Tara Murray
Melton’s finals hopes remain alive heading into the final round of the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west.
Having not won a game last season, the Lions have made massive inroads this season including winning six out of their last seven matches.
The Lions now sit just percentage outside the top six, one of four teams equal on points.
Lions coach Mitch Stephens said to still be in finals contention at this point of the season, wasn’t something they were expecting at the start of the season.
“We still need to win the next game and rely on results,” he said.
“We spoke mid-year that we had already exceeded expectations and that we wanted to push for bigger honours.
“The work we’re doing is paying off.”
On Saturday, the Lions came away with a hard fought win against Balwyn.
The Lions resumed at 1-48 in reply to 145. The Lions managed to get the runs with plenty of time and wickets to spare.
They lost four late wickets after securing the points, to finish 8-154.
Stephens said it wasn’t the easy wicket to bat on.
“It was a really tricky wicket out there,” he said. “It was green and soft. We just wanted to make sure we got the six points first.”
Shehan Hirudika top scored with 46, while Jason Hibbert scored 31 as all the top order got starts.
Pleasingly for the Lions, they didn’t need to rely on leading run scorer Ben MacRae to get them over the line.
“Ben has been amazing for us this year without him, we wouldn’t have been able to put on some big scores,” Stephens said.
“JJ Hibbert and Shehan were able to get some time in the middle. We were pretty confident we would get the runs.
“We needed our top six or seven to get the job done. Benny at training has been making it a real focus to value your wicket.”
The Lions face Williamstown in the final round in a one-dayer.
Stephens said it was a challenge they were looking forward to.
“Williamstown will be a good fight and we need to play the best if we’re going to play in finals,” he said.
“We’ll just stick to the process that has seen us win six of the last seven. If what we do pays off then that’s good, if it doesn’t we’ve still been playing our way.”
In good signs for the Lions, their third, fourth and fifth XIs along with their under-18s have all qualified for finals.
Stephens said that shows how far the club has come this season.
“There’s been a really positive change,” he said. “We’ll look to grow it next year and we’re already started looking to next year.
“Wins around the club is a positive for Melton and hopefully it makes more people want to come down.”
