Northerners’ older bats steady the ship after a heavy Nagambie assault with the ball

However, remarkably almost a quarter of Northerners’ runs did not come by industry of their own bowlers.

The first nine runs on the board were byes and after feeding himself the strike heading into the third over with the first run off the bat, opener Lachlan Vassallo was caught out to signal a nightmare start for the travellers.

Bad turned to worse two overs later as fellow opening batter Trent Sidebottom was clean bowled by Mark Nolan and with the run counter not flipping over with much frequency, Northerners needed to dig in.

Bayden Hutchins began to do just that, but 11 runs in he joined his fallen teammates in the sheds.

Youngster Zavier Davidson, fresh off a century the week before, was knocking the ball around well and worked in tandem with Declan Newbound to prevent total disaster.

But the Lakers had smelt blood.

Davidson and Newbound departed before the 20-over mark, bringing experienced heads Stuart Turner and Taylor Dunning to the crease.

The duo picked up where the teenagers had left off and sewed up Northerners’ growing wound, finishing the day on an even 16 not out each.

Dunning and Turner guided the Jets through to 5-94, with Nagambie firmly holding the ascendancy going into the last day of play before Christmas.

Mark Nolan was the pick of the Lakers’ bowling bunch with his 3-30 off 12 overs, while Brayden Biggs (1-14) and Mitchell Winter-Irving (1-21) were important in the grand scheme.