NEITHER Ballarat-Redan nor East Ballarat are quite sure what to expect from each other tomorrow.What they do know is the value a win carries in this festive season one-day battle at City Oval.The victor can be assured top-four status in Ballarat Cricket Association club firsts for Christmas while the defeated will have two weeks to ponder what they can do better.Ballarat-Redan welcomed back experienced all-rounder Matt Hoey with middle-order batsman Lee Brown and handy bowler Luke Whinney in selections last night.The trio is set to strengthen the Combine team that escaped with a narrow victory against Golden Point last week.Acting captain Cam Landry is back in charge after an impressive all-round performance, taking 4-12 backed up with 64 runs, not out.Combine captain-coach Shane Skontra said his team could not afford to get in strife again."It'll be a close game and really important in the context of the year," Skontra said."East has got some good young kids and they're pretty dangerous too ... Cam Landry certainly did steer us home last week but I hope all our senior players can step up and do that."East has kept an unchanged line-up after a seven-wicket win against Darley.Hawks' captain Simon Irving has been impressed with his crop of rising stars and said pitting them against Ballarat-Redan would be a big mid-season test.East enters the match on three wins, punctuated with a rain-interrupted draw with Mt Clear, and apart from a round one match against Wendouree, has not had much exposure to the competition leaders."Ballarat-Redan are a bit of an unknown quantity for us at this stage and like us, they seem to be improving every week," Irving said."It's a pretty big game and we want to go into Christmas with a win but it won't be easy."One-day games are always a bit dicey and really competitive games."Newly arrived premier cricket recruit Daniel Forster made a steady return to BCA firsts last week by opening the batting with 33 runs.He has potential to add bite against an experienced Ballarat-Redan bowling attack in a match likely to keep supporters on edge.