Melton continued its climb back up the Victorian Sub District cricket ladder with a comprehensive win over Coburg on Saturday.
After the Lions made 286 on day one, players returned to Coburg City Oval knowing it would take something special for Coburg to chase down the target.
Opener Hamish Morrison made his intentions clear immediately, hitting a quickfire 21 off 18 balls.
But his defiance was brief and he was the first wicket to fall with the score at 29.
From there, Coburg never looked like securing the runs they needed and it became more about survival in the middle.
Melton’s Steve Buhagiar and Nathan Allen were outstanding with the ball, combining for 16 maidens and three wickets from 39 overs.
With runs hard to come by from one end, Brad Jones cashed in at the other, taking 4-45 from his 18 overs.
Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals and Coburg was eventually bowled out in the 78th over for 188.
Javed Bolim and Kyle Blake equal top-scored for the home side with 29.
The victory gives Melton a 3-1 start to the season and lifts the club into second place on the first-grade ladder.
The Lions have equalled the total number of games they won for the entire 2013-14 season.
Melton will look to keep its winning streak going when it takes on Kew this week.
In other results from the weekend, Altona defeated Plenty Valley, Williamstown fell to Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows, Yarraville was too good for Sunshine, and Werribee got the better of Brunswick.
Meanwhile, Melton Centrals are in the box seat after day one of the match against Gellibrand in the Williamstown association’s A-grade matting,
Sending Gellibrand in to bat appeared to have backfired when the home side reached 1-60.
But a flurry of middle-order wickets turned the match as Gellibrand lost 8-25 to slip to 9-85.
The final pair, Kaddar Salaheddine and Alex Patterson, did their best to lift the total and combined for a 20-run partnership before the innings ended at 105 in the 47th over.
In reply, Centrals got to 3-62 in their 20 overs.
Liam Twomey
