Tara Murray
Hoppers Crossing is left thinking what might have been in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
Having been in the top six for most of the season, a final round loss to Altona put an end to the Cats finals hopes.
For Cats captain-coach Simon Lambert it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
“The match sums up the season,” he said. “We lost five games where we were in winning positions .
“Sport is ruthless and if you don’t stay on your A-game for the whole time it can cost you. We were good for 75 per cent of the time, but it was the other 25 per cent that cost us.
“Another season we get those breaks and we play finals. Hopefully we’ll learn from those mistakes and carry them into next year.”
On top of the five games they lost from winnable positions, two games were called off half way through due to the weather, with the Cats on top.
An appeal against the draw of the Werribee match was dismissed last match, with the teams splitting the points.
On Saturday, the Cats needed to beat Altona to finish in sixth spot.
Altona won the toss and decided to bat, making 142 as it was bowled out in the 43rd over.
Sai Surapaneni took four wickets for the Cats.
Lambert said they were happy to be chasing that, but it could have been less with the A’s 9-100 at one stage.
“It was a tough pitch to bat on and it was a slow outfield,” he said. It was hard to score on but we backed ourselves in to knock that off.”
The Cats innings didn’t start well and at 5-41 they were in trouble. They were able to get back into the game.
“We were in a winning position,” Lambert said. “We needed 17 runs with three wickets left.
“We also had 15 overs left. It was the pattern of the innings we had soft dismissals towards the end.
“It was disappointing after being on top for a large portion of the match.”
Sanka Abeyruwan played a lone hand for the Cats with 60 before being run out with the win in sight.
The Cats second XI, which also needed to win in the final round to play finals, lost to Altona. The club’s third and fourth XIs will both play finals.
Meanwhile, Werribee warmed up for finals with a big win against Mt Waverley.
The Tigers bowled Mt Waverley, before making 1-132 in reply.
Werribee will play Box Hill in the opening round of finals.
