The Bulls chased down East Ballarat’s 8-124 at Brown Hill’s Progress Park on Tuesday night.

However, Brown Hill did not quite do enough to earn a direct path through to next Tuesday’s semi-finals.

With the closest winning run margin, Brown Hill has to play the state’s premier twenty20 regional team Wendouree tonight.

The winner will join Ballarat-Redan, Mt Clear and Napoleons-Sebastopol in the semi-finals.

Teenager Blake Thomson led the run charge for East Ballarat, which was in all sorts of trouble early.

With Matt McMahon and Jason Knowles on fire with the ball, East crashed to be 3-5, 5-12 and then 6-22 before Thomson made the opening round’s highest score of 71 and with his brother Darcy, 32, led a rescue mission.

McMahon took 4-17 off his four overs and Knowles 2-13.

Brown Hill was shaky in the middle order to be 5-59 before Nick Hyden, 39, and Darcy Little, 20, stepped up to put on 49 for the sixth wicket.

The Brown Hill and Wendouree match has been transferred from Wendouree Reserve’s number two oval to Brown

Hill owing to the better state of the ground and better facilities for players and spectators with 37 degrees forecast.

Ballarat-Redan, 4-170, was a decisive winner over Coronet City, 119, as was Mt Clear, 8-180, against North Ballarat, 59

Napoleons-Sebastopol, 3-125, has eight wickets to spare when it passed Golden Point, 106.

LEADING PERFORMERS:

BATTING: Blake Thomson (East Ballarat) 71, David Sproules (Ballarat-Redan) 55, Anthony Taylor (Naps-Sebas) 53, Andrew Vandebeyl (Mt Clear) 52, Allister Edmends (Ballarat-Redan) 44, Matt Ward (Mt Clear) 41, Nick Hyden (Brown Hill) 39, Ben Trew (Naps-Sebas) 37, Darcy Thomson (East Ballarat) 32, Paull Jeffrey (Mt Clear) 31, Daniel Forbes (Coronet City) 30

BOWLING: Matt Ringin (Naps-Sebas) 4-16, Matt McMahon (Brown Hill) 4-17, Lincoln Blake (Mt Clear) 3-9, Chris Egan (Coronet City) 3-14, Rob Ryan (East Ballarat) 3-21, Brendan Burns (Coronet City) 3-25, Leigh Lorenzen (North Ballarat) 3-35 

BUNINYONG and Dunnstown won their ways through to the BCA district twenty20 sem-finals.

Buninyong, 2-168, had the better of VRI Delacombe, 7-111, and Dunnstown, 3-169, overcame Burrumbeet, 134.

Luke Reynolds smashed 90 for Buninyong, while Dunnstown’s Paul Phillips made 88 and his teammate Dale Glasson snared 5-18. 

Buninyong is now home to Dunnstown and Lucas meets lucky loser Burrumbeet at Vic Park number four on Tuesday night for places in the final.