Going into the last day of the Cricket North home-and-away rounds, the Blues were 7.5 ladder points behind second-placed South Launceston.

But an emphatic win against the Lions, which wrapped up before 3.30pm, saw them claim 16.1 points and finish on 90.1 while South ended up on 85.4 according to Play HQ.

The Blues kept the Lions to 78 before then making 188 in the first innings at NTCA no. 1. Launceston made 132 in their second innings before Riverside reeled in the remaining 22 runs and finished 1-23.

When asked how the Blues felt about the finals equation, Riverside vice-captain Cooper Anthes said they had been process-driven.

"It really wasn't spoken about, it was something we knew was there but the conversations were more around how we wanted to execute," he said.

At the same time, the Blues "didn't want to let anything slide" against a Launceston outfit that had nothing to lose.

"(It was about) not letting them get an extra 10-20 runs, just really putting the foot down," Anthes said.

Ben Hann's purple patch continued and he was Riverside's leading wicket-taker with 4-20 from 11 overs.

He had Lions captain Cam Lynch (53) and star Will Bennett caught out on his way to overall match figures of 11-37.

Anthes said he had been the Blues' best bowler since Christmas.

"He's been freed up by our leadership group to bowl fast and it's taken him to another level," he said.

"He has come to a new club and was a pretty quiet guy around the club when he first started and we felt he was bowling within himself a little bit.

"We gave him the licence to bowl short and aggressively and as fast as he could."

The vice-captain said it was massive for the club to be back in finals and the Blues were motivated after losing the 2020-21 decider to Launceston.

He said it also hurt to miss out on the two-day finals last summer.

Riverside are the only side to have won all of their two-day matches.

They have also beaten Westbury three times this season, only falling to them in January's Twenty20 decider.

But Anthes said it didn't mean much if you didn't win the game that mattered most.

The vice-captain, who top-scored for Riverside with 64 from 107 balls in the first innings, provided great insight into how the batting group had refocused their energy.

"We've known we're a talented batting group for multiple years but it's just maybe being able to rein that talent in and just having clearer game plans," he said.

"Being more analytical about the way we want to go about the game rather than just thinking that talent will do it for us."

Anthes said the biggest change he had made was reining in the way he wanted to play and focusing more on his team role of anchoring the innings.

South Launceston captain Jeremy Jackson was a wall as the Knights fought out a draw against Westbury at Ingamells Oval.

The opener continued his incredibly consistent season, finishing unbeaten on 81 from 246 balls.

Brodie Jarrad with 14 from 73 and Jackson Young, who finished not out on 24 from 63 balls, were also gallant as the team finished 8-156 chasing Westbury's whopping 7-408.

Jackson explained South's approach as they also sought a home semi-final.

"We went into it with the mindset that we'll just try and start by batting normally and see what sort of a start we get off to," he said.

"And if we find ourselves in a position where it looks like it's a chance after the first session, we might reassess and have a bit more of a crack at it.

"Unfortunately, it soon became pretty evident that it was going to be a bridge too far."

He said it then became about batting out the day and getting prepared for finals. "I was pleased that our boys were able to be in the contest more," he said.

"Even though the scoreboard probably doesn't show that, I was pleased that we felt more in the contest bat versus ball than we did last week."

Westbury stand-in skipper Joel Lloyd was thrilled to see number 10 batter Liam Ryan score an unbeaten 59 and make his maiden first-grade half-century.

Lloyd credited Jackson for sticking out 82 overs as well as the tail-enders who made it hard for the Shamrocks.

"We just couldn't get him out, that was the story," he said.

With spinner Kieren Hume unavailable for day two, Lloyd was stoked with the efforts of Jordan French, James Tyson and Matty Allen who stood up.

Shaun Leatherbarrow is not a name we're used to seeing this season but he provided buzz on his return to first-grade and took three catches as wicket-keeper.

Mowbray won the under-16 grand final at Windsor Park on Friday night after chasing down Riverside's 9-115.