4 Pines Player of the week – Jake Carden
Jake again proved himself in 5th grade as a genuine all rounder scoring 24 runs in a team total of 96 and then backing it up to take 4/24 to get 5th grade over the line in a crucial game. Jake’s consistency across the Green Shield and grade scene this year has been outstanding and is just what we need going into the finals.
Jake during his green Shield Campaign
First grade had another disappointing loss on Saturday. After winning the toss and bowling, Dan Babula and Mickey Visser both bowled very well in the first session consistently beating the bat. Although we only took 1 wicket in the first hour, with a bit of luck we could have had 3 or 4.
Beadle was introduced to the attack and was his consistent self, eventually finishing with 4-68 off 26 overs. Fairfield went along at about 2 an over for the first 30 odd overs, however they took a liking to a couple of our bowlers and ended up scoring 7 declared for 214 off 65 overs. Babula was his economical self finishing with 1-47 off 17 while Visser could consider himself unlucky to have only bowed 6 overs despite having the figures of 0-9.
Our batting didn’t start well and we slumped to 5-52 on a good wicket. Justin Cox and Nick McLachlan batted well to add some degree of credibility to our score and we ended with 142. As with our last game vs Sydney, we just had a few too many guys score 20’s and 30’s without kicking on.
Mitch Pugh and Jarrod Walter opened up and set a solid platform for the run chase getting us to 30 odd before Walter fell for 16. As Aidan “flat” baker had torn his groin during our time in the field (much to his mother’s distr
ess) Walter was forced to stay and be Flat’s runner. These two put on another good partnership before pughy fell for 30odd, bringing Taylor Beatty to the crease.These two again showed their class, and Walter his speed between the wickets, as they steadied the ship and brought us ever closer to the target. At 2-190 with an required rate of 5.5, the game was well and truly in our grasp. When Flat fell for a superb knock of 83, Taylor for a well made 29 and then Sam Webber shortly after, things began to look less certain.
For the next few overs, the game was still well and truly there for the taking, but a lack of application and poor shot selection meant the wickets continued to tumble, and for not the first time this year we were our own worst enemies. In a forgettable end to our innings we crumbled to be all out for Richie’s 222 as we handed fairfield 6 points.
Special credit should go to Aidan for an impressive performance under the most trying of circumstances, and for a full blow-by-blow description feel free to ask him anytime, he’s not too busy. Also to his runner Jarrod Walter who batted for over 30 mins himself before running for another hour.
Jordan
After losing the toss, we were asked to have a bowl first and Luke and Matt started proceedings. After a couple of tight overs, Luke got the first breakthrough after a tickle through to Jimmy Boyer. The next over, Matt (2-12) had our second after a straight forward catch to Ryan. A few balls later he rattled the number 3’s stumps and Fairfield were 3-10. The pressure continued for the next 5 overs without another wicket falling. Captain Craig Little replaced Matt, while Luke continued from the other end. Just before the drinks break, the skipper got his first after a rather adjacent LBW. 4-38! That same over, Craig (2-11) got a second pole thanks to another LBW. Luke then picked up the sixth wicket in his last over, finishing with 2-19 off 10. Sam Gainsford raced through three quality overs replacing LG and picked up a valuable wicket. It was a great piece of thinking and glove work from James to stump the last of Fairfield’s top order batsmen. 3 wickets to go.
Suddenly, a roar went up around Fairfield Oval as Ronnie Davis was handed the ball. The local didn’t disappoint! In his third over he snared his first, another LBW. The next ball, the number ten snicked his first rocked and Ronnie was on a hat trick… again! He was at ‘Waugh’ with his old club, but unfortunately Dean didn’t come out to bat. Ronnie just missed the hat trick but managed to take the last wicket. All out for 60!
Adam and Jarrod went out to start our run chase. Both were good in defence early, working hard on a new ball wicket. Unfortunately Jarrod got a good one early and we were 1-10. Ryan joined Adam at the crease and looked solid before chopping on for 10. We found ourselves 2-20 odd.
Small run chases are always tough after a few early wickets, but Lance and Adam made sure this wasn’t the case. They played faultless innings and worked hard on a very grassy wicket. It was great to see the boys get the job done themselves and not leave it to the next bloke. Both played especially well off the back foot and waited for their ball. With a mixture of solid defence and stroke making we raced past Fairfield’s total for the loss of just two wickets. Lance and Adam ended up on 20 a piece. Another win! 7 points to the good guys after a crucial bonus point victory.
Go Manly!
LG
4th Grade – Manly 7/270 dec ( Boss 73, Cole 57, Trewartha 43, Hamman 26) drew with FFL 6/206 from 63 overs ( W Evans 2/24)
We were sent in on a slightly moist, well rolled wicket that had some life in it for the first 10 overs. The next 110 overs it was very flat, not exactly what we need for a 120 over game. To the curator’s credit though he obviously put in a heap of time during the week to get such a belter. Max was out for a well made 16 to their change bowler with the score on 37 in 12th over. Ross (43) then batted as well as he has for the season and threatened to get a big one before top edging a half tracker. His 43 was made in 10 overs. Rowan (26) batted well but a blow to his thumb caused some discomfort and he threw it away with a C&B. Well batted though early on by these boys, at 3/91 after 22 we were away. Cole (57) and Hole (22) kicked on with another partnership of over 50 before Sam played on to their part time leggie. Arshdeep (13) immediately found the middle but went after one from their med and skyed it, Cole soon after ran himself out for a well made 57. He looked very solid and was just starting to get into the swing of things. Bossy (73, in for 11 overs only) took them down in an exhibition of power hitting, one 6 in particular was enormous, landing on the new practice wickets and bouncing off into the golf course. He hit 4 sixes in a great display of controlled aggression. Evans (14no, including a six of his first ball) stood at the non strikers end, for once not worried about getting the strike. Awesome display from Bossy. We declared sportingly after 57 overs giving them 63 overs.
To Fairfield’s credit they gave it a red hot go for 15 overs. Good on ya boys! Seemingly the early run out, care of Arshdeeps athleticsm and Josh’s skill and the snick garnered by Evans on the stroke of tea to make them 2/64 from 16 was the massive blow Fairfield realised they could not get over and proceeded to show zero interest in the rest of the game despite some encouragement from Manly via attacking fields etc. Bizzare. I understand they may not want to give us the points but to not have a go between overs 20 and 60 with 8 wickets in hand?? maybe an earlier declaration was needed? Say, an 80/40 split? Anyway here’s hoping we play them in the finals. Bossy tried hard but was fraught with no balls to finish with 1/53, Toomey 1/50 and Wilson 0/38 beat the bat plenty of times, Evans 2/24 bowled steadily and at times looked likely to get a few, Virdi and Hole were possibly underbowled to bowl just 6 overs each. Never mind we drop to 3rd. A win v hawksbury will keep us at either 2 or 3, a loss will put us back as far as 6.
Warren Evans
After a quick talk at the lunch break the Manly boys walked out knowing that there was a job to be done and felt very confident that we would come away with a win, we started brilliantly taking 4 quick wickets and looked like rolling through Fairfield. A few missed chanced in the field and some good batting took the game away from us and at drinks saw us in a bit of trouble with the score being 4/74. We struck first over after tea with Will Outred bowling their skipper and we took the game from there, Jake Carden finishing with 4/18 off 9, Jake Graham 1/9 off 8, Will 2/28 off 7, Zach Trewartha 1/14 off 9, Tom Kelly 1/16 off 7 and a brilliant run out from Maso from the boundary bowling them all out for 96.
This puts 5’s in a great position coming in to the last round of the season, now in the top 3.
