Re-appointed Endeavour Hills Cricket Club captain-coach Ben Maroney is expecting his youthful side to be a much-improved unit in the upcoming 2007-08 season.By Marc McGowan
ENDEAVOUR Hills Cricket Club has handed captain-coach Ben Maroney a new two-year contract as it ramps up for its 10th season in the Victorian Sub District Cricket Association this year.
Maroney, 29, was lured to the club for the 2006-07 season as a youthful Endeavour Hills first XI squad missed the finals despite an impressive run home.
He will be assisted by Vaughan Baxter, who won the W.J. Price Trophy for the best second XI player last season and will captain-coach at the same level again, along with Mark Vivian and Wayne Foenander.
While Maroney, who has played for Catani in the West Gippsland Cricket Association and Richmond in Victorian Premier Cricket, is happy to be staying on, he is only interested in one thing – improvement.
“By the time I finish up (this contract) I’ll have been here for three years and if we have a bit of success I’ll stay on,” the batsman and part-time off-spinner said.
“I’m really looking forward to it with such a young group and everyone staying on, including a few new players.
“Nothing is official yet, but we have some things in the pipeline and we’ll be looking to have a good season.”
Endeavour Hills relied on a host of teenagers and players in their early 20s last season, with only a sprinkling of experienced talent, but Maroney believes they will have benefited from a full year in the competition.
“We didn’t really get belted all season,” he said.
“We lost the close ones by 10 or 20 runs and that comes down to experience, so with a couple more years of experience we’ll start winning those games.
“Every game we batted the full 80 overs last year we won, so we can put that down to experience, and with the age of our team that’s huge because you can’t buy experience.”
Pre-season training kicks off on Sunday at 9am at Lysterfield Lake, Horswood Road, Narre Warren North, followed by an indoor session at 6.30pm next Wednesday at Sportsworx Sports Cricket Centre, 35 Vesper Drive, Narre Warren.
New players are welcome.
