Tahs Tame Lions while Women Record big win – Weekly Wrap Rnd 6 Day 2 vs Fairfield + Womens 3rd Grade

Week 2 of Round 6 saw the Styleness Waratahs in strong positions across the 5 grades. At the end of another Saturday, Manly came away with an outright win in fifth grade, wins for both first and fourth grade, a loss for second grade and a grinding draw in third grade. Sunday also saw the Kingsgrove T20 Cup continue. Our first grade side travelled out to Hurstville to play St. George but unfortunately came away with a loss in the last over. The third grade woman’s side had a great win over Universities Blue.

Highlights of the weekend include 97 from Jack Edwards in first grade, 5/22 from 16 overs by Andrew Somerville in fourth grade, 5/16 off 8.2 by Aidan Bennett to snatch an outright victory in fifth grade.

Aidan Bennett is in some red hot form with the ball! Aidan helped fifth grade secure an outright victory over the weekend as he picked up 5/16 from 8.2 overs, and is the deserving winner of the 4 Pines Player of the Week. He has now taken back-to-back 5fa’s and doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon.

He bowled with great pace and control to dismantle Fairfield-Liverpool’s order in a great outright victory to turn fifth grade’s season right around. Jack Edwards (97) and Andrew Somerville (5/22 off 16) were also hot candidates to take out the award this week.

Well done AB! Keep up the great work.

Alovely flat wicket was rolled out before us on Saturday morning that potentially held a bit more pace in the wicket for greater scoring opportunities as we are 1-10 overnight chasing 185. Night-watchman Jake Carden fell in the first over in the day caught and bowled which brought Edwards out to the middle to join Ryan Farrell and they put on a solid partnership taking the momentum out of the Fairfield young quicks and scoring at any opportunity. Faz was batting beautifully before skying a full toss off the spinner for 34. Jay came out to the crease with the score at 3-78 and immediately looked great scoring fluently off the spinners and the quicks. We both played aggressively to the spinners and with composure to the quicks and the score quickly raced to 3-169 before Edwards fell for 97 looking to bring his hundred up with a six. Ollie then came out with Jay and finished off the game in what was a comprehensive victory for the tahs and an important 6 points.

3- Joel Foster

2- Jack Edwards

1- Steve O’Keefe 

Jack Edwards

Day 2 started with 2nd grade requiring 3 wickets and Fairfield 50 runs. We turned up hoping to find the wicket resembling the sticky pudding we batted on the previous week. Alas, it was not to be. It was about as flat as the M5 we’d spent the last hour on. The bowlers toiled well without any luck on a pitch completely devoid of life or pace. With about 15 still needed Gainsy made the breakthrough and it was game on. Things got pretty heated and threatened to boil over on several occasions. When Fairfield passed us 8 down one of the batsman exploded with a “celebration”/tirade of expletives the likes of which has no place anywhere let alone on a cricket field. Hadley came back with a brief but aggressive spell to claim the final two wickets with Fairfield 1 run ahead.

We negotiated a tricky 7 minutes before lunch before deciding to set them a target and go for the outright. We scraped to 9/150 before declaring with 25 overs left. Ash was the stand out with 53, playing a classically nonchalant innings. We bowled about 6 overs before hands were shaken and stumps were drawn with Fairfield none down. At the end of the day it was a tough loss but there were a few positives. The grit and determination the boys showed on a tough deck last week will hold them in good stead later in the season. We welcomed Hads back to grade cricket with a quick, hostile spell and a few poles. Ash’s knock was hopefully a sign of more entertaining runs to come from his flashing blade. Last but certainly not least we all got to spend a little bit of quality time in the middle with Skid.

3- Andrew Jamieson

2- Tom Kaye

1- Arshdeep Virdi

Andrew Hicks

Third grade ended up having a hard fought draw on the weekend. There is no doubt we had the better of the match and probably deserved 6 points, however unfortunately a couple of missed chances hurt us and we couldn’t quite take the 10 wickets required for victory.

The 4th grade lads made the trek out to the cow paddock that is Fairfield Park for the second day of play against Fairfield-Liverpool. With 9 wickets to take, and 150 runs on the board on an absolute meadow of an outfield, the lads were keen to hit the ground running & quietly confident that we could get the job done. After an exhilarating game of touch which ended via an intercept try with Dom burning Sommers for pace down the touchline, we had a very energetic warm up with Roy and were raring to go. Sommers & Jesse started us off with both bowlers proving far too good for 4th grade batsmen – regularly beating the outside edge but frustratingly not managing to nab a wicket. After his first spell Jesse had the incredible figures of 11 overs, none for 6. Bainy then came on & managed to bounce out the opener with his wiley medium pace as Jesse took a good catch at fine leg to finally get us underway on day 2. We took drinks with Fairfield 2/33 off 22 overs & genuinely thought they were already planning to bat out the day & claim the 1 point for a draw with the lack of intent they were showing. Jimmy then came on with immediate dividends, claiming two quick wickets straight after drinks, followed by a third a short time later bowling in a great partnership with Bainy to leave Fairfield reeling at 5/55 at tea.

After another underwhelming tea spread, and a local Volleyball game featuring the best athletes Brazil had to offer in the mid 70s taking centre court, we came out keen to put the game to bed. Ironically we were put to sleep ourselves by some incredibly boring batting which saw us go wicketless to drinks with the score creeping along to 5/90 off 60 overs. With tensions starting to build we turned to Sommers for an injection of pace, and he managed to nick off the stodgy old timer first over after drinks followed by their captain to a truly terrible shot who skied it to Pipes at mid off, which gave us all an injection of belief as well as a pleasant surprise from the walking bicep for actually hanging onto one. In his next over, Sommers continued to hone in on the stumps, claiming an LBW & then cleaning up the stumps very next ball to earn himself a maiden 5 fa for the club. The hattrick wasn’t to be, but Bainy managed to clean up at the other end to bowl Fairfield out for 125 & take home an extremely hard earned 6 points late in the day. Props must go to all the bowlers who stuck to the task & toiled hard all day on a flat pitch, as well as to Wakka for his performance behind the stumps despite not keeping for a couple of years. Go Manly!

3- Andrew Somerville

2- Adam Gummer

1- Jimmy Crombie

Dom Wheeler

Returning to Mike Pawley for the second week, the boys were looking for the 6 points for the day. Resuming play at 0/16, Maso and Oscar Lucius continued to score runs frequently with Joel dispatching the bowling all around the ground. Maso fell for a well-made 40 and the boys 1/60. Charles joined Oscar in the middle and continued to continually score runs. The manly boys occupied the crease and scored quickly putting the pressure back on the Fairfield bowlers. The partnership was broken with Oscar scoring a well-made 37 with Manly in a commanding position. Runs continued to pile for the boys with Charles scoring 66, Osborne 26, and Joel Davies scoring a quick fire 64 to put us in a solid position for outright following tea.

With the ever smart Loz giving advice to skipper Dylan, the boys sent Fairfield back into bat for the last session. Pressure was immediately put upon the opposition with Dylan striking in the second over and Aidan Bennet striking not too much longer, the boys increased the pressure. With AB dismantling the off stump and a catch by the new short leg (Jake Osborne), Fairfield were in shambles. A great spell of bowling from Davies (4/25) and some fantastic fielding from Falcs, the Manly boys had taken apart the batting lineup. A welcome return to the side for AB taking 5/16, the boys successfully completed the outright victory gaining the 10 vital points from the weekend.

3 – Aidan Bennet

2 – Joel Davies

1 – Lachlan Charles

Lachlan Charles

The Manly boys arrived at Hurstville Oval for skipper Lenton to win the toss and have a bat. After a rocky start being 3 for 27, losing in form Weston, Farrell and Lenton within the powerplay, Doonan and Davies arrived at the crease to put on 89 run partnership to have the team back on track. Doonan, scoring runs for fun, decided it was time to give some of the boys down the order a hit and threw his shoulder out. For all those who are worried, he is fine. Davies was dismissed soon after for 64 with Foster finishing off the innings with 18 to get the total to 160.

On a small Hurstville Oval and a quick outfield it was always going to be a tricky task defending a smaller total. After a solid start having St George 2 for 26, they continued to form small partnerships at key moments of the game staying one step ahead of us. The boys were able to take it to the last over, but some strong hitting from the lower order of the St George batting line up was just enough to get them over the line. Sam Gainsford was the pick of the bowlers finishing with figures of 1 for 22 off 4 overs. Although having an L next to our name, it was a strong performance considering having an undesirable start.

Ollie Davies

Manly won the toss and sent Universities Blue in to bat. Mia Waddington and Chelsea McLerie took new ball. The girls bowled good lines to build pressure until Chelsea forced a top edge from an attempted pull shot to be caught by Sienna James.

Manly rotated through the bowlers continuing the high standard but the next wicket was hard to come by. The Uni batters played well building a slow but steady partnership of over 50. Sarah, Sienna, Claire and Issy all doing their job well but it was Robyn Medley who got the break through. Removing both batters within 3 overs, both to sharp catches by Olivia Hough. The new batters started to lift the run rate however as it started to creep up closer to 3 an over.

Kristie Crawford cleaned bowled the next wicket to fall to have Uni 4-86 after 29 overs with Uni in a reasonable position to build a good total. Olivia was introduced to the attack and struggled to find her length early until she forced a top edge for a great catch by Sarah Gordon sprinting in from fine leg. From then on Liv found her lines and picked up a little edge for a catch behind by Nat Guyot.

Skipper Mia brought herself back into the attack bringing another wicket with a third sharp catch to Liv at short cover. Uni now 7-98 and Manly hoping to close out the innings. However, the Uni batters were up to the task putting on another 20 in the last 5 overs and finishing on 121 for 7 wickets after their 40 overs.

A good platform was required for a solid run chase needing 3 an over. Four runs off the first ball set the tone with Nat and Robyn opening up in a positive mood. The scorebook kept ticking over until Robyn cut one to short gully – we were now 1/37 off 10 overs. Kristie Crawford came in and continued the momentum until Nat was bowled. Sienna James came in and also looked good from the start continuing the positive approach until chipping one to cover. Mia came and went quickly and now 4-50 off 14 over with Manly requiring a little bit more caution as the run rate was in hand. Olivia Hough started to build a partnership with Kristie but when Liv was out caught, Manly had a lot of work to do at 5-64 after 17 overs.

Kristie was a calming influence however as Renee Hough came to the crease. Renee is not normally known for her forward defence but showed on the day that she is more than capable of defending the good ball in between smashing the occasional ball to the boundary. Kristie and Renee paced their innings perfectly. The scoreboard slowly ticking over as required as we edged closer and closer to the Universities total.

Dramatically Renee was run out by a mankad from the Uni bowler as she causally strolled down the wicket backing up completely unaware the bowler had stopped mid-stride. In an act of sportsmanship however the Uni skipper called Renee back to continue her innings.

Kristie and Renee saw us home in the 34^th over and we elected to play on for bonus points that might be needed to try to sneak into the semi-finals. Kristie and Renee both put away the forward defence and started to attack. Kristie then retired in the second last over on 51 not out and Chelsea came in to try to help Renee get the 4 runs she required to retire. Unfortunately, Renee could only manage singles and finished on 49 not out.

Manly finished 5-170 after our 40 overs.

We have a bye in the last round next week so our 40 over finals fate is in other hands.