Monday News – Rd 7 v Randwick-Petersham – One Dayer + PGs v Sydney – One Dayer

Randwick Petersham were travelling below us on the CC table so we went in to the weekend with confidence that we could string a good set against them to give us a boost in the lead up to Xmas. We got away with just 1sts and 2nds with 3s giving it a shot but not scoring enough, 4s bowling and fielding like champions but batting very poorly and 5s not quite able to get to the 214 target. 1sts, on the back of Crosthwaite slamming 137 scored a formidable 317 and then, with all bowlers chipping in but AB stealing the show with 5/11, rolled them easily for 135 to get a bonus point. 2nds are starting to progress very nicely and are starting to resemble the GF outfit from last year. With PGs finally getting home in a tight one it was a solid weekend but not enough to go anywhere on the CC table, leaving Manly meandering in 13th place.

4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week – Ahillen Beadle

  A difficult choice this week….Crossy backing up from last week to smash 137, Mickey Edwards sticking it up the selectors with  5/19 in 2nds, Lowey steering 2s home then backing up in PGs but I’ve gone with a bowler this week, a finger spinner at that. AB bowled beautifully to rip the heart out of Randy Petes with 5/11 from 10 overs. It may have been someone else to get the award if it was the last 5 wickets in a team that had no chance but AB took out # 2, 4, 6, 7 and 9 to completely dominate. He had the ball on string and it’s his best 1st grade figures to date. AB‘s been quietly going about his business to have 22 poles up already this season. It won’t surprise anyone if his 20’s start becoming something bigger now as well. Well done mate, Sammy Alexander would love to chat with you about this exotic art.

1st Grade – Manly 5/317 (A Crosthwaite 137, C Merchant 57no, T Cruickshank 44, J Ritchie 36) beat Randwick Petersham 135 ( A Beadle 5/11, B Martin 2/30, L Edgell 2/33)

Firsts bounced back in emphatic style after the last few weeks of disappointment with a massive win against Randwick Petersham. Shank won the toss and batted on an interesting wicket that had a fair bit of grass but also a few bare patches.

Most of the batsmen made a few runs whilst batting around Adam Crosthwaite who made an excellent 130 odd. Crossy really showed his class in pacing his innings, taking his time getting in against the new ball before going on the attack in the middle overs. In fact, he was dismissed before the 40 over mark and would have gone very close to getting a double if he batted the 50! Still, it was a tremendous knock which set up our 320 total. Cameron Merchant also batted very well in finishing off the innings with an unbeaten 50 odd.

Benny Martin kicked things off well with the ball dismissing Randy-Petes two 2^nd XI players before the score reached 30. This put Randy-Petes on the back foot and they never really recovered. All the bowlers bowled well as we dismissed them for 135. Dylan Marshall in only his second first grade game bowled well taking 0-33 off 10 tight over’s (unlucky not to pick up a wicket!). The star of the bowling was without doubt AB however who took an amazing 5-11 off 10 overs! This was AB’s best bowling return in his first grade career. On a wicket that was offering a bit of turn, he rendered the batsmen shot-less with his changes of pace and varying degrees of spin. It was a quality bowling performance and one that bodes well for us with 2 more 50 over games coming up before Christmas.

As a team, it was great to see the way we bounced back after last weeks embarrassment. We showed character to turn things around, and with continued application at training hopefully there will be a couple of more wins for us before the Christmas break.

Jack Ritchie

2nd Grade – Manly 6/202 ( A Lowe 78no, J Badyari 35, M Pugh 35) beat RP 9/201 (M Edwards 5/19) 

The 2s boys turned up to Coogee looking to continue the previous weeks form, as well as play some good cricket. Skipper Skid lost the toss and we saw ourselves having a bowl on what looked to be a good batting deck. With Coogee offering extremely below par off field distractions to what the Manly boys are used to, it was a good chance to focus and take a few early poles.

 Matty Alexander quickly put us on top with a well-planned wicket off the first ball of the innings, by dropping one short down leg and tickling the glove. The main destroyer with the ball was the Praying Mantas himself, Mickey Edwards. The rare unit bowled quick, but more importantly, smart, finishing with a well-deserved 5 for 19 off 10. For a bloke who battles to eat cereal on the couch, he can seriously bowl.

 A solid effort in the field and some quality captaincy by the Pantsman saw Manly needing 201 to win, a total that was certainly not impossible.

 Pughy and Wato eventually made it to the middle after the break and looked to be very positive, until Wato shouldered arms. With the usual number 3 batsman suffering from ‘Byron Belly’, Javed Badyari joined Mitchell ‘Seat’ Pugh. These 2 blokes are seriously talented and made it look easy, until Pughy was uncharacteristically out in the 30’s. A few little partnerships formed after this with Jav making 35, Digits 16 and Taylor 12. After finally realising the sight-screen was on the wrong side, Lowe (78*) managed to damage a few vehicles and guide the good guys home with a few balls to spare.

 A champion team is better than a team of champions any day of the week, and this 2^nd grade team is coming into Xmas very strong. Looking forward to having Flat back and winning a lot more games!



ALowe

3rd Grade – Manly 9/175 ( J Rawlings 30, S Gainsford 28) lost to RP 4/176 (C Little 2/37)


We started the day with Genie winning the toss and electing to bat on a different looking grahams deck. Jarrod and Sam Hole opened the batting for us and with some tight bowling randwick had us on the back foot early and in result of that we had lost 2 early wickets. With jordan and jarrod remaining out there to steady the innings. Jordan played well for his 23 but then was dismissed and in the next over jarrod followed for another 30 which left Genie and Sammy Webber in the middle to up the run rate and in trying to Sammy Webber hit a firm ball and a very good catch was taken and Genie was victim to a horrible LBW decsion. we needed runs with overs running out and the bottom order did a great job with Sammy G batting well and jacob hitting a great 6 but a special mention to ash for his 21 not out got us to a respectable 175.

We knew we needed a great start to get us in the game and Genie and Ron delivered and with Genie clean bowling the Randwick opener we were on the front foot early. The number 3 showed us he only knew how to play on the legside and in doing so really got on top off us and with Wilson bowling 5 dot balls then getting hit for a 4 off the last ball 2 overs in a row really took the pressure off. Sammy G backed up his batting with a great spell off bowling and was rewarded with a wicket. 

At the 1st drinks break we talked about bowling to one side of the wicket but with that four ball coming most overs really took the pressure off and our heads dropped which lead to mistakes in the field and the intensity dropping off. We were still in with a chance with 15 overs to go but after a few lucky boundaries our heads dropped and we never recovered.

Big efforts at training this week is needed for us to comeback and show that we are contenders this year in 3rd grade

Brad

4th Grade – Manly 76 ( R Farrel 24) lost to RP 98 ( S Alexander 4/13, R Farrel 3/19, B Falconer 2/17) 

Turning up to Petersham Oval, the fourth grade boys were keen to keep their newly found momentum going into the Christmas break. Losing the toss on a pretty good deck, Manly were asked to bowl first. LG and Sheeds opened the bowling and were consistent with not much luck. LG must have passed the bat 5 times in his first couple of overs. This being said, the run rate wasn’t high and the score was 0-30 after 11 overs.

Benny Falconer and Wazza bowled first change and really started the collapse for us with Waz picking up a sneaky LBW in his first over and Falcs from the other end managed to snare their captain; bowled leg stump. The two boys continued to do a great job for us, with Benny grabbing his second wicket after a  catch from Josh Sheedy which was never in doubt! 3-40 odd. Enter the spin kings. Sam Alexander and Ryan Farrell came on in tandem after the drinks break and bowled beautifully from the start of their respective spells. Faz had fantastic control after a few weeks away and finished with three wickets hardly bowling a bad ball all day. Catching was also impressive with Falcs and Viss taking good snares off his bowling. From the other end S. Alexander was superb. He’s been very unlucky this year bowling much better than his figures suggest but today was his day. He demolished the middle order and showed his wicket taking class. He finished with 4-13 of the best part of 9 overs… not bad for a bloke who “doesn’t take wickets”. It’s fair to say that both Faz and Thurman had the Randy Pete’s dressing room in a spin. But we all know how quickly a game can turn. RP were bowled out for 98 after we took 10 wickets for 60 runs.

Trying out a new opening partnership, the innings didn’t get off to the greatest start with Tommy Sky nicking one early, which you can expect with the new ball. Vis and Ryan steadied the ship and the score moved to 1-24. Things were looking good. Unfortunately that was the end of our positives. Vis played a loose stroke and was cleaned up and Liam was trapped LBW. After Butch was fired (LBW shouldering arms) for the THOUSANTH time this year we were 3-30. Faz continued to work hard for his runs at the other end playing a couple of great cover drives before snicking off to the young first change bowler  who ended up with figures of 5-9! Suddenly we were 4-40. Unfortunately Toby was skittled early on in his innings and Benny soon followed in the same fashion and things were not looking good. The top order failed to show any fight which was probably the most disappointing thing about the performance.

The captain joined Wazza at the crease need 45 to win with 3 wickets In hand. Before the partnership could blossom Warren was trapped LBW. Sammy Alexander joined LG and the pair tried to resurrect the innings before one of the more questionable decisions of the year brought Sam’s stint at the crease to an end. Josh Sheedy made the slowest ever walk to the crease and defended the last 5 balls of the over to keep us in the mix. LG  began to look to play some strokes and work the strike, however it was very impressive to see Sheeds put up such a fight from the other end. Suddenly we only needed 21 to win. But, as it looked to be turning, the skipper threw his hands at a wide one and was dismissed for 13. 20 runs short.

Yes there were one or two poor decisions but that’s not what lost us the game today, nor was it us throwing away our wickets. It was a lack of application at the crease and nobody in the top order believed that they could be the one to win us that game. As disappointing as that loss was, we have to move on to next week. Well done to the bowlers, especially Sam and Ryan but we have to back it up with the bat.

LG

5th Grade – Manly 185 lost to RP 9/214

The (sometimes) Mighty Fives decided to chase on Saturday on a dry surface.Despite the dryness, our quicks as usual found something in the deck, with Zach and Jonkers beating the bat consistently. Sac, Knighty and Virat Coley continued to swing the ball and Randwick edge slowly toward 5-130.

A good partnership between their 6 and 7 saw them reach 9-214 by the 50 over mark, not an insurmountable target on a dry pitch with a fast outfield.

All bowlers contributed, with Knighty 3-24, Harry Rogers 2-42 the leading wicket takers.

With new openers Virat Coley striking the ball crisply, and new boy Jo Graham ticking it over, aided by some good wide bowling by Randys, we started well reaching 50 after 14 overs, before Jo was adjudged lbw.

Roscoe (28) and Virat (39) moved it along to 100, before the introduction of tandem spinners saw both dismissed.

We collapsed to be 7-128 before Zach smashed 34, and along with Benny Wickham and Knighty gave us some hope.  We were eventually all out for 184, in the end, only 30 runs short.

Unfortunately another inconsistent batting display letting us down.

2 more wins before Xmas will keep us mid table, so we’ll be looking to make some scores over the coming weeks.

Ross

PGs Manly 178 ( T Beatty 73, A Lowe 55) beat Sydney 170 (L Grant 3/47, D Marshall 2/44)

The Manly boys turned up to the newly upgraded Drummoyne oval on an extremely windy day!

Captain Mitch “Prepubescent” Pugh won the toss and elected to bat on a deck that offered a bit of seam action early on. Unfortunately Pughy and the in-form Sam “webcam” Webber were dismissed early on, bringing out our Star batsman, Andy “Sid” Lowe (60). Having toiled through some tough bowling, Lowey was joined by the hero himself Taylor “Mieoff” Beatty (80) who together put on an exceptional partnership consisting of some class strokeplay and mental toughness. Together they steered the manly ship to a solid score of 178 with the side-kick efforts of the lower order.

In the field, a magnificent opening bowling partnership between Mickey “Slender-man” Edwards and Luke “rant” Grant (3’fa) saw the dismissal of some vital top-order wickets. This was backed up by some impeccable bowling from Nick “Nickolaaa haaa” McLachlan, Dylan “Mohammudilakaratnedilshanulhumdillila” Marshall and an exceptional effort yet again from Matt “elizabeth?” Alexander who ‘harnessed the confidence’ to capture their strike-player LBW . Both Bowling and fielding were outstanding and everyone played out of their skins for one another. Our first win of the season!

Man of the Match – Tay Beats for yet another match-winning performance.

Big shout out to Loz and Gilly for the tireless efforts they have given to the PG’s side. We are truly grateful and have loved every moment!!

Javed