Monday News – Rd 2 vs Syd Uni – Day 1

The Manly boys had a mixed start to Round 2 on Saturday, with 2s and 3s in commanding positions, and 1s and 4s both needing some strong performances next week to gain victory. 5th grade didn’t get on due to the umpires declaring the ground unfit for play.

Outstanding Performances
Cameron Merchant – 92 (1st Grade)
Matt Mee – 6-66 (2nd Grade)
Joel Mason – 60* (2nd Grade)
Craig Little – 4-16 off 11 (3rd Grade)


1st Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 1)

Sydney University captained by Greg Mail won the toss and sent Manly into bat.

Manly got off to a bad start when Jack Ritchie was caught by the Captain at first slip in the second over  for 1 with the score on 2.

Nick Watkins and Captain Tim Cruickshank then batted very  patiently and had put together a second wicket partnership of 53 runs before Nick was caught in the slips for 26.

Captain Tim was then joined at the crease by Cameron Merchant who was immediately under pressure as evidenced by a number of very vocal appeals by the Uni contingent. ‘Napper’ gradually found his rhythm and with great footwork and application compiled a delightful 92 runs (177m 146b 10/4 1/6)  and was dismissed late in the afternoon at 4.50pm by the Uni Captain when he was well in sight of his 7^th century for the club.

The Cruickshank/Merchant third wicket partnership yielded 57 runs and when Tim was caught in the slips for 44 runs (134m 91b 4/4) Manly had progressed to 3/112 in the 37^th over.  A disappointing end as both batsmen were well in control despite the variable bounce in the wicket.

Luke Edgell batted patiently for his 15 runs before being caught behind by the keeper and with Cameron Merchant put together a 4th wicket partnership of 66 runs.  The loss of  Luke’s wicket saw Manly now at 4/178. Unfortunately Mitch Cleary was dismissed 4 overs later and Manly went to the tea break, with steady rain now falling, at 5/192.

Play resumed at 4.33pm following a rain delay of 92minutes.

Manly were immediately under pressure with the dismissal of Scott Patterson  from the first ball following the break.

Thereafter the Uni bowlers were able to move the ball around quite noticeably and led by Mail dismissed  the Manly lower order within the next eight overs for 204. This was a disappointing result as Manly were 3/178 at the commencement of the 59^th over and then lost 7/26 within the next 15 overs.

With 20 overs left in the day’s play the Uni openers had put on 22 runs without loss when bad light and rain caused the abandonment of play in the 8^th over at 5.47pm.

The Observer


2nd Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 1)

With a few changes due to injury and work, the new main grade rocked up to Sydney Uni no.2 looking to continue their great start to the season with the Doochman at the helm. Touch footy was one of the best seen, although a little deflating with scores left at 2 all at full time…. referee Brett “Bill Harrigan” Penprase calling proceedings off when both teams were starting to flow. Little did we know he called it off just so he could get a bullet Matt Alexander return right where it hurts, which wasn’t pretty, but particularly funny.

Losing the toss and bowling, Matty Mee started us off well with a wicket off a waist high full toss hitting top of leg, but some good batting and wayward bowling saw the score reach 50 without the loss of another wicket. However, on 67 another wicket from Mee from his slower ball brought the Manly boys back to life, with continual wickets following leaving Uni at 6-116. Nick McLachlan bowling well and tight without luck, but it was Mee, with the help of the fieldsman keeping it nice and tight in the ring for Mee, who continued to do the damage. Visser bowling tightly without allot of luck to pick up a good wicket, and Marshall picked up 2 important poles at the end to wrap up the innings for 171. Mee ended up with 6-66, a little expensive but at times too good for the batsman. Probably 20 more than they should have got, but a good result on a green but good batting wicket.

So with half the day left to play, Manly walked to the crease. Marks and Walter went early, both losing their bails, and Nat “Dulwich” Hill survived the hat-trick ball, but only just. Mason and Hill then went about rebuilding the innings, putting on 40 for the 3^rd wicket with some sparkling boundaries before “Rowse” Hill got fired in front for 25. The Manly boys then proceeded to lose continual wickets throughout the rest of the day, mainly missing straight ones when all was needed was a big stride and a straight bat. Mason continued fighting at the other end however, helping himself to 60no before rain stopped the days play, Matty Alexander with him at the time, and 108 on the board.

So with 4 wickets in hand and 62 to get for victory, there is still allot of work to do. It is a closely fought contest, with both teams still within a sniff of victory, but more fight needs to be shown by the batsmen in week 2 to get up over the Uni boys. No doubt this will be done.


3rd Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 1)

The main grade turned up to atmosphere park to a moist square with plenty of water left on the surface of the covers however the pitch was dry, so played was delayed for an hour until the run ups were deemed playable. The warm started as usual with a game of touch footy but came to an abrupt end when digits flattened eddie on the 5th tackle attempting a cross field kick. The top 5 took out the game, leading the series 3-0 after 3 weeks however the bottom 6 were much improved with footy nuts Hodgy and Pughy back in the side and with nicos back up in 2’s.

Play got underway with Mickey and Hodgy taking the new ball, with reece getting the first wicket and putting the students straight on the back foot. The second nearly came quickly when their number 3 snicked one behind however was given not out by the umpire. But we didn’t have to wait long after the batsmen hit a return catch to mickey the very next ball, taking it around his boot laces, nearly tearing a hamstring in the process. Reece and mickey got the two next wickets both the catches hit to digits, adding some vital team pursuit points. Then genie came on from the southern end and set the benchmark for line and length bowling, with a healthy green patch to assist him the batsmen were always adjusting to the up and down bounce. Genie picked up 3 wickets, bowling straight lines taking his wickets from hitting the stumps and pads, including a well judged leave from the batsmen sending the off stump spinning. Digits was offering good support at the other end bowling good lines but was unable to penetrate and finished wicketless at 0/20 before the rain came in and the boys quickly got the covers on and tea was taken to minimise the time lost. Tea was at good standard with gummer again setting the bar with his baking masterclass continuing into round 2 with brownies being the order of the day. Word is gummer has been putting in some good hours in the kitchen and the main grade is reaping the rewards at tea time. Play was continued after losing 14 overs due to the weather and the students were reeling at 7/72 but the manly boys new the job was not yet done and after the opposition got away from us last week the lads were keen to not let it happen again.

The tahs got the chat going early led by the young boys behind the stumps and wickets continued to fall, genie and reece picking up one more each finishing with 4/16 and 3/31 respectively and both leading the way from the bowling crease. Deano was brought on from the northern end to try and get the left handed number 11 but as it happens deano bowled the right hander round his legs and the students finished all out 97.


The boys put in a great bowling performance and an improved fielding standard from last week really restricted the batsmen and tied them down, producing regular wickets. Special mentions go to deano ‘the mudcrab’ who earned his nickname after squelching around on the muddy square, often sideways, also to the debutant Taylor ‘swifty’ Beatie who bouncing around all day keeping the chat going.

With 15 overs left in the day the batsmen knew they had a job to do and with a new opening pair, the rangas, Gummer and Shaggy got us off to a good start taking quick singles and putting the pressure straight on the bowling. Gummer was the first wicket to fall for not many and Jimmy boyer replaced him starting positively with some positive drives through the covers and some aggressive running with shaggy resulting in OT’s getting off the mark for the year. Jimmy then got trapped in front and went after a big shout from the uni boys and Eddie then joined shaggy in the middle and started well with some good stroke play keeping the board ticking over. The last ball of the day saw eddie got hit on the thigh and it went through to the keeper and was given out, everyone originally thinking it was a shocker of an lbw decision until the umpire confirmed the caught behind. Genie then let the umpire know what he thought about it without using any expletives, a new first for genie. This big call on the last ball leaves us at 3/35 and in a tough grind for the 6 points. Go manly!

Digits


4th Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 1)

We turned up to St. Paul’s after a week that saw many changes to the team, but these changes provided the opportunity for some youngsters to begin to understand what grade cricket is about. Losing the toss, we were sent into bat on a deck that was quite unusual leaving us unsure about how to go about our innings.

Lady Luck was not on our side early losing our first two wickets in unlucky circumstances, leaving us 2 for 47 just after drinks with Jarrord Rawlings making 23. Sam Hole showed further progression to his game, being promoted into 3 for this round he showed that he is more than capable in this position. Unfortunately he fell in a similar manner to how he did in round one just as he was building a good innings. After the loss of Tom Kaye we found ourselves at 3 for 61 in the 32nd over. From then on we lost 7 for 59, with Louie Anderson showing some resistance with 35, picking his ball to hit out of the park and punching it around the field and getting the casual single. We ended up with 120 from our 60 overs.

Having 18 overs left in the days play we set out to defend our total with Arshdeep and debutant Will Jonkers bowling a very controlled and patient opening spell. Unfortunately we were unable to get a cheeky decision to go our way, with rain stopping play after 8.4 overs with Uni 0 for 13.


5th Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 1)

No play Day 1 due to rain.