Hoppers Crossing knows it has work to do in the local Wyndham derby in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
The Hoppers Crossing and Werribee match is one both clubs look forward to each season, with plenty of the line this time.
Both sides are fighting for finals spots, along with the bragging rights.
For Cats’ captain-coach Simon Lambert they were left disappointing after the opening day.
“It wasn’t our best performance so far,” he said.
“We had a really good win last week and it was all positives.
“We won were happy to win the toss
“It was a little bit short and we were never able to kick on.”
The Cats were bowled out for 205 in the 62nd over.
Lambert said it was a stop-start innings on a pitch that was quite slow.
“It was a little bit disappointing knowing that we end up leaving 20 overs out there,” he said.
“It’s pretty disappointing as if we bat those 20 overs we get over 300.
“We lost a couple of early wickets and then we had a little bit of a partnership and then we had a costly run out in there.
“We had a partnership then lost a wicket. We had been hoping for 250-300. We’re more than good enough to get 300.”
Arihant Rawal top scored with 53 for the Cats.
Dean Russ was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Kai Logan took three.
The Cats were able to get a wicket off the first ball of the TIgers innings, but after that the Tigers were able to steady.
They will resume at 1-55 with Russ on 29 not out and Darcy Harmer 25 not out.
“The game is in the balance,” Lambert said. “We have to bowl well and get Dean out.
“For us it’s a big day next week.”
Lambert said with both teams in the mix for finals, every win is crucial.
“It seems like there is seven teams fighting for six spots, it’s close on the ladder.
“Five out of the seven teams are in pretty ordinary positions.
“All of those games could go either way. It’s really open and comes down to who is playing better on the day.
“We’ll now look to get them next week. We’ll look at the positives and hopefully get the job done.”
