SYDENHAM/HILLSIDE missed a chance to finish the Christmas break in third spot on the George Luscombe Shield table, falling to Buckley Park by 51 runs at Hillside Recreation Reserve on Saturday.

After bowling the Beavers out for 216 the week prior, the Storm’s run chase never got going with the home side dismissed for 165 in the 73rd over.

Storm captain Bob Kunesevic said it was always going to be hard for his side to win after getting off to slow start.

“We just couldn’t get off to a good start. We were 0/20 off about 20 overs and then we lost a couple of quick wickets,” he said.

“At tea we were 4/90 and still in a pretty good position. We needed just under four runs an over, but then myself and Warren (Hackney) got out pretty quickly after tea.

“We were still going OK until we lost a couple of quick wickets in Alex Hassett and Nick Ferguson and then we just fell away.”

Notorious for being a low scoring ground, Kunesevic said his side wasn’t positive enough with the bat on the wide expanses of Hillside Reserve. For the second consecutive match Dean Allen top scored for the Storm, his knock of 52 his highest score in the Shield for the season. Despite the loss, Kunesevic said he was happy with what his side has achieved over the first half of the season.

“We’re in the four now and hopefully we can have a good break, relax for a couple of weeks and get back into it all. After Christmas we’ve got Roxburgh Park and then a big game against Kealba in a one-dayer,” he said.

“This week’s loss was probably the biggest disappointment of the year but we’re still sitting fourth. Nobody expected us to be there at the start of the year. We’ve got a young group and we’re an improving group.”

He praised the efforts of Warren Hackney and Blake Charlton, the team’s two standout players over the first half of the year.