Losing is no joke, but worth a laugh

By Gavin Staindl
JUST because Endeavour Hills were beaten twice on the weekend it didn’t mean they couldn’t have a laugh along the way.
The Hills were beaten by Altona by 36 runs on the Saturday and then were knocked over on Sunday by five wickets by Mount Waverley in the match postponed from round one.
Despite the exhausting away losses the Victorian Sub-District side was content to enjoy the moment.
“We made a pact during the week to have as much fun as we could,” Hills coach John Hayes said.
“We were playing away matches on Saturday and Sunday and up until last week we have been getting a bit hard on ourselves with a few guys losing the enjoyment of the game.
“So we made a pact and said we would enjoy our time in the field,” he said.
And enjoy it they did.
Altona found itself astonished by the Eagles who sit last on the Sub-District ladder but enjoyed themselves like they hadn’t lost a game all season.
“It was good to laugh at each other and give a bit of verbal jousting,” Hayes said. “We had Altona wondering what was going on. Here we were at the bottom of the ladder walking around like little kids who had too much red cordial. It put them back a little bit.”
Of course, when the ball was in play the jokes were put on hold, but Hayes insists that the jovial approach improved his players’ performances.
Playing away from home the Eagles restricted Altona to 8/176 before falling 36 runs short of the target.
Chris Peake (55) enjoyed his chance to open the batting while Andrew Reed continued to impress since making his debut for the firsts last week, taking 3/25.
The next day Peake (22) and brother Shane (65) both made respectable scores with Henry Vettivelu scooting along to 22 to help the Hills to a first innings total of 9/155.
With strike bowler Matt Foenander an omission because of work commitments, Endeavour Hills” bowling stocks were reduced further when Reed dislocated his finger in the second over of the day.
The injury prevented him from bowling, leaving spinners Shane Peake and Hayes to do the bulk of the work.
The two slow bowlers could not contain Mount Waverley and after 40 overs the home side had reached 157 for the loss of five wickets.
Despite the two losses, Hayes feels his players have regained their sense of enjoyment in cricket and will be better placed to play out the final two matches.