By DAVID NAGEL
ENDEAVOUR Hills will be batting to keep possession of sixth spot on the VSDCA South/East ladder after Malvern (8/256) posted a challenging total at Sydney Pargeter Reserve.
The Eagles bowling attack started well enough, with Richard Saniga (3/45) and the league’s leading wicket taker Chris Pereira (2/48) having the visitors at 4/81, but Malvern’s middle-order of Michael Jones (73), Leigh Alford (56) and Nick Gill 44 not out) batted beautifully to see their side through to its allotted 80 overs.
Vaughan Baxter (2/58) toiled hard to take two late wickets and take his tally to 20 for the season.
The Eagles will need their two leading run scorers, Zach Allen (307) and Ben Swift (283), to fire this week to avoid wasting a great start to the season. The Eagles won four of their first five games, but have slipped in recent times, winning just one of their last four.
Allen and Swift will be without the third cog in the Eagles batting machine, Shean Vanderwert (223), who is not available for this encounter.
The Eagles run home consists of visits to Ormond (5th) and Mount Waverley (10th), before a home-ground one-dayer against Kingston Saints (11th) in round 13.
