Manly Oval hosted its first fixture of the new season with Saturday afternoon’s M1’s T20 against Easts. Batting first, skipper Jay Lenton held the innings together up top with 43, before some exceptional late hitting from Jacob O’Sullivan (61 off 35), with support from Ahillen Beadle (20) propelled the Tahs to a competitive 8/161. A wicket apiece early to Josh Seward & Ryan Hadley started the defence well, followed later by wickets to Ned Hole & Isaiah Vumbaca, the game was in the balance at 4/64. Unfortunately, Easts strung together some important partnerships from there, passing the total in the 19th over 6 wickets down.
The lower grades kicked off their campaigns on Saturday too, M2s hosting Fairfield at Grahams. Bowling first, the Tahs were on song early with an early wicket to Josh Lawson followed by consistent breakthroughs among Lachie Trewartha & Matt Sunshine, Fairfield 4/81. However, things quickly turned with Fairfield’s youngster playing one of the more brutal innings, taking the game away in the blink of an eye. The Tahs fought back late to restrict Fairfield to 295, L.Trewartha the pick of the bowlers with 4/37 from 10. On a good batting wicket, the belief was high, Lachlan Coyte & Roop Dhillon (38) starting well, before Andrew Boulton (60) & skipper Jordan Daly (37) put together a composed 82 run stand to give the Tahs a chance. Contributions from Lachlan Barnsley (26) & Brodie McDowell (23), and late efforts from Sunshine (25*) & L.Trewartha (15*) but unfortunately it was too little too late, finishing 32 runs short.
M3’s skipper Sam Hole led the way superbly as his side kick started their season with an away win at Fairfield. Arriving to a rain affected pitch, the start was delayed with the game shortened to 43 overs per side. Batting first, Jayden Kennedy & Sam Webber made a positive start. But it was strong contributions from Jake Hutchings (33), Hole (44) & Reuben Kapoor (44*) that really provided substance to the Tahs’ innings. Before a late cameo from Josh Coyte (28) took the total to 7/214 off 43. Fairfield began the chase strongly, 0/69, before the Tahs really turned the screws. Julian Osbourne with the first three key breakthroughs to get the ball rolling, supported by wickets to Hutchings & Coyte. Then it was the skipper’s turn, Sammy Hole and his wily left arm orthos proving the match winner, as he took 5/17 from 7 overs to clean up the tail and take the Tahs to a commanding 54 run win.
Mike Pawley Oval hosted M4’s Round 1 clash with Fairfield, skipper Adam Parkinson winning the toss & electing to bowl. Two early breakthroughs to James Waddington had the Tahs on the front foot, however, from there it was a battle for consistency with our lines & lengths, as Fairfield built some strong, aggressive partnerships. Spin twins Myles Kapoor (3/57) & George Cumming (1/39) did their best to shift the momentum, but Fairfield continued their charge to post 306. Same pitch for both teams though, and the Tahs proved their was plenty of value for batting, the returning Dom Wheeler (95) & Jack Melchiore (74) starting the run chase superbly with an assertive 164 run partnership. Keelan Mendel continued their momentum from #3 with a composed 61, but as the required run rate rose, wickets fell in regular succession, halting the chase. The Tahs ultimately falling 25 runs short after a valiant chase.
PGs were looking to bounce back in their Round 2 fixture against Fairfield, a T20 at Manly Oval on Sunday morning. After a rain affected start, the match was reduced to 16 overs per side. Osbourne & Lawson bowled in a great partnership early to take a wicket apiece, backed up by further breakthroughs to Boulton & Josh Cooper to have Fairfield 4/48. However, the visitors fought back & capitalised on the middle to death overs, despite 3/10 from Cooper, as they pushed their total to 8/141 off 16. The Tahs run chase never really got going unfortunately, the top order struggling to gather any momentum. Despite great efforts late from Dhillon (21 off 13), Hutchings (25 off 20) & Lawson (14 off 8), it was in vain, the Tahs bowled out for 104 in reply.
Sunday afternoon saw M1s also take on Fairfield in their fourth T20 fixture of the season. Batting first, the Tahs struggled for the ascendancy early, until some phenomenal hitting through the middle overs from Joel Davies (60 off 39) & skipper Lenton (49 off 41) shifted the momentum considerably. Some late hitting from the great Zach Trewartha got the crowd to full voice and took the Tahs to 7/151 off 20. Tom Kaye was superb early on with the ball, two wickets in his first over, backed up by a breakthrough to Seward to have Fairfield 3/26. Unfortunately, as was the trend across the grades this weekend, Fairfield wrestled back the momentum with a couple of strong partnerships to take the game deep, and despite some tight spells at various stages, the visitors clawed their way to victory with three balls to spare, four wickets down.
Next weekend is a new weekend, as all grades settle into one-day cricket for a little while. The Men’s grades face off with Blacktown, M1s, M3s & M5s at home. PGs have a little over a month now until their next fixtures, while the Women’s season kicks off on October 12/13.
Until then, up the Tahs.
