A well-made 65 from Darley captain Matthew Cape wasn’t enough to get his team home in the first round of the Ballarat Cricket Association season on Saturday.
The Lions went down to Golden Point by 23 runs after being bowled out for 202 on day two of the clash at White Flat.
Speaking before the match, Cape highlighted his team’s batting as an area that needed improvement after last season, when Darley finished eighth with four wins.
In a bid to make more runs this year, the club signed Josh Bamford, Oliver Smith and Ryan Ali in the off-season.
Bamford and Ali have previously played for Darley, while Smith is from England.
“We’ve always been able to bowl other teams out but haven’t quite been able to put as many runs on the board as we wanted, especially in finals,” Cape said.
“Batting was a key area we identified that we needed to strengthen and we see those guys as players who will really bolster our squad.”
There was also a leadership change at the Lions, with Terry Moloney replacing Cape as coach of the first XI.
And with a stronger squad assembled, Darley’s goal is to do more than just make finals.
“We’ve made the finals a couple of times but I suppose the main goal is to win a final and get into a grand final,” Cape said.
“Obviously, getting into the finals is everyone’s goal. We missed out by a game and half last year, but the two seasons prior to that we made it.”
It wasn’t all bad news for Darley on the weekend, though, with the club’s second XI roaring to an 87-run win against Golden Point.
The highlight was 130 by 17-year-old Zac Ticehurst, one of a host of good young players the Lions are looking forward to developing this season.
“It was a brilliant knock,” Cape said. “He’s in the Central Highlands pathway program.
He came in for the first over and went out with about five overs to go. It was a top innings and we look forward to him playing a lot of good cricket this year.”
Darley will play its first home game of the season when it takes on Napoleons-Sebastopol in round two this week.
