Hamilton have completed their second successful Hawke Cup defence of the season after a first innings victory over Hawke's Bay.

Scorecard

The challengers chose to bat first at Galloway Park and started solidly to reach 36/0, but five wickets for 34 runs derailed their hopes of setting a competitive first innings total; Dodunski and Wallbank taking a pair of wickets each to leave the visitors stunned.

Just when it seemed Hawke's Bay might be rebuilding their innings at 104/5, another burst of wickets left them in further trouble at 121/9; Baker doing the damage this time as he added three wickets to his earlier dismissal of Edmondson.

The last wicket provided Hawke's Bay with their best partnership of the innings as Lennox and Stoyanoff produced 45 runs before the Walker brothers combined to end the Hawke's Bay innings for 166.

Hamilton settled into their first innings nicely as Desai and Elliot Santner added 57 for the first wicket, and Santner and Joe Walker 47 for the second.

When Walker departed with the score at 104/2, Watling joined Santner in the middle and their partnership set-up Hamilton's first innings victory.

The pair added 132 for the third-wicket and, by the time Watling departed for 58, Hamilton had already established a lead of 70.

While there were contributions from many throughout the order, the innings would belong to Santner, who occupied the crease for a tick over eight hours as he scored a superb 157.

By the time last man Baker was dismissed, Hamilton had made their way to 452; a first innings lead of 286 runs.

Hamilton's long stay at the crease would secure the Hawke Cup for several more weeks, with play being called at the conclusion of Hamilton's first innings.