By Ewen McRae
A fighting rear-guard partnership steered Taylors Lakes out of trouble on Saturday, as it kicked off its Victorian Sub District Cricket Association season.
Taking on Hoppers Crossing, the Lions found themselves in early trouble after being sent in to bat, with some early season rust and tight bowling seeing the top order crumble.
Taylors Lakes moved to 24, before it began to unravel for the home side. Michael Brne was bowled for 18, sparking a mini-collapse.
Fellow opener Yannick Fernandes (8) snicked one through to the keeper soon after, and both Nipun Sumanasinghe and Kamal Guraya failed to trouble the scorers as the Lions slumped to 4-41.
Teenager Marcus Just and wicket keeper Lachlan Marr came together to steady the ship, and were able to counter attack at times with some fluent boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Just scored 32 of his 38 runs in boundaries before he departed, and while Vishesh Bansal (14) looked good, his dismissal saw the Lions 6-107 and once again in trouble.
However, the combination of Marr and recruit Dilshan Kanchana saved the day for the hosts, with the pair batting smartly to compile an important 63-run stand for the seventh wicket to give the scoreboard some credibility.
Marr was stumped for 55 (11 boundaries), but Kanchana added some vital runs with the tail before he was caught behind late in the day for a vital 70.
The Lions were dismissed soon after for 238 in the 73rd over.
Taylors Lakes president Rob Arnold said while the collapse was unfortunate, seeing the middle and lower order fight throughout the afternoon was very pleasing.
“History will show that we’re notorious for having those collapses, and not being able to recover from them, so it was very pleasing to fight back the way we did,” Arnold said.
“Our new coach [Janaka Deegodagamage] highlighted the individual scores at the end of the game, but he particularly emphasised the partnerships, because that’s what got us back into the game.
With a new coach on board and a number of young players filling crucial positions in the First XI, Arnold said it was an exciting time for the club as they look to push into finals in a strong competition.
“With the young group that we’ve got, and with the talent we’ve brought in around them, we’re very buoyant,” he said.
“It’s obviously a very tough division this year with some of the clubs in the south division fielding very strong teams with plenty of ex-premier players, but we’re looking at finals and just seeing what happens after that.”
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