East Ballarat piled on 346 runs against the Pointies in Saturday’s Ballarat Cricket Association first grade clash after Golden Point won the toss and elected to send the Hawks in to bat.

Golden Point will need to produce a batting display from the top shelf if it is to gain victory and stay in the finals hunt.

It has not tasted victory since December and is staring down the barrel of a third straight loss. Following the shock loss to North Ballarat last weekend the Pointies ended the round a game outside the top four, if it is unable to chase down the Hawks total its premiership defence will be in jeopardy.

While Golden Point faces its own concerns over finals, East Ballarat are keeping its alive.

The Hawks are two games out of the top four, but if it can defend the lofty total it will draw level with the Pointies and a final round clash with Darley could prove an early elimination final.

But captain Josh Brown is not getting ahead of himself and said the side must simply focus on next Saturday.

“If a couple of results go our way this week it will be really helpful. But we play Darley in the final round which could come down to a decider (for a finals spot),” Brown said.

“It’s always in the back of your mind, but at the moment we’ve got to take it week by week, session by session.

“The end goal is finals, but you’ve got to do it bit by bit.

“If the batting clicks in the last three rounds, hopefully it goes our way.”

Openers Charles Murrie and Harry Ganley set up the strong total with a run-a-ball 152-run opening stand.

Murrie made 93 while Ganley posted 70 which gave East Ballarat a foundation to work from.

The Hawks had only hit the 200 mark once this season with the bat, but Saturday’s massive total came as no surprise to Brown, who felt the side’s prime movers were “due”.

“It was due I think. We had a lot of boys out of form and we finally put it all together.

“That’s been the biggest thing for us this year is getting a platform and then trying to go on with it instead of wickets falling continuously – which has happened too much.”

Brown said the bowling attack would stick to “boring cricket” to complete the job next Saturday.

Bowling tight and consistent lines was still paramount despite the plethora of runs on the board. He felt that, in combination with the scoreboard pressure would put East Ballarat in the box seat.

“Bowl the off-side channels and let them make the mistake. With 350 on the board, hopefully scoreboard pressure will get on top of them early.”