The Ballarat Bolts' winning streak came to an end on Sunday, but it didn't happen on the park.
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The team was forced to forfeit its round eight match against the Altona Roosters in the Cricket Victoria north-west one-day competition.
After a number of team members committed to play in a charity sevens event at Victoria Park, only a handful of player were left to fill the side.
Ballarat Bolts senior coach Jeremy Byrne said the club was forced to pull the pin.
"We ended up getting three teams in the seven's comp, but as for the senior side, we could only get seven or eight players so we made the early call on it," he said.
The forfeit marked the first competition loss in a number of weeks for the Bolts, who had been in red hot form.
Two weeks ago the club displayed premiership credentials after knocking over top-end Melbourne University to claim second spot on the competition ladder.
The Bolts won again the following week, dispatching Craigieburn by four runs.
Lillee Barendsen was once again exceptional, coming in at the tail-end to make 61 runs to salvage the club's first innings. It marked the second highest score of the season for the 14-year-old, who made a century in round three.
The win marked the fifth in a row for Ballarat, which sits second on the competition ladder.
The side will play top-placed Greenvale Kangaroos this weekend, in what could be a grand final preview. The two sides are well acquainted with each other, having met in the North-West Twenty20 final in November.
"It should be interesting," game Byrne said.
"We'll finish second or third so we've secured a semi-final position and it will be an exciting few weeks for us."
Byrne said it would be sweet to beat the Kangaroos after falling to them in the T20 final, but would not put too much pressure on this girls.
"As long as we are playing well we'll be happy," he said.