By ROY WARD
ENDEAVOUR Hills has waited more than a decade to make the Victorian Sub District Cricket Association first XI finals, so waiting one more week won’t be too hard.
The Eagles have all but secured a place in the top six after a 79-run win over Preston at Preston City Oval on Saturday.
After making 232 on the first day, the Eagles set out to knock over the Bull Ants, which is exactly what they did, taking consistent wickets throughout the innings to bowl out the home side for 153 from 54.1 overs.
Eagles bowler Chris Pereira took 4-49. The Eagles then batted out the final 19 overs of the match and finished on 3-59.
Eagles captain-coach Matt Hutchinson said his team was excited about the prospect of making finals but still hadn’t cemented its place in the post-season.
A win over Noble Park at Syd Pargeter Reserve in the season-ending one-day match this Saturday will assure the Eagles of making the finals.
“The club has been in VSDCA for about 15-16 years and hasn’t played finals in the ones,” Hutchinson said.
“We aren’t completely in yet but we would have to lose and then have four other results go against us.”
Hutchinson said his side had put on a determined display against Preston. Some tweets from Preston players during the week predicted they would make plenty of runs against the Eagles.
“They chirped it up a bit during the week saying they would get 300 against us, so we used it as ammo.
“I ended up getting out the bloke who did a lot of the tweets, so I let him know that he might be able to tweet but he didn’t know how to play a short ball.”
The Eagles’ thirds have also secured a place in the finals and the fourth side looks likely to finish on top of its competition.
“There is a good buzz around the joint at the moment,” Hutchinson said. “To hopefully have three sides in the finals is a pretty good effort.”
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