Geelong passed Ballarat’s 250 with three wickets to spare in the provincial division 50-over clash.

For the second time in two years openers Richard Oliver and Sean O’Neill set up the Geelong win against BCA.

While last year Oliver made a century, this time it was O’Neill’s turn to reach three figures as he made 107 as part of an opening stand of 119.

Captained by former BCA batsman Chris Bambury, Geelong needed 57 runs off the last 10 overs and despite losing wickets in the 47^th, 48^th and 49^th overs maintained a run rate of close to six an over in a tense finish.

Tom Lievre (Wendouree) made the initial break-throughs on his way to 3-40 off 10 overs.

Ryan Knowles (Brown Hill) then claimed 2-32 in dying overs.

Earlier, opening batsman Leigh Lorenzen (North Ballarat) led from the front with 89 before being run out.

Ryan Knowles was also dismissed in the same way after reaching 55.

Lorenzen helped lay the foundation for the innings in a 90-run second wicket stand with Le Lievre, 33.

He then continued on with Knowles to get the total to 164.

Jason Knowles (Brown Hill), 25, and Jacob Eyers (Napoleons-Sebastopol), 20, then kept the runs flowing past 200.

GEELONG 7-253 d BALLARAT 250

BALLARAT

L Lorenzen run out 89 

H Givvens lbw b N McGuane 5

T Le Lievre c & b CJ Williams 36

R Knowles  run out  55

M Nolan lbw b BG Hauenstein 0

J Knowles c S O'Neill b BG Hauenstein 25

J Eyers c JM Smith b A Fergusson 20

J Hayes run out  3

WE Rogers c RK Oliver b BG Hauenstein 4

P Priyankara b BG Hauenstein 0

A Eddy not out 1

Extras 12

TOTAL 250 

Overs 49.4

Fall: 27 (H Givvens) 117 (T Le Lievre) 164 (L Lorenzen) 167 (M Nolan) 218 (J Knowles) 222 (R Knowles) 230 (J Hayes) 245 (WE Rogers) 246 (P Priyankara) 250 (J Eyers)

Bowling: NT Lynch, 7-2-0-33, N McGuane 5-0-1-20, CJ Williams 10-0-1-43, A Fergusson 7.4-0-1-40, CJ Bambury 10-0-0-56, BG Hauenstein 10-0-4-53

GEELONG

RK Oliver c & b WE Rogers 52

S O'Neill c M Nolan b T Le Lievre 107

MS Lineker c A Eddy b T Le Lievre 21

PC Richards c J Eyers b T Le Lievre 0

A Fergusson c M Nolan b L Lorenzen 23

J Rossi c J Hayes b R Knowles 20

BG Hauenstein c T Le Lievre b R Knowles 5

JM Smith not out 9

CJ Bambury not out 2

Extras 14

TOTAL 7-253 

Overs 49.3

Fall: 119 (RK Oliver) 173 (MS Lineker) 174 (PC Richards) 191 (S O'Neill) 220 (J Rossi) 241 (BG Hauenstein) 242 (A Fergusson)

Bowling: A Eddy 2-0-0-23, J Knowles 6-0-0-29, H Givvens 10-0-0-32, P Priyankara 3-0-0-19, WE Rogers 6-0-1-34, T Le Lievre 10-0-3-40, T Bourke-Finn 3-0-0-15, R Knowles 6.3-0-2-32, L Lorenzen 3-0-1-21