1st Grade was only able to salvage a draw courtesy of tons to Merchant (129*) and Crosthwaite (102) after being set a mammoth 418, while 2nd grade won a close one thanks to Taylor Beatty (4-37 off 10) and a half-century from Walter.
3rd grade put in a great team performance with everyone contributing during the day, shutting Bankstown out of the game in their pursuit of our 215. They fell 24 short, with Ed Burgess’ 54 off 49 probably the highlight of the match and the difference between the sides.
4th Grade had a very topsy turvy batting innings led by the effervescent Roscoe Trewartha (93) and young Jake “Ping” Carden (49) to be 3-170 before all out for 203. Fortunately this didn’t prove to be an issue, rolling the visitors for 114 in the 36th over.
5th Grade also played well as a unit with everyone contributing behind James Boyer’s 69, while the wickets were shared.
Despite the extremely strong result as a club, the draw in first grade has unfortunately allowed Sydney Uni to close the gap between us marginally, leaving us with a lead of only 157 points. With Sutherland (7th) and Penrith (4th), our next two opponents, there is some tough cricket ahead and still a long way to go until the end of the regular season, however the amount of wins we are consistently putting together is a fantastic sign.
Go Manly!
4 Pines P
layer of the Week – Cameron Merchant
layer of the Week – Cameron MerchantThis week’s 4 Pines Player of the Week Award goes to Cameron “Nappa” Merchant who ground out a gutsy and unbeaten century in 1st Grade’s two-day clash with Bankstown. Cameron has had a slightly more disjointed season than usual this year, occasionally jetting off to the sub-continent with work at a moment’s notice. However, it is a testament to his professionalism as a cricketer that such distractions haven’t affected his batting. This was no clearer than on Sunday when he played a virtually flawless innings of 129* to drive the Manly innings and deny Bankstown any points after being set a mammoth 418 for victory. This was especially significant for First Grade given that Bankstown are a close second only 4 points behind us, with another 16 points to third on the table.
His remarkable innings lasted 286 balls over a staggering 400 minutes (over 6 and a half hours) and included 17 boundaries. Although it was only Cameron’s first ton of the year, it’s been threatening to happen for a while now with five scores over 40 before this week. An outstanding knock by an outstanding bloke! Congratulations Nappa!
1st Grade – Bankstown 4-417 [dec.] drew Manly 3-282(Merchant 129*, Crosthwaite 102, Munting 1-51 [11])
In a Saturday/Sunday 2 day match, 1st grade came up against a Bankstown side who were challenging our side as the team to beat. We were sitting on 56 points with Bankstown on 52, with another 16 points to 3rd place, so it truly was a top-of-the-table encounter.
Bankstown won the toss and batted on what looked like a flat wicket. Well, as it turned out the wicket was definitely flat. The Bankstown boys absolutely tore our bowling attacked apart, especially our pacemen, going hard on the flat deck and fast outfield. After getting dangerman Solway with the score on 58, the 2nd wicket proceeded to put on 249 through White and Wells, both of who put on a batting masterclass. No bowler was really spared, although SOK did bowl 28 overs for 71, a good economy rate. Bankstown declared with 4 overs to be bowled before the end of the day, Edgell and Merchant batting it out to be 0 for 14.
Sunday saw much of the same from day 1. With 414 being a daunting target, the mantra was to bat normally. Edgell fell early, however Merchant and Crosthwaite continued to pile on the runs, with both bringing up fantastic hundreds under pressure. Unfortunately Crossy was dismissed not long after this for 102, interestingly falling twice now this season between 100 and 110 of his three tons. Merchant continued to stay focused on the task at hand however, and despite losing Beadle in a run out he managed to bat out the day with SOK at the other end. It was a fantastic innings of 128*, lasting 286 balls over 400 minutes and including 17 boundaries. At stumps, we were 3 for 282. A total of 7 wickets fell across 185 overs in the match, proving that the deck was most definitely one of the flattest going around.
2nd Grade – Manly 9-213 (Beatty 4-37 [10], Walter 57, Ritchie 43) def Bankstown 9-206
The boys rocked up to a sunny and warm Manly Oval to an important match against Bankstown, looking to build on recent form and consolidate our position in the top 6.
A gritty win to the bottom 6 in touch footy was a highlight as Manly won the toss and elected to bat. 2-18 wasn’t the ideal start but a great fight back by Jarrod Walter (57) and Jack “Cubby” Ritchie (43), put on 100 to got us back on track. Rowan (39) also batted well and a late cameo by Taylor (19* off 11), shifted the momentum our way to get us to a respectable 213 – still probably 20-40 runs short of what we wanted.
After the lunch break the boys came out with energy but witnessed the openers getting off to a quick start, going at a run a ball until Dylan (1-20 off 10) got rid of their attacking left-hander for 18. The middle order all contributed 30s and 40s patiently with Luke Diserens (1-33 off 10) and Cubby (2-55 off 9) keeping the batsmen in check, as the run rate was edging past a run a ball. Luke (1-55 off 10) bowled better than what his figures showed and Taylor’s (4-37 off 10) death bowling was clutch for the situation. Left with 12 to win off the last over, Tay hit the stumps 3 times to completely deny Bankstown a sniff of a victory. This vital win gave the Manly boys another 6 points to cement our top 6 status, moving us into 3rd place. A good, gritty win by a very strong unit. Bring on Sutherland next week.
Dyl
3rd Grade – Bankstown 8-191 def by Manly 9-215 (E. Burgess 54, Cole 40, Daly 24)
Jensen Oval looked magnificent, clearly a fast, even outfield and a pretty good looking deck. Having a bat after winning the toss it was clear Bankstown had more discipline than previous teams and Tom (18) and Adam (13) had to work hard for their runs, ticking it over at about 3rpo. Adam was trapped in front and Tom departed soon after, cracking a cut to backward point to make it 2/39. Cole (40) and Daly (24) steadied the ship which was excellent on a wicket that was hard to play fluently on due to its slow nature. Our run rate was steady and started to push towards 4rpo after Cole went after their leggie, spanking him for 3 beautifully struck boundaries down the ground. Jordan started to get in on the act too before a part-time bowler got one to cut unusually far to rattle his stumps. This part-timer turned out to be the pick of their bowlers taking 4/19, a pitch that suited his fresh mediums with a bit of cut. This augered well for us given the type of attack we have.
Ed (54 off 49) joined Matt only for Matt to snick behind, Lance (2) did likewise and at 5/118 off about 35 we had a lot of work to do. Sam Gainsford (16) looked promising only to feather a wide leg side delivery behind. Aidan Bariol (8) played a lovely lofted cover drive and looked to be getting set only to be run out next ball. Evans (16no) joined Ed at 7/170 with 5 to go. Ed played some cracking shots to find the gaps in the well placed field and these two ensured we got a competitive 205.
I can’t wait till one of Cole, Daly, Kaye start converting these starts into long stays at the crease. Their 3rd grade form reads… 4,25,46,74,29,23,55,18,9,71,35,0,19,9,38,38,2,66,20,40,68,31,27,96,19,34,29,24.
I reckon there’s a two hundred run partnership just around the corner shortly from a mix of these blokes.
Bankstown came out fired up and threw the bat a bit at our slightly overpitched bowling. Boundaries were being hit with regularity. Nick (1/41 from 10) got an early wicket and Tom (2/28 from 8) also got a snick. Evans (2/29 from 8) got a snick and Tom got their dangerman, well caught by Cole at deep point to make it 4/48 off 12. Bankstown knuckled down and started to grind out a partnership. Twin spinners Gummer (2/41) and Gainsford (0/24) bowled their 20 overs straight and really built the pressure on these blokes. Our 20 overs of spin going for 2/65, theirs 2/85 from 16. A big factor in our comfortable win.
This partnership was more suited to a 2 day game fightback and we were very happy with the proceedings. Gumms got potentially their key man out immediately after drinks LBW and from there Bankstown did not really threaten, with good tight bowling from Toomey (except for one ball which copped abuse from Evans at long on much to Nick’s incredulity), Evans and Kaye not allowing anything more than singles with very few, if any boundaries, in the last 10 overs.
WE
4th Grade – Manly 203 (R. Trewartha 93, Carden 49) def Bankstown 114
Skipper Josh Petersen won the toss at Graham’s and chose to bat on what looked like a good batting deck. Joe Graham and Max Burgess opened up and it wasn’t long until Joe fell, bringing last week’s centurion Sam Hole to the crease. Unfortunately, Sam could not repeat last week’s heroics and had to depart for 9.
Ross Trewartha joined Max at the crease and the two began to form a steady partnership before Max was given caught behind. Jake Carden then joined Roscoe who put on a masterclass hitting the Bankstown bowlers to all parts of the ground particularly through backward point. Unfortunately he was caught on the boundary, 7 short of his 100 but scored crucial runs for the tahs. This wicket sparked a big collapse for the Tahs going from 3-170odd to be all out for a disappointing 203.
Jake Carden and Zach Trewartha started with the ball and bowled good lines and promoted risky shots from the opener’s. Zach struck early however the new batsman formed a partnership with the other opener and the Bankstown batsmen started to score more freely.
Once Joe Graham was bought into the attack things changed quickly as Joe took 4 quick wickets to put the game back into Manly’s hands. Wickets continued to fall as Wiggers took 2 and Sammy Alexander finished the game taking the last 3 in a clinical bonus point win for the Tahs.
Josh Wigney
5th Grade – Bankstown9-205 def by Manly 9-223 (Boyer 69, Mason 28, Vumbacca 27)
Our 5th Grade side played its Round 11 match against a Bankstown side full of talent and sitting only 7 points behind the Manly boys, so we knew it was going to be a big match. The ground, as always, was in excellent condition with a good deck and fast outfield. Waddington won his 3rd toss of the season and decided to bat. Joel Mason and Billy D’Arcy opened up and Mason continued his good form, putting away some wayward bowling. D’Arcy turned the strike over well until Mason belted one back to the bowler who somehow held onto it.
D’Arcy went not long after, bringing Boyer to the crease. He became the rock that the innings needed, combining well with Jacob Graham, Simon Waddington and Isaiah Vumbaca to be dismissed for a well made 68 not long before the end of the innings. He hit the ball powerfully and ran between the wickets extremely well. It was an innings that was needed as all of our top 6 batsmen hit over 15, but Jimmy was the only one to go on with it.
We ended up at 9 for 223 after 50, probably 20-30 short of what we should have got, but a very defendable total.
We opened up well but some good batting from Bankstown and some dropped chances saw Bankstown reach 58 before losing their first wicket. Will Denny got our first wicket caught behind, and from then on we began to pick up regular wickets and at 5 for 101 were looking good. As always, a good partnership from Bankstown put the game back in the balance before a brilliant run-out from Billy D’Arcy as the required run rate rose put the Tahs back ontop.
Wickets then fell quickly until their last wicket partnership hit a few big balls, but ultimately it wasn’t enough and they ended up 18 runs short at the end of their 50 overs. It was a very disciplined bowling display on a good batting track against a talented Bankstown batting line-up, bowling well to the fields set by skipper Waddington.
Joel Mason
