By Gavin Staindl
AS ENDEAVOUR Hills openers Richie Evans and Neil Peake trudged out to the crease at Sydney Pargeter Reserve, a sense of inevitability filled the air.
The pair was the first to respond to the demanding 209 total set by Oakleigh and, before long, Evans and Peake found their team on the receiving end of a 117-run loss.
It was the second time in four days that the Hills faced Oakleigh; the first was on Tuesday when it went down by 61 runs in a Twenty20 game.
And, for the second time in four days, the result seemed a foregone conclusion before the gents in green even had a chance to bat.
Endeavour Hills has not made more than 200 runs since round six of 2009 so when Oakleigh set the Eagles 210 to win, the home side still looked in strife.
A positive opening partnership of 37 between Evans (23) and Peake (23) gave a glimmer of hope to coach John Hayes but that quickly vanished as the Hills lost eight wickets for only 33 runs to finish on 92.
Hayes was impressed with youngster Matt Foenander (1/34) and Kevin Kean (5 n.o.) who carried out his coach’s wish to not go out, but Hayes was lost for words at what else to say.
“There is not much more I can say; we’ve been batting similar to how we’ve been batting all year,” Hayes said. “At the end of day they’re second top side … and we just have to keep chipping away,” Hayes said.
