Bathurst won three of the four sports on offer during Thursday's action to take a 231-169 advantage but will battle to keep their lead against an Orange squad who will fancy their chances across several of Friday's events.

The hosts took out the tennis (9-3), basketball (61-36) and athletics (63-37) while Orange, as expected, proved too strong in a 43-18 win at the Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium.

Bathurst go into day two knowing full well they overcame a bigger overnight margin to beat Dubbo College last week.

For that reason Bathurst High School principal Ken Barwick enters the second day with an air of cautious optimism.

"It's been productive. Tennis got us off to a great start and our basketball team had a great game compared to last week. I'm really proud of the netball girls who fought hard and also had a better effort than last time around," he said.

"We did great in the athletics and we've ended up with an even better day than our second day last week. However, we finished last Thursday with a deficit of 68 and today we only lead by 62.

"If we can come back from that sort of deficit then I'm sure Orange can as well because they're an unbelievable team in hockey.

"They've got five state representatives and came second at the State Championships, so that's as a difficult task for us early in the morning. I'm glad it's first up though because it tells us what we need to do over the two soccer games and the rugby league."

Orange High School principal Chad Bliss sees Friday's list of events as a great opportunities for his squad to hit back.

"We've got boys soccer, girls hockey and rugby league to come tomorrow. There's points that can be made up in those. Girls soccer is strong for the Bathurst team so it could come down to the wire," he said.

"Our netball team is really strong. I'm really happy with the results, the sportsmanship and the way the games have been played.

"For us that's what it's about. Winning is great - and we've had our fair share of wins over the last 96 years - but the kids have enjoyed themselves."

Bathurst's tennis squad backed up their 8-4 success over Dubbo College in the opening Astley Cup tie with an even bigger victory on Thursday, cementing their place as a formidable squad.

Orange took the fight to Bathurst during the opening half of the boys basketball but after the main break the home side surged clear.

It was a different story in the netball where Orange always had the edge on Bathurst, gradually increasing their margin with every quarter.

The Orange netballers' experience showed with their passing through the midcourt and their ability to create turnover on defence.

In athletics Bathurst won both boys and girls relays to cap off a strong day of Astley Cup action.

Hockey starts Friday's action from 9.15am, with boys soccer (10.45am), girls soccer (12.15pm) and rugby league (2pm) to follow.