Lions lose touch with top four

SEVENTH-placed Darley will aim to keep their season alive when they meet top side Mount Clear in a two day game starting this weekend. The reality comes on the back of a 66 run loss on the road against East Ballarat on Saturday.

After losing the toss the Lions were sent into the field with the challenge of containing the hosts on a typically sound Russell Square Oval.

East Ballarat made their intentions clear as their top five batsmen all made starts to varying degrees. But the aggressive nature was the one constant as each of the five batsmen went better than a strike rate of 72 (runs per 100 balls).

Madushanka Ekanayake was the pick of the Lions bowlers taking 3/31 from his nine overs, including three maidens.The Lions rallied late in the field to minimise the damage as the hosts went from 4/191 to 8/211 at one stage before settling on 8/238 from their 50 overs.

Darley Coach Nathan Yates was relatively pleased with the effort in the field and the overall state of the game at the half way mark.

“We bowled really well to restrict them to a par score after their fast start,” Yates said.

“Ekka’s effort was outstanding.”

The response with the bat was a bit ‘copy, paste’ on recent efforts as a handful of Lions made starts but were unable to cash in on their hardwork.

The asking rate was kept in check by Sajith Dissanayake 32(27), Dilan Chandima 63(72) and Yates 18(12) but it simply wasn’t enough to earn the much needed points.

“(Unfortunately) we batted without much luck and never really got a good partnership going,” Yates said.

“Chandima’s 63 was clearly the highlight of the run chase, he was superb.”

Yates wore the loss, acknowledged the frustrations but was eager to move forward.

“A massive game for us this week against top of the table Mt Clear,” he said.

“This is now a must win game for us to stay in top four contention.”

BCA FIRST GRADE – (ROUND 10)

East Ballarat 8/238, Overs 50. M.Ekanayake 3/31, J.Burns 3/38.

Darley 172, Overs 39.5. D.Chandima 63, S.Dissanayake 32.

Darley (7th) lost by 66 runs..

BCA SECOND GRADE – (ROUND 10)

Darley 8/217, Overs 45. A.Pickett 50, J.Murphy 40.

North Ballarat 144, Overs 39.2. Da.Locke 2/24, J.Martindale 1/13.

Darley (4th) WON by 73 runs.

BCA THIRD GRADE – (ROUND 10)

Lucas 9/108, Overs 40.

Darley 0/111, Overs 25.1`S.Sanders 54*, L.Woods 48*.

Darley (3rd) WON by 10 wickets.

BCA FOURTH GRADE – (ROUND 11)

Bacchus Marsh vs Darley

Darley (6th) return January 18th.

BCA FIFTH GRADE – (ROUND 11)

Brown Hill vs Darley

Darley (10th) return January 18th.

GDCA – WOMEN’S FIRST XI

Lancefield Yellow vs Darley

Darley (1st) return February 2nd