Howlong and Bethanga are anchored to the bottom of the district ladder after five rounds – three wins outside the top-six.

The Spiders host the Saints at Howlong today in what is a must-win for both outfits.

Howlong coach Tim Seymour admits it hasn’t been an ideal start, but knows his side has had its fair share of chances.

“I guess that’s one-day cricket, you can make a good total and lose a game,” Seymour said.

“It doesn’t take much to lose these games, so hopefully this weekend we can have our first win.

“Last year, our bowling and fielding was really good, it was just our batting performances that let us down a fair bit.

“This year we’ve worked on batting out our overs and trying to pick up our run rate along the way.

“From where we started off early, we were a little bit slow with runs, but we’ve slowly started working on that and it’s getting better each week.

“It’s been up and down with a few different sides I thought might have been the hard ones to beat.

“Sides have been making good scores and getting run down, while other sides have been making average scores and holding on.

“It’s like any sport, it’s a game of chance really.

“A lot of different things can happen and hopefully a bit of luck goes our way.”

RELATED:

All-rounder Darren Keenes has impressed with the bat in recent weeks, notching two half-centuries in his past three innings.

“He has really stepped up this year, his bowling last year was really good, but his batting let him down a fair bit,” Seymour said.

“He’s starting to step up and play his role.

“It’s a matter of getting that consistency throughout the whole side to chip in and make their 20 or 30 runs.

“Once we find our feet with our batting, our bowling and fielding will take that next step.

“We’ll be a lot tighter in the field and take those half chances we’ve had.

“I haven’t put a pencil through the season yet, we’re still in there with a chance.

“It only takes three or four wins and you’re right back in there.”

Corowa will be desperate to turn its poor start around when it hosts Yackandandah in a rematch of last year’s grand final.

Baranduda hopes to continue on from its impressive win against Dederang when it heads to Eskdale.

The undefeated Kiewa hosts Barnawartha-Chiltern, while arch rivals Dederang and Mount Beauty square off at Dederang.