By Tara Murray
Two losses have left Melton sitting behind the eight ball in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west competition.
Playing two one-dayers after the fixture was changed due to rain, Melton was hoping to pick up a couple of wins to move up the ladder.
But a disastrous weekend with the bat ended those changes, leaving the Lions with just one win for the season.
Lions director of coaching Anthony Gale said the two results came down to poor batting.
“The boys haven’t gone well,” he said. “It was a bad weekend. It was the kind of weekend that if you get two wins it sets up your season, now we’re behind the eight ball.
“Our batting has been poor the last few weeks, we need to get them to spend time in the middle.”
On Saturday, the Lions faced Werribee at Macpherson Park.
The Lions looked in trouble at 4-31 but steadied to put some runs on the board.
While the scoreboard was ticking over, the Lions lost wickets at the wrong time and finished at 7-160.
Skipper Brad Jones, coming in at number nine, top scored with 38. Dilshan Kanchana made a handy 37.
Gale said they had plenty of starts but no one was able to go on and make a big score.
“We had four starts in the 20s and 30s, we needed to have some of them 50s and 60s.
“It was more than a competitive game, Werribee got the runs with two overs to go.”
The Lions had the Tigers under pressure early on, but the lack of runs on the board hurt them in the end.
A late partnership got the Tigers across the line, finishing 6-161.
It was all single wicket takers for the Lions.
PHOTO GALLERY: Melton vs Werribee
It was a worse day with the bat on Sunday in the catch-up game against Balwyn for the Lions.
Winning the toss, the Lions were bowled out for 96 with nearly nine overs remaining.
Just two players, Ben MacRae (25) and Adrian Monitto (25 not out), reached double figures.
“If we had been able to bat out those overs, we might have been able to put a competitive score on the board.”
The Lions bowlers, led by Jones, didn’t give up and came out firing.
Jones took three early wickets to have Balwyn in trouble at 3-9. They were later 5-49.
One partnership would be the difference, with Balwyn finishing 7-100.
Jones finished with 5-27 but it wasn’t enough to get the win.
The Lions sit 10th, with one win after four matches.
Gale said the key for the next few weeks would be the batting.
He said they would likely stick with the same guys, with not many to choose from in the lower grades.
“We will work on that during the week and hopefully we can turn it around,” he said.
“We might shuffle the order around a bit.
“We need a bit of luck. Maybe we need to play with a bit of freedom.”
The Lions this week face Taylors Lakes in another one-dayer. Taylors Lakes sits one sp
