Monday News – Rd 7 vs Hawkesbury – One Dayer + PGs vs Randwick-Petersham – One Dayer

The strong season for the Waratah’s continued on the weekend with the top 4 grades getting up on Saturday against the Hawks and PGs winning on Sunday against Randwick-Petersham. All winners won in convincing style, with the Hawkesbury batsman no match for our strong bowling lineups in 2s and 3s, and their bowlers no match for our batsmen in 1st grade. 4th Grade had a solid win with contributions from all players. 5th Grade lost their 2nd game in a row by 3 wickets, but are too good a side not to come back. Bumper will get them firing.

So with one game to go before the Christmas break, all teams are in the top six, with first Grade sitting 5th, Second grade in 2nd place, the main grade in 1st place, fourth grade in 5th position, and fifth grade 6th. PG’s are also sitting in 4th position after Sunday’s win. All of this means that we are an amazing 101 points clear of 2nd place in the race for the club championships. With one round to go against 8th placed Balmain (sorry, Sydney) before the holiday season, hopefully we can extend that lead.


4 Pines Brewery Player of the Week – Taylor Beattie
After missing the last round due to Schoolies, Taylor Beattie brought his good form onto the cricket field, with an amazing spell of swing bowling to take 7/16 in 3rd grade. Taylor has impressed everyone this year with both bat and ball, and no doubt has a big future. Also proves that learning your cricket at a private school is not a bad thing for your game. Ed Cowan, a Cranbrook boy, is showing that it definitely can be done, as has Birdy. Just doesn’t happen very often. Anyway, Taylor backed up his efforts with the ball by also scoring 28 with the bat. As a result, he takes out this weeks 4 Pines Brewery Player of the Round. Well done Swifty.


Outstanding Performances
Mitch Cleary – 68* (1st Grade)
Cameron Merchant – 53 (1st Grade)
Nick McLachlan – 3/6 (2nd Grade)
Joel Mason – 2 and a screamer (2nd Grade)
Taylor Beattie – 7/16 (3rd Grade)
Dean Readett – 55 (3rd Grade)
Louie Anderson – 61 (5th Grade)


1st Grade vs Hawkesbury – Manly 4 for 250 (41 overs) defeated Hawkesbury 6 for 249 (50 overs)
Captain Nick Watkins won the toss and invited Hawkesbury to have first use of the wicket.

Manly immediately got off to a good start when James Munting captured a wicket with his first delivery. He and his fellow opening partner Mitch Coombes moved the ball about quite noticeably as evidenced by the number of times the batsmen played and missed .

Hawkesbury reached the first drinks session after 17 overs and were 1/74.

Immediately after drinks Luke Edgell and Andrew Lindsay were brought into the attack and with some excellent bowling were able to reduce the run rate. Wickets however were hard to get and the Hawkesbury batsmen were able to chance their arm and take the aerial route which provided them with 5/6 in their innings total of 6/249 from their 50 overs. From their efforts they would have been quietly confident that their total would be sufficient.

The Manly openers were Jack Ritchie and Nick Watkins and they got Manly off to a flying start before Nick was dismissed in the 12^th over for 34 (39b 49m 1/6 2/4) with the score on 83. Jack was dismissed in the next over for 39 (33b 58m 5/4).

Cameron Merchant and Mitch Cleary then came together and with some enterprising stroke play put together a 3^rd wicket partnership of 78 runs from 79 balls and their contributions gave the Manly side the foundations to build a winning score.

Cameron Merchant was dismissed for 53 (42b 66m 2/6 5/4) in the 27^th over with the score on 3/l67.

Aidan Baker joined Mitch Cleary at the crease and was noticeably inconvenienced by a recently sustained hand injury before he was dismissed soon thereafter.

Mitch was then joined at the wicket by Luke Edgell and together they combined in an unbroken 5^th wicket partnership of 81 runs from 78 balls to give the Manly boys victory in the 41^st over. A much needed win after two disappointing T/20 losses.

An outstanding all round effort.

We can all now look forward to seeing Timmy Cruickshank, Steven O’Keefe, Adam Crosthwaite and Jackson Bird competing in the National T/20 competition. Good luck boys.

The Observer


2nd Grade vs Hawkesbury – Manly 145 (45 overs) defeated Hawkesbury 82 (32.5 overs)
Second grade made the enjoyable trek out to Hawkesbury, with great scenery to be had and where you could be buy pigs from the side of the road. Mason’s Friday night prediction of a ton was immediately in jeopardy when the covers were removed exposing a green juicy wicket with a mud pile just of the square that the pigs would’ve enjoyed. Doucheman called incorrectly and we were sent in on the one of the worst of all time. From the first ball where Smitty Brah! played forward to a ball that ballooned over his head we knew we had to dig in from the get go. A solid opening partnership led by smitty was broken when the don fell for 2, 98 short of his benchmark. Shaggy replaced him and tried to stick around with smitty until the latter fell for a well made 25 considering the deck that was below us. That brought Salt and Pepperson to the crease, throwing away his study notes on ‘expat re-entry’, he quickly swithed his eye movement to dynamic mode and started in classic style dispatching the quick over deep backward square for a massive bomb, reminiscent of when he put test quick Mitchell ‘starcy’ Starc over the fence, much to matty mee’s delight. Shaggy and pepperman combined well, the ranga trying to dig in while scotty began to take control hitting a boundary and working the ball around. Shaggy was the next to go, trying to anchor the innings for 7 which brought skipper doucheman to the crease. Scotty then snicked to second slip for a solid 16 batting well on the spongy deck and suddenly we were 4/40 odd. Digits joined the skipper at the crease and ignored the soft hands advice and immediately chipped the first one, just clearing short cover for a life. Douche then faced a 14 ball over with wides being sprayed both sides of the wicket, immensely adding to the great innings of Sundries. Then Douche was given out caught behind for a ball he snicked into the ground, the umpire obviously delusional after spreading his arms so many times. Mattoes joined digits at the crease and again ignored the advice of his partner put his pad straight in front of a massive carl hooper and was plumber than ponting for 1. Marksy lad came out and got off the mark behind point in classic style and tried to dig in with dige to bat the overs and compile whatever score that we could. Marks then was caught and bowled for 3 and digits soon followed, snicking off for 8. This brought matty mee and Dylan ’ramshell’ marshall together, this pair weren’t going to muck around with Gordon Ramsayquickly dispatching the spinner over the long on fence and matty mee soon followed, taking a liking to the shorter boundary at the other end, putting his entire rig into a massive one that cleared the fence by a distance. Despite the bomb show this pair batted well in a partnership that in the end probably won us the game, they worked the ball around with a bit of luck until matty mee was cooked/run out for 25. This brought veteran number 11 nickos to the middle, after 3 bacon and egg rolls nick was looking to do some running however Ram-rod decided to go aerial again and fell short on the boundary for 23, leaving a disgruntled hoff with yet another red ink. We finished on 145, not bad considering the deck but knowing we had to bowl well, sundries top scoring with 34.

The bowling started with both mattys opening up and matty mee quickly got into his stride sending down some heat on the green deck. At the other end mattoes caught the other opener near the tender region which he clearly didn’t like as he charged the next ball trying hit one back to manly but missed it and left the slips in hysterics. Matty mee opening the account with a diving one handed caught behind from marksy and mattoes quickly got involved digging one in to the batsmen who gloved it to maso in the gully for the simplest catch of his life that he nearly dropped. Much to his surprise birthday boy Shaggas replaced matty mee at the cow paddock end and started up with two beamers, his fan club family immediately fell silent until his 8th ball produced the goods when he redirected his beamer to Yorker and skittled the batsmen. His next over was also productive when the batsmen chipped to alexander at square leg and the hawks were reeling at 4/30, manly having a sniff, and going alright in the cricket as well. Shaggas finishing with 2/17 much to the delight of his fan club. Nickos was brought on and after having a chicken burger at lunch that wasn’t ‘sitting well’ bowled great lines and using munters advice, trapped the batsmen in front and then he was immediately taken off for further disgruntlement. Captain douche had a plan and injected Dylan for a celebrity over and struck on his 6th ball, marksy catching the batsmen out of his crease from a quicker one. The hawks now at 6/50 odd and battling, come on mee was brought back on for a bit of burglary, he quickly had the batsmen snicking to Salt and Pepperson but unfortunately his eyes had returned to static mode after some lunch break reading, shelved a difficult one that split him and marksy. Douche, head in hands, had his second stroke of brilliance and pushed himself into first slip, matty immediately responding snicking him off again to a delighted doucheman, straight into the buckets at chest height. Matty bowled well finishing with 2/25 of his 10. Nickos then got the second nod to work off his massive lunch and quickly gained his rhythm to snick the bloke off but again the slips let him down, Smitty missing a low diving one to his left. Chest heaving, nick decided to do it himself and trapped another bloke in front and cleaned up the pegs of another batsmen doing munter proud and finishing with 3/6 off 10, the pick of the bowlers all day. Dylan then bamboozled the number 11, marks catching him down the leg side for not many finishing with 2/6 off 3.5 and the hawks all out for 82, manly gaining a bonus point in the process, moving to outright second on the table. Go manly!

Also, just quietly Cubby, mangoes are $7.99 a box out there… might be worth the trip!! Or not…

Didge


3rd Grade vs Hawkesbury – Manly 8 for 206 (50 overs) defeated Hawkesbury 65 (18.2 overs)
Wow. The main grade continued on their unbeaten run, making it 7 from 7, with another convincing win against the Hawks at Atmosphere Park. Genie is really getting the most out of his young squad, and the roll from last years premiership victory is continuing.

Atmosphere was not at it’s prettiest, and the weeks rain meant the deck was a little tough to begin with. Genie lost the toss and we were sent in, but a lively pitch was negated by some awesome batting from Adam Gummer (49…. OK, you are a winner Gums) and the ever stylish Mitch Pugh (11), putting on 60 for the first wicket. Eddie Burgess (22) then started where Pughy left off, looking comfortable with his 22 until a tough decision saw him back in the pavilion. A big one is just around the corner Eddie.

From this point on, Dean Redeatt took over the innings, scoring a solid 53, and while losing some wickets around him, remained solid throughout his innings. A great 28 from MOM Taylor Beattie helped the boys to 8 for 208 from their 50, probably a par score considering the conditions.

On the resumption of play, it was all the Taylor Beattie Show, swinging the ball both ways and causing all sorts of problems for the Hawks batsmen. Swifty got his wickets LBW or bowled due to his late swing, many a wicket coming from an attempted leg side shot from the batsman, only to see off stump taken out of the ground, or the umpire raising his finger to confirm what everybody already new. Good support was shown from Sam Alexander, Luke Grant and Reece Hodge.

So the Hawks were rolled for 65, a comprehensive victory for the main grade that see’s them jump to the top of the table. Special mention must go to Adam Gummer for his brilliant 40, showing what a class act he is.

Gumms


4th Grade vs Hawkesbury – Manly 4 for 176 (42.3 overs) defeated Hawkesbury 175 (49.3 overs)
4s has to be the success story of the year so far. A rookie captain in Max Burgess, 2 loses in their opening 2 games, and a young side. However, a winning streak of 5 games is testament to how well Bang Bang has brought the side together. His leadership qualities were identified by Rowley Alexander 2 years ago, and the rewards are currently being seen through some great results. We also need to point out the fact that the addition of Mickey Lindsay to the side, who has won a first grade one day premiership, has added some character, talent, and experience to the side. An undefeated record since Mickey’s return is no fluke.

Sending the Hawks in, our bowling was a little wayward for the first 1.4 overs until Mickey’s massive frame sent shivers up the spines of the umpires, and play was called off due to Mickey hitting the heads of a few Chinese when his front foot landed. Not wanting to dig a crater for future bowlers, the umpires called the game to a halt to help the wicket dry out. An entire 15 minutes was lost to help the pitch dry, not sure what help it did.

At 4 for 100, the opposition were looking comfortable, but some fantastic catching from the Tah’s, good bowling from Arshdeep (3 for 30 off 10), and some exceptional fielding and sledging from sub Shaggers, saw continual wickets fall throughout the entire innings. Sam Gainsford (3 for 25), Bang Bang Burgess (2 for 12 in a welcome return to the bowling crease) and Will “Bonkers” Jonkers (2 for 33) providing great support.

With second grade supporting from the stands after their early finish, Bang Bang and Ralphy Rawlings started the run chase off with a 61 run opening partnership before Ralphy fell for 16. Ralphy has as much talent as anyone in the club, but has scored between 15 and 30 in every innings so far this year. A big score is just arounf the corner Ralphy. Bang Bang continued his great form with the bat in scoring a fluent 49, again proving what kings Mason and Little have been saying for 2 years, that Maxy has one of the best technique’s of all our lower grade batsman.

At 4 for 121, there was still alot of work to do, but the inform Tom Kaye (38*) and Jacob Graham (31*) saw us home comfortably, passing the Hawks 4 down in the 42nd over. A great result that saw the boys maintain their 5th spot.

Also a great call out to the parents that supported the 4th grade boys on their longest trip for the season, especially to Tony Burgess who is supporting Maxy very well and who is, well, a legend.


5th Grade vs Hawkesbury – Manly 160 (49.5 overs) defeated by Hawkesbury 7-161 (45.5 overs)
The mighty 5s finally got a home game on Saturday against Hawkesbury on Saturday with an especially young team taking the field. Batting first, Louie Anderson showed his class with a great 61, backing up his previous double ton, to get the Tah’s to 160. Young Matt Cole again contributed with 32…. the amount of starts Matty has got this year no doubt will eventually roll into a big score. Our Green Shield side this year is looking good if Matty is any indication. However, no one else really supported Louie and Matt, and 160 was a disappointing, although competitive, target for the Hawks.

Starting sharply, the boys had Hawkesbury at 4/44 at one stage, and some good bowling saw them extend this to 7 for 80. To be fair, we should have won from here, but some good batting from the opposition saw a 80 odd run partnership develop, and 5th grade unfortunately went down.

No doubt the unavailability’s in the higher grades has affected 5th Grades talent pool, however the boys are working as hard as anyone and will be back in the winners circle soon. 6th place at the moment shows what talent we have.


PG’s vs Randwick-Petersham – Manly 3/151 (27 overs) defeated Randwick-Petersham 195 (45.5 overs)
In a rain reduced game, our PG’s side has demolished Randwick Petersham to move into the top 6 in Sundays match at Manly Oval. Bowling first, it was obvious that Mitch Coombs and Matt Mee were just too quick for the Randy openers, but some determined batting got them off to a decent start, being 1 for 70 odd after 17 overs. However Randwick Pete’s were slowly pegged back, and wickets fell regularly, eventually dismissing them for 194 in the 49th over.

Then the rains came. The boys sat on the sideline for a few hours before finally getting on, being set 150 to win from 29 overs. And win they did. A great start from Gumms (41) and Pughy was capped off by Coombsy who hit a quickfire 53* to pass the target in the 27th over. A great win from the boys that propells them into the top 6 with one round to go.