Blacktown’s Deklyn Nash and Marcus Jones were also strong, guiding their side to victory with three wickets each, but it was Gazard’s five-for against a strong Dubbo outfit at Molong that stole the opening day.

Gazard helped restrict the Macquarie Valley giants to 9-116 from their 50 overs, with the ACT representative team then knocking over the total just five wickets down.

Blacktown, too, were equally impressive.

Nash and Jones took 3-12 and 3-21 respectively against Wagga Wagga, at one stage reducing their opposition to 3-1 before the Riverina-based side managed to score an all-out total of 74 - 60 runs short of Blacktown’s innings. Liam Vella’s 36 was the pick of the Blacktown batters.

Update on Tuesday's games and potential ground changes:

Lachlan gun Koby Johnstone played a lone hand for his side in a tough loss to Camden at Glenroi Oval, with the Parkes junior hitting a well-made 50 as his side attempted to chase 160, a score aided by Ethan Brendish’s 43.

They fell short, though, bowled out for 114.

In other games during the opening day’s play, Mitchell started its campaign in stunning fashion, bowling out Shoalhaven for 56 before chasing down the total five wickets down.

Parramatta and South Coast duked it out in a thrilling encounter, the former claiming a narrow two-wicket win chasing 105 for victory.

In their first outing at the carnival, the ACT under-15 girls’ side was defeated by eight wickets by Mosman.