A summer of runs may beckon for Christchurch club cricketers after unseasonably warm weather at the weekend saw a plethora of high scores.

With pitches baking in near 30 deg C heat, batters took advantage of hard wickets and fast outfields to rack up runs in what could be a sign of things to come.

Old Boys captain Nic Clark made 140 in his side’s win over St Albans, while Sydenham’s Aarush Bhagwat hit 112 not out in victory against East Shirley and Burnside skipper Matt Hay scored 111 against Heathcote.

Hay then took 6/33 to bowl his side to victory, his off-spinners getting turn on a dry Heathcote Domain pitch.

He said he expected more of the same this season, with a forecast Super El Niño set to cause hot, dry weather, likely to play into the hands of batters, and later in the season, spin bowlers.

“If it comes to fruition, then it (the weather) is going to be a big factor,” said Hay.

“We’ve already seen that comparative to last summer, the outfields are really dry and potentially a little bit more high-scoring as a result.”

Hay said his Saturday, with a century and six-wicket haul, was “pretty unreal” as his side beat Heathcote despite conceding a 99-run first-innings deficit last week.

“We were quite a long way behind the game, obviously needed a result to really stake our claim in the two-day competition, so I was pretty fired up for it.

“It was good, it went perfectly to plan from a team point of view and personally.”

Clark’s ton for Old Boys almost single-handedly took his side to a total of 265/9 declared against St Albans, which they defended by 38 runs. The next best score was Connor Gatward’s 24.

Old Boys top the table after three rounds, less than two points clear of Burnside.

“Outright points are always a big thing in the two-day competition because you can’t really win that competition without outright points, so it was a good step in the right direction,” said Clark.

“Our team is looking pretty strong this year so it was nice to put in a performance that helped us win the game.”

Clark said he expected a batting-friendly summer ahead. On Saturday, five of the competition’s eight teams scored in excess of 200, with Burnside’s 369/9 declared the highest team score.

Riccarton were just six runs shy of chasing the 239 needed for victory over Lancaster Park in their draw, while Sydenham declared on 197/5 before bowling East Shirley out for 105.

“When you're seeing scores above 300 and then quite a lot of the other grounds around 200, I think it will be a theme with this hot weather,” said Clark.

“You just hope that the wickets and the blocks get enough water that they keep life in there for the seam bowlers, depending on what sort of irrigation is at these other grounds, it'll be interesting to see whether spin and the bat really dominate.”

Saturday’s first week of the fourth round of two-dayers sees Old Boys host Heathcote, while Burnside visits East Shirley. Riccarton plays Sydenham at Riccarton Domain while Lancaster Park visits St Albans at the Hagley nursery ground.

Two-day premiership points

Old Boys 33.82; Burnside 32.09; Sydenham 20.1; Lancaster Park 15.34; East Shirley 12.13; St Albans 11.24; Riccarton 9.93; Heathcote 9.43