It was a second straight cliffhanger for Melton in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association’s east-west competition.
Having won on the final ball of the innings against Box Hill in the previous round, the Lions had to turn their attention to the shortest format of the game against an undefeated Altona in a T20 match on Saturday.
Winning the toss, the Lions changed their batting order to suit the shorter format. It back-fired, with Jake Thornton-Gielen bowled out for three.
Playing coach Nathan Geisler and Ben MacRae set about building a total, putting on 36 before Geisler was out for 17.
Michael Alexander was run out soon after, and the Lions were 3-56. The middle order and MacRae kept the scoreboard ticking over, but they were made to pay, with three run-outs.
The Lions finished their 20 overs at 6-130.
MacRae top-scored for the Lions for a second straight week, making 53, while skipper David Kirk made 27. Geisler said the Lions were probably 10-20 runs short of an ideal score.
“We lacked the big partnerships in the middle of the innings,” he said. “Every time the new batsmen came in, they had to restart.”
By contrast, the Lions made a perfect start with the ball, with Ashley Sweet taking the wicket of David Kinsella before the As opened their account. But Altona got going with Aaron Maynard and Shane Jones pushing the score along.
When Jones was out for 15, Maynard was joined by skipper Adam Yates. This duo pushed the As within sight of victory.
The wicket of Yates rekindled hope for the Lions, but it wasn’t to be, with Altona hitting its winning runs off the third last ball of the match.
Sweet, Brad Jones and Jake Charge took one wicket each. Geisler said they were left to rue not making the most of their opportunities.
“We gave ourselves the chance to win, but didn’t take the most of our chances.
“We dropped a catch early, and missed a couple of run-outs that would have helped.”
The Lions sit 10th on the ladder after three rounds. On Saturday, they host the win-less Hoppers Crossing in a one-day match.
Geisler said while the side is more competitive than 12 months ago, there needs to be more consistency across the board.
“We could be 2-1,” he said.
“We’ve had one or two people performing with the ball, and then one or two with the bat.
“We need other blokes to step up and not rely on the same guys every week.”
