Endeavour Hills captain-coach Vaughan Baxter outpolled his rivals by two votes to take out the W.J Price Trophy for the second XI player of the year in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association on Friday night.By Marc McGowan
ENDEAVOUR Hills all-rounder Vaughan Baxter received another accolade in his impressive career by winning the W.J Price Trophy for the best second XI player in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association on Friday night.
It comes after a hugely successful season that garnered 473 runs at 47.3 and 33 wickets at an average of 14.
Baxter, 32, polled 31 votes to finish two clear of the field.
“It was a good reward. I thought I’d be a chance, but I was not sure about winning it,” he said.
The captain-coach recorded a highest score of 100 not-out and his best effort with the leather was 6/59.
But possibly Baxter’s most notable performance was guiding a youthful Endeavour Hills second XI side to the finals for the first time in the nine seasons it has been involved in the VSDCA after finishing last in 2005-06.
“We had a really young team and came third this year. We had three 15-year-old kids in the team and we’ll keep playing the kids and watch them develop and go up,” he said.
Baxter played 66 junior games for the club and has added another 195 at senior level in 22 years at Endeavour Hills.
“I left in 2003-04 for two years to captain-coach Surrey Hills before coming back to coach at Endeavour Hills last year,” he said.
Baxter is clearly still good enough to pad up for the first XI, but at this stage he will continue in his role as second XI captain-coach next season.
However, he has not ruled out a return to the top flight in the future.
“The coach wanted me to play ones this year, but I had already committed to be captain-coach of the twos,” he said.
“We will just have to see what happens. I possibly will return to the ones.”
The W.J Price Trophy triumph comes after winning best first XI player at Endeavour Hills in the 2001-02 season and the first XI batting averages four times.
