General external expectations are that this Ballarat Cricket Association club firsts final should be finished, shield awarded with celebrations/commiserations underway not too deep into day three.

BROWN HILL 267 v NAPOLEONS-SEBASTOPOL 118 and 4-18 at Eastern Oval

Players are less convinced.

Brown Hill captain Ryan Knowles hoped his bowlers would keep bowling as well as they had through this final to avoid batting again.

The Bulls were ahead by 131 runs by stumps on Sunday, after Napoleons-Sebastopol's second batting stanza was crippled by Matt McMahon's 4-5 haul late in play.

Napoleons-Sebastopol captain Carmen Mapatuna said his club was proud in what players had achieved this season.

Anything could happen.

And - while a massive Napoleons-Sebastopol comeback is highly unlikely - anything could still happen to prevent this match unfolding in the fashion many presume.

A defiant batsman or two could remain at the crease niggling Brown Hill's attack. Naps-Sebas has six wickets left, with Mapatuna to resume the rebuild and players still to bat include Jake Eyers, who made 49 runs in a first innings against Mount Clear this season, Luke Corden, who has made a couple of good tallies this season, and late promotion Geoff Martin from consistent good starts in the seconds.

Momentum in cricket can be a funny thing.

McMahon definitely had it on Sunday evening, ripping apart almost all who faced him.

Stumps stopped him.

The Bulls' pacemen have been rested this week. Knowles is keen to have them refreshed to keep their bite.

Naps-Sebas too, had a week to regroup and plot their next move - the way they want to finish playing this game.

The first hour's play at Eastern Oval on Saturday will be very telling.

THE STATE OF PLAY

Ballarat Cricket Association senior grand finals

FIRSTS: BROWN HILL 267 (Alex Code 84, Ryan Knowles 54, Pete Kane 35, Shane Harwood 33; Luke Corden 4-54, Matt Ringin 2-57, Justin Ringin 2-59, L Rigby 2-64) v NAPOLEONS-SEBASTOPOL 118 (Neil Chalmers 29, Tyler Dittloff 28; Matt McMahon 4-44, Shane Harwood 3-33, Jason Knowles 2-/9) and 4-18 (Matt McMahon 4-5) at Eastern Oval

SECONDS: MOUNT CLEAR 93 (N Baird 48*; A McDonald 7-36, D Price 2-26) v WENDOUREE 273 (M Smith 102, D Price 50, A Pitson 41; S Nicholson 4-54, C Snowden 3-44, J Long 2-63) and 6-206 (A Pitson 86, M Smith 50*; J Long 3-45) at City Oval

THIRDS: GOLDEN POINT 8-321cc (A Irish 76, C Ronan 68, J Hartnell 47, C Pentland 47, S Cue 32*, P Frary 25; P McFarlane 3-77, B Butcher 2-37) and 5-200 (A Irish 91, J Hartnell 75*; N Willowhite 2-17, B Reid 2-33) v BALLARAT-REDAN 82 (C Pentland 4-22, P Frary 2-6) at Brown Hill

FOURTHS: GOLDEN POINT 223 (C Wakefield 91, A Maggi 48, K Taylor 31; T Griff th 4-64, S Murphy 2-26, J Woodhead 2-56) v MOUNT CLEAR 240 (S Murphy 57, J Trevenen 52, A McCaw 44, T Griffith 32; A Maggi 5-84) at Alfredton 1

DIVISION ONE: BALLAN 269 (Z Graham 92*, M Nolan 49, J Graham 36; R Waters 3-38, A Hill 3-46) v LUCAS 193 (N Young 42, MA Gittins 38, J Pring 36, K Wilson 32; Z Graham 3-39, M Snaith 2-31, B Loughnane 2-57) at White Flat

DIVISION TWO: BALLARAT FIRE BRIGADE 197 (G Curtis 57, J Savige 49; S Miles 5-23, J Payne 2-19, R Antonio 2-38) v CRESWICK IMPERIALS 159 (P Antonio 51, D Mitchell 32; B Stevenson 6-50, A Beggs 3-48) and 5-102 (J Antonio 30; A Beggs 3-18, S Goold 2-28) at Sebastopol 2

DIVISION THREE: 

GAME ONE: VRI DELACOMBE 4-119 (C McKenzie 56, B Green 34*; N Dixon 2-14, J Lee 2-15) d DUNNSTOWN 9-116cc (M Egan 44, N Lee 31; J Smith 2-12, D Austin 2-19, J Lee 2-26) at Delacombe

GAME TWO: DUNNSTOWN 3-146 (N Dixon 56*, S Britt 43*; D Austin 2-25) d VRI DELACOMBE 7-145cc (T Knight 62*, J Lee 25; A Sheehan 2-18, S Britt 2-21, N Dixon 2-33) at Delacombe

DIVISION FIVE

GAME ONE: WENDOUREE 3-169 (B Yates 56, B Gifford 52, N Hynes 32*) d GOLDEN POINT 7-168cc (S Neale 57, R Osborne 34, F Coppick 32; T Davis 4-36, B Godson 2-16) at Alfredton 2

GAME TWO: GOLDEN POINT 5-169 (R Osborne 61*, S Neale 58; D Green 2-29) d WENDOUREE 6-167cc (B Yates 38, N Hynes 35, B Godson 27; S Harris 2-32) at Alfredton 2