Six Teams in to the Finals as Waratahs End Wet Season with Momentum – Weekend Wrap 12th/13th March 2022

Prowsey’s Pimm’s & Malibu: A 7-Point Adventure

The Main Grade arrived at the home of cricket, LM Graham’s Reserve, knowing that nothing short of maximum points was required to get a sniff of finals cricket. With Parramatta flooded-off and Easts relegated to Sunday cricket, we had the opportunity to briefly take our place in the top 6 before The Dolphins could leapfrog us once again.

Despite 5,000mm of rain in the preceding week, we were met with what can only be described as a dry & desolate track – devoid of any living features, the wicket was likely a drop-in pitch transported from the surface of Mars itself. With touch football complete and arms limbered up, Skipper ‘Boom Boom’ Hole lost another home toss and was duly sent in tobat.

The Hawks made a positive start thanks to their left-armer – bending one back into young Russell Coyte’s (0) front-pad to put the Tahs under pressure early. Luckily DJ Daly (30) entered the fray to steady the ship, getting to work with Hole (35) to wrestle back ascendency with an array of unsponsored flicks and drives. Just prior to drinks, spin entered the fray, with both teams quickly realising this skillset would come to define the days play.

From 1/68; Daly, Hole & the club’s likely players-player (authors opinion only) Elraymondo (0) all fell in quick succession to leave the game poised at 4/71. The clubs #1 bartender and overseas pro Prowse (33) kept the plucky Hawks at bay with able assistance from The Collaroy’s own S.Webber (22) & E.Dunnachie (18) to drag us to a defendable total, however not before Alex ‘The Tripod’ Bain (17*) & J.Vigney (17*) pushed us to a deceptively strong 8/186. 

7 men in double figures, a true team performance with the bat on a surface that in the words of the Skipper “was resembling day 11 at Rawalpindi” – average chat it was agreed. 

The Tahs started solidly with the ball; with Prowse (1/22 from 5) probing and Vigney (1/11 from 6) vaunting back into things post-hamstring strain (allegedly). It was a fantastic direct-hit run-out to Bain that got us going however, before Prowse hilariously went 46W via one of his patented 53km/h back-of-the-hand slower slow balls. Vigney blew some stumps up for 3 early ones, and to be honest from this point the game was never really in doubt.

Bain (1/13 from 2) came and went, bowling his best 2 overs of the year with a well-deserved wicket, before the spin twins of Mr Trewartha (2/14 from 6) & Dhillon (4/33 from 8.3) put the squeeze on to ice things. The last 4 wickets fell in a relative hurry – punctuated by a couple of excellent grabs from DJ Daly, a sharp chance to Captain Hole and a lovely bread-and-butter high-ball from Vigney.

Special shoutouts to Elraymondo and E.Dunnachie for putting down some tough chances, their chat before, during & after those moments make them uniquely funny for all those that bore witness to the – thanks gents.

With The Hawks all out for 93 before 4pm; the main grade had the pleasure of sitting back on the lush LM Graham’s Reserve grass sipping on a few of Mr Prowse’s finest cocktails, reflecting on the year that had been. We also spent a few minutes praying to every God that an East Coast Low formed exclusively over the Eastern Suburbs Sunday to sneak us into the top 6…

Sadly, it wasn’t to be, Easts accounted for Sutherland by 5 wickets to have us miss out by the cruellest of margins to Parramatta, 0.06 on quotient. With a number of tight losses throughout the season, along with a bonus point missed by the slimmest of margins vs. Gordon, we can only blame ourselves for not getting the job done. A slow pre-Xmas period caught up to us, and unfortunately it wasn’t to be!

A huge thank you to all the coaches and volunteers that allow us to flaunt about on a cricket field week after week, we truly are blessed for all the time and support you give us. In particular, Will Gus & Dave ‘Loz’ Gardiner deserve all the praise in the world for their commitment to the main grade, and for becoming the heart-beat of this squad.

Good luck to all other grades for finals – we’ll be there in strong support!

Sam H

3 – R.Dhillon

2 – L.Trewartha

1 – J.Wigney

After a long, drawn out hiatus from grade cricket, the 4s boys were chomping at the bit to get back out on the field in hope of reaching 1st or 2nd place and securing a home quarter-final. With a ‘no-alcohol’ policy in place until postseason, the boys jumped into a heated warm up before the Doc won the toss and we elected to bat on a used LM Graham pitch.

Unfortunately, for the packed house that came in to see a possible 4th grade minor premiership, the batting was well below par at the best of times. Losing Mendel early the score reached 26 before 4 wickets for 11 left us reeling at 5-37 with 5 of the top 6 already out. On what was an admittedly tough wicket to get in on, the batting lacked the aggression, control and beauty that had been prevalent throughout the season. If not for some late order Rochford runs (28) the situation could have been absolutely dire, but we reached 85 and thought maybe, just maybe there is a chance. Maybe.

Hobson (3-20 off 6) and Dinan (1-10 off 😎 bowled with great venom, rhythm and subtlety to give the 4s boys half a chance. By the time the 2 opening bowlers had pulled the pin on their spells, the score was 4-30. Well in the game. The Hawks slowly crawled their way back to about level-pegging on what was an increasingly hard wicket to bat on. Despite this, we were never out of the game, taking wickets all throughout the chase and keeping them within arms reach. Rochford (2-22) and L. Kerr (2-6) busted their guts in pursuit of a higher place finish, but in the end it did not manifest. Hawks won by 2 wickets in a tight, low scoring thriller.

Unfortunately the batting on the day just was not up to scratch and is going to have to be a lot better next week at Hurstville against a very strong St George outfit. The bowling and fielding must be praised as it kept us in the game until the very end.

It has been a great, fun and successful season in 4th grade with many performances throughout. Thank you to all and hopefully there’s a few more match reports to write up in the coming weeks! 

3- Andrew Rochford

2- Jack Hobson

1- Lachie Kerr

Oscar Lucius