The final round of the regular season saw the TravelSim Manly-Warringah Waratahs take on local rivals Mosman. In a round that would determine the finishing position for teams leading into finals, it was crucial for the Tahs to ‘maintain the rage’ leading into the business-end of the season.
1’s had a comprehensive win over The Whales after comfortably defending 246 to win the Peter Philpott Cup. Adam Crosthwaite’s record-breaking innings (for most runs scored in a season by a Manly player) of 72 and Nic Bill’s destructive spell of 4 wickets ensured Mosman never had a chance and were dismissed for 92. 2’s had a heart-breaking loss, having their total of 225 chased down in the final over at Manly Oval. Although a disappointing result for Rowan Hamman’s men, a 2nd place finish ensures they have a home final next week and are well positioned to challenge Sydney University’s dominance in 2nd grade.
3’s had a dominant win at Rawson Oval chasing 114 with ease. The main damage was done by Ryan Farrell with the ball who took his second 5 wicket haul of the season to ensure a home final for the ‘main grade’. 4th grade had a day to forget in what has otherwise been an outstanding season getting smashed by a Mosman side out of finals contention. Finally 5’s secured a home final themselves comfortably winning at Mike Pawley Oval. Contributions throughout ensured Simon Waddington’s boys (and a few men!) continued to build momentum into finals time.
So with it all to play for in all 5 grades, it’s safe to say we have a chance at history at the TravelSim Waratahs this season. With the Club Championship won and a top 3 positioned secured in every grade, more silverware is beckoning for this great club in the weeks to come. Continued hard work and commitment will hopefully see the Tahs hoisting a few more trophies on Easter Sunday in a few weeks from now. Until next time, Go Manly!
4 Pines P
layer of the Week – Ryan Farrell
layer of the Week – Ryan FarrellThis weeks 4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week goes to Ryan Farrell for his mesmorising 5 wickets against The Whales on Saturday. Having moved along to 3/95 after being sent in on a bowler-friendly wicket, Mosman were cruising until Ryan took the first of his 5 wickets for the match. Getting the ball to turn unbelievably and combining it with the control of a man well beyond his years, it really was a masterclass in leg-spin bowling from ‘Faz’ who has had what can only be described as a break-out season for the TravelSim Waratahs.
Having been around the club since he was in his early-teens, Ryan’s talent has never been doubted and we’re definately starting to see the all-round cricket he truely is. A pair of 5 wicket hauls to go with a century and a 95* shows that whether it’s with bat or ball it’s going to be hard to keep Ryan out of the game come finals time.
A well deserved recipient this week ‘Faz’, well done!
1st Grade – Manly 9/246 (A. Crosthwaite 72, A. Beadle 62, T. Cruickshank 40, N. Bills 26) def. Mosman 92 (N. Bills 4/20, J. Munting 2/21, N. McLachlan 2/22)
1st Grade turned up to Allan Border Oval determined to take back the Peter Philpott Trophy in the last round game of the season.
Timmy sent a message to his troops to “stay on course and to be in the present” after our One Day Final loss to Bankstown last weekend. It all started with a different approach in our warm-up routine and it certainly brought energy & focus to the group. For the first time this season, we were all pleased to welcome back Jack “Cubby” Ritchie to the side and his presence was much appreciated and he’s back where he belongs!
Tim as usual lost the toss and Mosman’s skipper Matthew Day sent us into bat. There was plenty of moisture on the deck, inevitably the first hour was crucial as we knew the Sun will dry the surface and conditions will suit us after the 20 over mark.
Unfortunately we lost 2 early wickets with Merchant bowled (choping on) and Cubby caught behind from a seaming wicket. Crossy and A.B joined forces and assessed the conditions quickly. They stuck to their game plan which was to guts it out early (“value your wicket”) and look for plenty of ones as it was hard to score boundaries from full deliveries. A platform partnership of 137 between them occured to set-up the game.!
Beadle soon thereafter was walking back to the pavilion by a dodgy LBW for 62. Nick Bills was promoted as a pinch hitter in the power play and boy he did not let us down. His cameo off 3 sixes bullied the opposition with a quick 26 runs off 19 balls. In comes the finisher ‘Cruickshank’ and the skipper played a smart 40 off 30 balls. Nick “Precious” McLachlan ended the last over with two 4’s and we scored a healthy 9/246 off 50 overs.
The Bowlers were firing on all cylinders and we started off with a bang with Mickey Edwards picking up the first wicket before they got off the mark.
Disciplined bowling by Munter saw the next two key batsmen fail (Pisel and Rogers) with the score on 3/31. James Munting bowled with great hooping form coming into the finals with 7 overs straight for 2/21 with two maidens. Nick “Buffalo” Bills and ‘Precious’ then tore through the Mosman middle & lower order each claiming 4/20 and 2/22 respectively. Buff bowled with great pace, hit the deck hard and sniffed batsmen out. It was also great to see him back in-form with the ball at the business end of the season & that’s all that matters. Nick bowled smart with his variety of skills in the one-day form. He has developed his ability to naturally take consistent wickets by simply out-thinking the batsmen and it’s now become evident as he is the leading wicket taker in all of first grade. Well done!
It was a clinical and ruthless performance by the boys and Mosman were all out for 92 after 24.2 overs.
Ahillen Beadle
2nd Grade – Manly 7/225 (J. Cox 52, L. Edgell 38, R. Hamman 36, M. Pugh 27) def. by Mosman 7/226 (L. Diserens 3/26, A. Baker 2/11, M. Visser 2/47)
After being sent in the Manly boys set about posting a competitive total on what seemed a fairly slow deck. After losing a wicket fairly early Edgell (38) and Cox (52) formed a good partnership setting up a solid foundation. A combination of good bowling and a slow outfield made scoring pretty tough in the middle overs and after 40 overs we were 4-160 odd with Hamman (36) and Pugh (27) at the crease. Hamman was looking good and scoring at a good rate and with contributions from Walter (12*) and Webber (20) we managed to post a score of 7-225; a score that we felt was par and very defendable.
We started well with the ball, Visser (2-47) taking 2 early wickets to have Mosman 2-30. A partnership formed and the two batsmen were starting to look ominous scoring fairly quickly. On came Diserens (3-26) who got 3 wickets in the space of 3-4 overs including the two in batsmen, to turn the game back in Manly’s favour with Mosman being 5-103. At this stage we dropped off in the field and another partnership was formed which took Mosman to 5-194, with them needing 32 from 6 overs. Rowan then turned to the old timer Baker (2-11) who picked up 2 wickets in his first over and Mosman were 7-198 and the game could have gone either way. In the end Mosman ended up getting the runs with 4 balls to spare 7 wickets down.
It wasn’t our best performance however we need to take the positives out of it and get ready for finals cricket!
3rd Grade – Manly 2/116 (A. Gummer 43*,T. Kaye 34 def. Mosman 114 (R. Farrell 5/22, T. Kaye 2/24)
Rawson looked good but a close inspection of the pitch showed that some of the morning downpour got under the covers and a very patchy deck was offered. Not enough moisture to delay play but enough to persuade you to bowl first which is what we did.
A scrappy start, bowlers were thereabouts but the energy levels weren’t that high. They batted well on a tough deck early and chanced their arms at times. Luke & Nick didn’t get any early ones, a tough 2nd slip chance off Nick being the only chance offered. The first wicket came from a run out with some confusion allowing Evans to do one of his 3 metre underarm specials to dismiss him. The other opener was timing the ball well on a drying pitch and planted some great on drives over the fence. He went once too often off Jake Carden (1/12) and Sam Gainsford took an outfield catch. Evans (1/18) then snuck one through. A partnership started to form between Mosman’s experienced players and when Adlam planted Ryan 25 yards over the boundary there were some worrying signs. Ryan though returned fire with a sharply spinning ball let go and knocking back middle stump to make it 4/95. 19 runs later Mosman were dismissed for a paltry 114, Ryan Farrell fishing with 5/22 from 8 after having 0/16 from 2. His great control and turn was too much for Mosman’s middle and lower order. Tom Kaye collected two wickets, with a mention for Jake’s sharp catch at gully.
With 11 overs to negotiate before lunch Tom & Adam had to tough it out and they did it with ease, scoring 0/35. Weird scenes then took place as the teams entered the field after lunch. Some kerfuffle between Mosman’s captain and one of the umpires turned into a one sided heated debate with some choice words flowing from the Mosman skipper. Something about no knock on the door to let the players know it was time to go on. Anyway before a ball is bowled the umpire gives himself an early mark and is out of there. Evans takes over square leg duties and has a close view on the great batting batting from Tom & Adam and some of the childish remarks coming from one or two Mosman players. It really is stupid to have a go at a batsman when he plays and misses early, telling him he is not good enough for 3rd grade etc and then two balls later the same bowler has been driven through the covers and on driven for two spanking boundaries. The bloke at cover point…you’re doing your bowlers no favours!
Anyway this young bowler (T. Slack) bowled with good pace and got Tom (34) caught in the slips and Ryan(16 – 4X4) bowled by a ball that kept very low. Good effort balls though and he looked above a typical 3rd grade bowler.
Jordan (15no) and Adam (43no) ensured there was no mini collapse and batted aggressively and well to end the day with a dominant bonus point in. Our position on the table did not change though and despite losing just two games and finishing with a massive 70 points we finished 3rd and play Hawksbury at home in the QF.
WE
4th Grade – Manly 66 (E. Burgess 25) def. by Mosman 4/67 (J. Graham 3/21)
4th Grade won the Minor Premiership with a last start victory over UNSW however the reality of the road ahead was laid bare for everyone with a shellacking at the hands of 9th placed Mosman.
Winning the toss and batting, we were bowled out for 66 in the 23rd over. Ed Burgess with 25 and Zach Trewartha with 14 were the only 2 batsmen to get above 4 as Mosman bowled well and our batting was disappointing. Mosman started off strongly, losing their first wicket at 31. Joe Graham picked up 3 wickets and Sam Alexander 1, but that was it as Mosman passed us 4 down.
Disappointing way to end the regular season in what was only our 2nd loss of the season.
We now take on Northern Districts in our Semi Final clash next week. Go Manly!
5th Grade – Manly 3/112 (J. Mason 45, J. Boyer 27*) def. Mosman 108 (J. Badyari 2/11, I. Vumbaca 2/12, J. Graham 2/32)
Mike Pawley Oval was once again a picture on Saturday as we took on Mosman in a battle of 3rd vs 4th in the last game of the regular season.
Mosman won the toss and decided to bat on a deck that had just enough life in it after the overnight rain, but was a good cricket wicket. Our bowlers took advantage of the good conditions with the first wicket caught at mid-off and the 2nd caught by Billy Darcy at 1st slip. There were some tight runout opportunities with the ball just missing the stumps on numerous occasions until Jacob Graham stepped up and hit the bowlers end from cover to cook their opening batsmen. Score was 3 for 20. Joel Mason then got in on the act, putting on a fielding masterclass with a great catch at 2nd slip of Jacob Graham to make it 4 for 36.
From this point on there were consistent wickets throughout the day with Jacob Graham bowling well and taking 2 wickets including a pearler of a ball to bowl their number 7. Javed Badyari was brought on and he too bowled well, bowling each of his first 3 overs with pace the first 3 balls and legspin for the 2nd three balls. The guys is a freak even on one leg. Mosman were eventually bowled out for 108 off 44 overs.
We were looking to bat naturally, however we did have in the back of our minds that we needed to pass their target in 30 overs to get a bonus point. Mason and Darcy started off well until D’Arcy was smartly stumped down the legside by the Mosman keeper. Edwards started aggressively and hit a great ball straight for a one bounce 4 until trying it once too often from the spinner and getting caught at mid-off.
Mason meanwhile was going along well, despite a tentative start. He hit 45 until out with the score on 77. James Boyer and Jacob Graham then easily brought the boys home with 27 not out and 17 not out respectively, and the win and bonus point was secured in the 28th over.
A great win over a semi-final rival. We finish 2nd and take on Randwick-Petersham in the first final next Saturday and Sunday at Mike Pawley Oval.
Joel Mason
