M5’s and Brewers were the shining lights on a frustrating, rain affected weekend for the Tahs, as the Men were mostly outclassed by a strong St George club on Day 2 of their fixtures, while the Women had mixed results on Sunday after W3’s match on Saturday was abandoned due to rain.
M1’s were up against it with St George resuming 0/76 in reply to our 185 on Day 1, but the Tahs showed great fight once play started after an early rain delay. Tom Kaye bowled his usual nagging line and length to pick up two important wickets, while the returning Ryan Hadley was back to his best with some hostile fast bowling to collect two of his own. This had St George 4/117, however, the home side consolidated and despite a late wicket to Joel Davies, it wasn’t enough as the Tahs went down by five wickets.
M2’s returned to Manly Oval, with St George 3/47 chasing 205. A long delay to start the day during rain was followed by a probing spell between Lachlan Ford, and skipper Andrew Jamieson, the latter of whom picked up an important wicket to have the Saints 4/65. The visitors fought back with a counter-attacking partnership before the rain rolled in again, ultimately forcing the match to be abandoned, points shared between the two sides.
Harold Fraser Reserve presented a contrastingly green wicket to Day 1, as St George declared on their overnight score of 9/234. The Tahs started positively with skipper Sam Webber and Keelan Mendel navigating a very tricky opening spell on a dicey wicket. Momentum halted with the loss of regular wickets from then on, Josh Coyte playing a counter-attacking innings of 62 from 50 balls to restore some respectability to the Tahs’ score. The rain intervened briefly, but wasn’t enough to save the Tahs from defeat.
M4’s had all the work to do early on Day 2, needing a further 5 wickets for first innings points with only 18 runs to play with. Will Skinner gave us hope with an excellent spell, regularly beating both edges of the bat and picking up two wickets in the process. St George crept past our first innings total 7 down, before George Cumming and Josh Cooper ended their innings on 114, the Tahs’ trailing by 27. Sent back in, we were 3/47 after 9 overs when the rain hit and the captains shook hands.
M5’s continued their unbeaten start to the season with a special win out at Olds Park, defying the rain in a brilliant run chase. Julian Osbourne and Will Mathieson wrapped up the St George innings with the final three wickets early on Day 2, meaning 182 was required for victory. From there it was Ollie Melville (58) and Lukas Overhoff (47) who proved decisive in a match winning partnership of 96, supported by late contributions to Reuben Kapoor, Kieran Smith and skipper Simon Waddington, the Tahs winning by 4 wickets with two overs remaining late on Day 2.
W1’s returned home to Manly Oval looking to bounce back from a couple of tough losses. Bowling first, a great start ensued with wickets to Molly Kidd and Eliza Henry, before Gordon counter attacked with a big partnership to take their score to 4/119 off 20 overs. The returning Shivani Mehta (26) combined with Lizzie Cambridge (18) for a 47 run opening stand, before Lara Graham fought hard with 29* off 26 balls, but unfortunately it was in vain as the Tahs fell 23 runs short.
W2’s made it consecutive weeks where they’ve been part of remarkable fixtures, this time a damp Killara Oval meaning 5 overs per side was the only option. Sent into bat first, all out attack the plan in what was a difficult format, as the Tahs posted 8/26 from the allocated 5 overs. The fielding and bowling effort to follow was strong, a wicket to Kaya Punter keeping the game alive, but unfortunately not enough as Gordon passed the total with a ball to spare in an enthralling game.
Brewers continued their strong form of late on Sunday at Grahams. Winning the toss and bowling first on a bowler-friendly wicket, the job still had to be done, and was, wickets shared between Lily Crabbe, Tait Camburn on debut, and Charlotte Croll, as an excellent team effort saw Penrith restricted to 4/57 from 20 overs. Daisy Addison led the run chase with 22 after the loss of a couple of early wickets, before skipper Sophie Lowry (11*) combined with Eve Burke (7*) to score the remaining runs as the Tahs passed the total three wickets down with four overs to spare, making it 2 wins on the bounce for Brewers.
Attention now turns to next weekend with M1s hosting Fairfield-Liverpool in a Saturday/Sunday two-day fixture, while M2s-M5s return to one-day cricket against the Lions. W1s and Brewers face off with Sydney, while W2s take on North Sydney, all in one-day fixtures, and W3s are on the road against Bankstown in a T20. Looking forward to what is hopefully a much better weekend for the Tahs.
Over and out.
