AN unchanged Hawthorn-Monash University team took on a Melbourne team that was minus its premier bowler Mick Lewis, who was a late withdrawal on Saturday.

Hawks captain Simon Dart lost his fifth toss in a row and the Demons decided to bat, and surprisingly replaced Lewis with a batsman in perfect conditions at the Albert Ground.

The Demons were 0-103 at lunch and it was Dart who got the breakthrough 30 runs later.

Dart decided on a combination of Steven Spoljaric and Matthew Hewat, the two best-performed bowlers of the season, to reduce the run rate.

Melbourne fought back to be 5-204 from 67 overs at the tea break, and declared at 8-289 late in the day.

Opening batsmen Dart and Keith Perumal had to survive a nasty spell before stumps.

When Perumal was out caught in slips, Cookson came in as night watchman.

The Hawks were 1-17 at stumps.

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SCOREBOARD

MELBOURNE v HAWTHORN-MONASH UNI

At Albert Cricket Ground

C Davies (Melb) won the toss and batted

MELBOURNE 1st innings:

G Baldwin b Spoljaric ............54

A Kent ct Cookson b Dart ..........93

M Hill lbw Spoljaric ..............38

P Nevill ct Hewat b Bird ..........32

C Davies lbw Hewat ...............6

A Middlin lbw Hewat ..............0

R Cooper ct Dewar b Hewat .......12

P Halbish ct Cookson b Christie ....35

N Quinn not out .................10

S Sturrock not out ................0

Sundries (3lb, 3b, 2w, 1nb) 9

TOTAL ........(for 8 wickets dec) 289

FALL1-133 (A Kent), 2-182 (M Hill), 3-187 (G Baldwin), 4-198 (C Davies), 5-198 (A Middlin), 6-234 (R Cooper), 7-264 (P Nevill), 8-285 (P Halbish).

BOWLING: D Christie 14 4 40 1, R Bird 14 1 64 1 (1w), S Spoljaric 24 8 56 2 (1nb), S Dart 15 6 36 1, M Hewat 18 3 59 3 (1w), D Dewar 8 0 28 0.

HAWTHORN-MONASH UNI 1st innings:

S Dart not out ...................10

K Perumal ct Hill b Halbish......... 4

B Cookson not out ............... 1

Sundries ...................(2lb 2)

TOTAL (for one wicket) 17

FALL: 1-7 (K Perumal).

BOWLING: P Halbish 2 0 7 1, N Quinn 1 0 8 0, S Sturrock 1 1 0 0.