Miller was at his sublime best, carrying his bat throughout the 50 overs as his team reached 6-268 in the first knock.

But it could have so much different if a huge appeal for caught behind off Mohan Bandara in the sixth over had been given out.

North Ballarat managed to pick up Cole Roscholler for just 11 and a second successive low score from both openers could have put some pressure on the middle order again like last week, but it wasn't to be.

In reply, North Ballarat never really got into a groove in its batting, losing four wickets before the score got to 50.

When these two sides met last season, North shocked the top-of-the-ladder side piling on 297 runs in the qualifying final, but this time there were no heroics, despite some last-wicket hitting from Ash McCafferty, who smashed 52 off just 28 balls right at the end of the innings, but he couldn't do it alone, with North eventually all out in the 41st over for 168.

If Brown Hill could get its mis-firing middle order to gel they'd be hard to stop, but again the batting let the side down in what looked a fairly mediocre chase against East Ballarat.

Winning the toss and sending the opposition into bat, Brown Hill's bowlers led by Dean Romeril (1-21 off 10 overs), Jason Knowles (2-26 off 10) and Tom Bourke-Finn (1-20 off 10) tightened the screws, restricting East to just 8-156 off its full 50 overs.

But again, the batting let it down as memories of the opening round disaster came flooding back as Brown Hill slumped to 4-4, including three consecutive ducks in the middle order.

Adam Eddy was the chief destroyer, picking up three of the four wickets to at one stage have figures of 3-4.

Brown Hill staged a mini-comeback of sorts, but still were bundled out in just 22 overs for 73. Eddy finished off the tail ending up with figures of 5-15 in the big win.

Golden Point finally got on the board in the 2021-22 season, but it took it a long time to finally get on top of Napoleons-Sebastopol.

A patient 53 from Simon Ogilvie provided the base for the Pointies innings, but the total of 8-181 looked at best middling. Nicholas Pantzidis was the best of the Naps-Sebas bowlers with 3-43.

Naps-Sebas got off to the perfect start in the chase with the openers Daniel Scott (38) and Jacob Ramsey (20) putting on a 50-run opening stand, but when Ramsey fell, it started a collapse which Naps-Sebas never recovered from. The last nine wickets fell for just 60 more runs, with Naps-Sebas bundled out for 110 in the 42nd over.

Andrew Warrick's three quick wickets near the end of the innings saw the end come very quick.

Ballarat-Redan's strong form in season 2021-22 continued when it chased down Mount Clear's 170 in the 49th over, Jacob Smith top scoring with 45.

The Two-Swords seemed to have the chase well in hand throughout the innings, despite four wickets before the score reached 70.

One big partnership looked to be enough and it came when all-rounders Billy Jones and Chris Egan combined for a 71-run fifth wicket stand. From there, it looked a foregone conclusion with Matthew Aikman hitting the winning runs with nine balls to spare.

David Carton was the best of the Mount Clear bowlers with 3-36.

Dilan Chandima and Danza Hyatt sets up Darley's clinical victory over Buninyong with a 94-run opening stand.

Chamdima piled on 92 while Hyatt always looked in control in his 53. It meant Darley set a formidable target of 251 for Buninyong which always seemed out of reach.

In reply, Buninyong had plenty of players get starts, Liam Rigby top-scoring with 37, but the lack of a big innings proved decisive, all out for 173.