Turik Takes Eight as Men Perform with the Willow – Weekend Wrap 27/28 Nov 2020

The Manly first grade boys turned up to a stinking hot Waitara Oval ready for the day when skipper Jay won the toss and elected to bat- how good! A 40 degree day and a beautiful wicket awaited us.

Benny Bryant and Joel Foster did as they have done all season and that is work extremely hard and grind through the opening hours of play, as we were heading towards lunch for the loss of no wickets before benny fell on the stroke of lunch. Nonetheless an extremely important partnership and set up the day beautifully for the rest of the order to capitalise.

I then joined Joel at the crease and we grinded down the ND’s bowlers in the heat and built a great partnership. Foz batted as well as I’ve seen him play and in debilitating heat gave nothing to the bowlers and showed the resolve and fight we all know him best for as well as some great hitting once he reached his 100. He ended the day on 160 off 259 and batted for over 6 hours. A hell of a knock and well deserved debut first grade hundred. I patted them around at the other end for 108 off 177 balls in what was a partnership of 240.

Ollie, Jay, Napper and AB then brought it home with some power hitting as we finished the day 5-350.

Go Manly,

Jack Edwards.

The Manly Boys rolled up to Manly oval reeking of momentum after a solid start to the year.

ND’s always a tough opponent and with the BOM suggesting heat in excess of 35 degrees we were all praying for a miracle. Jamo to win the toss.

With prayers answered we won the toss and had a bat. Brewster and Weston set about seeing of the new ball, with what could be described as a good contest between bat and ball. ND’s bowled well beating the bat on multiple occasions on a wicket that offered a bit for the bowlers early doors. At 0/50 things were going well until Brewster was dismissed (31). Weston and Davies toiled away putting away the bad ball and keeping out the good ones. Unfortunately minutes before lunch Davies was removed for 26. At 2-117 things were going well however after a quick flurry of wickets after Lunch losing the inform O’Sullivan and Ned Hole, we needed stability. Weston carried on to compile a well made 72 in trying conditions.

Vumbaca and Kaye had to restore order in the middle with calmness and composure to get things back on track. This was done exceptionally. Both boys been in great form this season and with class they put away the loose ones and worked it around. Vumbaca 66 and Kaye 76* batted with great maturity to propel the boys to 6-238 before Jamo came to the crease. With his whole immediate family and what seemed like 300 relatives in attendance he put the foot down to mince 56 beautiful runs of 46 pellets. “It’s easy out there boys” he proclaimed after walking off. A true captains dig to get the boys to a very handy score of 7d for 346.

4 overs at them to try and put the cherry on top of a good day. Tommy Kaye continued his brilliant day by grabbing the edge of their captain who has been dangerous all year. Huge from 2nd Grades favourite model. Bish then blew up the front pad of the night watchmen who self proclaimed it afterwards as “adjacent”.

ND’s 2/10 and a great day for the tags. Looking to push on for a positive result next week. Up the Tahs.

Lots of Love Matt Brewster

Three’s returned back to the fortress after a close win against Randwick-Petersham, and looked to continue the momentum this weekend against St.George. Skipper Sam hole didn’t win the toss but the three’s boys still got what they wanted and that was having a bat.

The Webber boys Maxy and Sam opened the innings and led the the team off to a great start with the bat, with Sam getting a nice cheeky 46. Maxy brought up a crafty 50 then not to long after getting dismissed for 74. Neal and Lachlan Charles getting dismissed very early in their innings with Zach at the crease he put on a clinic for the St George bowling attack, hitting bombs all around the park with Sam hole noodling them around for a nice 25. Finishing the innings with Zach Trewartha not out for 92 and Sam hole with the 25 and giving St George a target of 252.

In response Manly strikes with two early wickets thanks to Josh Wigney, And with Manly toiling away at St George and Manly defending 252 quite easily with all the bowlers bowling quite tidy spells and getting a couple more wickets from Michael Counsell and Neal Prowse and both of them giving off their spells to Lachie Trewartha and jakey Osborne, to finish off the innings and successfully getting couple more wickets to finish them off with Lachie getting one wicket and Jakey Osborne with 3 to get St George all out for 166.

3 Points – Zach Trewartha
2 Points – Max Webber
1 Point – Michael Counsell

Lachlan Trewartha

The manly boys arrived to a sweaty Harold Fraser Reserve on the back of some beautiful recent form hoping to continue on the good early work in the season. Winning the toss, Gums chose to bat on what looked like a flat deck and himself and Cohen headed out to the middle.

After a fast start from Slothy, the Manly boys lost wickets in clumps to be left reeling at 4-80. Dommy Wheeler continued his good form to tie down one end, batting in oppressive heat to try and work the boys up to a defendable target. Batting with confidence and patience, wheeler battled the conditions to post 79 in a combined score of 201. Dom was supported greatly by Jack Hobson, Glynny Archer and a few other tailenders who worked together to back Dom up as he lifted the run rate at the back end of the innings.

The Manly boys headed into the field, with the local conditions reaching 42°. The bowlers battled the conditions and worked extremely hard to make 2 breakthroughs before the weather took over and the game was called off in about the 18th. Massive respect to everyone who worked extremely hard to complete the game, unfortunately it wasn’t to be, with St George being 3 runs ahead at the end of the game on Duckworth Lewis.

3 Points – Dom Wheeler
2 Points – Nick Cohen
1 Point – Glynn Archer

Oscar Lucius

Manly entered round 5 against the Saints off the back of a few solid yet unconvincing performances. Knowing full well if they could bat their 50 overs and bowl to their potential a bonus point win would be fully Achievable.

Things started well with the saints winning the toss and sending Manly into bat, Rochford delighted as he was wanting to Bat on one of the hottest Saturdays to date of the year. 

After the early Loss of Duly (6) things started well for the Manly boys, With Ross Trewartha (44) Playing the key hand in a 59 Partnership with Jack Melchoire holding up the other end. However with the departure of Ross, soon followed quickly by Cooper (2) AND O’Brien first Ball, Manly were once again looking at yet another top order Collapse. Enter young Jake Hutchison (30) Playing his first grade game. Jake played with skill and Technique far beyond his years, that any veteran grade player would be proud off. This was well supported by Melchiore (55)  who began to open the front leg and begin to punish the saints attack to all parts of the ground and combine for a key partnership of 90. Both were dismissed quickly however the charge towards 200 was picked up by the lower order hitting and push for quick singles by Dunlop (18), Melville (10) and Dinan (13) Manly were able to push therescore to a competitive 207.

Having finally accomplished one of the captains goals of batting their 50 overs Manly Knew if they could bowl to the ability and be backed well in the field they could hold the saints well below their score. The opening Bowling Pair of Rochford (3/32) and Fleming (3/16) took on this challenge, both bowling with pace, Control and skill were able to set the platform. Fleming being the key and dismissing 3 of the top four batsmen. 

Manly Had a sniff once again having the opposition 5 down for under 60, Would it be the same old story of letting the opposition back into the game or would they keep their foot on the throat. Once again the game was taken head on by young superstar Hutchison who grabbed two key wickets and pushing the manly boys towards victory, This was well backed up by Cooper (1/28) and Dinan (1/15), Manly were able to finally put a full performance together and were it not only for some late order hitting and some unusual sub parSaints Sledging, Manly would have been able to grab a bonus point. All in all however it was a great performance by Manly 5^th grade, One that shows what they are capable when they put in a full 100 over performance.

3 Points – Jake Hutchison
2 Points – Darcy Fleming
1 Point – Jack Melchiore

Alec Duly

With the day expected to be a scorcher with temperatures around 40 degrees, Manly 3^rd grade was set to play Campbelltown-Camden at picturesque Balgowlah oval. The last match of the normal rounds before finals, Manly sat in 2^nd place behind Campbelltown-Camden, both locking in a finals place but the day had not begun yet.

Manly won the toss and were sent in to bat with Mia N and Mia W (Mia squared) opening. Mia N got off to a great hitting a four off the first ball of the innings. Both Mia’s were going along nicely when Mia N got run out for 6. Steph came in at 3, setting up a very good innings with Mia W. Steph was dismissed later for 14. With Mia still in and batting very well after her return to cricket from injury, the rest of the batters came in. Campbelltown-Camden were just getting started and dismissed Renee, Cam, Abby, Sallie and Sofia for ducks, and Liv, Sarah and Jade for 1. A famous Manly batting collapse had occurred, with only Mia surviving. She retired on 30 and came back in at the end of the innings until we were bowled out for 62.

After a short break and heat still soaring, Manly went in to bowl. Charlotte opened the bowling, finding it hard with the wind blowing harshly but found her rhythm after a few balls. Sallie opened at the other end, taking a wicket in her 2^nd over with a brilliant catch from Mia N. The next wicket came when Mia N bowled her first ball for the innings, caught by Sarah, and another wicket a ball later. As the wind picked up, it was harder to bowl and the Campbelltown-Camden batters were looking for boundaries every ball. They reached the total in the 8^th over with only 3 wickets down.

3 Points – Mia Waddington
2 Points – Mia Nel
1 Point – Stephanie Hughes

Olivia Hough 

The T20 double header is one of the biggest ones on the calendar for the club, so everyone was looking forward to getting stuck in and taking away some points. 

First up we had the Saints, we were bowling first which was a good result given the expected scorcher. We were confident, after earlier in the season dominating a similar outfit. The wicket was green and fast, a pleasant change for the quicks and Hadley struck early to dismiss their dangerous captain. The innings ebbed and flowed with some good bowling, clean striking and good fielding to leave the fixture pretty balanced coming into the last few overs. Jack Edwards combined with the man who’s been so reliable all year in Carden, to assure the saints didnt get away, Jack finishing with a solid 3fa. 

Then it was the Ollie Davies show…again. I’ll skip right to the end. Ollie ended up 116 off 56 pellets to secure a win. His 3rd hundred of the year and 2nd against St George. In fact I did hear him say at one point “Gee I like playing St George, I must average 130 or something”.  Anyway, it was some of the cleanest hitting seen and just confirms how talented this young lad is. Jay supported nicely with 24, but wasn’t left with much to do. We chased it down with just under 5 overs to spare to keep us in the running for finals cricket. 

After a quick dip, the boys were batting in the afternoon game against North Sydney. Finals weren’t out of the question but knew things would have to go our way. After a pep talk from the Sandhill Warrior, we went about our business.  Jay looked near his best striking them clean with some beautiful cricket shots but unfortunately wickets regularly fell. AB showed us why he’s in the team of the decade/century/millenium with some smart cricket at the back end to leave us with 150 on the board. 

Things didn’t go our way with the ball, some misexecution and some good batting saw us in trouble, the bears 0-100 before the first and only wicket fell. A valiant effort on the hottest November weekend in record, but it wasn’t to be. 

The boys were all hurting after dominating most teams last year in the same format. Our focus shifts, and hopefully nail plenty of club champs points in the next few weeks over the big bash period. 

Ryan Hadley