Wow, what a thrilling weekend! Thrills & spills all over the place with some great attacking cricket resulting in 3 draws. 1sts let them get too many to snatch a draw, 2nds let them get too many to lose, 3rds were up against one of the worst bits of captaincy in the history of grade cricket when Camden’s courageous capt decided to bat for 84 overs to ensure a draw( well done mate), 4s couldn’t click in any aspects and also had a draw whilst 5s are rounding their season off in style with another loss. We got zero zero CC points – shall we pretend it rained?
4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week – James Boyer – 49no and good keeping
Butch has struggled a bit with the bat this year but he showed what he can do when up against it in 4s this weekend. Coming in at 5/99 chasing 224 he kept us in the game with a great display of grit and fight to finish with 49no. He built some excellent late order partnerships to get us in the game but just as it looked like we might pull of an unexpected win we lost wickets which meant we had to settle for a draw. James’ keeping has come along in leaps & bounds in the past few months and he again put in a solid display, annoying the crap out of the oppsotion batsman and keping energy levels well up. There must be someting in those pre-match triathlons!
1st Grade – Manly 8/231 ( A Croswaithe 54, J Ritchie 54, A Lowe 44no) drew with Campbelltown 280 (L Edgell 4/43, N McLachlan 2/68, M Edwards 2/35)
Shank won the toss and sent the ghosts in on a pitch that was quite soft and looked like it would do a bit. The pitch did exactly that, however we probably didn’t bowl consistently enough to take full advantage. At 3-167 the ghosts were in the box seat to post a large first innings total, however the introduction of Luke Edgell to the attack turned things back our way. Luke bowled with a very simple plan and was able to put the ball where he wanted and build pressure which resulted in some loose shots. He finished with 4-43 and was the pick of the bowlers and Campbelltown finished with 289 off 58 overs.
That left us with 62 overs to chase the total, and we got off to a good start with Crosthwaite (54) and Ritchie (54) putting on 104 for the first wicket. Unfortunately wickets then fell at regular intervals and we were unable to put ourselves in a position to really have a crack at the total. Not wanting to gift Campbelltown 6 points, Lowey and the lower order, in particular Dylan, dug in to see out the day. Lowey in particular showed his class in repelling a quality attack despite their best efforts to put him off his game. It was a patient knock demonstrating his excellent technique and selflessness in putting the team cause before his own desire to score runs.
At the end of the day we finished with 8-231 in what was an interesting day’s cricket. With one more week to go lets make sure we get to training finish the season well.
Jack Ritchie
2nd Grade – Manly 215 (B Smith 47, T Beatty 28no, A Baker 28, L Stewart 26, J Daly 25) lost to CC 6/223 ( S Gainsford 2/68, T Beatty 2/66)
The mighty 2nd’s had a lovely drive out to the jubilant Raby arena to meet a full-strength Campbelltown side. With skipper, Aidan “parrot” Baker, winning the toss and electing to field – the Manly men were confident to whisk through the C-town lineup. Another fierce start from Dave “Go on nelly” Poskitt saw their openers rattled. This was backed up by some impeccable efforts from our very own work horse, Luke “Lionel Mezzi” Mannell who beat the bat without luck on many occassions. Unfortunately the wicket turned out to be as ‘flat’ as our captain himself, so inevitably it was never going to be a walk in the park. Some great toiling by Bakes and Taylor beatty saw the dismissal of Camden’s top order, with Taylor Beatty impressing all with some ferocious bumpers – one of which hit Lukey edgell’s cousin square in the melon. You could say Taylor definetly made an ‘impression’. But in my eyes the stand out bowler was lil sammy G who fought from ball one right to the end – although may not have got the stats he deserved, definitely proved that he is more than capable of competing at this level and beyond. 220 to chase.
Opener Aidan “carrier“ Baker led from the front in tandom with the great man, “leg”lance Stewart who established a solid platform. This was followed by a very mature knock from our very own Benny “bra” Smith who compliled a classy 49. Mitch “Ashley & Martin” Cleary took over the baton playing some explosives shots around the ground, and was backed up by another terrific innings from our ginger ninja, Jordan “John” Daly who has continued to impress all with his prolific timing and interesting off-field chat…
Our lower order wagged well but came as no surprise considering its nucleus was comprised of future first grade batsman; Taylor “phantom” Beatty (28 n.o) and Sammy “woodstock” Gainsford. In the end we fell short of only 6 runs with Nelly being bowled trying to finish the game in style with a Bigg’n.
Personally just wanted to thank all the 2nd grade boys for making this season a really enoyable one – many memories, many friendships and many more to come ….
3rd Grade – Manly 7/108 ( T Kaye 30) drew with CC 9/206 (from only 84 overs !) ( A Virdi 3/55, L Grant 2/22, S Alexander 2/17, M Visser 2/24)
(Not written by a 3rd grader)
Rocking up to Grahame’s we thought we’d be in for a great 120 over affair, both teams going for it to try and make a small move up the table. CC won the toss and had a bat. We bowled tight lines and kept the pressure on thinking we might have a chaseable total if they were going to do the honourable thing and declare at 60 overs. But hey, why would you do that when it’s the 2nd last game of the year and neither side has a chance of the finals. Why don’t you just bat & bat and maybe even create some bad blood?
CC’s intelligent capt thought he would provide a great message to his young team by really showing them how to play tough grade cricket. Bat & bat on a belter to ensure no result and show no confidence in your bowlers. If any of you CC blokes are reading this I hope you are not influenced by your capt in any future cricketing endeavours. If any CC administration is reading this, please re-consider your choice for captains in the future.
Declaring after 84 overs, Manly had a dig but most of the boys were over it and they limped to 7/108, Tom Kaye batting well.
I’ve been around grade cricket for 30 years and have not seen this type of thing before. Anything beyond about 65 overs is a disgrace. But 84 – that’s ridiculous.
4th Grade – Manly 9/206 ( J Boyer 49no, M Cole 38, A Gummer 36, J Trickey 26, B Falconer 22 drew CC 223 ( A Gummer 3/23, S Hole 3/37, J Graham 2/24)
4th grade went into this game optimistically and with lofty ambitions knowing we needed to have an outright to have any chance of making the finals. Upon inspection of the flat, hard pitch and the enormous amount of dew on the outfield I knew it was going to be risky sending them in. We got a good start with Wilson (1/18 off 6) getting an early one. However the bowling from the other end was very erratic and we fed their opener half volleys on his legs which he helped himself to. After 30 mins or 7 overs they were 1/40, the ball was wet, the pitch was a belter, we’re bowling poorly…..we’re in trouble! To our credit we kept at it, never really excelling in any aspect except for Rabbs’ chirping behind the stumps. Sam Hole again proved a handful with his full tosses and other assortments (he actually bowled quite well again) to finish with 3/37 from 10. Gummer bowled some effective finger spinners as well to finish them off with 3/23 from 7. Jacob Graham was the other multiple wicket taker with 2/24 from 5. Our fielding wasn’t bad and they finished with 223 from 60 overs with 9 bowlers used.
Gummer (36) & Cole got us off to a great start losing our first wicket on 64 with Adam given out LBW to what appeared to be a dodgy decision. Hole & Graham did not get amongst them and Evans looked OK after whipping away the hattrick ball for 4. He & Cole started to rebuild but Matthew got an underedge to be bowled for a well made 38. Evans (14) got a bit frustrated and went after the spinner only to miscue and sky it to mid off. Wilson came & went and we were in trouble at 6/109.
Falconer (22) and James Boyer went about rebuilding our innings with patience and the working of ones and twos. We moved to 148 after 50 overs when Ben was out caught trying to up things a bit. James Tricky (26) then came out and showed a lot of power and good timing to get us within striking distance with 28 required from the last 5 overs. James then worked one into the covers for what looked like a well judged run, and it would have been if he had actually run, but the first bit was just a jog and this brought him undone and he was caught short. Jonkers came out and worked a few singles trying to pass the strike to the inform Boyer (49no) who enjoyed the pace from the opening bowler. Will though was dismissed on the boundary and it was up to Sheeds &Butch to see out the last 8 balls which they managed. Special mention to Rabbs who batted with great maturity and hopefully this will set him up with more confidence for the future. He batted without any discomfit against a wily off spinner and ran very well between the wickets.
All up, I’m glad we didn’t lose, the game was played in a good spirit but after hearing about the 3rd grade debacle I was very glad we didn’t hand CC the 6 points.
Wazza
5th Grade – Manly 167 ( Z Trewartha 42, B Wickham 39, R Trewartha 27) lost to CC 6/175( Z Trewartha 2/31)
Batting first Jo Graham was out cheaply, before a 50 run stand between Roscoe and Benny Wickham. After Roscoe was out for 27, and Benny Wickham, for a well made 39, we slumped to 6-88 before No. 7, Zach Trewartha (42 off 45 balls) and No 8 James McClintock (11) put on 30, before Zach and No 9, Andrew Glasscock (19) put on another 50 to see us all out in the 55th over for 167.
Unfortunately the blazing sun sapped whatever juice was in the deck and it turned into a pretty good batting surface. After the obligatory dropped slip catch, Zach (2-31) dismissed their opener, and then Tommy Nickoll and Knighty each claimed a wicket, before a solid partnership took them to within about 30. Tight bowling from Harry Rogers, saw Sac claim a wicket at the other end, before Jake Ellis took his first grade wicket with a nick to slip.
Ummm… yep
Roscoe
