Double Outright See Tahs Within Two Points of Club Champs – Monday News R14 D2

The Manly Warringah Travelsim Waratahs finished their two-day clash against St George strongly, dominating in most fixtures except for 1^st Grade who went down by three wickets late in the day. 5^th Grade also had a frustrating day in the field, with St George never really pursuing Manly’s target of 278 off the back of Joel Davies’ (101*) maiden grade century last week. The day ended in an uninspiring draw with St George 7-233.

More than compensating for this however, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4th Grade all pushed for outright in their comprehensive victories, with 2s and 4s both emerging successful. 2s got the remaining wickets and knocked them over again still short of our 388 thanks to an unplayable Andrew Jamieson (5-20 & 1-22) and two 3-wicket hauls to Andrew Hicks. 3s passed the target of 119 only 2 down thanks to a chanceless 57* to Sam Webber before the game was called with Saints 2-53. Michael Counsell again threatening to run through them, responsible for both wickets. Finally, 4s played flawless cricket to knock off the remaining runs thanks to Jarrad Walter’s 51 before Alex Bain (4-24) and Sam Alexander (2-8) left Manly needing only eight runs to get ten points! The weekend sees the Manly boys make enormous gains in club champs, now sitting only two points behind Parramatta, with the title there for the taking!

The 4 Pines Player of the Week goes to Andrew Hicks, who on Saturday played a pivotal role in putting his former club to the sword in 2^nd Grade’s outright win. With match figures of 6-26 off 19, his 3-14 off 8 in the first innings combined with a much more expensive 3-15 off 11 to produce the timely removal of St George’s middle order in both innings – keeping the momentum firmly with the Manly boys in the push for 10 points.

After captaining St George 2^nd Grade for the last couple of seasons since moving over from England, Hicksy eventually saw the light and moved to Narrabeen mid-2016. After loyally playing that season with Saints, the taxing cross-city commutes and the simple fact that he was too good a bloke not to play at Manly meant the switch to the Tahs was inevitable. A wiley bowling all-rounder, he hasn’t had the continuity he’d probably have liked this year due to a packed work schedule and injury. Since Christmas however he’s been invaluable for 3s and Saturday shows he is finding his touch just at the right time of the season with finals looming. His role in the weekend’s proceedings added a twist of irony to the ruthless dismantling that Manly visited upon a 2^nd Grade St George outfit that would dearly have loved to have Hicksy on their side of the team sheet. A highly intelligent cricketer and one of the best blokes going around, it was fantastic to see him get the results he’s been overdue for. Congrats Hicksy!

After coming off for lightning and rain last week, the manly boys batted on gaining a valuable 33 runs leaving the St George boys 322 runs to get in 87 overs for victory.

The day started off in a magical way with Ollie Davies, who surely hadn’t slept for a week needing just one run for his maiden 1st grade 100. He managed to push one through the covers in the first over of play. It was a brilliant moment for a very talented kid with a big future ahead of him… Ollie batted beautifully last week with patience, power and placement setting his team up with a more than competitive total. This innings is only the start of what looks to be a wonderful career in the making. Ollie was finally dismissed for 119 off 132 balls. Well done Ollie on your maiden 1st grade hundred.

With our final 2 dayer being a must win to keep our finals hope alive, we couldn’t have asked for a better start with Michael Visser (2/78) getting a wicket in the first over with his standard top of off delivery.

Knowing the wicket was flat, we had to bowl tight and restrict the runs and hold our catches.

All the bowlers toiled hard and Nickos was very economical with figures of 15 overs 0/36. With Nickos not leaking runs it allowed joey to cash in on some rash shots as he bowled very tight and finishing with outstanding figures of 3/79 off 25 overs.

Credit to St George, 5 of the top 6 making between 30 and 90 meant we never managed to get back to back wickets. This made for a interesting last session with st George needing 160 with 34 overs remaining only 3 down.

Needing wickets straight after the break, joey and Joel foster (1/75) struck again getting the two set batters. with Joey getting his 3rd wicket straight after with a tickle to the keeper, we were back in the game with St George 6 down.

Francis and Stapleton put on a decent partnership before some Ahillen Beadle magic got us a run out with the score now 7/276.

St George captain Stapleton was batting well with Lacey so we decided to take the new ball for one final crack. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the wickets we needed and they passed our total with a couple of overs to spare.

Credit to the bowling unit they all tried their hearts out on a good pitch. We now look forward to Mosman in a must win one dayer. 

James Crosthwaite

Coming off a dominant display last week, we had our eyes locked in on an outright victory.

St George were 5-27 in reply to our first innings score of 4-388 at the beginning of play, and we started exactly where we left off from last week. 5 early wickets had St George all out for 51 in their first innings. Jamo was on fire and finished with a well-deserved 5-20 off 10. Our own St George import was also very impressive, picking up 3 wickets of his own, the other 2 shared between Wiggers and Tommy Kaye.

We sent them back in still 330 odd runs behind, and we all knew it was going to be a tough slog out there in order to earn the 10 points. They weren’t going to roll over like they did in first innings so easily. The St George top order started off well on what was turning out to be a much flatter wicket than we were anticipating. At 1-56 we got the breakthrough we were after and soon after got their skipper as well, who was holding together their side.

From there we took wickets at regular intervals throughout the day, eventually bowling them out for 175 with around 15-20 overs left in the day for a well-earned 10 points. The second innings wickets were shared around – 3 to Hicks, 2 each to Virdi and Farrell, and 1 each Gainsford, Wigney and Jamieson. Hicksey was the pick of the bowlers in the second dig, his hatred for St George evident when he started bumping a number of the young tailend batsmen.

The outright win puts us in 3rd position on the table. This is second grade’s third outright victory this year, and second in the last 4 games. Next week, we are up against 2nd placed Mosman, with a win seeing us jump them on the table.

Ryan Farrell

After a disappointing end to the first days play, where we lost 19 overs due to rain, the manly boys started the day with purpose and intent. We knew that given the right situation absolutely anything could happen – all the points were an offer and we were here to get them.

The two Sams, Hole and Webber got things going for us, laying down a solid platform as we got off to a steady start. Unfortunately Sam hole wasn’t able to capitalise on his start which brought Billy to the crease. From there the two put on a very hard-fought grinding partnership of near 70 run partnership which batted all the hopes that St George might of had of a result out of the realm of possibility.

The pitch was slow, as was the outfield but the pair made scoring look easy as we got to tea still 1 down with less than 40 to get.

At tea the boys deciding that if we knocked off these runs quick then we might give ourselves a chance with the ball. Billy went soon after tea, a casualty of trying to force the runs. Jacob O’Sullivan joined Webbs and they got the job done, 2 down the manly boys declared for 123. Sam Webber unbeaten on a match winning 57*. What a weapon.

Enter Michael Counsel. The tallest, fastest, scariest yet most silent man to ever grace a lower grade oval had his tail up and with no surprises ripped through both opening batsman, knocking both over with steep bouncers. One was grabbed by Sammy Webber with the gloves and another by specialist fieldsman and all-round legend David ‘Lozza’ Gardener who dove full body to nab the hapless left hander who feebly fended one off his nose.

Unfortunately that’s where the celebrations ended, with the number three well shutting up shop and the number 4 very ably holding up his end, the boys called the day at drinks, a short sharp 14 over effort wasn’t to give us 10 points but there were plenty to take away from the game and everything is set up for a possibly season defining game against 2nd place Mosman next week.

Jacob Graham

The Manly 4^th Grade side arrived at fortress Grahams to build on last week’s tough work.

The warmup was run by Roy Vumbaca, as always, Roy runs a great warmup and is a much-appreciated part of our side. The time he spends with us on Saturdays is greatly valued by all our players.

The equation for the morning was to get the remaining 20 runs and re-assess from there as to the best method for an outright win. The whole team turned up with Tom Brady Laser Focus on an outright win and what it could do for our season.

Jimmy Crombie and Jarrod Walter passed St. George’s first inning score quite quickly batting as a partnership; rotating the strike and putting any bad balls away. The fun for the batsman then begun with quick runs the order of the morning. Matt Brewster’s good form continued with him clearing the ropes and lacing the ball to the fence. Brewster is a played that could make a dent in the top grades in the seasons to come. Smoss Alexander and Brad Wilson put on a final partnership that they cherished more than most. Some noting the similarities to Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer’s bromance. The innings was declared with Manly going 85 in front.

Glynn Archer drew the first blow with a nice outswinger caught at slip by Walter. Brad Wilson then adduced a nice kiss off the edge of the bat with Brewster making no mistake. Alex Bain took the third, a rising ball outside off stump, their number three back-foot driving… the ball flew through to Walter at first slip. Crombie then nipped one back to hit off stump and St. George were 4-40. 10 points were there for the taking. Moms Spaghetti. Alex Bain took the 5^th and broke a stubborn 6^th partnership that looked like it could deny us the 10 we deserved. Smoss came back to bowl two absolute rip snorters and we were 1 wicket away from a small chase. Alex Bain the man of the day with another peach outside off stump brought an edge from their experienced stalwart.

8 Runs required for 10 points.

Dom Wheeler then flicked one and belted one in the first over.

The win and other results take us back to 1^st place. The boys were focused on the potential for this but remained on the hard work required to achieve it. We must stay focussed next week and finish the regular season with another improvement against Mosman in a One-Dayer at Balmoral Oval.

JARROD WALTER©

Day 2 of the 5th grade Manly vs St.George was set out to be a good one. Having setting a very competitive total of 278 on day 1, the Manly boys looked in a comfortable position for victory.

The day started off with some rapid and dangerous bowling from Jarrad Ninness and Josh Seward. Both bowlers looked certain to take wickets early, but the bowling was simply too good to find the edge of the St George batsmen. Despite this, an acrobatic one-handed pick up and throw from Aiden Bennett brought the number 4 to the crease.

From here, the game was far from a spectator sport. The St. George batsmen played with minimal intent, dead-batting the majority of balls that were being bowled.

Despite the early run out, the same two batsmen were still at the crease after tea, only 150 runs away from victory… But they didn’t attempt to challenge the Manly score. The bowlers worked hard in the middle overs; Aiden Bennett, Jordy Brewster, Dylan Marshall and Joel Davies all were offered very few chances of wickets. Despite the lack of intent, the last session saw the Dylan Marshall (2-43 of 19) take two superb wickets along with Jordy Brewster (3-41 of 14) who snagged three for himself. A late wicket from Seward looked as though the game was back in the Tah’s hands but it just wasn’t to be. The Manly boys finishing the overs having St George 7/233.

All in all, a disappointing day of cricket for the manly players and all spectators, however the boys will be back next week raring to go!

Luca Franks