.

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