Hoppers Crossing is hellbent on making Saturday the most uncomfortable day of sub-district cricket that ladder-leader Balwyn experiences this summer.
The winless Cats have been written off by all and sundry, but undefeated Balwyn have been warned by their unfancied opponents that victory is not a fait accompli.
If there is one aspect of their game the Cats can hang their hat on so far this season, it’s their bowling department.
The Cats produced 185 with the bat, not a large total, but one that skipper Greg Kennedy believes can be defended.
To show how serious the Cats are about defending the score, they bowled three overs of fireworks late on day one that was a mere entree to what Balwyn can expect when play resumes on Saturday.
“They won’t be sleeping as easy as they hoped they might be,” Kennedy said. “We gave them a nice introduction – we were hostile as a fielding unit, we got stuck into them, and they know we’re a quality bowling line-up.
“Brett [Smith] and I can’t wait to fly that new ball and have a couple of nicks through to the keeper.”
Every ball counts when you are defending a low total. Hoppers Crossing will need to be disciplined with the ball and alert in the field.
The Cats want to create some perceived pressure with their enthusiasm in the field, much like Balwyn did to them on Saturday.
“The fieldsmen always help create the atmosphere, both in their actions charging after the ball and making sure we cut off every run, but also with the noise and atmosphere we create,” Kennedy said. “That excitement and belief, showing the batsmen we believe we’re going to win, is particularly important.
“Balwyn was really good at doing that, and I’d like to think we can match that.”
Hoppers Crossing was a little underwhelmed with a score of 185. The Cats probably should have set a bigger target considering the bulk of the runs were made by Sanka Abeyruwan (85) and Kaluwahandi Prasad (40).
On a bright note, the Cats are trending in the right direction with the bat, following a horror streak that saw them bowled out for 105, 103 and 19 in their past three digs.
“It’s good and it’s bad,” Kennedy said.
“It shows that we’re good enough – we had a couple of good partnerships and we set up the game to give ourselves a chance to win.
“At the same time, losing two lots of four wickets for 10 or 15 runs shows we still haven’t all applied ourselves properly to put the game away.
“Having said that, it was quite a tough wicket to bat on, a bit up and down with a big crack down the middle, so at no stage did you really feel like you were in out there,” he said.
“Our bowling line-up will like that, and we think we’re a really good shot … if we bowl well, we can get the points.”
