Tuggeranong remembers fallen colleague with bowling bonanza

Thornton died last week following a heart attack on the field during a fourth-grade match.

It rocked the tight-knit club and the first-grade team paid tribute to Thornton with a minute's silence before play began at Chisholm. And despite an emotionally draining week, the players rallied to secure first-innings points against defending premier Queanbeyan.

Shane Devoy and Chris Prescott ripped through the Queanbeyan batting order, claiming the final six wickets for just 13 runs.

Queanbeyan was bowled out for 131 before former Bluebags all-rounder Blake Dean led Tuggeranong to 8-158 at the end of play.

The majority of Tuggeranong players were at Thornton's funeral on Friday and were fired up to pay tribute to him.

''It's been a tough week, the first couple of days there was just a lot of raw emotion,'' stand-in captain Michael Barrington said.

''That's part of being at a good club, everyone has come together and we've got the memories and stories to remember Glenn.

''Everyone accepts that's the way it is. In a perfect world, it would never happen, but we have to accept that it's part of life.''

After taking time to reflect on Thornton's life, Tuggeranong got off to a slow start and struggled against the power of Queanbeyan openers Jono Dean (21) and Aaron Ayre (44).

It was left to Prescott to remove both and it triggered a lower-order collapse. Devoy (4-16) and Prescott (4-53) left the Bluebags reeling as they spectacularly fell apart. They lost the last six wickets for 13 runs and the last five wickets for just three runs.

Blake Dean left brother Jono and Queanbeyan at the end of last season for a fresh start at Tuggeranong.

He copped plenty of sledging from his ex-teammates, but was the shining light in the Tuggeranong innings, finishing with an unbeaten 80.

''The bowlers did an excellent job for us and Blake really saved our arse there at the top of the order,'' Barrington said. ''We've set it up for next week and we really want to get the full 10 points. So, we'll see how that goes.

''The pitch wasn't doing too much. We thought we'd be out there for longer than we were but the guys bowled really well and their total was maybe 100-120 under par.''

Queanbeyan has lost the bulk of its team which has dominated all three forms of the game.

But skipper Ayre was fuming with the way his players threw their wickets away as the lower order crumbled. But, if Queanbeyan can remove Blake Dean early next week and claim the final two wickets, he remains confident they can steal points.

''It's not good enough from our side and hopefully we learn that we have to apply ourselves more,'' Ayre said.

''We've got to be willing to hang around and tough it out because today we didn't have that.

''We'll try to get something out of it, build some confidence with some runs on the board next week and have a crack, depending on how the wicket is.

''A lot of things have to go right for us, so we'll just wait and see.''