Well a mirror image to last week with just 2s and 5s getting up in comfortable wins with 1s going down in a tight one, 3s hammered and 4s fighting but not good enough. 2nd grade played the perfect game against the higher placed Saints and went about their performance in an encouraging display that augurs well for the New Year. 5th grade were up against the undefeated leaders but showed what they can do with a bonus point thrashing with many players making solid contributions. They are 2 games out of the 6 at the moment which could mean anything – more displays along these lines will see them give it a shake.
4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week – Andrew Watkins
Andrew snapped out of his lean trot with a great innings knocking it around to score 81 off 101 with six 4s and two 6s. He took on the tactics of the spin bowler opening up and won that convincingly and this set the platform for a great win to keep 2nd grade just outside the 6 and a mere two wins from 1st place. Andrew was out to a great snare with victory in sight and this was the only blight on a wonderful innings that will give Watto confidence going into the 2nd half of the season.
1st Grade – Manly 9/198 (T Cruickshank 70, A Crosthwaite 34) lost to St George 6/199 ( A Beadle 2/23)
Unfortunately first grade suffered a crucial defeat on Saturday. After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, we lost our first wicket with the score on 50. Unfortunately we then lost 6-40 and it was up to our lower order to salvage the innings. Batting around the ever-consistent Tim Cruickshank (70), a few partnerships ensued to ensure we posted a competitive total. Luke Edgell (21) and Nick McLachlan (15) both batted sensibly as we ended with 9-198.
We started off well with the ball, with Mickey Edwards and Ben Martin picking up a few early wickets. After taking our 6th wicket with the score on 139, we were in with a real chance, however it wasn’t to be with St George passing our total with 4 balls to spare. AB was the pick of the bowlers again with 2-23 off 10.
This was a bad loss for us and will hurt our chances in the two day comp. However, on the positive side we are still equal 6th in the one day comp, so we will need to win our last round game against Mosman and hope a few results go our way.
Hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Years. See you after the break!
Jack
2nd Grade – Manly 2/193 ( A Watkins 81, A Lowe 73no) beat St George 191 (D Marshall 3/41, M Pugh 3/33, T Beatty 2/49)
Second grade turned up to Manly oval to a patchy deck that was looking fine, but showing signs that it may be offering a little early on.
Skid Marks lost the toss and our bowlers got first use of the wicket. Matt ‘creep toe’ Alexander (0/27) and Luke ‘westie’ Mannell (0/43) restricted the Saints batsman early. Both bowled well and were unlucky not to take more poles, each troubling the openers on numerous occasions. Tayler ‘Suzuki’ Beatty (2/49) and Dylan ‘My Shout’ Marshall (3/31) got through the middle order, making it look too easy. Mitchell ‘I’m now a bowler’ Pugh chipped in with a tidy 3/33 and not even raising a sweat in the process. 191 was more than gettable on the ever flattening manly track.
We spoke about taking advantage of the early fielding restrictions. Andrew ‘I don’t rate left arm ortho’s’ Watkins took it upon himself to ensure that the choice to open with a spinner was not a good one. First ball back over the bowlers head for four, then third ball bouncing off Sydney road and narrowly missing the manly ferry for a large six to get us off to a flier. Pughy (20) was timing them beautifully before a slight mix up saw him run out at the bowlers end. Enter Andrew ‘Meercat Manor’ Lowe. These two handsome men combined beautifully to showcase some fine cricket strokes and great strike rotation. Both were very watchful and kept us in the hunt for the bonus point, but we our sole focus was on ensuring the 6 Christmas points were in the bag. Watto was well caught by the bowler for a well deserved 81 and lowey finished not out on 73 with Javed at the other end on 5.
A great start to the season for the manly boys and onto bigger and better things post Christmas. Have a safe holiday and see everyone for a strong back end of the season.
Greg
3rd Grade – Manly 187 ( L Weston 47) lost to St George 2/191
Turning up to Harold Fraser the Manly boys were looking to put back-to-back victories together before the Christmas break. Winning the toss we decided to bat looking to set the tone for the day with a good score. After setting a nice platform for ourselves with wickets hands thanks to some gritty batting from Burgess, Weston and Rawlings, silly dismissals were filtered through our innings limiting our final score to 187, with Weston top scoring with 47.
Knowing that if we bowled well through the innings our score of 187 was defendable. Taking to the field the boys started well with Davis (1/26 off 10) and Virdi (0/36 off 8) bowling well with no luck, limiting the scoring rate to just over two an over. It wasn’t until Wilson was brought into the attack that the Manly boys got their first break through. Wilson was the pick of the bowlers picking 1/22 from his 6 overs. However in consistent bowling allowed St George to pick up regular cheap runs, which saw them pass our score 2 down.
Not the result we wanted but it is now important for us as a group to enjoy our Christmas with our families and come back in January recharged and focus for a strong second half to the season. Merry Christmas to everyone and stay safe and happy
Max
4th Grade – Manly 9/158 (L Grant 33no, T Sky 29, C Gardiner 27) lost to St George 5/162 ( S Alexander 2/20)
Graham’s looked a bit underprepared compared to the previous excellent strips we have had and it played accordingly slow and a bit up & down but overall not bad. Saints won the toss and had a bowl. Skye and Evans opened up and looked solid enough seeing off the openers but then Evans slapped a half tracker to point to depart at 1/25. Visser came and went so we needed a partnership to get us going. Tully batted solidly enough and was starting to look set but fell for 14. Jeannie (13) became yet another caught at point statistic as did Boyer. The 1st change picked up the first 5 most them caught by the same bloke at point indicating that accurate medium paced bowling on a slow wicket was the go.
Gardiner batted sensibly to hit 27 and Sky also batted well for 29 to gives us a boost. We desperately needed a cameo and LG batted like he practices and played an array of shots and was full of energy to score 33no from 33 balls. 158 was always going to be tough to defend and if we were to do it we needed to take our chances.
Jeannie and Sheeds opened up and we were left wondering when we dropped a slips chance. Sheeds picked up a catch in gully to have them 1/30. St George rode their luck with plenty of runs being scored through the slips/ gully region. Sam Alexander is bowling very well and was again hard to score from with a neat 2/20 from his 10. All other bowlers tried hard but there was a little bit too much both sides of the wicket going on. That’s the difference – is St George really that much better than us, they being on 47 points, us 19? What was the difference – they bowled a bit more accurately – plain & simple – their batsman were allowed to relieve potential pressure nearly every over. We weren’t an played some shots that weren’t appropriate for the pitch. They did not have any bats who looked they would dominate, they did not have any quicks making us hop around, they held their chances (we dropped two at critical times – neither easy). Simple things. This 4th grade team can certainly win a few games but we need to win 2 in a row to really feel what it feels like to be a decent team – there is definitely a bit of doubt in the team and there shouldn’t be. We are going to smash Wests.
Wazza
5th Grade – Manly 7/231 (Jo Grahan 57, R Trewartha 47, H Rogers 38no, J Trickey 36) beat St George 126 (B Falconer 3/14, J Trickey 2/2)
Facing the unbeaten St George team, we arrived at Cahill Park to find the pitch flat and hard. Rossco won the toss and we were in to bat. With slowish outfield anything over 200 would be very difficult.
Despite Jonkers’ 58 last week, Dollars stress levels were still in the red zone, concerned that Jonkers would be out early. However we decided to give him another go opening up with young Jo Graham. But, as Dollars was stressing about, Jonkers fell early, blocking a fully to mid-on. Trickey then entered and he and Jo put on an even time 60 before Trickey fell to a brilliant outfield catch for a crisply struck 36. Enter Falcs, exit Falcs for 0. Rossco came out at number 5 and had a strong partnership with Jo. Jo was not afraid to take all bowlers down town, striking the ball cleanly for a well made 57. At 4-125, debutant Andy Mahn walked out to join Rossco, who, once again, fell in the 40’s and we were 5/150. Harry Rogers and Andy put on a brief partenrship, Andy departing for a neat 19, and Zach came and went quickly for 6. At 7-185, we still needed to keep it ticking. Benny Wickham and Harry were told to play some shots and they did. They both batted till the end to take us up to 7/231 off our 50 overs. Harry finished with a whirlwind 38* and Benny with 11*.
Our bowling had been strong all year and we knew if we kept to that same standard, we’d be hard to beat.
Jonkers and Zach bowled 6 over spells, picking up an opener each and getting us off to another good start. ‘Plane spotter’ Knighty and ‘Sac’ Glassock, maintained the pressure, however their 3 and 4 built a steady partnership to about 80, before Sac enticed a pull shot from their ‘old guy’ … top edging to midwicket.
Their number 3 continued to bludgeon the ball however with the introduction of Falcs, saw the game breaking spell. Steaming in from the airport end, Falcs swung one back down the line to pick up their number 3 lbw. He followed up with 2 more wickets, claiming 3-14 from 6 overs. With Harry Rogers claiming a wicket and a run out at the other end, Saints had crashed from 2-80 to 8-120.
Trickey followed Falcs and in 5 balls claimed 2-2. The final wicket falling in the 35th over, giving us a bonus point win.
All up a solid performance with good contributions from the whole team. This was the 3rd time we’d passed 200 this season…and not surprisingly, those are the games we’ve won.
Hope everyone has a good Xmas and see you all in 2013.
Zach
