Tara Murray
Hoppers Crossing is confident it can get the runs this Saturday despite needing nearly 300 in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
The Cats had a hard day in the field on Saturday on day one of their two-day match against Williamstown.
In hot conditions, the Seagulls made 5-295 with plenty of contributions throughout the order.
Jack Craig top scored with 81.
Cats captain-coach Simon Lambert, who was the pick of the bowlers, said it could have been a lot worse.
“It was too bad,” he said.
“It was a tough day out there and it was a pretty flat pitch offering little with a really fast outfield.
“We’re pretty happy with 295. We thought if we could have kept them to 280, we would have been rapt.
“They left some runs out there, they should have got 400.”
Lambert said the Seagulls helped them out by not really attacking until the last 18 overs, meaning the score didn’t blow out like it could have.
He said they were full of confidence about being able to chase down the needed runs.
“We should be able to whittle that off next week,” he said.
“Batting is our strength and we’ve got 80 overs. Given the ground and pitch, we’re optimistic we can still chase it down.
“We played a T20 here last week and needed 150 and whittled that off in pretty quick time.”
The Cats entered the first of the two-day matches in fifth spot. With just one and half games between second and ninth, the competition is super close.
Lambert said a win against the second-placed Seagulls would help consolidate their finals chances.
He said their finals chances remain in their own hands and they need to pick up some wins in the last four rounds to ensure they finish in the top six.
Lambert said for the most part they were happy with how their season was panning out.
“We think we are one of the top teams in the competition,” he said.
“We’ve lost a couple of games when we’re been in really strong positions and lost 8-20. We win both those games and we’re sitting on top.
“Everyone is beating everyone one, and it’ll be the team that gets on a run of wins at the right time will win it.”
Another team looking for a win this weekend is Werribee.
The seventh placed Tigers are playing Altona, with the Tigers taking the honours on day one.
Altona was bowled out for just 133 with James Freeman taking three wickets.
The Tigers will resume at 2-38 with skipper Tim O’Brien unbeaten on 26.
Meanwhile, there were mixed results for Hoppers Crossing and Werribee in the opening round of the T20 competition.
The Cats were too good for Williamstown. The Seagulls made 5-151 with the Cats finishing 3-154 in reply.
The Tigers lost to Spotswood. Spotswood made 9-123 from its overs, with the Tigers bowled out for 73 in reply.
