Lions humbled on home deck

TODD WHELAN

BROWN Hill gave a star studded LIons 1st XI boasting five Ej Cleary Medalists an early season reminder there are no entitlements in the game of cricket with a comfortable four wicket win at Darley Park.

While new Lions playing coach Nathan Yates didn’t shy away from the disappointment he was hopeful the outing was a timely wake up call amid the infancy of a long and very competitive BCA season.

“(It) was a very bad day and glad to get that one out of the way early,” he said. “As long as we learn from it.

“We are a much better team than that and the best thing is in a week we get to go and show what we are really about,” added Yates.

The Lions won the toss and chose to bat on an even wicket, fully aware it would be tough going with the slow outfield following a recent “top dress” to the surface.

When pivotal stroke maker Dilon Chandima (3) went early with the score at 1/7 it was up to Rockey Hoey (17), Sajith Dissanayake (29) and Jarrod Burns (16) to restore the innings. But after ‘digging in’ and ‘doing the hard work’ to some degree, Hoey was caught with the score on 36. Not out of the woods just yet the Lions continued the rebuild to be 2/69. However, as soon as the Lions were beginning to look comfortable, the rot set in. The hosts lost 6/12 that saw them reeling at 8/81 and desperately in need of a spark.

Enter lower order batsmen and good mates Hasitha Wickramasinghe (33) and Madushanka Ekanayake (30) who added a much needed 55 for the ninth wicket before the Lions were eventually bowled out for 150 in the 49th over. While clearly run shy of any forecast totals, the Lions had a semi respectable target defend, a situation not foreign to the Darley bowling attacks of more recent times.

Lions spearhead Madushanka Ekanayake broke through relatively early dismissing opener Milan Kavindu 2(17) to have the visitors 1/25 and injecting some belief into the target defence. But that belief was slowly removed as Brown Hill batted with maturity, seemingly unphased up against one of the spruke teams for the 2024/25 season.

Brown Hill put on 60 for the second wicket and a steadying 45 for the third to set up up the win. Sure there was a late rally from the LIons as the visitors stumbled from 2/130 to 6/138 but the damage was already done. Akila Lashan’s dashing 71(49) made batting look easy while others struggled in a true Captain’s match-winning knock for the visitors. Brown Hill went passed the 150 asking target with four wickets in hand and 12.2 overs up their sleeve.

Yates acknowledged some positives for the Lions in their efforts with the ball and in the field while reinforcing his messaging in the ‘must take our chances’ space. The batting performance however, ‘Hasi’ and ‘Eka’ aside was not as favourably assessed.

“(Our batting) was poor – it was like we weren’t in for the fight., ” Yates said. “We were very impatient and didn’t put a high enough price on our wickets.”

The Lions have the opportunity to atone and go ahead of their win loss ledger (W1-L1) when they host Ballarat-Redan (W1-L1) on Saturday. Play starts from 12 noon.

BCA FIRST GRADE – (ROUND 3)

Darley 150, Overs 48.1. H.Wickramasinghe 33, M.Ekanayake 30, S.Dissanayake 29.

Brown Hill 6/151, Overs 37.4. H.Wickramasinghe 2/31, S.Dissanayake 2/23.

Darley lost by 4 wickets.

BCA SECOND GRADE – (ROUND 3)

Darley 294, Overs 45. E.Thewma 125, A.Myers 42.

East Ballarat 159, Overs 31.2 J.Murphy 5/48, M.Ellis 3/35.

Darley won by 135 runs.

BCA THIRD GRADE – (ROUND 3)

Darley 5/311, Overs 40. B.Hughes 94*(45), H.Hoey 83, B.Faulkhead 79.

Wendouree 62, Overs 24.4. H.Singh 4/8, Z.Aguis 2/7, L.Bona 2/22.

Darley won by 249 runs.