Desperate to end a premiership drought which goes back to 2001-02, Golden Point had a crucial six-wicket win over fellow finals contender Brown Hill at the Eastern Oval on Saturday.

GOLDEN POINT 4-189 d BROWN HILL 187

It keeps Golden Point second, and nine points inside the top four, as the battle for finals berths begins to intensify.

At the other end of the scale, the game cost Brown Hill its place in the top four and now sees the Bulls fifth as part of a mid-table bottleneck.

As well as the premiership points, the contribution of Sri Lankan international Saman Jayantha on debut was the big news for Golden Point.

Point could hardly have wished for a better start from Jayantha as he made 50 to help anchor a successful run chase.

Brown Hill ensured the Pointies a testing time with the bat by making 187.

Ryan Knowles, 38, topped the scoring in an even batting performance by the Bulls.

Shane Harwood again showed his worth as an all-rounder with 33, while Tim Knowles reached 32 and Peter Kane 27.

Brown Hill would have liked to top 200 after reaching 5-174, but wickets tumbled in a late flurry of the bat.

Simon Ogilvie claimed top order wickets to finish with 4-34.

Andrew Falkner chose the perfect time to get his first half century of the season in the club competition.

The opener hit seven boundaries on his way to 82.

Falkner linked up with Jayantha in a 97-run stand for the second wicket and then batted on to have Golden Point within reach of victory, which was achieved with 13 balls to spare.

Josh White finished on 23 not out.

LADDER (after 8 rounds): WENDOUREE 39 points, 2.3118 per cent; GOLDEN POINT 36, 1.7132; MT CLEAR 33, 1.3691; NAPOLEONS-SEBASTOPOL 30, 1.1568; Brown Hill 27 1.2311; Darley 25, 1.0481; Ballarat-Redan 21, 0.9655; East Ballarat 21, 0.9017; Coronet City 9, 0.5263; North Ballarat 3, 0.4703

CORONET CITY 8-283 d EAST BALLARAT 220

CORONET City brought up its first win of the season in a visit to East High.

Nathan Clarke was the hero, making his maiden century for Coronet City.

His 103 was naturally the backbone, but it was far from a lone hand as Coronet City set East an ominous target.

Brendan Burns chimed in with 48 and Matt Wheeler made 36 at the top of the order,

Clarke and Dale Jeffrey, 39, who were both recruited from Lucas this season, then combined to put on 86 for the fourth wicket.

Josh Brown was East's most prolific wicket-taker with 3-50.

Carl Haseloff, 41, and Mark Shaw, 15, gave East Ballarat a steady start with an opening partnership of 55.

While wickets remained intact as Mitch Walsh made 25, the run rate was always going to be issue.

This was not helped when Coronet City grabbed 3-9 to have the home team 5-111.

English import Tanzeed Ali had his best day so far with 38 and Peter Colbourne matched that figure down the order, but East ultimately came up well short.

Jeffrey completed a fine double with 4-39 and Burns took 3-40.

WENDOUREE 9-228 d BALLARAT-REDAN 209

The Red Caps survived the battle of fightbacks to stay at the top of the ladder.

While it was good new for Wendouree, it was not the outCome Ballarat-Redan needed as it leaves it mid-table and nine points outside the top four.

Ballarat-Redan had Wendouree at 2-15 at the City Oval. Jack Peeters, 31, and Gavin Webb, 35, provided some reprieve, but there was still plenty of work to be done at 5-101.

This is exactly what Grant Bell, 54, and Tom Le Lievre, 30 not out, did, putting on 83 to allow Wendouree to comfortably get past 200.

Chris Egan was Ballarat-Redan's major wicket-taker with 3-56.

For the Two Swords, it was a later order revival led by skipper Bobby Hind, 99, who kept them in game. Hind was the only one to get going among the top order as Wendouree swooped to have the home team 7-104.

It was then that Simon Allan, 39, joined Hind.

They put on a hard-hit 84 to give Ballarat-Redan a chance.

Allan was first to go and then three runs later it was Hind, and this was enough for Wendouree to hold on.

Peeters led the way with the ball, taking 3-32

NAPS-SEBAS 6-182 d DARLEY 155

CAPTAIN-coach Carman Mapatuna was instrumental in Napoleons-Sebastopol getting the points against the Lions at Napoleons.

Sent in, Mapatuna led an even batting performance with a top score of 49 to ensure a tough chase for Darley.

Liam Rigby made his highest score of the season with 44, sharing a 60-run fourth wicket stand with Mapatuna.

Matt Ringin had earlier kept the top order together win 33.

On a notable day for Sri Lanka in the BCA, Sajith Rupasingha led the way with the ball for Darley by taking 3-26 off his 10 overs.

In the run chase, Darley wickets fell steadily, with the third and fourth on 50 being pivotal to the outcome.

Darley always had some chance while another import, Oliver Smith, 50no, was at the wicket, but the scoreboard did not ticket over quickly enough.

Mapatuna rounded out his day with two wickets, but Rigby, 4-29, and Luke Corden, 3-17 off nine overs, were the big players with the ball. 

MT CLEAR 136 d NORTH BALLARAT 107

MOUNT Clear did what it had to do in a low-scoring affair against North Ballarat at Mount Clear.

With runs hard to come by, batting first proved crucial as a run chase was simply too hard for the struggling Roosters.

Opener Shaun Coffey continued on a solid season with the bat with a top score of 35 for the Mounties, signifying how hard it was to get runs.

Matt Goonan was next best with 34.

Ash McCafferty had a day out with the ball, snaring a prized bag of 5-16 in a memorable - easily his best return of the season spell of 8.2 overs . Ben Peverill also had an influence with 3-32.

North Ballarat needed a strong start and at 1-47 with Jakob Tidyman, 29, and Mitch Zakynthinos, 20, at the crease, an upset was on the cards.

However, once they were separated, the innings fell apart largely at the hands of recruit Josh Tong.

The former Victorian Premier player tore through the North Ballarat batting order, taking 5-18 off 7.2 overs.

North lost three wickets at 78 to be eight down.&#, but it did little more than add respectability to the scoreline

McCafferty led a late mini-rival with 16.