Young Guns Show Their Worth to Kick off 2018 With Mixed Results Against the Magpies – MN RD8

The start of 2018 saw the TravelSim Waratahs up against the Western Suburbs Magpies. With plenty of unavailabilities, it was an opportunity for many people to step up and ensure the Tahs start 2018 with a bang. However, this was not the case as only 1st grade and 5th grade managed victories. First grade got back into the winners circle due to an all-round performance from all the lads. We made 8/255 from our 50 overs, we restricted Wests to 241. Second grade had a disappointing loss as we bowled out Wests for 127 but we could only manage 80 in return as we lost our last 6 wickets for 4 runs. Third grade also had a disappointing loss as we restricted Wests to 163, but the batting let us down as we were bowled out for 138. Fourth grade were bowled our for 184 in the last over and Wests chased our total down with the loss of 6 wickets. Fifth grade had a great win as we were bowled our for 216 and bowled Wests out for 202. A clutch win from the young fifth grade side. PG’s continue their winning ways against Northern District as we made 9/199 off our 50 after being 7/110. We restricted ND’s to 7/165 from their 50.

Highlights of the weekend included two first grade debutants in Ollie Davies and Joel Foster. A first grade hat-trick to Joey Graham to close out the match in the dying stages. A suburb 75 from young gun Joel Davies in fifth grade and an inspired spell of 4/32 from stand-in skipper Dylan Marshall. Finally, a terrific 55* from 57 deliveries batting at 9 to give PG’s a competitive total, which ended up being the difference in the result. 

Young man Izzy V showed what a weapon he is as he proved to be the difference in PG’s round 8 tussle with NDs. Coming in at 9 in dire straights at 7/110, Isaiah batted with maturity and placement as he went about setting the win up for the good guys to finish on an impressive 55* off 57 deliveries on a day where many struggled to bat with a strike rate of 50+. Isaiah got Manly to 9/199 from 50 overs, which ended up being a winning score making his knock the more important.

It wasn’t the highest score of the weekend but it was without a doubt the most important as it now guarantees the PG’s side a finals birth with one round to go! Congrats mate, very well deserved!

The boys were back after a great festive period ready to go, and what better way to start the year than at the picturesque Manly Oval.

Wests won the toss and sent us in to bat, Faz went early chipping one to Mid Off without troubling the scorers, Jay Lenton and A Crossy toughed it out in difficult conditions putting on a 100 run stand, Jay was struggling to find his rhythm but worked his way to a well made 50, just as he started to find the middle of the bat consistently he held out to deep square for 68. AB joined Crossy out in the middle, and these two continued to pick up the pace of the Tahs innings, batting very smartly picking up the ones and twos and putting the bad ball to the fence. Adam eventually was out for 58 after another 50 run Partnership with AB. In came the young 17 year-old Ollie Davies on debut. From Ball one, Ollie batted with confidence and was picking apart the Wests bowling attack with ease. AB & Ollie continued the momentum of the innings before AB was caught for a well made 41. Ollie continued to dominate with Nappa scoring at a run a ball at the other end, it was a pleasure to watch but unfortunately Ollies innings came to a end on 44 off just 37 deliveries. The innings was finished off very well by Nappa, Tommy Kaye and Joel Foster. The Tahs making 255 off their 50 overs.

The Manly Boys got off to a pretty solid start with Viss trapping one of the Wests openers in front with the score on 19, Foz got the second wicket and his first wicket in First Grade for the Tahs with a lovely edge to Faz at first slip. Wests batted pretty well in the middle overs with the 4th wicket partnership putting on 100. From there, the game was always in the balance and when the number 8 hit two sixes in a row, Wests were probably in the better position, but Joey Graham changed that the next over with a First Grade Hattrick!!! The First one was thanks to an absoulute screamer on the boundary by Adam Crosthwaite to remove the in form batsman on 91, the second was another solid catch by Viss to remove the dangerous number 8 and the third wicket was thanks to the batter running past one and a nice bit of work behind the stumps from Lenton. From there it was our game with Foz taking the last wicket in the final over with Wests all out for 235. 

A great way to start 2018 and to get us back on the winners list. UP THE TAHS!

Match Points:

3- Jay Lenton 

2- Joe Graham 

1- Adam Crosthwaite

Jake Carden

The second grade Mortons arrived at Pratten park and were greeted by a slightly tacky wicket. This prompted new skipper Sammy Gainsford to have a bowl so our seamers could make use of any movement early. The boys bowled the house down to have wests out for 127, the chief destroyers being Jamo 3 fa and RBP 3 fa. We fielded superbly and created a couple of run outs as well.

Unfortunately over the lunch break the wicket dried out and hardened up which would usually be a good thing, but in this case a shambolic deteriorating wicket made the run chase very difficult as we were bundled out for 86. 9 out of our 10 wickets were bowled or lbw which tells a story, and of these at least half rolled and hit near the base of the stumps or pads. It was disappointing to have such a wicket prepared for a one day match and was certainly not enjoyable for anyone. The morts will bounce back bigger and better next week.

Match Points:

3- Andrew Jamieson

2- Ryan Bishop-Perrett

1- Jack Ritchie

Logan Weston

The wait was no longer as the much anticipated post-christmas cricket had begun. A quintessential morning at Grahams with the deck looking like a nice flat surface, sprinkled with the life of green grass. A new formed 3rd grade side with debutants Alex Bain and Glyn Archer set to make their mark on the ”main grade”. Wilson and Archer opened the bowling looking dangerous with every ball seeing to follow the classic line “it’ll do a bit”. Archer ended up proving extremely dangerous with copious amounts of play-and-misses and ending up snaring a well fought 2-16 (10). Alex Bain also looked superb and his efforts were relayed with phenomenal figures of 3-25 (9). Similarly, Hicksy and Bomber (Edgell) continued the fine form of the quicks, snaring 2 key wickets each. Ultimately, the bowling unit restricted Wests to a competitive target of 163.

Skipper Sammy Hole and Nick Cohen led the boys out however the grass on the wicket seemed to hang around as the tahs were in a bit of strife, with wickets crumbling left, right and centre. However Sam Webber and Luke Edgell fought hard, batting with patience and holding immense value on their wicket. Webber’s efforts were rewarded with his superb final score of 57, however falling short of reaching the target, Vumbaca assisting him at the end. The Tah’s were not out to play today as we fell agonisingly short of the total needed- leaving us only with the hope of what could have been. However we shall bounce bag next week eager as ever, in pursuit of chanting that beautiful song again.

Match Points:

3- Alex Bain

2- Sam Webber

1- Luke Edgell

Isaiah Vumbaca

2018 started with a trip to Canterbury for 4th grade to see 1st place take on 3rd at Blick Oval. Winning the toss, returning captain Gummer chose to bat on a firm wicket, with runs on the board seeming invaluable as the temperature rose. Tight bowling from the West’s openers saw the Waratah’s consilidating after an early wicket. Mendel and Pickering did a great job seeing this through and working on a platform as the innings progressed, both eventually falling for 27. From here, Crombie played exceptionally, anchoring the innings but struggling to find any long term partners as our middle order came and went. Jimmy eventually departed for an invaluable 36. With 17 overs remaining and too few runs on the board, Falconer saw his chance. Hook shots for 6, lofted drives into the site screen, late cuts and crafty singles. Even the chance of continuing his season without being dismissed could not ease Ben’s apetite for runs as he was caught on the boundary to end our innings in the final over. An outstanding innings that allowed us an opportunity to defend a competitive 185.

Ninnes and Counsell made the most of a fast, bouncy wicket, reducing West’s to 3 wickets and a retiree down for 24. With the game balanced evenly, we knew we had to take the remaining wickets to walk away with the points. Some experienced batting from West’s was making this easier said than done. Some lapses in intent and energy with both the ball and our fielding saw the defecit shrink as the batsmen played with good one day tactics. Crombie’s introduction into the attack blunted those efforts excellenty. He bowled incredibly with his line, length and pace, cornering their batsmen into some unnecessary shots – one held onto very impressively by Pickering. Fighting hard in blistering heat, the ‘tahs did everything they could to run through the last few wickets but unfortunately were not able to do so, despite some inspiring energy at the crease from Ninnes towards the end of the day. West’s passed our total 6 wickets down in the 39th over. A hard game between two top of the table teams, better adapting to the 1 day game proving to be the decider.

Match Points:

3- Jimmy Crombie

2- Ben Falconer

1- Jack Pickering

Big Mike

The mighty (and young) 5th grade side rocked up to MPO on Saturday, greeted with a surprisingly green deck, quite unusual to the normal highways seen earlier in the season. Skipper lost the toss and we were sent in to bat, a decision that was a positive one for the Manly boys. With 3 debutants for the side and the majority of the team under 16, runs on the board was the aim of the game. Openers Dignam and Lucius looked positive, with Dignam blazing away over cover before losing them quite quickly. Alexander and Ovenden rebuilt and put on 60, looking very good against a spirited West’s attack, before we lost a couple of wickets quickly to be teetering at around 4/80. Marshall came and went, but it was a skill and maturity of Joel Davies that came to the rescue, scoring a highly impressive 75 just when the team needed it. With the tail hanging around with Davies, we managed to get to 216, definitely a competitive total on an unusually slow MPO outfield.

Brewster and Seward opened the bowling and struggled to hit lengths, the opening spell not being our best, however the energy was up between all the lads and that was the tone set for the bowling innings. Molyneux and McKay bowled well, not getting the results that they deserved but still creating pressure throughout. The spinners bowled well, a real highlight being the leggies of Luke Morley, bowling extremely well for 0/26 off 7, showing a real future with the Manly boys in the future. Marshall came on and bowled a few, with the West’s boys batting well and looking like chasing down the target. Enter Josh Seward who took his first grade wicket, then rattled the stumps of their opening bat who was on 80 odd, all but ending their chances of winning, ending up about 20 runs short. 4 wickets to Marshall, 3 to Seward and an overall pretty good all round bowling and fielding effort by the lads. Definitely a good introduction for the young guys into what grade cricket entails, and a positive way to head into next week against UNSW at MPO. Go manly! 

Match Points:

3- Joel Davies

2- Dylan Marshall

1- Josh Seward

Dylan Marshall

The PGs boys arrived at Mark Taylor Oval with a very warm day ahead of them. Skipper Gainsford won the toss and we were ready for a bat. Foster was given a promotion to the top of the order and showed his class, scoring a run a ball 32. His opening partner Bariol fell early on in the innings. Gainsford played around for 17. The boys unfortunately lost wickets at times when batsmen looked to take the game on. At 7/110 we really needed someone from the lower order to step up. In which they did. Vumbaca (55*) whacked them to all parts. He was helped along by Somerville (20). The Tahs finished their 50 over at 9-199, which was very pleasing on a pitch that was slowly deteriorating.

The heat nudged around 40 degrees as the boys made there way back onto the field. The first 10 overs went by without a wicket. Until Davies ran their opening out with a great direct hit from cover. We then went bang bang and had NDs 3/48. The rangers batsmen stuck around but never really tried to push the score along. They required 90 off the last 15 with 6 wickets in hand. Our bowlers were tidy in their execution and managed to restricts NDs to 165 off there 50. Another 6 points for the mighty tahs. Securing another finals berth. Up the tahs!

Zach Trewartha

This weeks Harbord Diggers Team of the Week is a belter, which includes much experience mixed with some great youth performances across the grades and in PGs. The openers this week is the young gun duo of Joel Davies and Adam Crosthwaite… with young Adam also skippering the side. Jay Lenton comes in at first drop after his 64 in first grade. The ever reliable Sam Webber comes in at 4 to share the honours of taking the gloves with Jay for 25 overs each. The 4 Pines Player of the Week, Isaiah Vumbaca stars at #5 after his match winning 55* in PGs. Ollie Davies is at 6 with a terrific first grade debut scoring 44 off 37 balls. The spin duo of Dylan Marshall and Joe Graham are in at 7 and 8 respectively after their impressive 4 wicket hauls. The three pronged pace attack in Jamo, RBP and Baino will provide nightmares to any opening batsman across the grade competition!

Congratulations to all these boys on making the Harbord Diggers Team of the Week!