Looking to strengthen its hold on a top-two spot in its pool, Rugby did just that with a 28-run win over Lithgow Lightning at Wade Park.

Glasson did his part as he hit an unbeaten 78 off 63 opening the batting, then McIntyre helped Rugby to defend its 140-run total as he claimed 4-19 off his four overs.

It was Glasson's best knock across all formats this season and his best performance in the Twenty20 format Royal Hotel Cup for some time - his top score in 2020-21 being 20.

Given the effort came after Rugby was 2-17 early in the contest, it was one which certainly impressed Bulldogs skipper Ryan Peacock.

"He batted really well, it's probably the best I've seen him bat in the last couple of years. That is what I was envisioning having him opening the batting," Peacock said.

"I just thought it would be a good opportunity to get him in form, a bit of time out in the middle, and yeah it paid off, which was really good to see.

"Glasso is a pretty good thinker, I let him know he was opening the batting and he knows how to go about T20 cricket, so I let him do his own thing."

While Glasson's knock included one six and sending the ball to the boundary rope six times, it was his running between the wickets which was a real highlight.

Firstly with Imran Qureshi (18 off 19) then Lachie Coad (12 off 11) and Jameel Quershi (17 off 14), it carried Rugby to 5-140 off its 20 overs.

"It was actually pretty constant sort of flow [from Glasson], there weren't many boundaries getting hit, there were a lot of twos and threes towards the end which did accelerate things a little bit. He ran really well in between wickets which just kept the runs ticking over," Peacock said.

"At Wade Park, being such a big ground straight, if the fielding side isn't on you can really challenge them with your running between wickets.

"It's been one of those seasons where it's been hard to get in that rhythm, so I think that will be really good for him for the rest of the year and going into finals hopefully."

Needing to score a tick over seven runs an over for victory, Lithgow was hoping for a good start. That's not what happened as Rugby had Lightning at 2-12.

McIntyre took both those scalps on his way to climbing into third on the Royal Hotel Cup's leading wicket-taker table and finishing with his best figures since making his debut in the competition last season.

"He's a pleasure to captain in T20 cricket, especially at Wade Park because he knows how to bowl there pretty well. The wicket was a little bit tacky which helped him with his off-speed balls," Peacock said

"I used him for three of his overs in the power play and he took two wickets early and once the field is out, he's pretty hard to get away. He gets a lot of wickets caught in the deep, but I think that's a testament to the way he takes the pace off the ball when people are trying to go after him."

There was one point when Lithgow number four Koby Hunter (33 off 23) looked like he might haul his side back into contention as he whacked a pair of sixes and three boundaries, but Peacock threw McIntyre the ball. The young talent delivered.

"It could have been tight if he [Hunter] kept going, but I brought Hughie back on to take that wicket and he took the wicket it," the skipper said. "The beauty of it was Marty [Jeffrey] bowling at the other end as well, he bowled his four overs for 15 which always helps, the run rate was always going up."

Lithgow finished at 7-112, handing Rugby its second win of the Royal Hotel season.

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