Monday News – Rd 15 vs Randwick-Petersham – Day 2

With the rain again severely affecting Sydney Grade cricket over the weekend, we were lucky to get both home games on the field on Saturday, while unfortunately, 1st, 3rd and 5th grades were all washed out at Coogee, Petersham and Kensington. That just made the great wins by 2nd grade at Manly and 4th grade at Grahams all the more important…. and what great wins they were. An Aidan Baker lead 2nd grade side demolished RP’s, while some great performances in the field from Sam Gainsford and Michael Lindsay helped the 4th grade side fight back brilliantly to steal a tight win. 2 wins from 2 starts was not a bad result.

So with one round to play against Mosman, the top 4 grades are in the top 6, with 2’s, 3’s and 4’s guaranteed spots. 1st grade, currently in 5th position, needs a victory to ensure it’s position and could finish as high as 4th, while 5th grade is 5 points from 6th place and therefore needs a win and results to go their way. The 48 club championship points from Saturday means that we go into the last round leading by 40 points from Sydney University. With 140 points available (including bonus points) in the final One Dayer, anything can still happen.

4 Pines Brewery Player of the Round – Aidan Baker
We weren’t going to give it to Aidan “Flat” Baker this week just because it isFlat, however his performance with both bat and ball was too good to refuse, despite a great performance from Ross Trewartha with 156* in wek 1.Flat scored a flowing 61 in the first week before bowling 23 overs straight on Saturday to claim career high figures of 8 for 77. It was a great display of swing bowling, showing that Flat is one of only a few players capable of scoring hundreds and taking 5 wicket hauls. Well done Aidan.


Outstanding Performances
Aidan Baker – 61 and 8/77 (2nd Grade)
Ryan Bonnor – 56 (2nd Grade)
Joel Mason – 49* (3rd Grade)
Sam Gainsford – 4/26 (4th Grade)
Ross Trewartha – 156* (5th Grade)


1st Grade – Manly 3/80 (S O’Keefe 27, T Cruickshank 25*) drew with Randwick Petersham 232 (S O’Keefe 3/60, N McLachlan 2/30).
No play on day 2 due to rain.


2nd Grade – Manly 307 (A Baker 61, R Bonner 56, G Marks 45, A Lindsay 37, M Mee 35) defeated Randwick Petersham 153 (A Baker 8/77)
Despite a very wet week and a dismal looking Saturday, 2s turned up to Manly Oval with a strong resolve to pick up 10 wickets and the 6 points. With some super-sopping done and the covers off, it was clear that the deck and outfield were in good condition, and the only problem area was the practice wickets which were accordingly roped off.

So the boys took to the field after a short delay, with Bakerand Lindsay opening up well in some quality bowling conditions. Flat proceeded to take wickets at consistent intervals and the Randwick batsmen were never allowed to get set. Flat was simply unplayable on the day, producing an awesome spell of swing and seam school zone bowling prior to lunch. Going into the lunch break a bit early due to rain, RPs were 7-70 odd, with Flappyalready sitting on figures of 6-30, Mattoes snaring 1 and Gummer taking 3 catches.

Flat and Mitch Coombs continued after the break and the opposition captain and his partner decided to take the attack back to us, with a few big shots evading the fieldsmen and finding the boundary. Their efforts were in vein however as Bakes eventually removed them both, and Billy came on after bowling without luck all day to shnick the number 11 off. It completed a comprehensive victory by 154 runs, with man of the match clearly going to Flat for 8-77 off 23 overs straight and 61 with the bat on day 1. Great work boys, looking forward to retaining the number 1 spot in next weeks final round clash with Mosman.


3rd Grade – Manly 2/68 (J Mason 49*) drew with Randwick Petersham 113 (M Visser 3/18, T Beatty 2/29, C Little 2/30)
No play on day 2 due to rain.


4th Grade – Manly 197 (L Grant 41*, M Edwards 32) defeated Randwick Petersham 178 (S Gainsford 4/26, M Lindsay 3/56)
Defending a respectable but below par 197, the boys turned up on Saturday to find that Graham’s had held up surprisingly well to the weeks weather battering, and there was only a short delay before we got on the field. Starting the day at 0 for 15, Randy Petes looked to get on with it from the start with strokes being flayed around the park, especially to third man, in a 1st wicket stand of 96 runs. Things weren’t looking good for the boys at this stage, but as is so oftne the case, one wicket brings many, Mickey Lindsay taking a quick 3 wickets to see the game evenly poised at 4/119. A good partnership followed until 2 wickets to Sammy Gainsford, including a Mickey Lindsay screamer at first slip, saw the game turn to the Tah’s at 6/147. One more wicket saw 3 wickets required with 30 runs needed, anyone’s game. Ram from Randy Pets was batting well and he was the key wicket, which all the boys knew. Enter Sam Gainsford. He got a wicket with a beauty of an arm ball, and then had Ram superbly stumped by Jimmy Boyer. At 9 down we were confident of victory, and a great catch in the gully to Micky Lindsay off Luke Grants bowling secured the game for the good guys. Both 4th grade and 2nd grade entered the change rooms to sing the song and celebrate a great come from behind victory.

Go Manly.


5th Grade – Manly 276 (R Trewartha 156*, B Wilson 35) drew with Randwick Petersham 0/6
No play on day 2 due to rain.