FINALS round's play in Ballarat Cricket Association club firsts have yet again served up a thrilling cliff-hanger season finale.
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Will the Bulls' barge into finals, shoving aside Napoleons-Sebastopol?
Is Wendouree going to spoil East Ballarat's long-awaited homecoming to a new turf pitch at Russell Square?
Did Golden Point really just hiccup with the bat?
And, who will prevail in the battle to avoid a slap with the wooden spoon?
Answers might surprise you in the day one round-up....
Brown Hill 7/295 (S Harwood 134, T Knowles 47, A Code 26 ; R Ali 3/72, M Cape 2/44) v Darley 65 (M McMahon 4/12, S Harwood 4/16) at Western Oval
OUTRIGHT victory is all but in Brown Hills' grasp now, which looks like Napoleons-Sebastopols' finals chances are over.
There is no word yet on the Bulls' next move - bat on a little or declare - but they already have a 230-run lead on the predominantly young Darley.
Shane Harwood completely and comfortably stole the show.
An injury spell did wonders for the Bulls' headline act who warmed up by taking 4-16 then made 134 runs with a century somewhat of a rare feat for Harwood on Australian soil.
Harwood completely belted Darley deliveries, smacking 8 sixes and 13 fours in his stanza facing 75 balls.
Young Lion Hayden Jamieson finally stopped Harwood's reign, catching him out off a Ryan Ali delivery.
Earlier, the Bulls bundled out the Lions in 31 overs. They were shell-shocked at 4-13 from the start.
Tim Hughes, batting number seven, was the Lions' top scorer on an unbeaten 24 runs.
Key bats Oli Smith, Matt Cape and Ryan Ali made a combined 17 runs in the top order.
Matt McMahon (4-12) and Harwood took their four-wicket hauls off 10 overs each.
Then the Bulls just unleashed in their trademark big-hitting style, despite losing Paul White and captain Ryan Knowles cheap and early.
Napoleons-Sebastopol 145 (J Eyers 49, L Rigby 43; J Tong 5/18, A George 3/41) v Mt Clear 4/68 at Napoleons Turf
THIS could spell trouble for Napoleons-Sebastopol, especially knowing Brown Hill already has first innings points this round (a day two wash-out would not save Naps' finals hopes now) and knowing Brown Hill is in a strong position to leap past them into finals on an outright.
Naps-Sebas must win. The Mounties need 78 runs to win and have four wickets in hand.
Naps-Sebas can take some relief in knowing Mounties skipper Nathan Yates (23 runs) and Matt Goonan (19) are back in the sheds.
But they must still confront seasoned campaigner Paull Jeffrey and handy bat Jarrod Burns, who will resume on day two.
Mountie Josh Tong inflicted the most damage, equalling his season-best haul of 5-18 with the ball. Tong nabbed the key scalps of Liam Rigby, Naps' captain Carman Mapatuna and effectively wiped out the Naps' lower order.
Rigby and Jake Eyers saved the Naps' innings.
They put on a 100-run partnership for the third wicket after Naps lost its openers for just six runs.
Rigby put on 43 runs off 91 balls and Eyers made 49 off 80 before he fell failing to add any runs after Rigby's dismissal, leaving Naps 4-106.
Mapatuna was ousted on a hit wicket. From there, Naps crumbled, all out inside 49 overs.
Golden Point 208 (D White 72, M Coppick 33, D Whapplington 29*; S Allan 6/62, R Hind 4/42) v Ballarat-Redan 1/9 at Eastern Oval
SLOW and defensive cricket made for a lacklustre start with the bat for Golden Point.
Ballarat-Redan's Simon Allan and captain Bobby Hind tag-teamed wicket-taking to put Point at 5-67 and needing a stand-out performer.
Daniel White and Mitchell Coppick accepted the challenge.
The pair served up an 82-run innings-saving sixth-wicket stand and took exciting risks to step up the run-rate.
White belted out eight consecutive fours to bring up his half-century on his way to 72 runs off 94 balls.
Coppick, in his first A-grade appearance this season, was a solid support act with 33 runs off 117.
Englishman David Whapplington held together the lower order with an unbeaten 29 runs.
Allan and Hind's experience stood out for the Combine.
Decorated paceman Allan shouldered the load, capturing 6-62 off 23.5 overs.
Hind nabbed 4-42.
White reappeared and struck early with the ball for Point, ousting Combine opener Al Edmends lbw.
The Combine will resume at 1-9 with Justin Marson and Chris Egan at the crease when their chase resumes.
East Ballarat v Wendouree 249 (J Peeters 49, J Oliver 31*, TL LeLievre 27, D Price 25) at Russell Square
HAWK Josh Brown had the honours of bowling the first ball on East Ballarat's brand new turf wicket at Russell Square. Decorated Red Cap bat Heath Pyke was facing.
The new pitch played well. Brown made it work in his favour, too, for a five-wicket haul.
Brown had Wendouree captain Cole Roscholler out for a duck and conceded few runs more in sending out Pyke cheap and last week's key scorer Andrew Pitson (17 runs) soon after - just as Pitson was building momentum.
Red Cap Jack Peeters finally steadied his team through the middle order via a strong of partnerships with Gavin Webb (24 runs), Tom LeLievre (27) and Matt Smith (23) to get the Red Caps to 7-143.
Perhaps fittingly, the Hawks turf designer and curator Jeremy Collier had the honours of dismissing the dangerous Peeters, who went out lbw on 49 runs.
The Red Caps remained steady through to the tail where last-choice batsmen Sam Peeters (20 runs) and Jordan Oliver (a career-high unbeaten 31 runs) put on a 50-run partnership for the final wicket.
Safe in finals, Wendouree could still have a task on its hands to defend its tally.
The Hawks made clear they want big scalps on their season exit and got one last week in Napoleons-Sebastopol.
Coronet City 159 (B Burns 48, T Johnson 47, B Dunbar 27; M Cations 5/50, L Lorenzen 2/28, A McCafferty 2/47) v North Ballarat 5/33 (B Burns 4/11) at Ballarat High School
SEASONED all-rounder and long-time leader Brendan Burns has ensure Coronet City finish this season fighting hard.
Burns served up 48 runs (1 six, 6 fours) off 83 balls to anchor a good City innings on their adopted home turf at Ballarat High School.
City put on a healthy 159-run tally - Tom Johnson, in his second City games this season, picked up where Burns left off with 47 runs.
Then Burns returned and struck North Ballarat hard with the ball.
Roosters' skipper Leigh Lorenzen, playing-coach Jason Crosbie and openers Mitch and Matthew Zakynthinos were among Burns' 4-11 bounty. Now the Roosters are in serious trouble at 5-33 with an 106-run deficit.
City and the Roosters have only tasted victory once each this summer. The Roosters finally earned their breakthrough win last round against Darley.
A win here is the only way for either team to dodge finishing on the club firsts' ladder bottom.