Hoppers Crossing was able to bounce back and return to the winners list in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
The Cats had a bit of a reality check in the first game back after Christmas as they collapsed with the bat and suffered their second loss of the season.
It was more of normal programming on Saturday as the Cats came away with a big win against Donvale.
Cats captain-coach Simon Lambert said it was nice to bounce back in the manner that they did.
“It was a bit disappointing with the position we were in,” he said.
“We bowled them out for 130 and were 1-70 and I thought it was a forgone conclusion. We dug a hole and never got out of it.
“You need to lose a few games along the journey. We learnt from it and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
Lambert said while they prefer to chase, they decided to bat on Saturday against Donvale to give some guys some time in the middle.
It paid off as they made 7-307 from their 45 overs.
Lambert top scored with 74, with Arihant Rawal and Jaimin Patel also scoring half centuries.
Harshit Takkar in his return from Victorian Premier Cricket scored 42 not out.
Lambert said Takkar was back for the rest of the season and would be a handy inclusion.
“We were in a good position with the batting,” he said.
“We were hopeful some guys would get some more confidence with the bat and that was how it played out.”
Donvale struggled to get partnerships going in the run chase early on and slipped to 3-46.
A 48-run partnership gave Donvale some hope but once that was broken it struggled to get going again.
Donvale was bowled out for 178 with five balls remaining.
Lambert said they had been bowling well all season and were able to continue that on the weekend.
Lambert was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets for the Cats.
After 10 rounds, the Cats sit in third spot.
Lambert knows that they have to continue to keep on winning to ensure they play finals.
“We play three of the top eight or nine the next few weeks,” he said. “Hopefully we can roll on in those games and pull away.
“A lot of the top sides play each other, so hopefully we can keep winning.”
Meanwhile, Werribee was too good for Endeavour Hills in their one-day game.
The Tigers put on 5-224 with Dean Russ top scoring with 91 at the top of the order.
At 3-37 Endeavour Hills were in trouble.
The wickets continued to fall and they were bowled out for just 89 in the 33rd over.
