Champagne Cricket Keeps the Waratahs Winning and Well-positioned – Weekend Wrap 29th/30th Oct 2022

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beautiful Spring day at Manly Oval against arch-rivals Bankstown.

On a pitch without plenty to offer for Manly’s bowling unit, Bankstown opening batting pair of Captain Daniel Solway and Nick Carruthers capitalized on the new ball and built a solid foundation to lunch at 1-105. The key breakthrough from the usual suspect – Jake Carden dismissed the hard-hitting N. Carruthers for 41 runs off 50 balls.

The second session started to shift Manly’s way as the ball started to reverse swing and Bankstown couldn’t handle Mickey Edwards Irish swing. He ripped through the middle order to remove Z. Ahmed (14) LBW, B. Smith (1) and English Pro G. Balderson (2) both caught-behind.

The momentum considerably swung as Bankstown lost wickets in regular intervals as they entered the Tea break at 7-170.  A small partnership between M. Singh and B. Le Bas repaired the damage to a competitive total as Bankstown were bowled out for 214 runs in the 90th Over.

The bowling unit was superb by Manly as they fought back viciously as pressure was mounting on Bankstown’s middle order and lower order.

A clinical display and a strong fightback which covers the strength of the bowling squad this season. Mickey Edwards was the pick of the bowlers returning 6/59 from 23.5 overs. Younger bro Jack Edwards bowled accurately, always attacking the stumps and was rewarded with 2 wickets for 32 runs off 17 overs.

4 overs were left in the day at the innings break with Ahillen Beadle and Joel Foster opening the batting for Manly. Unfortunately, a direct hit run out in the second over dismissed J. Foster and Ryan Hadley was sent in as Night-watchman, he did his job as Manly finished the day at 1-3 after 4 overs.

Day 2 will resume on 5th November at Manly Oval as the hosts will look to chase down 214 set by Bankstown.

Ahillen Beadle 

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anlys 2s made their way to the beautiful Bankstown oval for round a round four clash against an opposition that have made for tough clashes in previous years.

Losing the toss on a flat deck, we got the first opportunity to bowl. Tom kaye started off proceedings in classical (controversial) line and length fashion taking the first pole in the early overs. Supported by bosh Seward and Jamison, we were met with some aggressive early batting. We soon realised the we would have to work hard for all ten wickets as the deck looked easy to bat on with a relatively quick outfield. Wickets to Seward and Jameson saw Bankstown 3/93 at lunch.

After lunch, the josh Seward show begun. Witnessing potentially the best spell of his young career thus far, josh proceeded to take 6/10 in 11 overs. Taking the game into his hands, josh turned an even game completely into manly’s direction finishing with a high class 7/38. One wicket including an ludicrous left handed screamer at first slip from jordan Daly. Well done Seward! (Full credit to the boys). Special mention to wigney, Vumbaca and roop who supported throughout the innings as well.

Chasing 132 for first innings points, Brewster and Bryant started things off well. Bryant’s first ball pull shot cracked over mid wicket for a one bounce four set the tone and the two put on 60 before the dismissal of Brewster for a well made 30. Bryant passed 50, providing a well rounded and classy half century. A BANG BANG BANG of Bryant, O’Sullivan and Daly was In fact NOT decent however the depth of the batting order with Vumbaca at 5 and neddy hole at 6 was shown as they eased their way to a first innings total.

10 points up for grabs next week.

Jacob O’Sullivan

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ff the back of out-right and bonus point wins, the main grade looked to continue their dominant start to season ’22/23 against Bankstown. Trewartha (L) set the tone early, literally, taming the notoriously spicy Grahams wicket with 4 hours of overtime rates on the heavy roller before mowing the home of cricket’s outfield within an inch of its life. Lachlan was overheard referencing Nathan Lyon’s career trajectory throughout the day’s play, but declined to comment on the record when questioned on the comparisons between the two.

After a brief delay in accessing the change rooms due to skipper Hole (S) living his dreams vicariously through Mr O’Keefe at Manly Oval, Sam snapped back to reality. If only he could get one shot, one opportunity he said to himself as he traversed Raglan Street. To seize everything he ever wanted in one moment. But would he capture it, or just let it slip?

The skipper won the toss, and elected to bat. It would appear the match referee deemed the surface fit for play. Sam was nervous. But on the surface, he looked calm and ready. “Bat long. Keep these opposition in the field all day” along with other inappropriate for print words of encouragement from Andrew Boulton had the lads ready to drop bombs.

Starting the day’s play with a leg-side wide, clearly due to the “flatness” of the pitch, Bankstown struggled to find lines and lengths on one side of the wicket. Skipper Hole and Mendel (B) churned runs for fun, respecting the occasional good ball and punishing the bad. They’re choking, how? 0-25 became 0-50 which, you guessed it, became 0-100. The clock’s run out, time’s up, over, blaow.

As the over-rate slipped, the run rate climbed and Charles (L) applied his anti-rash topical cream. Could it happen twice in a row? As 0-150 came and went, Sam and Brynn surpassed Round 3’s opening stand of 160 and continued on. Sam punishing the full tosses to the third-man boundary and Brynn hitting decent length balls into the swimming pool car park. 0-200 came, everybodies joking now. The young Will Gustaffson appeared from the records book to inform everyone of the second lower-grade record in Sam’s sights. Two borderline impossible trivia questions for the future generations of Manly players to go along with his 5th grade bowling average.

As the 3rd grade opening partnership came and went, so too the hundreds, these are the days of our lives. First Brynn with one of his few shots that travelled less than 70m.  Next, quite a significant period of time later, it was Sam celebrating three figures. Although his 1 handed on drive didn’t quite go for 6, which would have been his first-ever in grade cricket, it did take him to 99. To quote an anonymous team-mate “Sam is never in. He could edge this through to the keeper or kick a half volley at any moment”. Thankfully, a trademark turn off the hip for 1 brought Sam to a quivering mess as his troops celebrated the moment. Wooooo!

As Manly moved to 0-250 after just 47 overs, Lachlan Charles finally found a way to get his name in the book.. by picking up a pen and taking a shift in the scorer’s chair fully padded up. The only site weirder than this, was a wicket finally falling! Brynn departed for a chanceless 157 off 144 with 16 fours and 9 sixes. Three hundreds from last four starts. Brynn is very, very, very good at cricket. We wish him all the best in the higher grades as the SCA has a duty of care to ensure no 3rd grader ever bowls to him again.

With history repeating itself, the focus was declaration runs. Credit to Boulton, Trewartha (Z), Prowse (K) and Ellis (R) for their selfless efforts to move the scoreboard along, all moving at a run a ball or better. Another shout out to Lachie Charles who after spending 11 hours padded up in the past 2 games, dropped the scorers pen and demolished the tired Bulldogs for 65* (60) – everyone at the ground knows he was robbed of a little bat lift himself, but allowed to the Tah’s to have 8 overs to play with.

After falling 15 overs behind (?), dog walkers and top order batsmen were treated to an absolutely stunning golden hour and some picturesque fast bowling. Your scribe has only heard 2nd hand reports of such due to a debilitating bout of hayfever amongst allegations of other medical conditions. Some great bowling saw the stumps dismantled twice in the space of 48 balls thanks to Hicks (A) and Prowse (K). Kneal was given 6 balls to get in the game and only required 2 of them. Hicks treated himself to another late-day wicket too, leaving Bankstown with it all to do next week at 2-15 at the end of the day, some 375 runs in arrears. But the beat goes on, da-da-dom, da-dom-dah.

Michael Counsell

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he 4s boys gathered at Bankstown with perfect conditions for cricket and a hard dry deck. An extremely efficient warm up led to captain Andrew Rochford to sending the team into bat . A couple early wickets produced by a bouncy wicket and a great piece of fielding left us two down for not many.

In came Jake Hutchings the composed and Josh Cooper the birthday boy who began to build what would be a 168 run partnership with a patient but aggressive mindset. Josh Cooper brought up his maiden 100 for the club in a Peter Siddle like event before shortly departing. Jakey Hutchings followed after Josh Cooper with an unbeaten 126 emphasising why he is a name to watch as his career progresses at the club. Ollie Melville chipped in to the runs at the end with a quality 42 to progress the boys to a great total. Rochy sent the Bankstown boys in for a tedious 3 overs at the end of the day where Rochy showed his skill with the new ball dismissing the opening batter leaving Manly with 9 wickets to get next week for first innings points.

Hayden Williams

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fter a dominant win last week out at Blacktown the manly 5s were back home at the good old Mike Pawley oval. With the rain behind us the team were eager to get some cricket under the sun.

Skipper Simon Waddington loosing the toss we were sent in for a bowl. With an early wicket from Will Matheson the lads were on. Unfortunately tough chances put down in the field and the deck turning into the M4 motor way Bankstown were all out on the last ball of the day for 342 runs. A big run chase coming up next week. Special mentions must go to Sophie Morris picking up her first wicket in the men’s team ending up with figures of 3-48 and Matt Evans picking up his first wicket for Manly.

Keelan Mendel

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sing the momentum from a great day for the 1st grade boys on Saturday, our two openers Ollie Davies (41 off 39) and Jack Edwards (44 off 20) once again got us off to a great start. We were set up to get a huge T20 score but some tidy bowling and fielding by the Whales restricted us to 139.

Knowing we’d left a few runs out there the boys knew we had to start well and that exactly what Steve Okeefe did. 2 wickets in the first over was definitely making the task ahead hard for the opposition, but off the back of a mammoth score the day before (521) the Manly boys knew the game wasn’t over. The class of our bowling attack was well above first grade standards. Sok (4 for 10 off 4), Joel Davies (3 for 17 off 4) and Jake Carden (2 for 19 off 4) were the standouts and were well complemented by the other bowlers and fielders.

A great team win with some great momentum in the shortest format for the Tahs, heading into this Sundays T20 at Drummoyne Oval against the always strong Sydney.

Joel Foster

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fter a morning coffee and a swim, the PG’s warmed up in the beautiful Manly Oval sun looking to bounce back after a tough first week loss to the dragons.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Coytey (14) and Brynn Mendel (23 off 11) got the boys off to an electric start. Brynn’s crazy cameo included one of the biggest sixers in PG’s history, dispatching a pull shot over the RATT that almost brought rain.

After Brynn and Coytey were dismissed it was the Joel Davies show, sumptuously guiding the ball around to all parts of the field before dealing a few hefty blows himself, a classy 68 (41). JD was well supported by the middle to lower order and when he was dismissed, the devilishly handsome Evan Dunnachie bombed a few away (21 off 14) with Hutcho at the other end (7*).

 

Needing 167 to win, the Whales batters got off to the best possible start. Scoring at 10s in the powerplay the openers were making batting look easy. With one of their bombing them to all parts (63 off 32) the boys needed to make a breakthrough. Bolts was the one that stood up, holding onto a return catch after a smart piece of bowling.

From then on in the bowling became a lot tighter and the boundaries slowly dried up. The Mosman middle order just couldn’t get going. They were always a chance with the opener still at the crease, but when he was dismissed by Rhoop (1-21 off 4) the game looked to be swaying in Manly’s direction.

However, Mosman were not going down without a fight and the number 3 (27*) was threatening to take the game away. Taking it to the last over and needing 15 to win, Bolts (1-31 off 4) held his nerve and brought home the victory for the boys.

1/2 in PG’s and hopefully the form can continue.

Oscar Lucius

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fter last week’s washed out match, Manly’s W1’s were ready and raring to make the most of the warm, sunny weather ahead of round 4 against St-George Sutherland at LM Grahams reserve. Mik won the toss and we were sent into bowl with Sophie Morris and Laura Judson opening the bowling.

St-George Sutherland made the most of the wicket but our bowlers, combined with some energetic work in the field, were able to limit their scoring options. In the 13th over, Manly had their first breakthrough with Mikaela Turik ripping out the stumps! This was followed by Sophie Morris bowling out the other opener with her spin!

At the end of the innings, St-George Sutherland were 2-105 and our openers Lauren Kua and Zara Shipp were sent into bat.

Kua and Shipp displayed a tight opening partnership creating value for every shot with swift running between the wickets. After the first dismissal of Shipp, Shivani Mehta was back into the crease after injury. Kua (38 runs) and Mehta (28 runs) continued to show off their skills including a spectacular reverse sweep from Kua, but after a quick three wickets, it was up to Annabel Hutt (17 runs) and Charley Camburn (7 runs) to get us across the line for our first win of the season!

Congrats girls on a well deserved win with plenty to work on!

3 Points – Lauren Kua
2 Points – Shivani Mehta
1 Point – Annabel Hutt

Laura Judson

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e were playing Slayers at home and lost the toss and were sent in to bat.

Unfortunately we lost a fairly early wicket but Emily (21) and Kristie (18) were able to build a good partnership to get us off to a pretty good start. We lost a couple quick wickets but with Brooke(14) rotatating the strike and Renee (18) hitting the ball everywhere we were able to get a defendable total of 6-95.

Sophie (2/4) and Molly opened the bowling well keeping them to very few runs after the first few overs. Mia (4/10) came on and bowled very well to dismiss 3 of their batters leaving us in a very good position. Emma (2/16) came into the attack and got a couple wickets to continue our dominance. Sarah, Sophie and Mia all came back on to clean up the last few wickets and secure us the win.

3 Points – Mia Phelps
2 Points – Sophie Morris
1 Point – Emma Thatcher

Eliza Henry

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After a change of playing field, women’s third grade we’re fortunate to play at their home ground as the Campbelltown Oval was closed.

Renee won the toss and chose to bat first sending Steph and Annabelle out to face in the hot, dry weather. There was some great batting performances from Steph (30 off 28 not out) and Mia (23 off 26).

This set us up with a solid score of 3/99. Our bowling and fielding was exceptional. Cam Prior was our leading wicket taker with 3 off 3 overs including a maiden, closely followed by Sal and Renee.

Our fielding was tight and suffocating, making it hard for Campbelltown to score. With Emily’s two catches and Renee’s late wickets, one being caught and bowled, Campbelltown were all bowled out for 65 off 15.5 overs.

To finish off the day, woman’s third grade made their way down to Manly bowlo to have a well deserved feed and support the Men’s first grade.

Well done girls.

1 Point – Renee Hough
1 Point – Sallie Molyneux
1 Point – Emily Hatfield
1 Point – Mia Nel
1 Point – Steph Hughes
1 Point – Cam Pryor

Emily Hatfield

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rewers were back at it with a t20 against Northern Districts after last week’s game was washed out without a single ball bowled.

Caitlin went out for the toss and unfortunately lost, leaving us to bat first.

We aimed to score minimum 100 and aimed to get at least 5 runs an over. Caitlin and Hannah opened the batting and did not disappoint. Hannah batted exceptionally well, reaching her PB at 69 off 61, pulling out some great shots. Our score by the end of the innings was 3-126, ahead of our target, thanks to Hannah and a hard total to beat for NDs.

Darcey and Arabella opened the bowling this week. Darcey started strongly, gaining a wicket in the first over, bowled. After a strong start, the team kept up this momentum throughout the rest of the innings with impressive bowling from Lara, Jaz and Sophie especially. Manly fought hard to keep the run rate down and it paid off. Manly won the game leaving NDs at 5-88. Great game for the girls first win of the season.

3 Points – Hannah Moss
2 Points – Lara Hughes
1 Point – Jazzy James

Shae Hiskett-Jones