Aradale has kept its finals hopes alive after defeating Halls Gap in the second day of round nine in the Grampians Cricket Association.
After ending day one on 2-13, Aradale took charge of the match as it declared on 6-255.
Captain Scott Turner made an unbeaten 53, sending in Halls Gap to bat again.
Turner said it was a tough game.
“We got off to a good start,” he said. “We put on over 100 pretty quickly in 10 or 15 overs and Mark Fulton came in and and had a splash around and made 41 pretty quick, and I hung in there for about 53.
“We got about 100 in front but at the end of the day it didn’t end the way we wanted.”
Turner said the reason Aradale declared was to give enough time to bowl out Halls Gap.
“Halls Gap came out and batted really well,” he said. “They formed some great partnerships and our bowlers I think struggled after the new ball died off.
“We hung around thinking we could get a few wickets but we couldn’t get those last three wickets so we called stumps. We were disappointed not to get the outright win but we got six points for the win."
At Central Park in Stawell, Swifts-Great Western defeated Youth Club on first innings, securing six points.
Youth Club could not get close to the 9-396 target that the Combine set in day one.
Youth Club captain Nic Baird was the standout, scoring half of Youth Club’s runs as they were all out for 100.
Baird said the team’s main goal was to bat out the 80 overs.
“Unfortunately we could only get through 50 overs. It was a little disappointing in that sense that we couldn’t get through the full day of batting and it’s possibly something we have to work on,” he said.
Baird said the conditions also played a part.
“The pitch played fine, it was more of the natural conditions on the day which just suited bowling more so than batting, as opposed to last week,” he said.
Sixth-placed St Andrews defeated third-placed Pomonal at Alexandra Oval in Ararat.
St Andrews ended day one on 2-12, and finished their innings surpassing Pomonal’s target of 132, making 148 all out with Ben Boatman making 41.
In B Grade, Swifts-Great Western chased down Rhymney-Moyston’s target of 8-99 to end their innings on 7-107.
Buangor-Tatyoon defeated Halls Gap as they made 5-196, and it proved too much for Halls Gap as they were all out for 34.
No scores were entered at time of print between Youth Club and Pomonal and Wickliffe-Lake Bolac and Chalambar.
