Darley will seek to strengthen its batting line-up in the off-season as it continues to strive for a place in the Ballarat Cricket Association finals.
The Lions were arguably the unluckiest club in suburban cricket this season, sitting on top of the ladder with one round left in the season only to drop to fifth – and out of the finals – on the back of a loss in that final round.
Despite that, Darley coach Heath Pritchard knows his side isn’t that far from challenging for a premiership.
“We’ll certainly look to strengthen our side and strengthen our batting,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that’s been the issue this year.
“It’s a tricky one. We don’t know how far off the mark we are with the batting and we managed to find a way to beat almost everyone we played.
“We have to find a way to get 180-200 every week and if we do that I have no doubt we’ll play finals next season.”
While the batting was an issue, Darley was clearly one of the best bowling units in BCA’s A-grade.
Pritchard led the way in his first year at the club, taking 38 wickets at an average of nine.
He was well supported by Bradley Barnes, who shared the new ball and finished with 19 scalps.
Sajith Rupasingha and Matthew Cape were also constantly probing in all the right areas.
“Bowling-wise, we’ve done a super job,” Pritchard said.
Although they missed finals, it was still a much-improved season for the Lions, who finished eighth in 2014-15.
But the Lions also became giantkillers, toppling three of the top four sides in the home-and-away season and losing just two of the two-day games.
While happy with the improvement, Pritchard says the club needs to get better.
“We are coming off a pretty low base. We came third-last the season before, so we’ve made significant ground.
“We need to take the next step now. We know we can match it and now it’s time to actually make finals and have a few years of sustained success where we keep putting our hands up.
“If we keep doing that, eventually we’ll crack the jackpot.”
