It all comes down to this | Ballarat Cricket Association firsts teams

The Ballarat Cricket Association is primed for a grandstand finish to the regular season, with three sides vying to keep their premiership dreams alive.

East Ballarat leads the pack in third but is in the most precarious position.

It travels to play Golden Point, who will leapfrog the Hawks with a win.

The Pointies corrected its woes from the first half of the season to rise from the depths of the ladder and enter the must-win game on a five-match winning streak.

The hosts sit fifth, six points off East Ballarat, though with a superior percentage, currently 1.138 to 0.933.

Recent history favours East Ballarat, who was a 28-run victor in the reverse fixture earlier this year.

On that day, a turning deck proved the Pointies' Achille's heel, with their left-hand dominant middle-order undone by Hawks' off-spinner Lewis Hodgins.

Batting fragility remains a concern for East Ballarat and shapes as a deciding factor in the final-round affair.

The Hawks are averaging 172 across their past three games, with Harry Ganley the only half-centurion in that time.

Ganley's 630-run tally for the season is nearly double that of the Hawks' second-leading runscorer Lewis Hodgins 347 runs at an average of 26.69.

The pair are the only Hawks batters to be averaging over 20 this season.

Sitting, watching with a degree of comfort is fourth-placed Napoleons-Sebastopol, who enjoy a more straightforward finals equation.

Win against the bottom-of-the-table Brown Hill, and it will qualify for finals for the first time in five years.

Naps-Sebas was a dominant 136-run winner when the sides last met, though it has struggled in recent weeks.

Losses to Buninyong and Mt Clear before last weekend's rain has Naps-Sebas searching for a first win in a month.

It could still make finals should Brown Hill celebrate a second win of the season, but it would need East Ballarat to beat Golden Point.

GOLDEN POINT: Andrew Warrick(c), Joshua White, Daniel White, Andrew Falkner, Simon Ogilvie, Daniel McDonald, Jack Bambury, Joshua Pegg, Noah Maggi, Leo Turnbull-Gent, Manjula De Zoysa

EAST BALLARAT: Adam Eddy, Tristan Dixon, Harli Givvens, Jacob Eyers, Kyle Eyers, Chris Jerram, Harry Ganley, Tom Walton, Lewis Hodgins, Joshua Brown, Abhilasha Rodrigo

BALLARAT-REDAN: Chris Egan(c), Billy Jones, Jayden Hayes, Zac Jenkins, Matthew Aikman, Nathan Patrikeos, Riley Fisher, Matthew Sandford, Bailey Hosemans, Max Riding, Jack Landwehr

DARLEY: Jake Oorloff, Rahmatullah Khwaja, Ben Longhurst, Bradley Barnes, Andrew Pickett, Drew Locke, Brodie Ward, Mitchell Ward, Dilan Chandima, Hasitha Wickramasinghe, Madushanka Ekanayaka

MT CLEAR: Jacob Smith(c), Thomas Le Lievre, Ashley George, Darren Fletcher, Matt Goonan, Matthew Ward, Lachlan Payne, Jack Jeffrey, Leigh Kentish, Ben Hassell, Tim Mani

WENDOUREE: Ryan Simmonds(c), Heath Pyke, Mathew Begbie, Tom Batters, Sam Miller, Oliver Mahncke, Jack Peeters, Sam Peeters, Cole Roscholler, Liam Wood, Zack Maple

NAPS-SEBAS: Daniel Scott(c), Stuart Calder, Corey Hucker, Luke Corden, Nathan Doonan, Jacob Ramsey, Jacob Coxall, Sajith Dissanayaka, Janath Tissera, Viraj Pushpakumara, Lachlan Storey

BROWN HILL: Daniel Scott(c), Stuart Calder, Corey Hucker, Luke Corden, Nathan Doonan, Jacob Ramsey, Jacob Coxall, Sajith Dissanayaka, Janath Tissera, Viraj Pushpakumara, Lachlan Storey

BUNINYONG: Harrison Bond(c), Daniel Kitchen, Robert Hind, Bailey Ryan, Liam Mason, Liam Brady, Liam Rigby, Xavier Moon, Rupinder Singh, Darcye Moloney, Mitchell Tierney

NORTH BALLARAT: Mick Nolan(c), Leigh Lorenzen, Curtly Wilson, Mitchell Nicholson, Sam Jackson, Brody Price, Dylan Price, Ashley McCafferty, Vikrant Dabra, Jordan Humphries, Jude McGuire