Hamblin took 4-42 off 22 overs against Bendigo at Bendigo District RSL Oval, including his last three wickets in consecutive deliveries.

The 21-year-old removed Ryan Trickey (lbw), Kyle Chant (caught Josh Newlan) and Tom Kirk (lbw) to claim the hat-trick late in Bendigo's innings of 172.

Hamblin's hat-trick came during a flurry of wickets when the Goers lost 4-4, slumping from 5-145 to 9-149 before Scott Dole (17 n.o.) and Liam Gaskell (5) added 23 for the last wicket.

Earlier, Kangaroo Flat captain Adam Burns had the Goers on the backfoot with a superb new-ball spell.

Burns dismissed Craig Pearce (6), Mitchell Blackman (0) and Nathan Fitzpatrick (0) to have the Goers reeling at 3-16 in the eighth over.

Burns, who finished with 4-43 off 25.3 overs, was on a hat-trick when he removed Blackman and Fitzpatrick in consecutive deliveries.

While wickets tumbled around him, opener Brett Andrews worked hard to combat Burns and Hamblin.

The veteran made his second consecutive half-century with a knock of 53 off 98 balls, before he was the fifth wicket to fall with the score on 103.

Alex Pearson (38), Mark Ryan (20) and Chant (19) all got starts in the middle-order for the Goers, who had four players dismissed without scoring.

Kangaroo Flat faced 10 overs before stumps and will resume this weekend at 1-24 as it chases its first win of the season.

Steve Newlan (8 n.o.) and Lachlan Shelton (2 n.o.) are not out, with Daniel Barber (13) the batsman back in the pavilion.

• Golden Square will defend a score of 6-214 against Eaglehawk at Canterbury Park in the clash of the BDCA's two unbeaten teams.

Openers Scott Johnson and Liam Smith laid a solid platform for Golden Square with a 97-run stand for the first wicket.

They both batted patiently against the tight Eaglehawk bowling, with Square taking until the 30th over to reach 50.

The Hawks didn't take their first wicket until seven balls before tea when Smith (41) was caught at mid-wicket by Aaron Monro off Cameron McGlashan with the score on 97.

That wicket sparked a revival for the Hawks as they picked up 3-1, with Scott Johnson (45) and Jason Johnson (1) falling soon after.

However, contributions from captain Tim Wood (23), Grant Connelly (18) and Scott Trollope (18), and an unbroken stand of 49 for the seventh wicket between Jayden Burke (36 n.o.) in his maiden first XI innings and Jake Higgins (17 n.o.) pushed Square's total to 214.

The Hawks' bowlers were disciplined as they combined for 28 maidens in their 85 overs.

McGlashan (2-23 off 16 overs) kept the pressure on the Square batsmen, while Todd Brown (3-48), who at one stage bowled 32 dot balls in a row, picked up the key wickets of Jason Johnson, Wood and Connelly.

Andrew Smith (0-59) and Monro (0-39), who have combined for 21 wickets between them this season, didn't take any.

• Sandhurst has given itself a strong chance of breaking through for its first win of the season.

The Dragons recovered from 5-91 to post 8-266 against Strathfieldsaye at Tannery Lane.

Sandhurst's innings was held together by Brenton Jones, who continued his strong lower-grade form with an unbeaten 82.

Jones hit seven boundaries and one six during his 126-ball stay at the crease.

He shared in a vital eighth wicket partnership of 92 with Steve Becker (44, seven fours) that took the score from 7-157 to 249.

Alex McGauchie also made a handy 35 off 52 balls (five fours, one six) for Sandhurst.

Strathfieldsaye skipper Ben Devanny mixed his bowlers up, using eight.

Cory Devanny claimed 3-51 off 15 overs, including the top-order scalps of Isaac Conway (7) and Shane Robinson (8), who got off the mark following three ducks in a row in the season-proper and Twenty20 competition.

Young Jets' wicket-keeper Jack Stubbs had another productive day behind the stumps.

Stubbs took three catches and now has 10 for the season.

• Bendigo United battled its way to 203 after being sent into bat at Harry Trott Oval by Huntly-North Epsom.

The Power's decision to bowl first reaped immediate reward when Quinton Bentley (2-64) removed BDCA leading run-scorer Matt Pinniger (5 off 19) with the score on seven.

None of the Redbacks' top-four batsmen - Pinniger, Curtis Tuohey (9 off 58), Ben Gunn (14 off 12) and Bryan Vance (12 off 72) - fired.

However, the middle-order stepped up, with Nick Crawford (50 off 104, five fours), who picked up from where he left off against Kangaroo Flat the previous week, and Harry Donegan (52 off 105, five fours, one six) both scoring half-centuries.

Captain Leigh McDermott added 36 off 74 (three fours), before Power spinner Dylan Gibson wrapped up the Redbacks innings.

From 5-176, the Redbacks lost their last five wickets for just 27 runs, with Gibson taking four of them.

Gibson finished with figures of 4-13 off 8.1 overs as the Redbacks were bowled out in the 84th over.

Sam Johnston was again a workhorse for the Power, taking 3-76 off 33 overs, including 11 maidens, with his scalps all top-order batsmen.

• White Hills blew a position of strength with the bat against Strathdale-Maristians at KWD Oval.

The day got off to a strange start when both teams thought they were fielding and warmed up accordingly following confusion at the coin toss.

However, it was the Demons batting first and at 1-99 in the 55th over with Jayden Sheean and Sam Stagg at the crease, White Hills were in a commanding position against the defending premiers.

Enter the spin twins of Cameron Taylor and Nick Roebuck, who swung the game back in favour of the Suns.

From 1-99, the Demons crashed dramatically, losing 9-53 to be all out 26 overs later for 152.

Taylor and Roebuck combined for six of the last nine wickets to fall.

Taylor snared 4-40 off 26 overs, while Roebuck, who didn't concede a run off his first 26 balls, took 2-14 off 18 tight overs.

Of the 44 overs Taylor and Roebuck combined for, 22 were maidens as they put the screws on the Demons.

During their collapse, the Demons didn't help themselves with Rhys Irwin (6 off 13) and Jake Foley (0 off 1) both being run out.

Only four White Hills batsmen made double figures - Stagg (45 off 142, four fours), Sheean (32 off 168, five fours), Brayden Stepien (27 off 62) and Lincoln Jacobs (17 off 24).

The Suns are 0-4 after one over.