Monday News – Rd 6 vs Fairfield – One Dayer

With day 1 of Round 6 being washed out across all grades last weekend, all grades lined up for 50/50 fixtures against Fairfield. The Manly boys had a mixed day on Saturday, comfortably winning 2s, 3s and 4s, and going down in 1s and 5s. The club is still sitting in 1st spot in the Club Championship!

4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week – Sam Webber
After injuring his finger last round from a McLachlan thunderbolt, 2nd Grade keeper Sam Webber was drafted into 4s to strengthen the batting line-up. For some unknown reason, Burgo decided to chuck Shwebbs the ball for an over or two, resulting in a ridiculous spell of swing bowling that tore-apart the Fairfield line-up. Sammy finished with figures of 5-27, in what is surely his 1st and last grade 5fa. Awesome work Webber!

Outstanding Performances
Adam Gummer – 86* (3rd Grade)
Sam Webber – 5-27 (4th Grade)
Brad Wilson – 4-15 (5th Grade)
Will Outred – 4-34 (5th Grade)


1st Grade Round 6 vs Fairfield
1s unfortunately went down again on Saturday at Rosedale oval. After restricting Fairfield to 6/216 off their 50, Manly struggled in their run-chase despited a 70 run opening stand between Ritchie (41) and Watkins (36). The boys disappointingly were rolled for 160 in the 44th.


2nd Grade Round 6 vs Fairfield
2nd grade had yet another win at Manly oval in their one-day fixture. Batting first, Manly got off to a good start with Bonnor scoring a run-a-ball 31, Mason (Don) with another 40-odd, and B Smith 24. Matty Alexander came in and smoked 26 off 22 with 2 bombs, Marksy hitting 26, and Matty “Flip-Book” Mee batting nicely for 24. The boys were eventually bowled out for 219 in the last over, with McLachlan throwing away what could have been something special. Taking to the field, Matty Mee (3-38) bowled an awesome spell of heat, and debutant Mickey Edwards picked up 2-23, introducing a new method of appealing. Marshall bowled well to grab 2-28 off his 10, and McLachlan bowled 10 straight to finish with 1-29 off 10. Manly eventually rolled the visitors for 181 in the 48th, continuing their winning form!


3rd Grade Round 6 vs Fairfield
The main grade continued their undefeated form against Fairfield on the weekend, with a very inexperienced side stepping up to the plate and performing brilliantly. Turning up to Fairfield oval with the sun shining, the boys had a good warm-up, with newbies S Alexander, Grant and Virdi learning the mesmerising ways of the main grade.

Genie lost the toss and we were surprisingly sent in on what was an absolute road, with the stellar opening combo of Gummer and Pughy getting the boys off to a solid start. Pughy yet again impressed all with his classy off-side masterclass of timing and finesse, before shnicking off for a well-made 36 with the score on 68. The next period saw Farifeld pull us back a bit, with the skipper and the offie bowling and building up a bit of pressure. It became clear that the outfield was ridiculously slow, needing to hit the ball aerial to reach the boundary. Eddie held out to the man at long-on for 9, and Deano and Gummer continued to tick things over until Mr Rockley was caught in front for 15.

With a steady platform made, the Skipper came in and showed great intent to pick up the run-rate and push the boys towards the 200 mark with a few short-arm jab maximums. We went at around 7 an over for the last 15 overs, largely helped by Gummer being dropped 27 times at deep-mid wicket. With Genie being caught on the fence on the second-last-ball of the innings, and Tommy Kaye then coming in for the last ball to entice some much appreciated O-T’s, we finished on 4-222, with Gummer finishing on a fatigued and lackadaisical 86*.

Taking to the field, the boys knew we needed big efforts with the ball and in the field to restrict the opposition batsman, and that’s exactly what we produced. Reecie and Genie opened up well, keeping the run-rate to under 2-an-over. Debutant Ash-Deeep then out-smarted the batsmen to pick up 2 quick wickets, including a parallel caught and bowled. LG then picked up another 2 C&Bs, leaving the home-side reeling at 5-75 odd of 30 overs.  Club favourite and Main-grade debutant Sam “Seth Rogen” Alexander then came on to continue his beautiful form, picking up 3-40 off his 10 in what was a classy spell of bowling. Jonah Hill’s celebrations after taking each of his wickets were also memorable, as he was unable to contain his excitement and looked like he was trying to fly back to Bali. Pughy also displayed some fine death bowling, showing us all he can bowl 6-yorkers in a row, and Reecie then came back on to burgle the last two poles and dismiss Fairfield for 152 in the 47th.

Overall, it was another great performance from what was one of the youngest/most inexperienced 3rd grade sides Manly has fielded in some time, and we left Fairfield Oval with yet another 6 points to make it 6 from 6. Well worth a Vodka Red-Bull or two at the Hoe aye Skipper!

Gumms


4th Grade Round 6 vs Fairfield
4s had another great win on Saturday, with multiple guys putting their hands up and showing that the side knows how to win games of cricket. Bowling first, Manly dismissed Fairfield for 190 in the last over at Grahams, with the star of the show Sam Webber snaring 5-27! In reply, Manly were in a bit of trouble despite having a team full of batsmen, but skipper Maxy kept his golden spell of form going with a classy 48. Daly (36) and Graham (48*) both put their hand up to guide the boys home, passing the total in the 47th over with 4 wickets in hand.


5th Grade Round 6 vs Fairfield
5th Grade took to the field against Fairfield with possibly the youngest side in Manly history. What followed was all quality work. Brad “Happy Feet” Wilson had a debut to remember with a wicket from his first ball in grade. Brad moved the ball around all over the place in 2 pacey spells, to finish with 4-15. All the other bowlers were also on the money, eventually knocking them over for 126 in the last over. Will Outred was the pick of the rest, taking 4-34, also on debut. The fielding was outstanding, especially from Zac Trewartha, who hit the top of the stumps all day from the boundary. So, you would think that we should get home easy, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Regular wickets fell through the top order and we could never quite get away. The Fairfield bowling was tight but not lethal and it only really needed 1 innings of note to see the Tah’s home. That innings never came as promising starts turned into soft dismissals. Matt Cole played well for his 22 and could have been the man, with the same applying to all the other batsmen. 6 for 95, 7 for 96 and 8 for 97 put all the pressure back on us and we never recovered, eventually being bowled out for 118 in the 41st over. Brad completed a great day out, being 10 not out.

Not the end of the world, but it sure felt like it at the time. Lessons to be learnt and stored away for future similar moments. 5th Grade will be back next week more determined than ever.