Tara Murray
For a second straight week, Hoppers Crossing had a day out with the bat, putting it on top after day one of its clash with local rival Werribee in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
In the biggest regular season clash for the two Wyndham clubs, the stakes are even higher this time round with both teams pushing for finals spots.
After day one, the Cats were more than pleased having put on 5-315 after a late flurry of runs.
Cats captain-coach Simon Lambert couldn’t have asked for much more.
“It was a good performance yesterday and we had a good performance last week and got over the line, chasing [nearly] 300,” he said.
“We were pretty to get out there and win the toss and get a good bat and put ourselves in a position to win the game and we have done that.”
It was a team effort for the Cats with all of the top five getting good starts. Lambert top scored with 85, while Brett Smith made 80.
Lambert said making 315 was more than they expected for a large part of their innings.
“At one stage we were looking at 260 to 280 as the outfield was quite slow,” he said. “We were happy with that, but the last 15 overs we got going.
“We’re in a good position for next week.”
For the Tigers, Michael Kelly was the only multiple wicket taker with two wickets.
Lambert said after misfiring at times earlier in the season, their batting was starting to show what it could do.
“Everyone is chipping in, which is good,” he said. “Last week we went down to number nine with Justin Goegan making 25 odd.
“The whole order is making contributions which is really positive and something we haven’t done earlier in the season.
“We only had the top five get a good hit on Saturday, but they all made decent contributions. We do that every week and it’s good for us.”
Lambert said they are aware of how important this match is in the context of the season as they look to return to finals.
He said they can’t afford to lose too many games in the run home, with several teams in finals contention.
The Cats were to be back in action on Tuesday night, after deadline, in the finals of the T20 competition.
Lambert said they were keen to have a real impact in that competition.
“We’re confident about that,” he said.
“It’s something that suits our game and we have some good combinations that are working.
“We’re optimistic about how far we can go in that competition. Everyone is keen and we’ve been playing at full strength.”
In other east-west matches on Saturday, Balwyn made 205 against Taylors Lakes, Box Hill is 0-5 in reply to Melton’s 210, Altona is 2-37 in reply to Bayswater’s 138, Mt Waverley is 1-20 in reply to Williamstown’s 151, Donvale made 283 against Yarraville and Spotswood made 7-281 against Croydon.
