By Jonty Ralphsmith
Endeavour Hills has secured its first win of the Victoria Sub-District Cricket Association (VSDCA) season, breezing past Moorabbin in a six-wicket victory.
An excellent display on Saturday set the platform for a big win, with the joy coming early on Sunday, the hosts arriving on day two just nine runs adrift.
Endeavour Hills struck at crucial junctures in Moorabbin’s innings, dismissing three top-order batters just as they looked to transfer pressure back onto the Falcons.
That allowed Thilan Walallawita to attack with the ball and he picked up four wickets as the Falcons were able to capitalise on the momentum.
Moorabbin was bowled out for just 109, before Lachlan De Zilwa and Awais Ahmed made handy inroads into the total before stumps.
Seven batters got starts and spent reasonable time in the middle for the hosts but no-one was able to get a big score and up the ante, stymying any chance of an outright win.
After being bowled out for 183, 74 runs ahead, Moorabbin batted the remaining 30 overs, reaching 3/105.
Meanwhile, Sahan Perera and Rajapakse Rajapakse have led Noble Park to a comfortable win over Donvale.
Scoring was tough on day one, as Donvale went at a run-rate of just 1.8, never able to inject any substantial momentum into its innings.
After a short and rapid opening spell from the quicks, Perera locked up an end for virtually the rest of Saturday, building the pressure and asking the batters to generate pace on a difficult wicket.
The tweaker’s 20.5 overs yielded figures of 6/35, with his tightness helping to restrict Donvale to just 118.
After seeing off the first couple of overs, Rajapakse played a free-flowing knock to help his team reach the target with ease despite never being able to establish a sustained partnership.
Rajapakse finished with 80 off 96, with Noble Park declaring at 7/168 to sniff an outright, but Donvale dug in for 26 overs, losing just the two wickets.
Noble Park and Endeavour Hills face off in a two-day match next weekend, with the second-placed Parkers favoured to win.
