CLUB FIRSTS ROUND-UP

GOLDEN POINT 9/205 (AJ Warrick 54*, A Falkner 46, D White 29;  J Oliver 3/40, E Johnson 2/26, T LeLievre 2/35) d WENDOUREE 166 (A Pitson 57, G Bell 32, L Brady 27, S Ogilvie 4/26) at St Patrick's College 2

KEY POINTS

*Point claims top ladder sport after shutting down Wendouree for a 39-run win in this highly-anticipated one-versus-two showdown. This is the first time these clubs have met since round one last season but Point has sharpened its edge on the Red Caps, who last beat Point in round nine of the 2011/12 season.

*This game served up serious see-sawing in momentum. The Red Caps had the Pointies in serious trouble at 7-108 - Point lost the last five of these wickets to add a mere 15 runs. Andrew Warrick put on a match 59-run partnership with Dan White for the eighth wicket and Point was back in the game. The Red Caps' reply was stop-start in flow.

* Andrew Warrick was the Point batting hero. He stepped in when Point was falling apart for an unbeaten 54 runs and his first half-century this season. Simon Ogilvie was the Point bowling hero. Ogilvie's 4-26 included key scalps of captain and opener Cole Roscholler, big-hitter Grant Bell and dangerous lower-order dwellers Matt Smith and Eamon Johnson.

*Promoted batsman Andrew Pitson was the Red Caps' standout. Pitson, who has been averaging 42.3 runs in the seconds, served up 57 runs (1 six, 8 fours) to open the batting in his firsts' season debut. He fittingly brought up his half-century by belting out a six.

BROWN HILL 5/114 (J Knowles 37* S Allan 2/31) d BALLARAT-REDAN 112 (G Wakeling 43  M McMahon 3/2 T Bourke-Finn 3/25 D Ferris 2/43) at City Oval 

KEY POINTS

*Victory reinforces Brown Hill's desperate final bid to reach finals. The Bulls will remain just outside the top four with Darley in the final round and will be praying for Mount Clear to pummel Napoleons-Sebastopol to make room.

*Bulls' strike bowler Matt McMahon set this up, taking 3-2. This is no typing error. McMahon conceded two runs in his nine overs with the ball. He ousted Ballarat-Redan opener Anthony Taylor and middle-order man Jayden Hayes for ducks. Ryan Allan at least had a few runs (19) before he was caught off a McMahon delivery. Bulls' bowler Tom Bourke-Finn was also pretty tight with the ball, nabbing 3-25 off his 10 overs.

*The Bulls went for big batting in belting out a reply. Ballarat-Redan picked up wickets, but the Bulls'kept the run-rate going to reach their 113-run target inside 25 overs. Jason Knowles top-scored with 37 runs (7 fours) off 36 balls.

EAST BALLARAT 6/222 (B Whittaker 76 M Shaw 47 M Walsh 28  M Ringin 3/47 L Corden 2/39) d NAPOLEONS-SEBASTOPOL 8/211 (K Eyers 51 T Dittloff 40 L Rigby 38 M Ringin 25  J Brown 3/37 J Collier 2/20 O Hayes 2/51) at Napoleons Turf 

KEY POINTS

*Well, East captain Brad Whittaker did say if his team could not play finals, he wanted his Hawks to shake up the finals series. Whittaker set the tone from the top order after his openers made a shaky start. He put on 76 runs (1 six, 6 fours) off 98 balls, and formed a pivotal 81-run partnership with the experienced Mark Shaw, who made 47 runs.

*The Hawks made a sharp start with the ball. Josh Brown nabbed two of Naps-Sebas' top-four batsman, Oli Hayes and Colbourne chipped out the other two.

*Play got tight. Kyle Eyers revived Naps with a half-century adn Tyler Ditloff's late 40 runs picked up here Eyres left off. When Ditloff fell, Naps had two wickets left and 16 runs to make. They simply ran out of steam.

MOUNT CLEAR 0/71 (S Coffey 36*) d CORONET CITY 70 (A George 5/23 A Gunn 3/8) at Mount Clear 1 

KEY POINTS

*The Mounties did what the Mounties had to do. Win to seal a finals spot.

*This match was over inside a combined 46 overs. The Mounties took 11 overs for openers Les Sandwith (17 runs) and Shaun Coffey (36) to pass City's tally.

*Mountie Ash Gunn whipped through City's top-order bats in his 3-8 haul and Ash George ripped apart the bulk of the rest in his 5-23.

DARLEY 110 (R Ali 33 M Cape 32  L Lorenzen 5/2 M Cations 2/9) v NORTH BALLARAT 6/108  (H Jamieson 4/16 S Rupasingha 2/24) at Darley Park 

KEY POINTS

*North Ballarat looks to have captured its first season win on the back of Leigh Lorenzen's stunning 5-2 haul.

*Once again, Darley's batting load was left to Ryan Ali (33 runs) and captain Matt Cape (32 runs) as the Lions' post-Christmas woes draw on.

*Roosters' brothers Mitch (24 runs) and Matthew Zakynthinos (23 runs) made a statement in a 60-run opening partnership. The Roosters lost the next two wickets for just three runs but experienced players in the order kept the chase steady enough.