Monday News – Rd 12 v Penrith – Day 2

This week sums up our season so far. Just as we look we might be able to poke through the mediocrity of not being in the top 10 in the CC we put in a poor showing to put us back in some ordinary position like 14th. The rash of injuries did not help and it was great to see lots of blokes experience 1st grade this week so in that respect there were some positives but it’s always nice to win more than 1 from 5. 1sts put up a fight but went down, 2nds were well placed at 3/180 but collapsed to miss out by 4 runs to be all out for 211, 3s lower order fought hard but had another close draw, 4s thrashed the top 6 aspirants with a complete game of cricket and 5s were smashed. Unfortunately we won’t be represented in the finals this season unless 2, 3 or 4s deliver a miracle.

4 Pines Brewery Player of theWeek –  Sam Hole

Sam will admit his season thus far has been average, not getting going in 3rd grade and not bowling as much as he should be. The last few weeks he has shown better  form with a string of solid scores. On the weekend he not only bowled well with 4/22 but he batted positively and in a very mature fashion to prevent a collapse and to steer us home in emphatic style with a well hit, chanceless 44no. Add onto this his enthusiasm in the field he had a great day out. Sam is also a good thinker and has definite leadership capabilities in the years to come.

 

1st Grade – Manly 5/233 (A Lowe 79,  A Crosthwaite 63, A Beadle 60no) lost to Penrith 5/237 ( N McLachlan 3/64)

First grade went down on the weekend against Penrith. After being sent in to bat, we managed to score 5-233 declared after 60 overs. Lowey was the mainstay of the innings, scoring his highest first grade score of 79. It was a terrific knock and ensured we reached a competitive total. He recieved excellent support from Crossy (63) and AB (60*). Pughy also looked the goods opening the batting scoring a solid 17 against a state squad opening bowler.

It was a generous declaration, however our goal was to win the game and we needed to give our bowlers enough time to bowl Penrith out. Unfortunately, we started with the ball in terrible fashion. We bowled both sides of the wicket and failed to build any pressure. In the 15 overs before tea, we leaked 90 runs and left Penrith well in front. A blast from the skipper at tea had the desired effect and our performance in the last session was far better. We ended up taking 5 wickets as Penrith passed us with only a couple of overs in the day remaining. Again dropped catches cost us as their highest scorer made the most of a let off. Nicko’s was the pick of the bowlers again with 3 wickets, whilst it was great to see debutants Beatty and Alexander take a wicket each. 

 Overall a disapointing loss. Our batting was good, however our start with the ball and catching hurt us big time. Some home truths were delivered post game in the dressing room, and as a result I’m sure we will learn from our mistakes this game and put some better performances on the board in the last 3 games of the season.  

Jack Ritchie

2nd Grade – Manly 211 (A Baker 89, L Weston 35) lost to  Penrith 215 (D Poskitt 4/39, S Gainsford 3/50, M Visser 2/33)

Second grade turned up to Manly oval with a number of changes from the previous round, we welcomed back big Nelly Poskitt and Michael Visser from injury as well as Jordan Daly and Sam Gainsford for their first and second games respectively.

The day started well enough for the mighty tahs, winning the toss on a slightly tacky wicket and inserting Penrith. On his return big Nelly bowled extremely well snicking off the opener 3rd rock off the day and finishing with figures of 4/39 off 16 overs a great return from the big man, soon we were on top having Penrith 8/127 near lunch with everyone bowling well, Michael Visser picked up 2/30 Aidan “Flat” Baker 1fa and Sammy G in his second game 3/56. 

Unfortunately after lunch the track had flattened out considerably, the boys grafted hard, the ground fielding was superb it was just the catching that let us down and allowed Penrith to recover to 215 all out and bat for 72 overs leaving us with what we thought would only be 48 in reply.

Javed and Flat (pictured hitting another boundary on Saturday) opened up, jav was unlucky to be cleaned up by a rock that jagged in at pace from a fiery opening bowler bringing Weston to the wicket. Flat and Loges got on top of the opposing attack and went to tea at 1/50. It was a shame no one could stick with the Flat who was batting superbly rotating the strike and picking off boundaries when the opportunity presented, it was a day of could have beens for the tahs batsmen as many got starts with out converting in the quest for quick runs, including Loges 35, Beaver 25 and Jordan batting well on debut for 27.

We were cruising at 4/183 but the opposition making use of the lack of fielding restrictions stationed most of the fielders on the boundaries and soon the required rate jumped up to 8+ an over. Boundaries became hard to come by and the overs began to catch up with us, thinking we needed 30 off three we lost quick wickets going for the win which is more than could be said for the opposition, the tahs batsmen began holing out in the deep very quickly and when we lost Flat for a superb 89 our backs were well and truly up against the wall. Unfortunately due to a breakdown in communication we didn’t realize that we were actually going to play till 6 o’clock regardless of overs which meant we would have received 50/51 overs in return. Knowing this the opposition took 35 minutes to bowl 4 overs at one point! it was soon all over with the boys being dismissed for 211 an agonizing 4 runs short of our target.

Congratulations to big Nell on his return to 2nd grade following his michelle last week and a great return to form for the Flat, lets train hard and comeback strong this week.

LW

 3rd Grade – Manly 8/176 ( L Grant 47no, S Webber 40) drew with Penrith 177 A Virdi 3/19, S Alexander 3/75, C Little 2/28, R Davis 2/44)

Another disappointing end to the day for the main grade concluded in yet another nail biting draw. We won the toss and elected to bowl first which seemed to be a great decision as Arshdeep and Genie kept the maidens building in the early overs which ultimately lead to downfall of the Penrith openers sent packing for little to nothing. More wickets started to fall on a regular basis which saw Penrith struggling at lunch at 8-80 with Sam Alexander taking three wickets beating the batsman in flight. The other wickets at this point in time were shared with Arshdeep taking 2, Genie 1 and Ronnie 2. However, after the break Penrith’s intentions were clear when there number 9 started hitting some clean boundaries all over the ground and ended up with 72no. His efforts along with the partnerships for the 9^th and 10^th wickets saved their innings. Penrith finished their innings with 177 from 60 overs with Genie and Arshdeep picking up the last two wickets.

The manly innings got off to a rough start with both Burgess and Rawlings snicking off for 8 which left the score 2-30 at the tea break with Graham and Kaye at the crease. Shortly after the break, we found ourselves at 6-60 with Graham and Kaye both getting caught at mid-on whilst Skye and Genie got skittled by balls that jagged back in. A great partnership by Webber and Grant got us back into the game until Webber was unfortunately caught on the boundary for a well compiled 40. There was no value for shots at this oval with many of the runs coming from twos whereas if we were playing at Grahams many of these twos would have turned into fours. Arshdeep made his way to the crease and made a quickfire 17 with an inside out lofted cover drive going for 6 being the shot of the day. Needing 12 to win off the last over with 2 wickets in hand Luke and Ronnie could only manage 10 runs leaving us just short. Luke ended with a well accumulated 47no and Ronnie 5no. Thanks to Wrighty for all his help during the day it is greatly appreciated.

J Rawlings

4th Grade – Manly 226 (S Hole 44no, M Cole 47, L Tully 37no, R Farrel 32) beat Penrith 166 ( S Hole 4/22, W Evans 3/13) 

In a 50 over game Penrith won the toss on a great looking wicket and had a bat. Superb opening overs from Wilson & Jonkers had them struggling to put bat on ball and if it wasn’t for the odd wide we would have started with 5 maidens. Wilson in particular was unlucky. He beat the bat a couple of times an over and he had 0/4 from his first 5 overs – all wides.

He was spelled and Evans found the edge to have them 1/39, Falconer then got a leading edge to mid on to make it 2/41. Another similar wicket found Penrith struggling to 3/63 from about 22 overs on a great batting deck. Our fielding and bowling standards were maintained throughout the whole innings. Sam Hole came on at a crucial stage and  bowled very well and he was well supported by a great keeping display from James Boyer. He finished with 3 catches and 3 stumpings, 2 of them very smart.

Sam finished with 4/22 from his 7 overs to be the pick of the bowlers.

James Trickey also bowled his wobblies with good effect finishing with a wicket and unlucky not to have their top scorer (60no) given out caught behind by Butch standing up to the stumps when he was on about 10.

A great start to the game with good energy & enthusiasm shown by all and this resulted in a good fielding display. I also like everybody coming out to share the task of throw downs during the interval.

Farrel (32) and Cole (47) opened up and we got a flyer, boundaries being hit with regularity. Farrel finally hit a ball in the air and was caught & bowled. Cole then scooped a catch to cover to make it 2/81. This shot was uncharacteristic of his hard hitting innings. Given our form the next 10 overs were crucial. Tully (37no) and Hole (44no) put our minds at rest (and wasted Mr Poole’s time) with a great unbroken partnership of 86 to knock off the runs in the 37^th over.

It seems a shame that this side is not in the running for the finals. In fact it seems extraordinary that we are still 20 points out of the top 6. Since the first 3 games we have been in every game and just a lack of cricket experience prevented us from winning a few more games. The other weird fact is that we have had two 2 day games at Grahame’s for the whole season (Rd 1 and Rd 5) – we may saved some cash on tea but even so, it seems like pretty poor scheduling.

3 Hole, 2 Boyer, 1 Cole

Wazza

5th Grade – Manly 115  ( R Trewartha 45) lost to Penrith 5/116

Manly 5th Grade travelled up the M4, taking the much publicised Mamre Road exit, to Rance Oval and were greeted by a well grassed hard(ish) pitch. The skipper won the toss and batted…maybe should have bowled.

Regular falls of wickets saw us muster only 115, probably 30 runs short. Despite Zach Trewartha dismissing both openers, and a fiery Andrew Glassock taking 2 more, Penrith were always just ahead, and passed us 5 down with 10 overs left. 

Nothing much else to say, other than sharing a dressing room with the opposition is a little awkward !! haha All good.

cheers
Roscoe