By ADEM SARICAOGLU
HOPPERS Crossing remains winless this year in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association after going down to South Caulfield on the weekend.
The Cats had enjoyed a good summer prior to the Christmas break but have come back in scratchy form, losing successive one-day games.
Captain-coach Darrel Brown told Star his young side struggled on the spin-friendly wicket at South Caulfield after losing early wickets, but should learn a lot from the experience.
“Some of our guys have something to learn from it because it’s an absolutely young team,” Brown said.
“Nine of the guys are under 25. For some of them this is their first outing at this level of cricket and it’s still a learning environment, so I don’t get too hard on them and I just want them to learn from their experience.
“You only get better in games like those, but yes it was a disappointing loss.”
The Cats remain in the hunt for a finals berth with the business end of the season fast-approaching, and with their two-day record so far reading well at 4-2, Brown remains buoyant of his side’s chances of bouncing back from its recent form slump.
“Anything can happen,” he said.
“Our next three games are two-dayers and this is where we’ve been relatively good, so we just have to get back and do the right things.”
When asked where the improvement needs to come from, Brown kept the plan simple, and said it all starts this weekend against Old Mentonians.
“We have to get the runs on the board,” he said.
“We’re playing at home and we’ve been pretty good at home.
“We haven’t lost at home, so it’s going to be interesting.
“We play our best cricket on our home ground. I think the wicket is a good wicket and we know how to play on it, so I think the guys will be looking forward to that.”
This weekend’s game will prove vital to the final makeup of the top four, and the Cats will be hoping to regain momentum ahead of their final round clash away to St Bernard’s OC, who sit second on the table.
