Endeavour Hills captain-coach Ben Maroney and Englishman Karl Turner were pivotal with the ball, but will have even more responsibility with the bat if their team is to defeat Mount Waverley this weekend. Picture: Stewart Chambers.By Marc McGowan
ENDEAVOUR Hills will have to beat its previous Victorian Sub District Cricket Association first XI season-high score by more than 100 runs to conquer Mount Waverley at Sydney Pargeter Reserve on the weekend.
On what Hills captain-coach Ben Maroney described as a “belter of a pitch”, former Victorian star and 2003-04 Jack Ryder Medallist Rob Bartlett (87) and captain Craig Ferguson (70) continued their stellar year to lead Mount Waverley to 277 on Saturday.
The Jack Ryder Medal is Victorian Premier Cricket’s Brownlow equivalent.
Liam Hibbert also chipped in with 40, but after going to tea at 3/170, Mount Waverley could have done more damage to Endeavour Hills.
Led by a magnificent second spell from Simon Black and the cagey part-time off-spinners of Maroney (4/33), the Hills restricted Mount Waverley to 107 runs in the 40 overs after the break.
Interestingly, Maroney and fellow occasional trundler Shaun Tongue were used initially just to improve the over rate, but they ultimately played a major role in the fightback.
Other wicket takers were all-rounders Karl Turner (2/57) and Matthew Hutchinson (2/67), while Black and Tongue snared a single victim each.
It leaves Endeavour Hills with the task of scoring at a tick under 3.5 runs an over to achieve victory.
But that is only if they can survive their 80 overs, which is something the local side has struggled to do.
That goal has been boosted by the inclusion of veteran Peter Edwards, and Maroney has moved himself into the middle order to solidify the line-up.
Much will depend on the team’s openers Turner and Ryan Pearson beginning well, according to Maroney.
“The top of the order is the key to our chances,” he said.
“Karl Turner and Ryan Pearson have to get off to a good start and hopefully one of them is not out at tea.
“With the likes of Hutchy coming in at eight, Jason Williams at seven, who made a hundred last year, and having Peter Edwards up from the twos, we’ve got pretty good depth with our batting line-up.”
It does still look a tough chase for the Hills, whose best effort has been 6/159, but Maroney believes the game is in the balance.
“We are on a par at the moment. We won the toss and sent them in, with the reason being that we’ve batted first three times and posted three low scores,” he said.
“We wanted to give our bowlers a chance and they bowled quite well on a ground that was very fast.
“I’m pretty confident. We’ve got 80 overs, so we should be right. A couple of times last year we posted over 300.
“As long as we bat the full 80 overs, we should win the game.”
The contest resumes at Sydney Pargeter Reserve from 1pm on Saturday.
