The TravelSIM Waratahs went down to St George in last night’s Kingsgrove Sports T20 Cup Quarter Final at Manly Oval in a disappointing end to the T20 year.
The Tahs have been riding high over the last few weeks, going through the T20 undefeated rounds undefeated. Coming up against a St George side who had won 2 of their 4, we were raging hot favourites to progress to the next round. This was made even more the case due to St George’s well publicised injury concerns, as well as Hazelwood and Patterson being put in cotton wool for the upcoming Shield match.
However the match didn’t go to plan. After skipper Tim Cruickshank lost the toss and was sent in the field, some scintillating batting from St George’s Chris MacDougal (80 off 44 balls), some sloppy fielding from the Tahs and some amazing fielding from the visitors were the main call out’s from the match. 2 of our top 3 batsmen, Cameron Merchant and the in-form Adam Crosthwaite, were both run out by direct hits. Crosthwaite’s was particularly controversial, being in-correctly refused a runner from the umpires before being run out.
However when we slumped to 4 for 47, even though there were plenty of overs left it was always going to be a tough ask. It’s fair to say that our top order didn’t quite perform as we have come to expect so far this year, and in T20 when you lose momentum it’s very hard to come back from. It was also our first game chasing for the season, and we came up short. However the squad can still be very proud of their efforts as they played some fantastic cricket over the last few weeks, and it has provided some great momentum at the beginning of the season.
Also great to see young guns Mitchell Pugh, Taylor Beatty and Mickey Edwards continue to gain experience in the top grade over this time.
It was also fantastic to see a great crowd at Manly Oval for the Tuesday afternoon affair. There were juniors buzzing about in their rep shirts, current and ex-player’s taking in the sausage sangers….. there was alot to like about the day so thankyou to everyone who attended.
It would also be remise of us not to mention the great catch taken by Stuart Griffiths to win his weight in 4 Pines beer….. a fantastic one hander while holding onto his drink and cigarette. We would expect nothing else from him.
Go Manly
Adam Crosthwaite hits a maximum on Tuesday night
Justin Cox hits out during yesterdays T20 Qtr Final
