This Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield affair almost certainly presents a home final to the winner — and Central Park-St Brendan's has taken on the challenge.
Not that one should make any clear presumptions yet, but the Tigers' bowling attack did what it has done to so many sides this season on day one of its clash with Numurkah on Saturday.
Dwain Vidler took the spotlight once more in a Central Park bowling arrangement that did not field Jarrod Wakeling, putting on plenty of early pressure and eventually claiming 4-22.
Numurkah fought uphill after a meandering, but unblemished, 10-over opening spell, with the top-order quickly falling away, and the Blues eventually left five down for barely 50 runs.
With potential disaster looming Liam Gledhill arrived to right some wrongs and promptly did so with gusto.
Planting bowlers at the boundary eight times, Gledhill took the initiative after an early drop to post a half-century that resurrected expectations of a tight contest.
In going on to bowl the Blues out for 160, though, Tigers coach Tyler Larkin is certainly pleased with the job.
“I think if you'd given us 160 as a target at the start of the day, we'd have taken that,” Larkin said.
“Our bowlers bowled well all day and, although, we let them get away a bit later, we kept them down to a total we can hopefully chase next week.
“Up to lunch, we were excellent, but we probably had about a 10-over lapse where we started bowling too short.
“We came back out, put the ball in the right area and we were able to restrict the total once Gledhill was out.
“It was a good effort on a ground that's good for scoring runs.”
To that point, Numurkah's Tim Arnel had highlighted the Numurkah Showgrounds’ spin-friendly conditions over the past two weeks in his side's outing against Katandra.
Larkin is wary of the looming conditions as the Tigers prepare to suit back up and potentially secure a Deakin Reserve final with Andrew McMillan and Keiran Hogeboom at the crease.
“I think, with a very dry week coming, it'll spin a lot more next week,” Larkin said.
“They've got a couple of decent spinners and it's not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but we'll prepare as best we can to make sure we get the runs.
“It's going to be a pretty tight game regardless; we had a similar game with them last year, and getting home for 160-170 was really hard work.
“We believe we can get it done, so it will be a good contest. They love to fight, so we'll bring our best.”
Mooroopna’s early first innings points against Northerners locked up second place for the Cats, but with Katandra firmly in control against Nagambie, neither the Tigers nor Blues can afford a slip-up.
While Kyabram would be unlikely to nab an outright win over Karramomus to place either side’s finals place under threat, sixth is the most realistic destination for the loser of this clash — which could mean doing it all again in week one of finals.