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MIA ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
How’s this for commitment!
For the past two years, first grade women’s bowler Mia Phelps has been hitting the Federal Highway out of Canberra each Sunday and heading to the northern beaches to represent the Tahs.
That’s a 600km round trip, taking around seven hours, to play a game of T20 cricket with her mates.
All up, Mia estimates she and/or father Matt have racked up around 10,000km making the journey – and the petrol bill is just not worth thinking about.
But it’s been worth the sacrifice.
“Manly has been such an amazing experience. After coming up for my first season last year, instant friendships were made and everyone is so welcoming at the club,” Mia said.
“The opportunities and support at the club makes it so worthwhile to come up. I am so proud to be representing Manly.”
Mia and the Phelps family are no strangers to the northern beaches.
Matt is one of the club’s all-time greats, scoring 5391 runs between 1995-2003 and representing NSW across eight years at one-day and Sheffield Shield level.
Son Tom played in our junior reps and now Mia is making her mark as an opening bowler in our first grade women’s team.
Mia said: “My dad has always been someone who I look up to, someone who has been able to teach me the basics of the game, help develop my skills and provide support during the tough times of cricket.
“He constantly provides time to help develop my skills in the nets, and my batting confidence has increased due to his assistance.
“Tom and Dad are the main reasons I took up cricket.
“As far as bowling goes, I look up to many players and try to learn from their experiences.
“Ellyse Perry and Darcy Brown are a couple to name. Increasing pace on the ball and knowledge during stressful game situations is something I am looking to improve on and learning off them is the first way to improve.”
It’s great to have you aboard, Mia.
SPECIAL GAME FOR SPECIAL PLAYER
Archie Gray never played for Manly but his name will be forever linked with our club.
Archie was just 16 when he returned home from playing against Manly for Western Suburbs in 2021 and suddenly fell ill.
A gun cricketer and a lovely young man, he sadly passed away less than a year later after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, spending his final days at Manly’s Bear Cottage.
It was quite obviously a devastating time for his family and all who knew Archie and the pain is understandably still raw.
But typical of the courage Archie showed, the Gray family is showing similar grit and determination in raising funds and awareness for brain cancer research in conjunction with the wonderful Mark Hughes Foundation.
Next Wednesday, former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, ex-Australia quick Brett “Bing” Lee, Sea Eagles legend Steve “Beaver” Menzies and long-distance runner Nedd Brockman will be among those joining forces for a special game of cricket at Pratten Park.
Manly and Western Suburbs will play a T20 game – the Archie #26 clash – featuring a mix of current players and former stars/celebrities.
Already – before a ball has been bowled – close to $60,000 has been raised and we are looking to build on that heading into the game and beyond.
We hope to see as many people at the game as possible and please donate if you can at MHF | Host Your Own Event | Archie #26 (markhughesfoundation.com.au)
CENTURY MAKER HOPEFUL OF RETURN
Fresh from his debut first class century for NSW, we are hopeful that Ollie Davies will pull on another shade of blue this Saturday when he rejoins us for a tricky run chase against Hawkesbury at Manly Oval.
We are 0-9 in response to the Hawks’ 185 and Ollie’s presence would give us an ace up our sleeve as we look to secure another victory.
His 129 against Western Australia on Tuesday was something to behold on a SCG deck that gave more experienced players plenty of headaches.
It was the sort of knock all of us at Manly knew Ollie was capable of and it was great to see him deliver in just his third Shield game.
He loves turning out for Manly and will be hungry for more runs should he get the opportunity.
We were a little bit off with the ball in the opening session last Saturday before showing plenty of resilience to fight back in our second spells and restrict Hawkesbury to below 200.
If we can get through what will be a huge first hour when the game resumes, it should hold us in good stead to reel in the target.
