Tahs Split the Points Against a Strong Sutherland Outfit – MN RD6 D2

The completion of Round 6 saw the TravelSIM Waratahs share the points with Sutherland. Manly managed victories in second and fourth grade with a couple of great run chases. First and fifth grade unfortunately went down as the Sutherland bowlers proved too good and our batting wasn’t up to scratch. Third grade couldn’t manage a result as the rain ended up finishing the day at tea with the game in the balance at 5/108 chasing 176. A very even round but we will look to improve further against Randwick-Petersham next week. In other games, our 1st grade T20 side went down as we only managed 7/129 chasing Sydney’s 7/149. The Brewer Shield also got done as they set 10/111 for victory but St George-Sutherland chased it down.

Highlights of the weekend included Michael Visser getting his second test wicket as he removed Shane Watson once again in the second innings, this time for a duck. Tom Kaye was the star in second grade’s run chase as he finished on an even 100*. A great opening partnership of 121 by Adam Gummer (80) and Nick Cohen (73) set up fourth grade’s victory. 

Tommy Kaye, what a player! Coming in at 4/47 chasing 231, you could say that Manly were slightly behind the 8-ball. Tom batted with patience and class to steer the mighty 2nd grade to a resounding 6 points as Tom finished on 100*, and in the process also became a worthy winner of the 4 Pines Player of the Week award. Tom has been looking red hot this season with plenty of starts, and it’s great to see him kick on to be the difference in the second grade clash between the Tahs and the Sharks.

Congrats mate! Everyone is over the moon for you.

With an exciting day of cricket awaiting, Manly Oval treated us to a glorious morning with a beautiful wicket and a faster outfield to the previous week. The task of 110 for victory started nicely with Nappa and Tay piercing the gaps for a few early boundaries, knocking off a quick 20 of the total. Unfortunately for the Tahs, Tay was judged LBW, with Nappa caught shortly after. Mattoes entertained with a six first ball before been dismissed. A glimmer of hope as Farrell and Visser started to hit the boundary, until Faz was dismissed and the tahs all out for 143, 58 in arrears of Sutherland’s total.

The Sharks went into bat again to the delight of Michael Visser who dismissed their opener for ANOTHER yes another golden duck. This brought Shane Watson to the crease whom Visser again dismissed again in the first over for no score. With a partnership established and rain approaching Tay took one more wicket before both captains agreed to end the fixture at tea. A disappointing loss, however another opportunity to show our talent tomorrow in the last T20 of the season and next week against Randy Pete’s.

3 – Michael Visser

2 – Taylor Beatty

1 – Matt Alexander

Jay Lenton

The Mighty Manly Mortons turned up to Glenn McGrath Oval with the game in the balance, the Tahs 4/60 chasing 232 for victory. Skipper Jack Ritchie, reeling from finding out how much KFC the young Mortys eat nowadays, called for patience from the remaining batsman in the first session. Self proclaimed model Tom Kaye & a very zen Aidan Bariol resumed after seeing out the final 20 minutes the week before & put the skippers plan to work, patiently seeing out the first hour while dispatching any bad balls. A near match winning partnership of 94 came to a close when Bariol chipped one back to the bowler for a well made 53. Baz has played some great supporting roles in recent wins & the boys are waiting for him to go on for a big one soon. Kaye & Gainsford saw out to lunch with the Tahs in the box seat at 5/175.

Lunch saw some more poor dietary decisions from several morts, but the resumption saw no let up from Kaye & team. Gainsford (38) provided some great support, scoring at nearly a run a ball, but fell 25 shy of the target. Young Joel Foster, fresh off his first Maccas in three years, joined Kaye & the two cruised past what could’ve been a tough target around halfway through the second session. A gutsy chase from the young middle order, which should instil a lot of confidence going into future rounds. All that was left to do before a team tub was for Kaye to bring up his well deserved ton. Despite Carden’s best strike farming efforts, Kaye bought up his unbeaten hundred before the rain off 193 balls. After coming in at 4/40 late on day 1, Kaye’s first ton in 2 years was a testament to the hard work he’s been doing in the nets this year & was the best innings this writer has seen since Joel Masons career defining 151 in 2011. Congrats Tommy & more to come! An early team song & tub for the Mortys, who are now unbeaten in the last 4 rounds & closing in on a very congested top 6. This made for a happy skipper & head coach, who toasted the efforts by tucking into multiple pieces of sticky date cake. Big job coming up now with two one-dayers before Christmas which could leave us in a very strong position. Best of luck also to the young prodigies Foster, Bariol, Davies & Edwards (the better one), who are off to the U/19’s carnival & returning post Christmas.

3 – Tom Kaye

2 – Joe Graham

1 – Aidan Bariol

Nick McLachlan

After having them one down over the week with the crucial wicket of Sutherland’s skipper, we were confident that we could defend our modest total of 176. With a bit of grass on the wicket we knew that if we put the pressure on early we could grab a few wickets

Wigney (0-14) and Wilson (2-20) opened up excellently with Brad bowling full and straight and removing the two in batsmen with some quality swing bowling. Wiggers also bowled very well with good pace and some challenging bouncers. Bishop-Perrett (0-29) and Crombie (1-29) were brought on the replace the openers and tried to continue the plan of bowling tight overs and drying up the run rate. Jimmy stuck to the plan perfectly and was rewarded with a well deserved wicket with a caught behind. Their runs were only coming from one batsmen so the veteran Ben Watts (2-16) was brought on to do some damage and managed to grab the valuable wicket in his first over of the day with a spectacular catch from Brad Wilson in the out field.

Unfortunately, the rain came after tea and brought an end to what would have been a close game with Sutherland sitting at 5-108. The boys will be looking to bounce back in the one-dayer next week

3 – Will Akhurst

2 – Brad Wilson

1 – Jacob O’Sullivan

Ryan Bishop-Perrett

The mighty 4s rocked up to Sutherland Oval looking to build on last weeks performance and chase down the remaining 130 runs. A much greener and slower outfield awaited us as the top 6 edged out the bottom 5 in the usual pre game touch.

Resuming on 0-61, Nick Cohen and Adam Gummer continued their fine form from last week, hitting the bad balls away and knocking singles all over the field. Shortly after Slothy brought up his well deserved 50, a great knock which really set up our innings and gave us a huge base to chase down the remaining runs. At 0-120 we looked to be cruising before a mix up in the middle derailed Sloths innings for a well made 73, unfortunately run out.

With rain looking ominous and 6 points up for grabs our game plan changed to score quicker and try and chase down the remaining 70 runs before tea. Brynn Mendel came to the crease and got a ball that bounced and turned, unfortunately snicking off. Gumms anchored our innings superbly, bringing up his 50 whilst still increasing the tempo of the game. Dom joined him at the crease and the two looked to score quick, however Dom held out at the deep which brought in Zach Trewartha who scored quick as the rain was coming in, however was stumped for 18 chasing quick runs.

Aiden Bennett joined Adam at the crease and the two hit the ball hard around the ground getting us over the line 10 minutes before tea. Aiden unfortunately got out for a well made 25 before Adam also was removed for a superb 80. A huge innings by Gumms who anchored our innings together and really showed how to bat and dominate the ball on a wicket that offers a lot for the bowlers which took the boys over the line for another 6 points.

Onwards and upwards from here as we build momentum leading into the Christmas break with a one-dayer against Randy-Petes next week as we look to stay at the top of the ladder.

3 – Glyn Archer

2 – Adam Gummer

1 – Nick Cohen

Alex Bain

Day two of 5th grade’s match against Sutherland began cautiously in overcast conditions at Mike Pawley Oval, as rain lingered but never threatened the day. With a big task at hand, Manly boys needed 285 to secure victory.

Skipper Will Outred and Ross Trewartha opened the batting for the Tahs, playing positive early on with some lusty shots. Despite their intent, both batsmen were met with well-bowled deliveries and were dismissed for scores in the early teens. Some soft dismissals in the middle order saw the boys looking in trouble at 4/30. A partnership between Dan McKenna and debutant Joel Davies built momentum and looked as though the boys were back in the game again. But as this momentum began, so did the wickets once again.

Despite promising attempts early from the low order to compete against Sutherlands 285 from; Evans (16), Brewster (20) and Ninness (11), the boys were unable to compete in a rough day’s cricket. In a day dominated by the bowlers, the boys were eventually bowled out for 119.

It was a tough day’s cricket for the young 5th Grade side in temperamental batting conditions. Despite this, a special mention goes to Joel Davies, Lachlan Molyneux, Oscar Lucius and Jack Hobson who all made their debut for the Tahs. The boys will be fired up and no doubt will be more competitive next week in the 1Day game against Randwick Petersham.

3 – Dan McKenna

2 – Joel Davies

1 – Jack Hobson

Luca Franks

Coming off a disappointing loss on Saturday, we were hoping a T20 game on Sunday morning would put us back on track and start a bit of momentum leading into Christmas.

Greeny lost another toss and we were again bowling first in the T20 format. We bowled well throughout the whole of Sydney’s innings, probably just giving away a few too many boundary balls. Sydney’s opener batted well (68 off 52), which was the difference in them getting to 7-149, instead of the 120-130 it was looking like early on. Mattoes (0-17 off 4) and greeny (2-18 off 4) were the pick of the bowlers, with the rest of the wickets shared around. 

We started our chase with jay getting plum lbw first ball of the innings. We struggled to get any momentum from there on, losing wickets at regular intervals. Our top 4 were all out in the power play, and from there it was going to be tough to bring it back. Greeny gave us a chance of a fight back with a well struck 50 off 35 balls. No one around him was able to get going however, and we finished the innings 7-129. Sydney bowled well with good plans and good change ups, and were the better team on the day.

With a couple one dayer’s left before Christmas, we will be looking to get some momentum leading into the 2nd half of the year. We currently sit on top of the One-day comp, and should be keen to knock off a quality side like Randwick next week at home.

Ryan Farrell

On a sparkling morning at Manly Oval, the U17 Brewers team played their first home game, and the first ever game for a Manly ladies grade team at Manly Oval.  St George won the toss and sent Manly in to bat.

Nat and Mia opened the batting against some very straight and full opening bowling.  Both openers looked very settled against the bowlers, and took the team to 0-16 after 7 overs, with the only chances a couple of close run out chances.  Their luck finally ran out when Nat was run out for 5 in the 8th over. Mia followed shortly after being bowled behind her legs for 6. Genevieve joined Robyn at the crease, and started the repeat of last weeks valuable 2nd wicket partnership. They took the score from 2-25 after 11 to 3 for 52 after 21 overs before Robyn was caught and bowled for 14. A mini collapse followed, with Sienna (3), Hannah (2), Gemma (6), and Amelia (0) fell in the next 7 overs, with Manly 7-70 after 28 overs. Chloe came in and played some magnificent shots before being bowled for 13. Jasmin (1) and then Alicia (6) joined Genevieve for the final overs, with Alicia run out on the second last ball. Genevieve remained not out on 28, with Manly finishing on 111.

With some tight bowling and good fielding from Manly, they were in with a chance.  Gemma and Alicia opened the bowling. It started well when Genevieve combined with Nat for a neat run out of the handy St George opener in the second over.  The girls did bowl a lot tighter this week.  Jasmin, Chloe, Mia, Amelia and Sienna all bowled well, but the St George batsmen took the score to 1/73 after 17 overs, well above the required run rate. Robyn got the breakthrough bowling the opener for 34, and then Mia affected the run out of their number 3. The girls lifted, and the fielding and bowling tightened considerably as the girls could see their chance, even though St George only needed 16 runs off the final 15 overs.  4 for 107 after a great stumping from Hannah off Genevieve, then 5 for 107 after a great catch in close by Nat off Sienna, then 6 for 111 after Gemma bowled a player. It was exciting, although the girls probably needed another 15 runs and the result may have been different as St George passed the total.  With bonus points on offer for both teams, St George batted on and Gemma took an amazing slips catch off Genevieve, two more run outs and Mia took the last wicket for lbw which had St George all out for 124.

The girls are improving every week. The bowling was tighter this week, the fielding fantastic.  A few more batting partnerships would help push those scores higher and give the girls more to bowl at, but progress is being made each week.

Shane Guyot