Taylors Lakes fell to its second agonising defeat in as many weeks on Saturday, losing its sub district T20 against Melton on the final ball of the game.
After losing last week by just one wicket, the Lions had recovered from a bad start with the bat on Saturday to post 6-107 and then took the game to the final over with Melton needing eight runs to win the game.
With gun all-rounder Yoshan Kumara steaming in, Melton ticked off five runs off the first five balls, before Brad Jones launched a six over deep mid-wicket off the final ball of the innings to seal the win.
The Lions had a man in the position the ball travelled, but onlookers estimated the ball travelled more than 80 metres and he was no chance of catching it.
It ended a disappointing day for the home side, with coach Paul Thomas conceding they simply didn’t put enough runs on the board early after they slumped to 3-13 and then 5-30.
“The deck was slow, and both sides struggled to score big runs,” he said.
“Our start was symptomatic of our club over the last few seasons, but that’s something we’re trying to fix, but 110 is hard to defend.”
Kumara (27), Mark Koutroubas (24 not out) and Thomas (21) were the biggest contributors with the bat, and despite the small total the bowlers slowly dragged the home side back into the contest.
Teenager Liam Wolf had 1-18 off three overs, while star spinner Jarrod Wakeling showed his class with 2-17 off his four overs.
“Our bowling was solid, as it always is,” Thomas said.
“Liam [Wolf] is only 18 I think, and he’s come into the ones this year and probably been our dominant bowler, and Jarrod is probably the best spinner in the comp so we got what we expected out of him. We just didn’t have the runs.”
While the Lions sit at the foot of the ladder and winless after three games, Thomas said it would not take long for his side to climb up the standings.
“We should have won round two against Preston, and we should have won this one when it gets down to them needing a boundary off the last ball,” he said.
“So we could easily be 2-1, but our percentage is strong so a couple of wins and we’ll be up in that top six.”
