Led by a stubborn 52 from Matthew Kerrison, the Blues rallied from 5-72 and 6-116 to chase down 217 with two batsmen left in the shed.

The victory puts the Blues in the box seat to make their first Cricket North finals in three years and was pleasing but not surprising for skipper Tom Garwood.

"Right from the start we were pretty confident with our lower order," he said.

"It got to about 50 runs and I think we all got a bit nervous because we all believed we could do it but then it was actually happening.

"We've got a really good belief amongst our team at the moment - the win against South with the ball, we were good with that and the belief that we've got in each other is contributing to these wins."

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Resuming at 4-70, the visitors lost Ben Kidd for a duck but steadied through a patient partnership between Kerrison and Matt Owens.

Crucial knocks from Ramesh Sundra (38) and Lyndon Stubbs led the Blues past the target, leaving Sams Lockett and Artis to take the Blues to 233.

With first innings points dished out, Alistair Taylor instructed his Lions to finish the game off strong and the captain led from the front.

Arriving at the crease early, the keeper notched his first ton of the season with a delightful 115-ball 106 not out that featured 15 fours.

Lachie Newland (30) also finished not out as stumps were called at 2-149.

Taylor said it had been disappointing to drop the points but pleasing to show some spirit in the final session.

"We felt like we were on top for most of the game and I think Riverside probably felt like they were on top most of the game as well," Taylor said.

"They batted really well and we just couldn't get two wickets in a row.

"Without looking at the ladder we're going to have to play some really good cricket in the last couple of rounds to make finals."

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

Dane Anderson scored his third ton of 2019-20 as WESTBURY took first-innings points against Mowbray.

After only 156 runs were scored in nearly 100 overs on the first day, Anderson crunched 113 off 98 balls to make scoring look easy before Joel Lloyd (26*) and Matty Allen (20*) powered Westbury to 6-245 declared.

The Eagles refused to hand over an outright win, however, as Jarrod Freeman (46 off 93) and Luke Scott (19* off 81) stuck tight at the crease.

The visitors finished the day 4-109 in the 50^th over.

"We went out pretty positively to start with and Dane helped with that, he batted awesome," Westbury captain Dan Murfet said.

"We certainly had enough time in the game to take some wickets but credit to Mowbray, they defended and dug in really well."

Earlier, Murfet (35) and Anderson put on 83 for the third wicket before the latter struck out, hitting Sam Freeman for consecutive sixes on two occasions.

His innings only ended when the older Freeman (2-67) got one back for his brother.

"Mowbray put the fielders out and he kept hitting out over the top of them so there's not much you can do when you've got a guy like that batting the way he does," Murfet said.

"I think he's still thinking he might go again next year but it's up to him completely.

"He's such a valuable member to our team and he just showed today that he hasn't lost it at all."