After wet weather play to 62 overs, Hartshorn timed his run to perfection, reaching 100no in the final over.

Miners coach Cam McCormack was thrilled with the total of 6-279 after a shaky start.

“We set out to make sure we got through our overs, I thought 200 would be a good score at the start of the day,” he said.

“The pitch was doing a fair bit and Bethanga bowled well early, but I think we did a good job to hold on and get ourselves into the game.”

McCormack was impressed with young opener Sam Welsh (81), who steadied the ship with Murray Price (25) from 2-27 before Hartshorn arrived at 3-104.

“Sammy was absolutely outstanding, he battled hard when conditions were tough early on, and he was one who really set up the innings,” he said.

It allowed Hartshorn to come in and attack the Bethanga bowlers, who had no answers for his powerful hitting.

“It made for some good viewing, that’s for sure,” McCormack said.

“We needed someone to be solid through the middle order and he really stood up.

“Obviously we need to put in a solid bowling performance and back up the good work our batsmen have done.”

Barnawartha-Chiltern will all but guarantee itself a top-three spot if it is able to defend the big total next week.

“It’s a good situation for us, knowing we can put together a really strong total against a good attack,” McCormack said.

“Now we’ve got to back ourselves to defend that total.

“Our young players have been sensational, they have improved beyond what I think expectations of them might have been.

“The bar has been set pretty high, from now on and we just have to keep exceeding that.”

Eskdale is in the box seat after reaching 1-56 in reply to Baranduda’s 105, while Yackandandah fought back to reduce Howlong to 6-55 after being bundled out for 92.

The Dederang-Kiewa and Mt Beauty-Wodonga clashes were washed out.