Monday News – Rd 1 vs UNSW – Day 1

Round 1 began on Saturday, with University of NSW being our opponents first up. Being the Club Champions is not always an easy thing to defend, with all clubs eyeing you up to take on the challenge. And with plenty of players injured, overseas or unavailable due to the HSC, it was always going to be a tough first day. But adversity is the great test of character, and so it was in many of the matches over the weekend. Spoils are probably evenly split between the 2 clubs at the moment, so there is alot of hard work to be done during the week

4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week– Jordan Daly

Who would have thought that we were going to be writing this during the week. With players falling out of the teams left, right and centre during the week, young Jordan Daly was plucked from 4th grade to help strengthen the 3rd grade batting line-up, and at 6/30 wasn;t it needed. Although having a bit of luck by his own admission, Jordan dismantled the UNSW bowling attacked, hitting 149* in the innings of the week. Jordan has always shown a ton of ability, but probably never quite delivered in his few years at the club. However, that definitely changed on Saturday. Congrats Jordan.

Outstanding Performances

Andrew Lowe – 50 (1st Grade)
Matt Mee – 5-61 (2nd Grade)
Jordan Daly – 149* (3rd Grade)


1st Grade – Manly 234 (A Lowe 50, N Watkins 46, L Edgell 35, J Ritchie 31) vs UNSW

First grade had a solid day yesterday against the strong UNSW team. The day started with club newcomers Beadle and Lowe being presented their baggy caps by new skipper Mitch Cleary and senior first grader Corrie Boss in a little ceremony on the field that set the tone for the day.

 After being sent in on a wicket everyone was a bit unsure about, we found ourselves at 0-63 at lunch. The removal of the openers Ritchie (31) and Watkins (46) reasonably early on in the second session put the game back on an even keel, however new recruits Lowe (50) and Beadle (24) consolidated and were starting to get on top of the UNSW attack with the score at 2-143 when unfortunately things went awry. In a short period either side of the tea break, we lost 4-15 and all of a sudden we had our backs to the wall. We needed our middle to lower order to step up and thankfully they did, with Baker (21) and Edgell (35) playing good little knocks to bump our score up over the 200 mark. Mention must also be made of two of our quicks in Martin (10) and McLachlan (7*). Both players did well to keep Edgell company and contribute a few runs of their own. This was McLachlan’s first taste of batting in first grade, so it was good to see him overcome the standard nerves and acquit himself well!

We finished with 234, which was probably about 50 or 60 less than what we should have made, but is a very competitive total nonetheless. If we bowl patiently next week and take our chances in the field, we should come away with the 6 points.

2nd Grade – Manly 0-1 vs UNSW 272 (M Mee 5-61, D Marshall 2-2, M Edwards 2-54

2’s rocked up to Manly Oval slightly discontent from the Eagles losing the night before, however took some comfort in knowing the mighty swans had got the job done and were flying the flag for NSW. It should be noted, that if you support the doggeeez bruh then you don’t have much support from the second grade squad…

Anyway, the deck looked as though it would be quite slow and low so when Skid Marks won the toss, there wasn’t much hesitation in sending the students into bat. ‘Come on’ Mee (pictured) and Matto’s did a stellar job with the new ball, however the students provided some resistance early on. With the fair share of the luck rolling the way of the batsman, our boys toiled away. Our fielding was superb and the energy levels were maintained nicely throughout the first session.

The nerds knew they had a task in front of them after lunch, with Vissa (0-38 off 17) and debutant Mickey ‘Edwardo’ Edwards (2-54 off 16) steaming in. Vissa (pictured) just couldn’t buy one, and after his first 13 overs going for only 20 runs it would be fair to say that he was causing some grief for the two at the crease. Mickey’s spell was, at times unplayable as these two worked together and grabbed a few very handy poles to chuck in our bag for the day.

The end of the afternoon, and the beginning of the evening session were a real grind, with the wicket offering us nothing, the skip threw the ball to a few ‘less seasoned’ bowlers in an attempt to mix things up a bit. It almost immediately provided a break through with the batsman spooning one up just to the left of Mattos. Mitch ‘puma pants’ Pugh (0-14 off 4) and ‘special’ Kaye (0-9 off 2) offered some relief for the bowlers and a bit of variation (and at times humour for the boys in the field). Given that the bowlers had taken their sweet arse time getting us started in the morning, Dylan ‘Ramshall’ Marshall (2-61 off 21) was required to bowl a thousand overs to get us back on track. Varying pace, flight and rip, Rammy bowled the house down at a critical point in the match. He and Matty Mee produced some critical wickets and kept the boys in the game. Mee provided consistent bowling and decent wheels that reaped the rewards. Marksy had no hesitation in throwing the new ball straight to the big fella, and soon found himself on a hatty! (Albeit off a legside feather through to the keeper!!). No credit can be taken away from the great man, however ending up with superb figures of 5-61 off his 20 overs.

All in all a solid start to the year with the ball.

Pughy and Watto had three overs to see out and did it in comfortable style. Very solid defence and no hint of nerves saw the pair get through to stumps with Watto scoring the only run.

Bring on the Bumblebees next week for the first of many victories in two’s!

3rd Grade – Manly 246 (J Daly 149*) vs UNSW 2-16 (C Little 2-4)

The Mighty Main Grade arrived to a very sunny and dry David Phillips Oval looking to assert our dominance in the competition from ball one. Genie won the toss and elected to bat on a reasonably hard and flat track that had potential to do a bit early on, but would flatten out towards the end of the day.

The Burgess brothers opened up for the main grade and looked to be taking control of the student bowling attack, notching up a couple boundaries in the early overs of the match. However unfortunately for the Tah’s Maxy (8)  nicked off to the cordon and Ed (5) soon followed LBW leaving us 2 down for not many after 10 overs. Enter debutants Jordan Daly (pictured) and Jarrod Rawlings to the crease. Both consolidated well and were looking to regain control of the situation, until Jarrod (8) was unluckily caught down the leg-side. At this point in time a self-destruct button must have been nudged somewhere amongst the Manly ranks as we lost our skipper Genie (bowled), Sam Webber (caught) and Jacob Graham (LBW) all for ducks. Not looking too promising for the Manly boys with the score 6-30 after 17 odd overs.

Never the less, enter Luke Mannell to join Jordan at the crease putting on an innings saving partnership. With some glorious batting in the middle by the Tah’s, Jordan soon found himself at 50 with Mezza playing a fantastic supporting role scoring some equally great shots. Having reconsolidated well with Jordan, Mezza unfortunately fell victim to the Students with a valuable 23 and the score at 7-120 odd. Sammy Gainsford next in played a perfect role in supporting Jordan as he began to open up and dispatch the ball to all corners of the ground. Another good partnership for the main grade as Jordan ticked over the score board and Sammy (4) falling LBW, 8-160.

However, the man of the moment was definitely Main grade debutant Jordan Daly, Ryan Farrell joined him at the crease and his rate of scoring just kept increasing. Jordan brought up his maiden Grade Century in spectacular style by flicking a 6 off his pads and over midwicket, a truly fantastic innings to watch. Never in the shadow of Jordan, Faz batted extremely well and scored 20 odd taking the Manly boys to the 210 mark. Another of our illustrious debutants Brad Wilson, combined with Jordan to grind out a valuable last wicket partnership of 30 runs. Brad out for 9 and Jordan finishing with an unbeaten and innings saving 149*. Final innings score 246.

It wasn’t over yet as the mighty 3^rdGrade had 8 overs left in the days play to release some enthusiastic energy in the field and bag as many wickets as possible to even further dent UNSW’s confidence on the game. Genie and Mezza both bowled out the 8 overs, bowling tight lines and hitting good areas. Genie picked up a cheeky 2-fa, both snicked off to the keeper. The Tah’s finishing the day’s play in a commanding position with UNSW 2-16.

Sam W

4th Grade – Manly vs UNSW 4-295 (J Sheedy 2-60)

4th Grade started their season at Atmosphere Park, with a young side including 3 grade debutants. Bowling first, Josh Sheedy (pictured) and Justin Knight opened up. There were plenty of good deliveries however a stray ball every over allowed UNSW off to a fast start. In his second over in grade cricket, Knighty took his first wicket; an LBW off a good length ball. From the other end Josh slowed down the flow of runs and the pressure began to build. Benny Falconer bowled first change and after some persistent bowling, he too claimed his first grade scalp after a good catch from the skipper. 2-48 off 12 overs. Luke Grant bowled consistently from the other end as he and ‘The Falcon’ bowled well in partnership to bring the scoring to a halt after drinks. The boys toiled away in the second half of the morning session with no reward for some excellent bowling. Sammy Alexander bowled well in his return from the UK unlucky not too take a couple of wickets in his opening spell. He hardly dropped a ball short all day bowling with great control. At tea the visitors we 2-128. After tea nothing much changed as UNSW continued to grind away, managing to hit consistent boundaries. However, during a mammoth spell towards the end of the day, Sheeds took two important wickets to gain some momentum heading into day two. Great reward for a super spell of bowling. At the end of play, UNSW ended 4-285. To their credit, there was some good batting by the top order including a partnership of nearly 200. But this didn’t reflect the relentless effort of our bowlers.

Special mention must go to Josh Sheedy who bowled a huge 25 overs ending with figures of 2-60. Although it was a tough 80 overs in the field, it was extremely impressive to see no heads drop throughout the day and the standard in the field was excellent. Liam Tully was superb in the field all day leading from the front in just his second season of grade. There is a big opportunity to bat for 80 overs next week and grind out a win to start the season. Up the Tahs!

LG

5th Grade – Manly 222 (R Trewartha 47, J McClintock 36, J Trickey 25) vs UNSW 2-10 (J Shepherd 2-2)

5th grade welcomed 6 debutants to the Manly Club; James Trickey, James McClintock, Harry Rogers, Andrew Glassock, Ben Wickham and Jack Shepherd; as well as welcoming back Dave Farrell from the worlds shortest retirement.

Winning the toss and batting, most players made a start, with Trewartha (47, pictured) McClintock(36) Trickey (25) and Farrell (22) all ticking the scoreboard over nicely. Despite the consistency, no-one posted the big score to take us to 250, but we still reached Richie Benaud’s favourite score of 222, a competitive total.

With 7 overs to negotiate, the boys were pumped, and Jack Shepherd bowled beautifully to deliver 2 wicket to have the students 2-10 at stumps.

Overall a good start to the season with all players contributing to a solid day. This was made even more special by the fact that Dollars had the scorebook completely up-to-date, so he also had a good day.

Rossco