It was a missed opportunity for Sunbury as it fell just short of upsetting Maribyrnong Park St Mary’s in Victorian Turf Cricket Association Steve McNamara Shield on Saturday.
The Roar was on top after day one of the clash but it would be one that would go down to the wire on day two as the Roar batting line up collapsed.
The Roar resumed at 0-10 in reply to the Lions 136.
Sunbury had a solid start to the day and at 1-44 had eaten into the total.
The wickets started falling from there and put the pressure back on the Roar.
Jason McGann played a lone hand in the middle and lower order, as his teammates fell around him.
The Roar had five batters fall for ducks and McGann was the only batter outside of the top three to reach double figures.
It would prove costly in the end as the Roar was bowled out for 128.
The Roar’s Marty Kelders said they can look at the result in two different ways.
“It was a very tight match and our boys saw it as a last opportunity,” he said. “Maribyrnong has only lost one game of the year.
“I would like to think it was a really good performance. We had a great bowling performance last week.
“We just fell in a hole in the middle part of our innings. We nearly got over the line.”
Sumedha Gamage made 59 at the top of the order for the Roar, with Kelders saying it was his best performance of the season and they wouldn’t have gone close without him.
McGann finished 36 not out as he tried to get his side home. He had hit a six the over before the innings as he tried to get his side closer to the win.
“We lost five for not many, that was the difficult part,” Kelders said. “There’s a lot of positives to come out of the game.
“They are a very good team, we’ll take a lot out of it.”
Kelders said the pain of the players after the game showed that they cared about what they were doing and the club.
Sunbury now sits in seventh spot, nine points outside the top four.
The tough tasks continue as it faces second placed West Coburg St Andrews in a two-dayer in the next round.
Kelders said the Redbacks had set the standard this season.
“We will look to put in a positive performance,” he said. “We are a very good bowling team and we’ll see how we go.”
