The fifth-placed Fire Brigade is not out of the woods against bottom-side Leitchville Gunbower, while the Echuca South versus Echuca clash still has a lot to play out.
But third-placed BLU is in the box seat against Cooma, while another of the finals aspirants, Rochester, still has a chance in its clash with the unbeaten Moama.
• Even with Paul Newman making a rare failure Kyabram Fire Brigade was still able to post a respectable 187 against Leitchville Gunbower.
Brenton Sheppard stepped up when Newman fell without scoring and anchored the innings after The Flames had lost the toss and was invited to bat in the crucial clash at Gunbower.
Sheppard finally fell for 66 off 78 balls with six sixes and four fours dotted through his aggressive knock.
Co-captain Jake Gascoyne, who is enjoying a consistent year, produced another good knock of 24 while Jackson Barnett chipped in with a handy 15 as The Flames innings was wrapped up in 71.1 overs.
Earlier openers Miller Griffiths, with a solid 27, and Rob Salter, with 20, had got The Flames away to a positive start.
James Keath, with 4/51 off a marathon 26.1 overs, kept all the Brigade batsmen honest.
In reply, LG reached 0/1 at stumps off five overs.
• Cooma has left itself with a challenging run chase in the clash with BLU, and it hasn’t started well.
Winning the toss and electing to bat in the clash at Cooma, BLU put together an impressive score of 8/273 on the back of productive knocks from Werner Brand (72), captain Regis Chakabva (53), Luke Thomson (62) and Josh Cairns (51).
Brothers Xavier and Cooper Fawcett were the pick of the Cooma bowlers with figures of 2/52 off 14 overs and 2/46 off 10 overs, respectively.
Cooma’s big run chase has made a shaky start with the loss of two wickets for 28 runs in reply.
• Tongala gave itself a chance against Nondies Cohuna, restricting the visitors to 158, with import Archie Sussex again top-scoring with 42.
But then Tongala’s batsmen folded late in the day to be teetering at 4/28.
Rory Knight, with 3/21 off 10 overs, was the pick of the Tongala bowlers, while skipper Alex Williams and Jessie Johnstone both took two wickets.
Williams also top-scored for Tongala with 15 as Sam O’Shea put Nondies in the box seat with a burst of three wickets off six overs without conceding a run.
• Rochester kept the unbeaten Moama to a gettable 159 and, in reply, were 1/15 off six overs in its run chase.
Half-centuries to consistent opener Fraser Buchanan and Jack Russell at number seven saved Moama, who struggled against the Rochester attack spearheaded by Angus Martin with 4/27 off 14 overs and Adam Ward with 3/46 off 14.4 overs.
• The Echuca versus Echuca South clash was evenly poised after the first day.
Winning the toss and electing to bat in the clash at Victoria Park, Echuca South lost its openers cheaply, but the consistent Asantha Singapulli, with a fighting century, came to the rescue.
Singapulli’s 100 contained 12 fours and two sixes, and his only teammate to reach double figures was Rathika Rajakumara, who had 48.
New ball bowlers Matt Hinks with 4/18 of 12 overs and Rylea Jones with 3/55 off 17.2 overs impressed.
9°C