Old Boys have qualified for their sixth consecutive grand final - a mighty feat achieved under the veil of a bruised sky when their major semi-final against City United was washed out.
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Precariously placed at 6-60, chasing 131, after day one at No.1 Oval on Saturday, the rain on Sunday resulted in the match being abandoned. Old Boys, by virtue of their runaway minor premiership triumph, advanced to the season finale at No.1 Oval on March 30-31.
In the grand final, they will play either City or West Tamworth (those sides meet this weekend in the preliminary final) as they attempt to immediately reclaim the premiership they lost to South Tamworth last year after four straight titles.
Old Boys captain Ben Middlebrook applauded City's resilience, given that Old Boys beat them outright at No.1 Oval in the previous round - City's fourth successive defeat.
Old Boys quick Aaron Hazlewood claimed 6-36 off 24.1 overs when City United elected to bat, then City quick Jack McVey took 5-17 off 7.4 overs to give his side the slight upper hand.
The in-form Adam McGuirk (17 not out) and destructive allrounder Hazlewood, who did not face a ball, were to have batted at the start of play on Sunday.
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Middlebrook believes that Old Boys would have won. But he conceded that his side, on an eight-match winning streak heading to the game, did themselves "no favours".
"Whether we got them first innings or we got them outright, I think there would have been an outright result today [Sunday]," he said. "So real confident.
"I mean, they [City] had a real good afternoon there for about five overs, and their batters stuck it out.
"Jack McVey bowled a really good spell there when we came out to bat.
"We didn't do ourselves any favours yesterday [Saturday]. But I know as a team we can play a lot better than what we performed yesterday, and pretty confident we will in a couple of weeks [in the grand final]."
Middlebrook said that if City did not take confidence from the match, "they never will".
Whoever plays Old Boys in the grand final will have to contend with an inspired Hazlewood.
Since resuming bowling mid-January after recovering from a shocking bicep tear, he has taken 37 wickets in seven innings at an average of 4.9, a strike rate of 15.8 and an economy rate of 1.9.
He has had four five-wicket hauls, including 9-18 against City last round. He took 15-47 in that match, as his younger brother, Test vice-captain Josh, looked on (and accepted catches off his bowling) at first slip.
Middlebrook said: "He's bowling really, really well - just putting them in the right areas, doing enough with it and keeping the batsmen honest."
He added: "You only have to look at his finals record over the last five or six years, and this is when he steps up."
City's top-scorers were Tom Fitzgerald and Richie O'Halloran, who both made 28. Middlebrook (20) top-scored for Old Boys.
While obviously disappointed with the washout, City captain Brad Smith said his side's performance was "definitely a step in the right direction".
