Tara Murray
Deer Park is hoping to find some consistency to get its season back on track in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division.
In their first season in the top grade, the Lions have two wins from the first seven games, sitting them last, after eight rounds.
Lions coach Mick Andriadis said the guys were up for the challenge at the higher level, but were finding out that you have to be switched on for the whole game.
“We haven’t played too well,” he said. “It’s not ideal.”
“We came good on Saturday last week [against] and hopefully that was us turning it around.
“We haven’t had a complete day yet. When we bowl alright our batting hasn’t been great and when we bat well, we haven’t done it with the ball.”
With the closeness of the competition, the Lions aren’t out of the competition by any means. After seven rounds they’ve won more games than the bottom two teams last season did for the whole season.
Andriadis said everyone at the club was up and about, they were just hoping to get a few more wins on the board.
“It’s our first season in the senior division,” he said.
“We’ve got to be better and more competitive for longer at that level.
“They [Sunshine United] were second on the ladder and batted really well and got the runs in 25 overs.
“It showed that it’s really tight and anyone can beat anyone.
“You can’t lose your concentration for 10 to 20 or it can cost you a game.”
Andriadis said he was aware of how important the next two games were, the first against Yarraville Club which was on Saturday, after deadline.
Deer Park lost that game.
Andriadis said before that game those two matches could put their season back on track.
“The last match is against Yarraville Club, who are second, and then we have a one-dayer straight after Christmas,” he said.
“That will be important. We’ll be looking to get into a position in the lower end of the top four.
“The boys are up for it. We haven’t had much luck with availability and a couple of injuries, it is what it is.
“We can turn it around.”
After the first one-dayer after Christmas the competition is set to return to the two-day format.
It will be the first time sides have played two-dayers since before COVID-19.
Andriadis said they were looking forward to it.
“It will be different for the whole competition and it will be a good challenge,” he said.
“Batting for 80 overs in this competition, with a lot of strength in the batting department in this competition, there’s going to be a lot of big scores.”
