Weekend Wrap – A disappointing weekend for the Tah’s with no victories throughout the grades

The final game before Christmas saw the Men’s grade teams tussle with the Hawkesbury Hawks and the Brewer Shield girls up against St George-Sutherland. 1st and 3rd grade were declared draws due to bad weather conditions of heat and smoke. 2s, 4s and 5s all went down convincingly against the strong opposition. These losses were despite great performances including Vumbacas 113 in 2nd grade, 56 from both Osborne and Gummer in 4th grade and 5/80 or Rochford in 5th grade. Brewer Shield went down in a close T20 match against St George-Sutherland. Some quick runs from Osborne and Woolf and tight bowling from Sienna James were not enough to get the girls over the line. 

It was a overall disappointing round for the Tahs, going down in 4 out of 6 games and drawing the other 2. It wasn’t the performance we wanted going into Christmas but the Tahs will be back bigger and stronger after the Christmas break!

This weeks 4 Pines Player of the Week goes to Izzy Vumbaca. Despite the loss, he helped get the 2nd grade team closer to victory. Coming into bat at 4/48 Vumbaca steadied the team and lead the way scoring 113 off 150 balls. This spectacular innings included 13 fours and 4 sixes. He was apart of 2 huge partnerships that nearly got the team over the line. The first was a 96 run partnership with Ash Virdi and the second of 92 runs with Jake Carden. Izzy also took 2 catches and bowled 5 maidens to add to his amazing batting performance. 

Great job Izzy and can’t wait to see more after the Christmas break!

The lads rocked up early on Saturday morning (some on the Friday night) to a cool and clear Bensons Lane where the task of chasing 363 on what looked like a similarly flat wicket to last week. After the Gainsford V dusted the Farrell VI in a game of touch, the boys manned the screens early to watch Weston and Foster get us off to a good start. Logan managed to leave one of the only balls that moved off the straight, with Jack falling soon after. AB and Foz began a fight back before AB chopped on and as the smoke blew in and the heat crept up Foz edged one off their off spinners to leave the score at 4-49.

Farrell and male model Merchant battled away as an orange glow appeared on the horizon, Merchant the only to pass 50 and Farrell a tough fought 38. Once Nappa got sick of the MAFS chat, the umpires ordered the lads off the field for the poor air quality, at one stage quoting our own Stephen O’Keefe saying they felt like they “had smoked 80 cigarettes in the day”.

We persisted for a period of time waiting for the smoke to clear, but with the horrific conditions there was no chance of getting back on. We push onto the second half of the year and turn our focus to a one dayer against Blacktown where we are very much still in the hunt for a finals spot. I’ll leave you with a message from our very own Michael Shepheard – “Ho ho”

3 – Merchant

2 – Farrell

1 – Hadley

Fielding point – Foste

Ryan Hadley

Contents:

1. The Backwards V

2. Not declaring overnight

3. Beatty gets his man

4. Top Order Blunders

5. Isaiah “Stokes” Vumbaca

6. Dave Warner feat. Carry On

7. Brewster’s Bold Predictions

8. Close But No Cigar

9. Don’t Pour Drinks

1. The backwards V, home to some our clubs finest ever middle grade cricketers, was on full display week one and early week 2 courtesy of all of Hawkesbury’s batsmen. The value of shots through the cordon was on full display as the backwards V brought up a double century in the first session of week 2. Credit to Hawkesbury’s fearless leader for executing some of the great run scoring through third man, 70 odd of the best.

2. With 317 on the board overnight, the boys knew we were likely to return to the dirt (aka fielding) early hours Saturday as Hawkesbury’s fearless leader was yet to be dismissed and eyeing off his first ever grade ton (52 not out overnight), bat on we shall. Hawkesbury’s number 9 showed the intent that was expected in the back end of day 1 as the skipper continued to nudge ones slowly building his way to Grade cricket’s slowest ever ton.

3. Said fearless leaders were dismissed for one of the more picturesque innings of the season at the hands of the man who made his innings so easy on the eye – Taylor Beatty. Taylor celebrated valiantly and continued on the wrap up Hawkesbury’s remaining batsmen.

4. 362 on the board, 85 overs remaining. Given the Hawks continued to bat on, we were optimistic upon approach thinking that their fearless leader didn’t back their attack. Our top order soon found out the big total was going to be a much tougher task than it seemed. Webber & Kaye departed early, whilst Brewster & O’Sullivan provided some repair to the chase, they both fell within quick succession & Taylor followed shortly after. 5-60 at Lunch in pursuit of 362 – not ideal.

5. 5-60, a daunting task for some, for others (Isaiah “Stokes” Vumbaca) a piece of cake. Izzy played a catalyst role in a come from behind victory against Northern Districts only a month ago, and continued to recover our innings that ended up being one of a lifetime. Ash deep provided valiant support for Izzy as he continued to take the game back to Hawkesbury, showing the fight that we have come to associate with one of our clubs brightest young talents. Izzy clubbed the ball to all parts of the ground in what was truly one of the better hundreds the residents on Sydney Road have witnessed. Unfortunately Isaiah’s heroics fell short as he was dismissed by a ball he had been dispatching out of Manly all day. Amazing signs for Iz and our side to have someone batting at 6 pulling off performances such as these.

6. Despite his amazing achievement, Isaiah left little to be desired with his ton celebration. Channeling some serious Dave Warner carry on, Isaiah flocked towards the fence at Manly Oval with the signature Toyota jump, flailing his bat arms and all about much to the delight of all his teammates in the pavilion. In all seriousness his celebration was mildly questionable but totally acceptable given his heroics. Special moment.

7. Matty Brewster has been known to throw some bold predictions out there – as per his Sportsbet history, however he landed a $3.20 bet on Jakey Carden to pull of “A 60 odd”. Confident in Jakes ability to perform when it matters (very valid), Matty threw the bold prediction (only due to a dry spell between 50s) that Jake would get 60 odd. Credit when credit is due, Jake proceeded to notch 65 of the best. Was a day of firsts for both Isaiah and Matt, exceptional stuff.

8. Another one bites the dust, a game that got away from us, leaving us in a tricky position at the break. We are confident the boys will be hungry enough to go on a strong run in the new year and sneak back into finals contention in the coming rounds.

9. Finally, silly suit has ended up with TK over the Christmas break after some questionable antics on the night of the Christmas Party. Don’t pour drinks.

Merry Christmas All!

3 – Isaiah Vumbaca

2 – Taylor Beatty 1 – Jake Carden

Tom Kaye

After a beautiful drive out to bensons Lane for a 9 am start the mighty threes were ready for action. Skipper S. Hole told the lads that he was going to declare with the score 8-290, robbing Ryan Bishop Perrett and Josh Wigney of their maiden centuries. Both being not out on 10 and 6 over night.

The boys knew we were in for a grind, with the temperature set to nudge the mid 40s. Early wickets were going to be key. The opening overs from Wigney and Bishop Perrett looking promising, with the Hawkesbury batsmen playing a missing a lot. Ryan took the break through in the 10th over. The Hawkesbury batsmen then ground out until tea to be 1-80.

Lachie Trewartha started up after tea, with the plan to bowl spin at one end and rotate the quicks from the other end. The Hawkesbury batsmen looked more aggressive after the break looking to chase down the 290 set. This didn’t last too long as Lachie took the breakthrough, caught by Alex Bain at mid on with a side of mayo. Lachie then took 2 more wickets in his next 2 overs, and LBW and a great catch at first slip from Zach Trewartha. With the score now 4-122 the boys new we could push to take all 10 and a well deserved 6 points.

Joel Davies then took over from the quicks with his trusted left arm orthos. Wickets came steadily with Joel and Lachie combining for 7 wickets. (Joel 4-55, Lachie 3-62) Joel took the 9th wicket after Lachie took a blinder at short midwicket which no one thought was possible from the young man. As we celebrated we saw first grade next door had walked of the field for poor air quality. This then made our umpires make an ordinary decision to follow, even though there were on 3.4 overs left in our days play, and one wicket for the mighty Tahs. Sam Hole and the Hawkesbury skipper both agreed that we should carry on with the game as there would only be another 10-15 minutes of play, but the umpires disagreed as it was their duty of care to keep the players off the field. Not much else to say about this decision.

Play was then called off 45 minutes later as the air quality worsened and there was a potential threat of bushfires.

Game was ended as a draw. Unfortunate for the Tahs who backed themselves to take the 10th wicket.

Well bowled to all the bowlers who toiled away in the heat.

3- Joel

2- Lachie Trewartha

1- Zach Trewartha

Fielding point – Zach Trewartha

Zach Trewartha

After a generous sleep-in compared to the other grades, 4th grade rocked up to Grahams prepared for a big day ahead. Touch footy showed a one-sided competition. The bowlers getting outplayed in a dominant Alex Duly display. With Hawksbury 9 wickets down, the Manly boys prepared to have a field for a little bit. Amazingly, B.Wilson took their innings away in the very first ball of the day, meaning a total of 45 seconds was spent on the field before returning to the sheds. Openers Adam Gummer and Nick Cohen walked out to the crease and began the chase. A strong start and Cohen’s big top edge for 6 saw us get to 44 runs before the first wicket. Fellow batters Wheeler, Charles and Lindsay came n went as the skipper showed everyone the way. It wasn’t until the young apprentice Jake Osbourne came in that we saw a decent partnership take place. The pair took us to tea where it looked like Manly had the upper hand. At 4-150 chasing 246 Manly was feeling confident. Both Gums and Osbourne reached their half-century! A miscommunication saw Gums run out for a patient 56 and not long after Jakey was caught after playing across the line. At 6-180 all the wheels fell off as the lower order of Duly, Healey, Wilson collapsed. I slight 10th wicket partnership between Hobson and Laughton saw us reach 195 before Manly was eventually bowled out. A disappointing end to what could have been a great day.

3 – Jake Osborne

2 – Adam Gummer

1 – Brad Wilson

Fielding – Andrew Lindsay 

Ned Healey

7:45am at Bensons Lane was the scene for Day 2 of 5th grades final match before the Christmas and New year break. A big chase was needed to combat Hawkesbury’s score of 8-328 from the week prior. The Hawkesbury captain thought he would give the art of trickery and tactics a try, attempting to make us believe they would not be declaring with some deceitful antics during the warmup, only to reveal 15 minutes prior to the start, that they would be declaring. Well done, you got us all. It’s been rumoured that he is in line for the Gold Logie next year. With Jack Melchiore back into the side from 4’s, he would open up alongside debutant Josh Cooper. 

The pair got us off to a solid start, facing out the first 10 overs or so, before Coops was castled to a very tidy delivery. Ollie Melville was brought to the crease, and he and Jack attempted to consolidate. The score was at 43 when Ollie snicked off on 17. The in-form Oscar Lucius came to the crease, but it was not to be today, as he spooned one to mid wicket without score, A shot he would like to forget. Debutant Andrew Boulton went about his business, and was looking solid out in the middle, before he was dismissed for 9. Rochie entered the arena, and immediately attacked the bowling side, with some aggressive strokeplay. Jack was still at the crease and continuing to be the anchor behind our innings, however he too fell soon for 27, a very well constructed innings. After a bit of a carry on in the celebration from the bowler, which can only be described as the work of a showboater, Roop arrived at the middle. However, His stay was not long, as he was bowled  to a very handy piece of spin bowling. 

Evan Dunnachie was apparently suffering from a bout of confusion, thinking it was a T20, as he was dismissed trying to whack the leather off it over midwicket. The score was now 7-80 and signs of a win or even a draw were looking very slim. Out came the self proclaimed bowling all-rounder, Luke Morley. It was his time to shine with bat in hand, claiming his chance for a big score has not yet been presented to him so far this season. His promotion to number 9 had sprung a new form of confidence into the young lad. However, He couldn’t back up his hopes of a big one, as he only managed a score of 1. Without a doubt, Rochie will come to his true senses and return Moz back to 10 or 11 for next round, without hesitation. Rochie was still at the crease and was continuing to be the backbone behind the second half of the innings. Debutant Hurshwin Sharma, didn’t hang around for long, followed by Rochie finally being dismissed for 25, while Darcy Fleming remained not out for 1. The miserable total of 102, was far from the teams best, and was a big disappointment. 

We were sent back in to follow on and play for some pride. With 30 overs left in the day to bat, our job was simply just to bat out the day, and avoid the embarrassment of an outright loss. Unfortunately Jack Melchiore couldn’t replicate his first innings knock, as he fell cheaply. Josh Cooper and Ollie Melville went about the job, with Coops looking in fine form out in the middle. He was soon dismissed, victim to a very sharp catch at short leg. A very unlucky day for Coops as he copped a seed in his first dig, along with the sharp catch in the second innings. Ollie and Oscar Lucius then proceeded to bat out the day, outlasting countless overs of umbrella fields, and some strange chat, particularly from the opening bowler who claims to have been bowling 130 clicks (clearly suffering from the same form of confusion as Evan). Oscar finished with 20 not out, while Ollie finished with 14 not out, as the score was 2-53 at the end of play.

Overall it was a miserable and rather forgettable day for 5’s. We will be looking to put this game behind us and restart in the new year. Special mention to skipper Rochford on his 5 fa the previous week, continuing to show he is one of the most devastating bowlers in the comp, as well as proving his worth with the stick.

3 points – Andrew Rochford

2 points – Jack Melchiore

1 point – Oscar Lucius

Fielding award – Andrew Boulton

Ollie Melville