Manly Warringah 5/176 (K. Martin 56, J. Osborne, N. Barnet 20) Def Hawkesbury 173 (B Watts 3/31, W Greenland 2/33, B Kenzie 2/27)
After an hour drive from the Northern Beaches we arrived at the Owen Earle Oval, Richmond, the temperature was starting to rise and the flies were starting to wake!
Skipper Benny Watts wasn’t too lucky with the coin toss and Manly was sent in to field/bowl first. This was not a bad thing as we dodged the main heat of the day and the flies got worse as the heat increased.
The Hawkes got off to a good start at 0/39 off 10 but lost two wickets leading up to the first drinks break. After the well-deserved break, the Hawkes lost another two wickets thanks to a magical piece of fielding from Kantor-Smith, resulting in a runout and Kenzie clean bowling their number 5 around the legs, leaving them 4/81 off 22. The Hawks started clawing their way back into the match when we really turned up the heat on and off the field to take the last 5 wickets for 41 runs and restricted them to 172. Benny was on a hat trick, like any good captain, leading from the front, and Will, Bailey, Jordy and all the bowlers kept things pretty tight considering the conditions. Although we did give away 20 extras!
When it was our turn to bat the cloud cover started to roll in and the flies moved to the Hawkes. Jake and Byron got us off to another solid start, Jake was dismissed for 27 after smashing a few fours and 1 six. Byron was next to fall with the score 2/66 off 13. Kyle and Ned formed a solid partnership moving the score to 107 before Ned fell for an important 20 runs, leaving Kyle to soldier on through the heat and the flies to make a great knock of 56 getting us close to the finish line. Jarod and Jordy closed the innings out.
We are in a great position to make the quarters going in with momentum to a huge game on Thursday at our home ground.
Brynn Mendell
