Strong day against Rangers sets up Tahs – Round 1 vs Northern Districts (Week 1)

ound 2 of the 2017/18 season saw the TravelSIM Waratahs take on the defending Club Champions, Northern Districts.

It’s always a tough match up between the 2 clubs, and there was no exception to this rule in week 1. In fact, with Chris Green and Joel Foster coming over to the Waratahs from NDs this season, the match-up was especially intersting.

With the exception of 2nd grade, the Tahs are arguably on-top across the grades after the 1st week. But there is plenty if cricket to be played in week 2, and with some string starts from the ND’s bats in the lower grades, we will need to be on our toes.

Te first centuries for the season came on Saturday, with Adam Gummer (112 in 4s) and Adam Crosthwaite (133 in 1s) both showing how to bat long, bat patient, and bat with determination. They weren’t the only ones to go past 50 though, with Geoff Isaacs (82) and Jacob O’Sullivan (93) sharing in a record 3rd wicket partnership of 166 in 5th grade to set their team up perfectly for next week.

1st grade, 4th grade and 5th grade will all be defending good scores and if they bowl well should come home with the bacon. Our 3rd grade side also did well, managing to limit ND’s to a below par 8/237 on a very flat Grahams, but will still need to bat well next week.

Unfortunately 2nd grades batting woes continued, despite having a side that would challenge most first grade sides, showing that the names on paper don’t always equal performance. But there is too much talent and determination in this side, and in leader Jack Ritchie, for them not too fight back and get their season on track.

hat an amazing player Adam Crosthwaite continues to be for the Waratahs. His sublime 133 off 257 balls on Saturday saw him become the quickest player in our history, in terms of innings played, to reach 6,000 runs.

His innings on Saturday started slow, only reaching 15 off his first 70 balls, but he trusted his concentration and technique throughout the entire day to lead 1st grades side through a potential crisis and into a strong position.

Adam is a deserved winner of this weeks 4 Pines Player of the Week.

ack at Manly Oval the manly boys were keen to put together another good display against the Rangers after an impressive win against Penrith. Greeny won the toss on a pretty flat looking deck and we set out to go big.

Crosthwaite and Rawlings opened up, with James unfortunately falling early for the best 8 you will see. Rawlings and Adam Crosthwaite then battled hard against some tight bowling for an hour and a half before Jarrod fell for 31. 2 down at lunch we felt we had done the hard work early in order to back end our innings, and really cash in at the end of the day. 

After lunch, Greeny took on what he told us was the ‘worst fielder in the team’ and ran himself out. SOK, Nappa and jack also came and went cheaply which left us in a tricky situation at 6-140. However, Adam continued to be the mainstay of our innings, and notched up his 14th century as well as 6,000th run for the club, an amazing achievement. He was able to cash in later in the day after grinding very hard against some good bowling early on to make 133 from 257 balls. 

Adams innings along with contributions from the lower order, Farrell (35), Alexander (37*) and Beatty (10*), allowed us to post an impressive 8/306 given we were 5/100 at one stage. 

This sets us up nicely leading into next week, where we can be confident that if we bowl well and take our catches, we should bring home the 6 points. 

Ryan Farrell

ubbys men ventured to Mark Taylor Oval with the hopes of making up for a sub-par performance in round 1. Unfortunately Second Grade had one of their worst days in recent memory, being bundled out for 116 on a comfortable batting wicket. Shoutout to Nick McLachlan, Joey Graham and Jake Carden for all showing the patience and determination needed to bat long periods of time. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts they were left way to much to do. 

Our bowling innings didn’t start too well either. Dropped catches combined with some ill-disciplined bowling saw Northern Districts race to 50 with the loss of  1 wicket. We continued to toil and took a few more to have the home side 22 runs behind with 6 wickets in hand.

Despite a poor day at the office, we still remain in the game. Some early wickets next week could see the game open right up for us as there is still time to turn this game around. Onwards and Upwards.

Tom Kaye

he 3rd grade lads arrived at Graham’s to a hard and flat looking deck. Javed unfortunately lost the toss and we were sent out to have a bowl. Andrew Hicks (1-61) opened the bowling in his first game for the Tahs with Andrew Jamieson (0-7). The boys opened up well with a few plays and misses but one of the openers had his eye in early and brought up his fifty just after the ten over mark. Jamo unfortunately pulled up with an injury after a great first spell and the bowlers had to share a few extra overs. Ben watts (5-86) and Ryan Bishop-Perrett (2-43) then came on to continue their partnership they started lasted week, building pressure and drying up the runs. 

The plan worked well with both openers being removed , caught behind from RBP. Ben Watts continued to bowl with great maturity and skill being rewarded with a very well deserved 5 wicket haul. Benny stayed patient all day and managed to pick up crucial wickets of the inform batsmen. Javed Badyari (0-22) and James Crombie (0-12) also stuck to the plan of bowling tight lines as we managed to restrict ND’s to 8-237 after what was looking like an ominous start from their opening bat.

Should be an interesting start next week as NDs may have to bat out an extra few overs with 230 not reflecting what was a very low and flat Graham’s wicket.

Ryan Bishop-Perrett

he aromatic beauty of the routine ‘pre-game 4th grade coffees’ perked up the lads for what was going to be a solid, grinding day of grade cricket. Vibes of energy and eagerness were apparent throughout the warm up as cries of “it’s going to be a good day boys” seemed to be thrown around frequently, followed by wahoo’s as the prospect of a good day lay ahead. The red baron (Adam Gummer) wandered out to the toss as the coin flip favoured the Tahs…. we’ll have a bat!

Captain courageous danced out to the pitch accompanied by God himself, Ross Trewartha, who continues to defy age as a barrier to performance. A solid start from both boys, Rosco carrying out his natural game plan- see ball hit ball. Whilst Gummer grinded hard at the other end, dispatching the bad ball, much to the excitement of the crowd. After a solid 20 Rosco decided he’d rather chat with his unofficial son Brad Wilson, so he decided to leave the Tah’s 1 down as Matty Brewster stepped up to the crease. In tandem, Gummer and Brewster led the boys down a path of strength and intent as boundaries seemed to flow. Matty B then fell on 25 which brought Spartan Ambassador Will Ackhurst to the crease. The lads on the sideline lay back, relaxed and watched Gumms and Willy put on a masterclass of boundary hitting and single dropping, manipulating and challenging the ND’s fields. Will played well and fell short of a half-century with a classy 48. Chip ins from Izzy and Zachy T assisted the total. As all continued, Gumms still managed to get expansive and push, prod, pound and ping the leather to all parts of the ground before the moment came- 100! A superb knock of 112 came to a close as the baron marched through the gates with pride. Wickets proceeded to fall quick without our red-headed leader occupying the deck as the Tah’s finished all out for 270.

Prior to finishing the day, a 10 over stint at the ND’s boys would be the closing moments. ND’s went hard early and reaped the rewards with a solid 62 runs in the 10 overs, the lone wicket with Wilson, accompanied by his wingman Sam Alexander- starting with strong areas.

The day closed, the boys held their heads up high, as the red baron lead us off the field saluting the 4 man crowd. The sky was ‘blue’ today.

Isaiah Vumbaca

fter a close defeat last week, the boys were looking to turn it around with a good start to round 2. Although we lost the toss Northern Districts chose to bowl on what seemed to be a rock-hard batting pitch.

The boys started well with both openers getting off to good starts with Nick Cohen scoring a solid 43 and Brynn Mendel scoring 29. However, both soon fell to the same leg spinner.

Enter Jacob O’Sullivan and Geoff Isaacs. Both batsmen batted superbly and quickly swung the momentum of the game back in our favour. Both reached their half-centuries fairly quickly, however both just fell short of their hundreds with O’Sullivan finishing on 93 and Isaacs with 82.

Cameos from Marshall and Evans, who both scored a quick 24, ensured that we reached an imposing total of 7/354.

We then had 10 or so overs to try and take some wickets. We only managed to grab 1 with Jordy Brewster taking a great catch off Glyn Archer. We’ll look to put the pressure on them next week and hopefully come away with a win.

Aidan Bennett