Hawks soar into top four, Two Swords snap drought | Ballarat Cricket Association Rd 15 results

After dismissing Brown Hill for 90, the Hawks declared on 9-151 to hold a 61-run lead throughout the week.

Brown Hill enjoyed a strong start to its second innings, as its openers in Ryan Knowles (60) and Nathan Porter (16) enjoyed a 48-run opening partnership.

However, East Ballarat's bowling attack eventually found its way into the contest as the Bulls collapsed from 0-48 to 5-65 in a matter of overs.

Harley Givvens, who did not bowl in the first innings, put on a show with the ball in the second innings, taking 5-9 from 6.5 overs.

Knowles and Porter ended up being the only batters in double digits as Brown Hill was dismissed for 100, with East Ballarat needing just 40 runs to clinch an outright win.

The Hawks cruised to 0-40 in 9.4 overs with Lewis Hodgens (15) and Jacob Eyers (14) unbeaten at the end of the day's play.

The outright win sees East Ballarat jump from sixth to fourth, one point clear of the Mounties.

East Ballarat 9-151 & 0-40 (H Ganley 73; J Thomas 3-43 & 0-12, P Priyankara 2-40 & 0-3) def Brown Hill 90 & 100 (R Knowles 2 & 60, H Givvens 5-9, AD Rodrigo 3-18 & 2-28)

It was deemed a must-win clash for Mt Clear up against Golden Point, but despite walking away with a first innings victory, the Mounties slipped out of the top four following East Ballarat's outright win over Brown Hill.

Mt Clear recovered from 4-18 after skipper Jarrod Burns, who was dismissed on 99, shared an 85-run partnership with Jacob Smith (39) to post a 208-run total.

Daniel McDonald was the pick of the Pointies' bowlers, taking 4-21, including the first three wickets of the game that had Mt Clear in strife at 3-8 after 10 overs.

Golden Point, which could have leapfrogged Mt Clear into the top four with a win, began its chase of 208 in solid fashion as opening batter Josh Pegg (57) posted his third half century of the season.

The Pointies were ticking along nicely at 4-134 before some brilliance from Grant Trevenen shifted momentum completely.

Trevenen claimed three-consecutive wickets in Manjula De Zoysa (33), Lukas Pegg (29) and Jack Bambury (10) as the Pointies suddenly slumped to 7-146.

Trevenen would go on to take a match-best 5-33 while Steven Nicholson claimed 4-64 from 27 overs as Golden Point finished all out for 167.

With two rounds remaining, the win keeps the Mounties finals hopes alive while Golden Point is left hoping for a miracle.

Mt Clear 208 (JP Burns 99, JM Smith 39; D McDonald 4-21, A Warrick 2-36) v Golden Point 167 (J Pegg 57, M De Zoysa 33; G Trevenen 5-33, S Nicholson 4-64)

It took 15 rounds, but Ballarat-Redan finally has reason to celebrate after recording a first innings victory over Buninyong on Saturday.

The Two Swords posted a mammoth 8-324 first innings total on the first day's play with Robert Hind (43), Jack Gilbey (54), and Jayden Hayes (59) all starring before Michael Hayes added some middle-order fireworks, notching 61 runs from 55 balls.

Ballarat-Redan was then able to roll through the Bunnies' batting lineup, restricting Buninyong to just 88 runs and setting up the chance for an outright victory.

Jaxon Hayes produced figures of 3-10 in the first innings, while Nathan Patrikeos and David Carter both added two of their own.

Despite early breakthroughs from both Patrikeos and Matthew Aikman in the second innings which had Buninyong sitting at 2-28, the Bunnies held on to prevent Ballarat-Redan from an outright victory.

Ballarat-Redan 8-324 (M Hayes 61, J Hayes 59, J Gilbey 54, R Hind 43, M Riding 34; H Palmer 4-52, MB Tierney 3-93) def Buninyong 88 & 2-67 (B Byrnes 39, N Schiemer 2 & 37*; J Hayes 3-10, N Patrikeos 2-8, 1-35)

Rain has saved the day for Napoleons-Sebastopol as it stared down a 311-run target set by a dominant Darley outfit.

Naps-Sebas would have had to eclipse 300 runs for the first time this season if it was to successfully chase down the mammoth total.

Luckily for Naps-Sebas, the match was abandoned two overs into its innings which, despite East Ballarat's outright win, sees it hold onto third place on the ladder.

It means a Harry Killoran century goes unrewarded for Darley and so too does Naps-Sebas' Sajith Dissanayaka's figures of 5-101.

However, the non-result is enough for Darley to jump Wendouree into top spot on the ladder.

Darley 9-310 (HJ Killoran 135, DR Locke 51, DP Hyatt 47, M Ekanayaka 28; S Dissanayaka 5-101, L Corden 3-56) vs Naps-Sebas 0-0