By Tara Murray
Melton’s finals hopes suffered a setback with a disappointing loss to Bayswater in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west competition.
The Lions were in control after day one of the match, but another batting failure would come back to haunt them.
The Lions resumed at 0-10 in reply to 116, after a top bowling display on day one.
Having stepped up their batting in recent weeks, the Lions were confident they could get the runs on day two.
On Saturday, the Lions openers continued on where they left off and were cruising at 0-54 with victory well in their sight.
That’s when disaster set in and it all unravelled for Melton.
The Lions quickly lost 5-12 to be in trouble at 5-66. There was no middle order come back, with the wickets continuing to fall.
In the end, they would lose 10-36 to go from 0-54 to all out for 90 in just 60 overs.
Openers Ben MacRae (37) and David Dickinson (19) were the only Lions players to reach double figures.
The loss could prove a costly one for the Lions in the race for finals.
Had they won the game they would be sitting in the top six with three rounds remaining. Instead they sit ninth, six points outside a finals spot.
Melton has a must win match away this week against bottom side Croydon.
They then face sixth placed Noble Park and second placed Yarraville in the final two rounds.
The Lions’ second XI had a win to move into sixth.
