After defeating the Suns by one run at Bell Oval in the home and away season, the Jets edged out the BDCA power by four runs in a thrilling second semi-final.

Set 178 for victory, the Suns were bowled out for 173 with one ball remaining in the match.

Strathdale gets a double chance and will play Bendigo United in Sunday's preliminary final at the QEO.

"It's awesome (to make the grand final),'' Jets' skipper Ben Devanny said.

"This year I thought we had a good enough side to make the finals. We've got young players, so there were always going to be ups and downs, but to play the way we did today was really pleasing.

"We probably let ourselves down with the bat, but to come out and bowl and field the way we did was great.

"Hopefully, we can bowl and field the same way next week and, if we do that, we'll be in the mix again."

The Jets' competitive total was set up by a swashbuckling half-century from opener Pat Felmingham.

After losing opening partner Tim Wood for seven, Felmingham launched a stunning attack on the Suns' bowlers.

Strathdale skipper Cam Taylor was his chief target.

The star leg-spinner came on to bowl for the first time in the 11th over of the match and Felmingham shocked the home side by hitting 28 runs off the over - 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4.

It wasn't as if Taylor bowled six long hops, Felmingham hit well-pitched deliveries over long-on, over mid-wicket and launched over point a couple of times.

Felmingham brought up his half-century during the onslaught off just 31 balls, but fell a short time later when well caught at cover by Daniel Clohesy off the bowling of James Barri for 56 off 36 balls.

"That's why Pat is opening the batting,'' Devanny said.

"When it comes off he's just so valuable. He can hit the ball to all parts of the ground which makes him really hard to bowl to."

With 80 runs on the board inside 13 overs, the Jets had a great platform to launch from, but the Strathdale spinners did a great job to slow the scoring rate.

Abe Sheahan (25 off 63 balls), Devanny (11 off 29 balls), Cal McCarty (25 off 46 balls) and Campbell Love (21 off 41 balls) made starts, but chewed up a lot of balls before getting out.

That put pressure on the Jets' lower-order to lift the run rate.

In the process the Jets lost wickets regularly and from 2-105 lost their last eight wickets for 72 to be bowled out for 177 off 43 of their allotted 45 overs.

Suns' teenage opening bowler Jack Pysing (2-26) removed Wood early and then took the vital wicket of Chathura Damith in his second spell.

Sam Johnston picked up two wickets, while Taylor (2-43) bounced back strongly after his first over and conceded just 15 more runs for the day.

Barri (1-27 off nine overs) and James Vlaeminck (1-27 off nine overs) bowled tightly.

The Suns' reply started poorly when Daniel Clohesy was bowled by Damith for five.

Taylor and Grant Waldron looked to rebuild the innings and they had to do it the hard way against some miserly Jets' bowling.

With the run rate required starting to increase, Waldron edged leg-spinner Darcy Hunter to slip and was out for 16 off 48 balls.

That brought Jack Neylon to the crease and, as usual, the right-hander made it look easy.

He hit two sixes and one four and appeared to be batting the Suns into a strong position before Cal McCarty held a sharp catch at cover and Neylon was on his way for 21 off 20 balls.

Barri (11) and Ben DeAraugo (0) fell cheaply before Taylor holed out to deep mid-wicket off Jed Rodda (2-31) for 53 off 98 balls.

When Vlaeminck fell for five a short time later the Suns were 7-132 and in deep trouble.

It was left to veteran duo Sam Johnston and Linton Jacobs to try and save the day.

While Johnston was at the crease the rescue mission looked like it would be successful.

The left-hander hit Savith Priyan for two sixes in a row and then tried to hit a third later in the over.

He didn't hit it out of the middle and the ball skied to deep mid-wicket where Sheahan took a good catch under pressure.

Johnston made 33 off 34 balls and when he was dismissed the Suns required 17 runs off 19 balls with two wickets in hand.

Jacobs and Matt Wilkinson reduced that equation to seven runs off the final over, which was bowled by Damith.

The Suns duo scampered singles off the opening two balls of the over to make it five runs required off four balls.

Damith produced a fine yorker which Wilkinson could only work to Devanny at short mid-wicket.

Jacobs took off for a single, but Wilkinson was left stranded as the bails were removed at the bowlers' end.

Crucially, Jacobs was back on strike for the fourth ball of the final over.

He tried to hit the Damith delivery through the leg-side to the boundary, but he mis-timed it straight to mid-wicket and there was no run.

The penultimate delivery was similar, but this time Jacobs (16 off 19 balls) could only top-edge the ball high to mid-off where Love calmly held the catch and the Jets celebrated their first finals win in seven years.

Priyan (3-44) has 11 wickets in three games against the Suns this summer, while Damith (2-25) held his nerve in the final overs.

Bendigo United advanced to the BDCA preliminary final after a dominant win over Eaglehawk in Saturday's first semi-final.

Off-spinner Will Thrum was the match-winner for the Redbacks, claiming a season-best 5-15 off nine overs to destroy the Borough's middle-order.

Eaglehawk won the toss and batted and, despite the early loss of openers Anthony West (11) and Russell Stockdale (13), established a solid launching pad at 2-59 off 17 overs.

That changed when Will Thrum was introduced in the 18th over.

After bowling a maiden in his first over, Will Thrum claimed the vital wicket of Jeremy Brown (15) with the second ball of his second over.

In his third over Thrum removed Ben Williams (23) and Josh Williams (0) in consecutive balls to have the figures of 3-2 and leave the Borough reeling at 5-67.

By the time Thrum finished his nine-over spell the Hawks had slipped from 2-59 to 7-97 off 34 overs.

Thrum's five-wicket haul took his first XI season tally to 35 wickets at an average of just 12.29 - a remarkable achievement for someone in their first season in the BDCA.

Nash Viney (15) and Aaron Monro (15 not out) showed some resistance with the bat for the Borough, but 127 all out was always going to be a tough score to defend.

In a great day for the Thrum family, Jake Thrum took 2-34 off nine overs.

Young leg-spinner Henry Edwards continued his great season by taking 1-21 off nine overs.

In reply, the Redbacks lost opener Tom Starr early for 4, but while skipper Clayton Holmes was at the crease there was no doubt as to who would win the game.

The right-hander blasted six sixes and seven fours on his way to 77 off 63 balls. The only negative was he lost his wicket with victory in sight.

The Redbacks eventually cruised to 4-128 off just 23.4 overs to earn a preliminary final stoush with Strathdale-Maristians at the QEO on Sunday.

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