By ADEM SARICAOGLU
HOPPERS Crossing captain-coach Darrel Brown is confident his Cats can beat Turf Cricket contender South Caulfield this weekend.
In pristine batting conditions at Hogans Road Reserve on Saturday, visiting South Caulfield posted 251 in 75 overs before getting four overs to have a crack at the Hoppers Crossing top order late in the day.
In what proved a very hazardous four-over spell, the Cats lost two crucial wickets to end the day’s play at 2/6.
However, despite needing another 246 runs for victory with eight wickets in hand when play resumes this Saturday, Brown has plenty of faith his side can get the job done in their do-or-die clash.
“The only thing that didn’t go well for us was losing those two wickets but other than that, for us to bowl them out for 250 on the wicket we played on was a great effort,” Brown said.
“In the change room the boys are saying we’ll get this for sure, even after we lost the wickets.
“We’ll hope we get the same wicket as the one the groundsman prepared today and next week’s going to be hot, so we’re pretty confident we’re going to get this.”
The Cats are currently ninth on the Senior Division table and will need to win to stay in finals contention.
However Brown has been wary of putting too much pressure on his young group, and will this weekend apply a fresh, relaxed mentality to the run chase.
“We know it’s on the line but we can’t put too much pressure on ourselves and these guys are still really young,” Brown said.
“They just need to be relaxed and come play their game, and since we’ve been doing that I think the guys have been playing a lot better – because some of them just don’t like that pressure.
“We’re just going to relax and play and work hard – so I’m confident we’re going to get these runs.”
Hoppers Crossing will resume its chase with Michael Tubb and Ryan Latham at the crease.
