Saturday’s contest against Sydney Uni turned out to be another solid round for the Waratahs, with 1s, 3s and 5s all grabbing the 6 points. This is a commendable effort from all of the boys, as Sydney Uni are renowned as one of the strongest clubs in the competition. At the completion of Round 2, we’re sitting on top of the Club Championship ladder, with 1s, 2s, 3s & 5s all in the top 6!
4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week – Andrew Lindsay
Andrew “Billy” Lindsay slotted straight back into 1st Grade on the weekend, bowling Manly to victory with figures of 5-58. The big unit picked up some prize Syndey Uni scalps in his 22 overs, in what was an outstanding spell of pace-bowling. He’s already sitting on 9 wickets after Round 2, so it could turn out be another massive season for Bill.
Outstanding Performances
Andrew Lindsay – 5-58 (1st Grade)
Mitch Coombs – 4-28 (1st Grade)
Nick Watkins – 68* (1st Grade)
Joel Mason – 70 (2nd Grade)
Lance Stewart – 74 (3rd Grade)
Billy Darcy – 61 (5th Grade)
Sam Alexander – 5-50 (5th Grade)
1st Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 2)
Players and officials arrived at Manly Oval to a very waterlogged oval due to heavy overnight rain.
Due to a lot of hard work from the ground staff and the Manly Coach the ground was eventually ready for play following a delay of 45 minutes.
Sydney University resumed from day 1 at 0/22. Manly opened its attack with Andrew Lindsay and Ben Martin. In Andrew Lindsay’s 5th over of the morning he made the initial breakthrough when he captured the wicket of the Uni captain Greg Mail who was bowled for l8 runs, the score then being 1/55.
The next 3 overs from Andrew Lindsay were absolute ‘gems’. In the space of 10 deliveries he captured the further 2 wickets of Scott Henry and Nick Larkin and with great support from Corrie Boss who dismissed Ian Moran had Uni 4/58.
Beau Casson and Mark Faraday provided resistance for 6 overs before Andrew Lindsay got one through Casson’s defence when he was bowled for 5 to now have Uni at 5/69 from the 19 overs of today’s play.
Mark Faraday and the Uni keeper James Crowley survived the onslaught and some close calls for the next 6 overs to go to lunch at 5/96.
Shortly after resuming Andrew Lindsay captured his 5th wicket when Mark Faraday was out LBW for 23 with Uni now 6/98. Andrew who had bowled his ‘guts’ out all day was given a break following his 22nd over at which time had the figures of 5/58. He was replaced at the Northern end by Mitch Coombs and was rewarded in his 4th over when he captured the 7th and 8th wickets within 3 balls to now have Uni at 8/135.
Following the loss of the 9th wicket Uni required a further 60 runs for victory . The last two batsmen played some attacking shots before Mitch Coombs gained his 4th wicket when he bowled the No 11 batter, resulting in Uni being dismissed for 169, giving Manly a first innings lead of 35 runs.
Special praise must go to the Manly bowlers for their enthusiastic display and to the fieldsmen for their great support.
Following the ‘Tea’ break Manly commenced their second innings with 45 overs available in the day.
Jack Ritchie and Nick Watkins got off to a great start before Jack was dismissed for 36 runs in an opening partnership of 85. Nick was joined at the crease by captain Tim Cruickshank and together they showed no mercy in despatching the Uni spinners to all parts of the ground. Eventually the game concluded after a Nick Watkins ‘bomb’ finished up on Belgrave Street via Court 3 of the tennis courts and the ball could not be found. Nick remained 68 not out from 89 balls and hit 3/6 and 10/4 in his 103 minutes at the wicket.
A great win against a high quality side who were last season’s premiers.
Well done to the main grade – bring on Sutherland next week!
The Observer
2nd Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 2)
Day 2 came upon us with the thoughts of victory firmly in our mind, Mason and Test Match Alexander at the crease overnight. Warm up was, unlike last week, uneventful, with touch football definitely not played. BP also managed to keep all balls where they should be during warm up which would have been a relief to him.
Pitch was much the same as last week, fairly green, but hard and overall a good cricket wicket. The boys started off well, moving comfortably from the overnight score of 108 to 123 before Mason became the first wicket of the day, playing on for 70. From there, the end was quick, with the last 4 wickets being lost for 13 runs, and the Manly boy’s ended up 36 short of the Students. Sydney Uni started the 2nd dig well, putting on 59 for the first wicket, although not going at any great pace, save for some wayward bowling. However, when Visser took the first wicket, the Manly boys started to get back on-top. Regular wickets began to fall, with all bowlers contributing, Visser, Doochman and Badyari all especially bowling well. The Students then declared their innings closed 9 down and 201 in front, which was a little bemusing as, despite a few big hits from their number 3 Theobald, never really looked like setting a total. But obviously we were wrong, and the chase was on.
Being us we were always going to give it a crack, and we started well. Mason got us off to a good start, clicking up 100 runs for the game before being caught on the boundary, but Hill, Walter and Badyari all continued the onslaught, going at about 7 an over. However, after losing a few crucial wickets, ultimately the challenge was too much, and we finished 7 for 159 from the 25 overs, Alexander providing some fireworks in the last over, hitting 18 runs despite orders from the captain to dot them up.
End of the day, Uni are a very strong side and were a little too good on the day, but if a few things went our way we could have come out on top. Our bowling and fielding was good, but our first week batting from the top order ultimately led to our downfall, and needs to improve when we tackle Sutherland next week at Atmosphere Park.
Maso
3rd Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 2)
Rocking up to the Fortress, formally known as LM Grahams Reserve, the Manly Boys were keen to back up our efforts from Day 1 and secure the 6 points against the Students. The top 5 continued their glorious form in the warm-up (4 from 4), combining discipline and creativity to once again deny the bottom six even a sniff of victory.
In the cricket, the Tahs resumed at 3-34 in our pursuit of 97, with the ball doing a bit early due to the copious amounts of perspiration on the wicket. Genie and Shaggas got us of to a confident start, before the latter offered a return catch to the opener from the far end. Pughy then joined the skipper at the crease, and the pair immediately set about taking the attack to the opposition, with boundaries flowing to all areas of the ground. Spughy in particular was a picture of class and timing, with some of his strokes through the covers leaving everyone in awe. Unfortunately, Craig and Mitch both departed in relatively quick succession, reigniting Uni’s hopes of an upset. Digits and Deano had other ideas however, as they solidly negotiated the remainder of the deficit to secure the 6 points for the good guys. Batting on, the pair began to dismantle the opposition attack as the deck began to flatten out, with Lance finding the boundary at will. Digits promptly brought up his half-century (with the help of 2 x 5 O.T’s!), and Deano continued his rock-solid resolve to provide a fromidable partner for the ever-penetrating Digits. Lance eventually departed for a fine 74, in what was hopefully a break-through innings for the big man. The rest of the tail folded relatively easily shortly after the tea-interval, and we finished on 194 off 57 overs.
Taking to the field with 39 overs left in the day, we were hoping for some early-inroads in search of an outright. Reecey picked up an early pole, but the combination of some wayward bowling and an increasingly flat deck meant that Uni found it fairly easy goings for the rest of the afternoon. Special mention to Lancey, Pughy and Shaggas, whose spells near the end of the day emphasised the importance of bowling good, consistent areas on flat pitches. Uni finished on 4-189, but Manly took the victory, making it 2 from 2. Bring on the Shire next week!
Gums
4th Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 2)
1st Innings – Manly 120, Sydney Uni 5-191 (dec)
2nd Innings – Manly 4-72
5th Grade Round 2 vs Sydney Uni (Day 2)
The Premiership Grade turned up to a wet MPO on day 2, with a possible 120 overs in the day to play. Lots of super sopper work on the outfield meant we were able to get things started at 11.45, giving a maximum of 100 overs to decide the contest.
Losing the toss and being sent in, the Manly top order set a solid platform for the Tah’s. Billy Darcy (61) continued on from a fine debut last week and combined with new boy Rowley Alexander (44) to put on close to 100 for the second wicket. Stu Wiblin, Liam Tully and Jacob Graham missed out this week, but their time for runs will come soon. Billy was particularly impressive off his pads, timing the ball through the on side numerous times. At tea we were in a strong position for a declaration, needing some quick runs. Cody “no words” Bruce (31no) and Matt Cole (21no) did just that, plundering the pedestrian Uni attack all around the park after one of the best spreads seen for many years at a cricket game (I later found out that we used a few plates of the Warringah boys teas. Ooops, but those prawn sambos were certainly tasty). A sporting declaration was made ahead of schedule, leaving the students 187 to make off 43 overs. I was backing the Manly bowling attack and fielding to bring home the 6 points.
A run out of the Uni captain in the first over for a diamond duck was the perfect start to our effort in the field. Smart work by SA and Stu ensured a certain demotion next week for the opener who called him through. Cam MT (2 – 34) then broke through, trapping the opener in front to send them 2 down after 10 overs. They were still up with the run rate but I could feel more pressure building through the superb fielding that the boys were putting on.
Sam “Therman” Alexander (5 – 50) was swung into the attack from the pavilion end and bowled unchanged till the end of the match. Once again SA was the standout bowler with a mixture of well flighted deliveries and arm balls. A couple of Uni batsmen got in and looked dangerous, but a constant flow of wickets, had Manly as favourites for long periods. Jacob Graham (1 – 15) and Matt Cole (1 – 19) bowled good spells from the other end to pick up vital poles. James Crombie on debut was outstanding in the field with 2 sharp catches and an unlucky spell of 4 overs which saw a couple of chances go down. Cody (2 catches) Stu behind the stumps and Liam were simply superb in the field all afternoon. All the hard yards at training are paying off for the Premiership Grade. In the end it was SA who cleaned up the tail with only a couple of overs left, to give the Tah’s a memorable victory. Special thanks to Rowley who filled in at late notice and showed his class and experience all afternoon.
Dave
