No finals for Lions

George Pritchard top scored in the second innings. (Jacob Pattison)386773_04

Taylors Lakes’ hopes of playing finals in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-west are over with the Lions losing to Hoppers Crossing on Saturday.

The Lions hopes of playing finals were all but dashed after day one of the match when a poor batting performance put them behind the eight-ball.

The Lions were bowled out for 73, with Nilan Fernando top scoring with 32.

With the ball, the Lions were also able to get early wickets, having the Cats on the back foot at 2-18

Apart from the Cats’ skipper Simon Lambert’s knock of 68 opening the batting, the two sides batting innings were very similar, as the Cats were knocked over for 152 in the 41st over.

The Lions started day two trailing by 79 runs but had hopes of a reverse outright win.

The Lions batters again struggled on Saturday with another slow start giving them little hope of winning the game.

The Lions were 8-51, before being dismissed for just 90.

Batting at nine George Pritchard was the top run scorer with 24 runs off just 15 balls.

With a lead of just 11, Hoppers Crossing needed just 10 balls to get the runs and claim an outright victory.

The Lions sit in 11th spot after after 14 rounds with six wins for the season, 16 points outside the top six.

The best the Lions can finish is 10th.

The Lions will finish their season with a one-day clash against Strathmore on Saturday.