By Tyler Lewis
A piece of silverware has returned to Sydney Pargeter Reserve after Endeavour Hills took out the Victorian Sub-District Twilight Twenty20 title on Sunday.
After a difficult couple of years on-field, the Eagles have tasted the success it’s been deprived of recently.
In both the semi-final and final, the Eagles defended a score of less than a run a ball – 9/104 in the semi and 7/102 in the crunch grand final against Coburg.
In the final played at Hogans Road Reserve in Hoppers Crossing, the Eagles couldn’t quite get going with the bat, notching its 7/102 off the back of 40 from Manav Malik, but saved its best for last in a spectacular display with ball in hand.
With everything on the line, the Eagles held the opposition to just 8/90 from its 20 overs, with a match-defining 4/13 from Hemantha Jaysundera seeing his side over the line.
Eagles president Gary Parsons was over the moon on behalf of his club’s success on Sunday, saying it capped off a brilliant weekend for the Endeavour Hills Cricket Club.
“It is sensational, we had four from four the other day to start it off,” he said.
“Five from five in the T20s, it was always in the way we batted, once we got to 100 runs we knew could defend it.
“We had a couple close games, but the boys brought home the bacon which was really good.”
While some clubs may not consider the shorter format competition one of significance, for Parsons, the title is one that should build some momentum for the future for the club.
“I think it was more the success in the early, preliminary twenty-20s that helped us out on the weekends,” he said.
“The initial couple of games, we were poor in the field, we dropped a lot of catches. Slowly but surely, the boys changed on Saturday’s and got a couple of good wins, which was good and they have carried it forward, which has been great.
“Now that they have had the taste, the important thing is to win the last two games of the year that puts us in and around middle of the range, which is much better than we have been the last couple of years, where we have been the cellar dweller at the bottom.”
While it has been a huge achievement for a club that has worked tirelessly behind the scenes, the title in the limited overs fixture isn’t one Parsons expected to bring home in the lead up to the 2019/20 season.
“Being competitive was the first part with our Saturday cricket,” he said.
“The Twenty20 has been an absolute bonus, the blokes tended to gel a lot in the field and go through more professionally than what they have done on the Saturday.
“I always like to have 120 on the board, but in the end 102 was enough.”
Semi-final: Endeavour Hills 9/104 (Mohotty 30, Kulasena 4/15) d St. Bernards 7/93.
Final: Endeavour Hills 7/102 (Malik 40, Jayasundera 4/13) d Coburg 8/90.
Endeavour Hills 2019/20 VSDCA T20 Twilight Premiership side: Brian Kulasena (capt), Manav Malik, Chris Ryan, Awais Ahmed, Mohsin Rasheed, Vinu Mohotty, Tyrell Panditharatne, Lachlan De Zilwa (wk), Sohail Sadiq, Hemantha Jayasundera and Daniel Cameron.
