Tara Murray
Hoppers Crossing is hoping to find that winning habit in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
The Cats have played some good cricket in all four of their matches, but they’ve only got one win to show from it.
On Saturday, they lost to Mt Waverley in the final over of the day.
The Cats made 6-174 with captain-coach Simon Lambert top scoring with 45. Mt Waverley finished 5-176 in reply with Jeremy Swan taking three wickets.
On Sunday, the Cats were 0-8 in reply to Taylors Lakes 9-145 when the rain hit.
Lambert said it had been a frustrating start to the season.
“It’s been disappointing the last couple of weeks,” he said. “Last weekend against Donvale we lost 7-35 needing 50 off 22 overs.
“We got into another winning position on Saturday and we went down with one ball left. They had one batsman who was hitting them from ball one to the short boundary.
“On Sunday we were in another winning position and the heavens opened up and that was it.”
Lambert said despite not getting a win in the last three matches they would take plenty of positives out of all the matches.
He said they had dominated large parts of every game, it was now about finding the right combinations.
“We’re still finding the right combinations,” he said. “I’m new and there’s a few new players as well.
“We’re still looking at combos especially with the bowling. We were a little bit better yesterday [Sunday] the spinners stepped up.
“We have 10 bowling options and it’s finding the combinations that work. We’re finding out which bowlers need to bowl in each situation, the ones we have been training haven’t stepped up.”
Lambert said outside of the collapse against Donvale their batting hadn’t been too bad, but at times there had been some soft dismissals.
He said there was also the learning curve of getting into winning habits, after a number of years not putting together consistent results.
“Once we get into that habit and get on a bit of a run,” he said. “We’ll be really hard to beat going forward.
“We need to win the top games and people stepping up and taking more responsibility and not leaving it to the guys lower down the order.”
Lambert said it looks a pretty even competition with any team able to beat any team. He said whichever teams find their rhythm first will be the ones to get a head start.
“Of the 270 overs we’ve played, I would say 240 off we have been in control,” he said. “Those 30 overs have cost us two games, that is cricket.
“You can not take the foot off the gas at any point.”
Werribee’s match with Noble Park on Saturday ended in a draw with no play due to the weather.
On Sunday, the Tigers beat Box Hill.
The Tigers made 8-125 before bowling Box Hill out for 82.
