Piecing together a complete bowling performance will be central to any Mt Clear resurgence, captain-coach Jacob Smith believes.
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Last season's finalists are lamenting second-from-bottom with just one win to their name, heading into a defining string of matches.
A trip down the highway to play reigning premiers Darley on Saturday is followed by a Sunday homecoming against third-placed East Ballarat - who triumphed against Darley last weekend.
"This weekend's a huge opportunity. We'll certainly be gauging the rest of the season based on these sort of results," Smith said.
"We've got the opportunity to take down a couple of big fish, especially Darley out there. Since I've been at the club (from 2018), I think we've only ever won one game there.
"Although some may look at it as an obstacle, we'll try and look at it as an opportunity to take them down."
The Mounties' lone win came in round three against bottom-placed Brown Hill, with wickets proving a rare commodity.
Smith's bowling attack has crashed from being the most lethal in 2020-21 (151 wickets at 18.3), to the second-most-expensive (815 runs) this season to date.
"I think there's certainly a lot of room for improvement with the discipline in our bowling," Smith said.
"I'm positive it's going to come together before Christmas, and we'll put together a really nice performance.
"We're really letting ourselves down one ball an over at the moment. Whether it's four or five dot balls and then a boundary ball, it's absolutely killing us.
"That probably comes from a little bit of inexperience and trying to search for wickets rather than letting the batters get themselves out through the buildup of pressure."
Due to player unavailability, Mt Clear will again enter the weekend with an inexperienced group.
Smith said he was pleased with how the kids were stepping up.
"I love the way the young fellows are asking questions during the week," he said.
"I'm not trying to hold anyone's hand or anything like that.
"It's kind of been a situation of throwing them into the deep end and seeing how quickly they can swim.
"Sometimes, you might have to sacrifice a few results in order to help those young players get that experience and learning opportunities."
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