Chris Peake went wicket-less with the ball, but his 45-run innings helped propel Endeavour Hills to a 58-run success over Moorabbin on Saturday. 25742By Marc McGowan
ENDEAVOUR Hills put its unlikely finals pursuit back on track with a 58-run drubbing of Moorabbin at Moorleigh Community Village on Saturday.
The Hills’ batsmen turned in their best performance of the season – topping 200 for the first time – to steer the club to its fourth victory of the summer.
English opener Richard Evans (50) top-scored, but Endeavour Hills had a host of contributors, including Chris (45) and Neil Peake (35) and Richard Saniga (33 not out).
Finals looked out of the equation after a heavy defeat to Malvern before Christmas, but Hills captain-coach Vaughan Baxter believes the latest triumph has given his side a flicker of hope.
“We’ve already played the majority of the top sides. We have one gun side left to play over the next few games and then the rest are against teams around our mark,” he said.
“Realistically, with our percentage, we’ve virtually got to win them all or lose only one to have any chance of playing finals, but we’re not talking about that.
“We’re just talking about each game as it goes.”
Baxter tweaked the batting order on the weekend – promoting himself to the top of the order at the expense of young opener Justin Merlino.
The move paid off, with Baxter and Evans sharing a 42-run opening stand that set the tone for the innings.
And there were none of the collapses that have plagued Endeavour Hills all season on what was a good batting wicket.
Merlino was not required as the Hills finished its 45 overs on 7/229.
Moorabbin made a good fist of the run chase, but consistently lost wickets close together.
Susantha Pradeep (50) played a lone hand for the hosts as they made 171 in 43 overs.
Matthew Foenander (4/36) continued his rich vein of form to cap a strong all-round game from Evans (4/24).
Off-spinner Shane Peake (2/37) also collected a pair of victims.
Baxter praised his players’ overall display.
“We had a good win. It was the first time we made 200 for the year and there was hardly a failure,” he said.
“We lost our way in the middle period and they pegged us back a bit because we didn’t push enough singles, but, apart from that, we started and finished well.
“And our bowlers did well on a really good wicket,” he said.
Endeavour Hills faces fellow finals contender Mount Waverley in a Saturday-Sunday fixture at Mount Waverley Reserve this weekend.
Baxter said in-form second XI player Henry Vettivelu will play at first drop for the ones this weekend.
He did not reveal the two players in contention for the axe, but Lenard van der Werff and veteran Peter Edwards have both struggled for runs lately.
