Crunch time for Endeavour

By Gavin Staindl
AT THE midway mark of the season, Endeavour Hills Sub-Division coach John Hayes has been pondering three things – the return match against Noble Park, the run to finals and the preparation for next year.
Sitting a game and a half back from fourth position and only 12 points back from second, the twelfth positioned Hills are still in the hunt for finals but must win their forthcoming one-dayer against Noble Park if they wish to feature in finals.
With the North/East XI ladder remaining tight through seven rounds, the Hills will quickly find out over the next six matches whether they can remain in touch with the top four.
The run home is bright for the Hills, which will face lowly-placed Noble Park first up and then resume with games against Croydon, Balwyn and Bayswater, all teams which share the same points as Endeavour Hills.
Despite this, Hayes is still determined to look to the long-term future for his team’s successes.
“There is a bit of work to do for finals (this year) but we’ll be pushing to have a shot at it as well as next season,” said Hayes.
“This is my first year with this group of players so I am only just finding out about them,” said Hayes.
The first XI coach is already contemplating a future re-evaluation of his side.
“We need to rejig a few more things … we are not taking enough wickets and our batting has been settled but … we need to be better batting first,” Hayes said.
To Hayes, the match before the Christmas break against Preston symbolised the work that needed to be done.
“We played at 40-50 per cent of our ability … so I’ll be looking at a few things when we return,” Hayes said.
Endeavour Hills returned to training this week and players can expect to be moved around in the order.
According to Hayes, all-rounder Shane Peake and Matt Foenander have been solid but he expects an even bigger second half from them.
Peake has averaged 43 with the bat and has taken 14 wickets at an average of 20.5 while Foenander has taken 11 wickets at 16.5.