4 Pines Player of the Week – Adam Crosthwaite
This week the 4 Pines Player of the Week award was deservedly won by 1st grade batsman Adam “Crossy” Crosthwaite who scored a sublime run-a-ball, unbeaten ton AND 54* in the second dig to secure a convincing outright win on Saturday against Blacktown not to mention a vital half-century on Sunday against UNSW. Crossy has been in absolutely devastating form in recent weeks, plundering three half centuries in three of the last four T20 matches to go with his combined 156 runs in the longer format of the game on Saturday. Featuring some signature bombs over the tennis courts, his ton was an entertaining knock that really gave Manly the momentum needed to gain a valuable 10 points on a pitch that offered very little assistance to bowlers. Despite the occasional missed yo-yo test here and there Crossy came out of pre-season all guns blazing and has been a consistent performer in all forms for the top grade this year. It’s fantastic to have a player of Crossy’s immense talent and experience playing for our great club. Sometimes he is just too good for any 1st grade attack. Congratulations on an exceptional weekend of cricket Crossy, keep up the great work!!
1st Grade – Manly 1/89 (L. Edgell 41*) vs Blacktown 191 (N. McLachlan 5/37, N. Bills 2/40, J. Munting 2/46)
First grade rocked up to Manly Oval needing around 90 runs for victory with 9 wickets in hand against Blacktown on Saturday, looking to try and set the game up for a rare 10-point outright. After another LVP display in touch footy, Adam Crosthwaite got back to doing what he does well, and that’s churning out the runs. After an early wicket, Crossy (102*), supported by 2nd XI big dog Ahillen Beadle (32) and all-round creep Jay Lenton (8*) got the side over the line and then some, smashing 130 in the first session to rack up the 6 points before lunch. Crossy just carried on from where he left off in the T20’s, combining finesse with power to decimate the flat Blacktown side to reach his first hundred of the season off less than 100 balls. Skipper Timmy T-bone Cruickshank declared around 30 in front and put the Warriors back in after lunch on a fast flattening track.
Nic Bills (2/23) opened up for Manly, turning in his best shift for the Tah’s so far, taking two early poles on the unforgiving deck. He bowled with great rhythm and aggression, hurrying the Blacktown quicks and was definitely unlucky not to pick up a few more. Leg spinner & all-round loose dude Luke Diserens (4/24) picked up where Billsy left off, delivering 6 excellent overs & was rewarded with 4 wickets. This included an absolute jaffa to dismiss the number 7 first ball, which Jay Lenton called the “Gatting ball of grade cricket”, cheers Jay. Blacktown lost 5/24 & went to tea at 6/105, with the Tah’s in sight of an outright.
Entreprenuer & salad-smith Nick McLachlan (4/24) gave a lesson in burglary after the tea break, snaring the last 4 wickets for 3 runs to leave the Tah’s with 89 to get from 28 overs. After an early wicket, Adam Crosthwaite (54*) & Luke Edgell (27*) calmly steered the side to a massive 10 point win, Crossy sealing it with a few trademark bombs into Barefoot Café. Well done lads.
Special mention must go to (my) O’Reilly Medal Favourite Simon Keen who scored 100 for Blacktown in the first dig & an unbeaten half-century in the second dig, carrying his bat. He was definitely batting to a different tune all game & was all class.
Tunnel on
Nickos
Crossy celebrating his ton and hitting out on Saturday
Click on the image above for video highlights from Day 1
Manly travelled to Village Green to take on UNSW in game one of the Sunday T20 double header. The Uni boys were keen for a victory having won 1 from 2 the weekend before, and needed a win to keep their semi-final hopes alive. Cruickshank won the toss and chose to bat first, however lost his wicket in the 2nd over. An early always results in a steady period, and we crawled to 1 for 16 off 4. From this point on, Adam Crosthwaite exploded, hitting 55 off the next 5 overs to take us to 1 for 70 after 9. Crossy hit his 3rd score over 50 in as many innings over the weekend, showing he is well and truly in form. His dismissal at 1 for 73 triggered a collapse, however Jay Lenton held the innings together from no.5 with 40 no off 25 balls, steering the Tahs to 8 for 146 off our 20 overs.
In reply, UNSW were cruising at 1 for 84, however the big ground proved too much for them, falling 14 runs short only 6 down. Taylor Beatty with 2 poles and Nick McLachlan with 3 were the stars.
AB celebrates a wicket on Sunday
T20 Game 2: Mosman 106 def by Manly 7/112 (Beadle 3/17, Pugh 2/10)
A short car trip from UNSW to Mosman set the stage for game 2. A good crowd was in attendance thanks to the presence of Brett Lee in the Mosman line-up. It was great to have such a legend of Australian Cricket back playing grade cricket. Shankcruik again won the toss and batted, but we were in trouble early as Cameron Merchant was given out LBW and Tim again lost his poles early thanks to a Lee yorker. As the innings went on it was obvious that the pitch was playing slow and low, and any score around 120 was going to be very defendable. Crosthwaite was hitting them beautifully again when he went for 1 too many off Lee and played on, while the innings was held together by Justin Cox and Lenton again. Coxy especially made a valuable contribution, not taking any risks but batting sensibly and getting us up to 112 off our 20.
Mosman started well with a 4 first ball, but from that point onwards, Bills and Edwards had the batsman’s measure. Edwards was especially hard to get away, going for an astonishing 5 runs off his 4 overs. Bills got their opener with a beauty before getting punched by the ground (hope you are OK Buff), and McLachlan, Beatty and Beadle did their job. But the game changed when the ball was in the hand of Mitchell Pugh. Pughy took a screamer of a caught and bowled, and then proceeded to go straight through Brett Lee to rock his castle first ball, followed by outstanding celebrations from the Manly crowd and by Pughy himself.
Ultimately the Whales didn’t have enough depth and were bowled out with 1 ball remaining in their innings for 106.
The Tahs finish first in the Sixers conference and we will be taking on St George at Drummoyne Oval on the night of Tuesday 28th October for a right to go through to the Semi Final, being played at the SCG on Sunday 2nd November.
Go Manly!!
Pughy celebrates after going through Brett Lee first ball
2nd Grade – Manly 207 (Beatty 6/80 [19], Grant 3/53 [21]) def Blacktown 204
2nd grade turned up to sunny Blacktown looking for our first win of the 2014 season. The home side resumed at 0-38 chasing 207 to win. Pughy (0-37) and Taylor (6/80) opened up in search of early wickets and we didn’t have to wait long. In the second over, Tay got our first which got the ball rolling. Both Taylor and Mitch bowled aggressive spells which tested the batsmen, however Blacktown managed to survive and move the score to 1-72. Just when they were looking set, Taylor took back to back wickets after sharp catches by Jordan and Walts in the cordon. 3-72… Game on.
Luke (3/53) and Dylan (1-33) then came on to bowl and managed to restrict Blacktown’s scoring and strung together consecutive maidens. The pressure led to a tough caught and bowled chance for Dylan, who made no mistake with his second grab at it. Meanwhile LG continued to bowl with incredible consistency, tying down the other end and grabbing a vital wicket just before lunch. 5-123 at the break.
When play resumed, Luke and Dyl continued, while Blacktown tried to counter with more aggressive batting. Eventually, the dot balls paid off for LG who took the next two wickets as the score moved to 7-163. While Luke tried to keep the scoring down from one end, it was Taylor who stole the show as it came down to the wire. As the game looked to be getting away from us, Tay took the last 3 poles of the game. The last wicket came with just 5 runs needed for a Blacktown victory. It was an amazing effort from LG and Taylor! They both bowled their heart out all day to lead us to victory. LG took 3 valuable poles during his superhuman 21 overs straight, while Tay ended up with 6/80, however it would be unfair to forget the role Dylan and Pughy played throughot the game, bowling valuable spells when given the ball. Overall it was an extremely character building win and one that will help us build into next week against Gordon.
Up the Tahs!
3rd Grade – Manly 8/274 [67] (Farrel 80, Cole 71, Gainsford 54) drew Blacktown 8 dec. 287 [92] (R. Davis 2/19)
in 3 with two wickets in hand. It was very tempting to keep on having a go knowing Boyer/Davis/Toomey were capable of getting the runs but the call was made to shut up and not let Blacktown’s negative tactics result in points. The very wide of off stump bowling and defensive fields were bewildering to say the least.
Matt Cole hitting out on Saturday
4th Grade – Manly 9/189 (Carden 59, Trewartha 35) def Blacktown 188
Turning up to Whalan reserve, we saw the deck had held up well after the week’s weather. After a shaky start Billy D’arcy and Jake Carden (59) combined well to turn the momentum back to the tahs. Jake scored with freedom as billy turned the strike over well. Losing Jake before tea, Ross Trewartha (35) came in and steadied the innings with billy to take us through to drinks. A middle order collapse didn’t help our cause as we lost 4/16 with Jacob Graham (24*) and Zach Trewartha (26) showing great patience and maturity to guide us ever so close to their total. But just as the result appeared inevitable, Zach lost his wicket, and then Ben falconer was run out, leaving the scores level. Josh wigney kept pulses racing until Jacob hit one through cover to secure 6 points for the Tahs!
Max Burgess
5th Grade – Manly 7/291 (J. Graham 89, T. Kelly 45, J. Pickering 42, J. Wood 37*) def Blacktown 169
Go Manly!
Jo Graham
