North Ballarat has stunned Mt Clear in a semi-final to earn a Ballarat Cricket Association firsts grand final berth.
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The Roosters fought back after making a disappointing 138 runs on Saturday to rip through Mounties' powerful batting line-up for just 99 at the Eastern Oval on Sunday.
Ash McCafferty was the hero for North, with the opening bowler taking a match-winning 5-25 in an unchanged spell of 20 overs.
Roosters coach Adam Eddy described McCafferty's performance as one of the best he had seen.
Eddy said mateship and self-belief, factors they had spoken about during the season, had been instrumental in getting over the minor premier. He said it had been hard going, but North had stuck to the task.
North Ballarat captain Leigh Lorenzen said picking up two wickets at the end of the first day had been pivotal in initially keeping his side in the match and then taking the control.
He said although North kept wickets tumbling, Mt Clear's depth meant he did not feel comfortable until the last wicket fell.
Lorenzen said the pressure was always going to be on after failing to get what he believed was a minimum target of 200 runs batting first.
The grand final will be North's first since 2002-03.
Mounties set the tone for the opening day as North stumbled to be 2-23.
Matt Zakynthinos, 26, and Connor Miles, 21, steadied the innings with a third wicket stand of 33, but once they were separated wickets fell constantly.
Jason Crosbie fought hard late to be 23 not out, but the last three wickets fell for two.
Mt Clear shared the wickets around, with Jarrod Burns taking 2-3, Darren Fletcher 2-23 and Ash George 2-48.
Mt Clear resumed at 2-17 on Sunday and looked comfortable after adding 29 without loss.
North then made its move, picking up 3-6 and with its tail up kept creating opportunities. With McCafferty firing in hand grenades and the spin of Connor Miles (3-26) keeping Mt Clear guessing, the false shots kept being made.
NORTH BALLARAT 138 d MT CLEAR 99
NORTH BALLARAT
L LORENZEN c Smith b Thomson 5
J TISSERA c Griffith b Yates 9
M ZAKYNTHINOS b George 26
C MILES c Moyle b Fletcher 21
M NOLAN lbw b Fletcher 19
D PRICE c Burns b George 4
J CROSBIE not out 23
S JACKSON run out 14
A EDDY c Smith b Burns 6
M NICHOLSON c Smith b Burns 0
A McCAFFERTY c & b Burns 0
Sundries 11
Total 138
Fall: 13, 23, 66, 70, 90, 94, 125, 136, 138, 138.
Bowling: N Yates 9-2-25-1, D Thomson 12-5-29-1, A George 24-7-48-2, D Fletcher 19-8-23-2, J Burns 1.3-0-2-3
MT CLEAR
JM Smith b AS McCafferty 18
B Moyle c M Nolan b AS McCafferty 2
DN Fletcher lbw b A Eddy 5
T Griffith c M Nolan b A Eddy 22
NA Yates c A Eddy b AS McCafferty 0
J Burns c J Crosbie b C Miles 27
MG Ward c MJ Nicholson b C Miles 6
CJ Townrow c M Nolan b AS McCafferty 2
L Sandwith c S Jackson b AS McCafferty 1
DJ Thomson c J Crosbie b C Miles 8
AJ George not out 8
Sundries 0
Total 99
FOW: 9 (B Moyle) 14 (DN Fletcher) 46 (T Griffith) 47 (NA Yates) 52 (JM Smith) 67 (MG Ward) 81 (CJ Townrow) 83 (J Burns) 83 (L Sandwith) 99 (DJ Thomson)
Bowling: AS McCafferty 20-6-5-25, J Crosbie 4-2-0-4, A Eddy 8.5-0-2-44, J Tissera 0.1-0-0-0, C Miles 6.2-1-3-26