STRATHDALE- Maristians will play in a 14^th consecutive BDCA finals series - and in doing so has denied Sandhurst the chance of defending its premiership.

The Suns' outright win over White Hills on Saturday's final day of the home and away season, coupled with Sandhurst's loss to Eaglehawk, launched Strathdale into the top four at the expense of the Dragons.

It was a gripping final home and away day where the make-up of the top four wasn't finalised until just after 6pm when Suns' captain Ben DeAraugo struck a boundary that gave Strathdale the outright win it needed against White Hills to climb from seven points outside the top four at the start of the round into fourth spot.

The Suns will play minor premier Golden Square in one of the next weekend's semi-finals, while Eaglehawk will take on Huntly-North Epsom in the other.

In a situation where only an outright win would suffice for the Suns to continue an unbroken string of finals appearances stretching back to 2005-06, they were inspired by all-rounder Cameron Taylor.

Taylor ended the game having made 127 runs without going out - 104 n.o. in the first innings and 23 n.o. in the second - and taking 12 wickets.

Having picked up 4-57 in White Hills' first innings last week, Taylor doubled his output in the second on Saturday, bagging 8-74 for a match-haul of 12-131 off 40.2 overs.

With one of his second innings wickets a caught and bowled dismissal of Demons' captain Mitch Winter-Irving (27), Taylor earned 377 Addy MVP points for his round 13 performance.

And he narrowly avoided etching his name alongside the rare feat of Leon Grose, who according to BDCA historian Darren Rodda is the only player in the competition's history to have made a century (114) and taken 13 wickets (7-6 and 6-24) in the same game when he did so for Bendigo United against California Gully in 1977-78.

"Cam's performance was an absolutely incredible individual effort," Suns' skipper DeAraugo said.

"A century and 12 wickets in the one game, as well as a really important little not out in the second innings… he's the player you want with ball in hand or with the bat in a pressure situation."

Having last week been bowled out for 124 in reply to the Suns' whirlwind 7-267 off 37 overs, White Hills began its second innings on Saturday 0-9 at Bell Oval.

The Suns were well on track to dismiss the Demons cheaply again when they fell to 4-64, and the outright was later looking a formality with White Hills 7-126 at tea, at which stage Taylor had bagged five wickets.

However, the Demons' lower-order led by Justin Slattery (46) and Tom Schultz (24) dug in and showed some resistance as the last three wickets combined to add 85 runs, taking the score to 211 and forcing the Suns to have to bat again.

Taylor's 8-74 - figures bettered only this season by Huntly-North Epsom's Adam Ward (8-39 v Eaglehawk) - featured five modes of dismissal: caught (three), lbw (two), caught and bowled (one), bowled (one) and stumped (one).

It was the third time in his career Taylor has taken at least eight wickets in an innings, with Rhys Irwin (4) and Gavin Bowles (33) the only two players he didn't dismiss.

Having bowled White Hills out for a second time, it left the Suns needing 69 off 19 overs to win outright, which they achieved for the loss of three wickets with 32 balls to spare as they once again have another finals series to look forward to.

• Sandhurst has become the second reigning premier in as many seasons to miss the finals following a disastrous day with the bat against Eaglehawk.

Highlighting the tightness of the season, the Dragons' loss cost them the chance of playing finals. But had the Dragons won they would have finished second and earned a home semi-final.

Instead, it's the Hawks - who also missed the finals last season as the reigning premier - that will be hosting a semi after Russell Stockdale spun Eaglehawk to a handsome victory.

Chasing the Hawks' 194 at Canterbury Park, the Dragons produced their worst batting performance of the season, capitulating for just 99 in the 47^th over.

The game ended just after the tea break, leaving Sandhurst with an anxious wait of relying on either Huntly-North Epsom to lose or Strathdale-Maristians to fall short in its outright bid to maintain its spot in the top four.

Neither of those results went the Dragons' way and as such the side that had one stage been on top of the ladder after round seven finishes fifth - one point outside the top four.

"We're obviously very disappointed and only got ourselves to blame… not just today, but there were a number of games throughout the season we lost that have come back to bite us," said Dragons' captain Taylor Beard, who had salt rubbed into his wound by being run out for a diamond duck.

Leggie Stockdale took the last four wickets for Eaglehawk to finish with 4-18 off 7.4 overs.

Shaun Knott (2-23 off 14) and captain Cory Jacobs (2-14 off nine) also piled the pressure on the Dragons, who had No.3 Shasheen Fernando play a lone hand with the bat.

Fernando scored 65 off the Dragons' 99 runs as he battled for 131 minutes to try to hold the innings together.

The next best score for the Dragons was six made by opener Joel Murphy and Shane Robinson.

The Dragons' key trio of Beard (0), Craig Howard (0) and Ash Gray (1) made just one run between them as Sandhurst's season fizzled out.

• A batting blitz from Adam Ward made sure of Huntly-North Epsom's return to finals for the first time since 2011-12.

Needing to beat Bendigo United at Harry Trott Oval to hold their spot in the top four, the Power answered the Redbacks' 176 with 8-273 before stumps were pulled with just over 26 overs left in the day.

Last month Power skipper Elliott Massina told the Bendigo Advertiser: "The bloke who I reckon is really primed to get a big score is Wardy with the way he is hitting the ball in the nets."

Ward delivered on Saturday, crunching 111 off just 74 balls. The gun all-rounder got away to a flyer, with his first 11 scoring shots featuring four boundaries and two sixes.

He finished with 14 boundaries and six sixes and shared in a 150-run fifth-wicket partnership with Sandun Ranathunga (84) as they pushed the score from 4-104 in the 33^rd over to 254.

Billy Quirk (2-36) took the first two wickets for the Redbacks to have the Power 2-16 in the eighth over.

While the Power have a long-awaited semi-final to look forward to, the young Redbacks end the season with a second-consecutive wooden-spoon.

• Bendigo didn't go down without a fight against top side Golden Square.

Chasing a challenging 280 at the QEO, the Goers answered with 239.

Liam Evans (77) and Alex Pearson (51) both scored half-centuries for the Goers, while Kyle Humphrys had looked threatening during his stay at the crase.

Humphrys cracked 41 off 48 and looked in complete control until run out by a direct hit from Scott Woodman at cover point.

In what was his likely swansong first XI innings for Bendigo, Mark Ryan (4) was trapped lbw by Liam Smith.

Smith followed up his day-one century by also claiming the game's best bowling figures of 4-44 off 17.5 overs with his left-arm spinners.

• Strathfieldsaye ended its season on a positive, defeating Kangaroo Flat by 81 runs at Tannery Lane.

With captain Ben Devanny (4-12) and import Chathura Damith (4-50) both snaring four wickets apiece, the Jets successfully defended their 7-212 as the Roos could muster just 131.

The Roos, who only lasted into the 49^th over, had been 7-72 before the last three wickets added a further 59.

Opener Chris Barber top-scored with 29, while the bulk of the late runs came from Liam Stubbings (27) and Dylan Klemm (24).

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