Manly finished the regular season on the weekend winning 3 out of 5 grades. As a club we finished 8^th in the club championship. The 5 grades final spot on the ladder is as follows:

1^st Grade: 10^th
2^nd Grade: 8^th
3rd Grade: 1^st
4^th Grade: 10^th
5^th Grade: 2^nd

Congratulations to 3^rd and 5^th grade on achieving home finals. 3^rd grade will be playing against Hawkesbury while 5^th grade will take on Bankstown.

Player of the Week – Andrew Jeffery

AJ finished his season on a good note on Saturday, making a season high 94. A seasoned first grade bat, AJ’s presence in the young 2^nd grade team has been a major factor in their outstanding post Christmas form, which has unfortunately ended just short of a finals birth. Well Done mate!

First Grade Report VS Wests – Jack Ritchie

We entered Saturday knowing we had to win and a few other results had to go our way. We were sent in on an underprepared deck and were soon 5-70. A few good partnerships developed from there, with Mitch Cleary (39) and the author (25) batting around Luke Edgell (60), who played a very mature knock. We ended up with 209, a more than competitive total given the state of the wicket.

We bowled very well early and had Wests on the back foot. After about 25 overs, work came through that results had not gone our way, and subconsciously we probably took our foot off the pedal a bit. This, combined with some excellent hitting from the Wests skipper, they passed the total 5 down in the 49^th over.

Second Grade Report

Report Pending

Third Grade Report – Craig Little

We played Wests the smallish Blick Oval in the last round of the season knowing that a win would be enough to secure the minor premiership.

We lost the toss and were asked to bowl on a good wicket. The pitch was a bit slow but Wests started ok, being 1 for 30 off 7 overs. We didnt bowl to well throughout the innings though. We bowled alot of wides at regular times which let the pressure off their batsmen. However we kept taking wickets thanks to probably our best fielding effort all season. With 2 direst hit run outs from Reece and Mezza, a great one hand catch at 45 from Nick off Parko and another run out from Reece, we restricted Wests to 176 off 49 overs. The top score was S. Undries who made 31 including 24 wides. Mez was the pick of our bowlers this week but was unlucky not to pick up a wicket. Our 3 runouts, Parko 2, Genie 2, Nick 1, Prowsie 1 and Reece 1 contributing to the wickets.

We started our chase well. Loose and Gums looking really comfortable until loose had a rush of blood and skied one on 38. Javed joined Gums and the pair took us to our target of 176 in 43 overs. They never looked troubled, even by any words that the Magpies could come up with. Gums finished with a fantastic 75 and Javed 40. From such a young pair at the crease they showed maturity well beyond their years. Well done boys.

So, another job done, another win and and we finish as minor premiers for the 2nd year running. This weekend we are at Manly against Hawkesbury. Thats our focus. This QF only, one game at a time.

Fourth Grade Report – Joel Mason

With the team out of contention for the Semi’s after a disappointing last 2 rounds, 4’s rocked up to Atmosphere Park with a determined attitude to finish the season off on a good note. However, what greeted us when we got there was not a great sight. Grahams has been a bit of a shipwreck all year, but the standard of the whole ground on Saturday was quite disgusting. The pitch was a nightmare, not only wet but looking like not much work had been done, the outfield was atrocious, and the stench from the toilets was beyond description. Something needs to be done about our lower grade home ground and fast, as apologising to the opposition captain before the start of play is not something I enjoy doing.

Anyway, the toss went our way and we put the opposition in. The deck was a nightmare, with the ball popping everywhere. To be fair, the Wests openers batted with alot of skill and determination in the opening 10-15 overs to be a slow 0-32. However we were bowling well, with Wazza ‘s muscle memory losing nothing in putting it on a dime once again, and our fielding was up. So when Digits produced the first wicket, brilliantly caught at second slip.... we were on our way. From that point on it was a steady stream of wickets. The deck started to dry out and improve, but some good bowling, tight fielding and some hard but fair cricket saw us keep Wests to 172 from their 50 overs. The last 10 overs was especially pleasing with only 35 runs coming from them. All 5 bowlers contributed to the wicket tally, with Luke Grant taking 2 for 30, Bang Bang Burgess 2-36, and Digits 2-38.

With our batting being our problem all year, we wanted to go out there and make a statement early. Mason and Boss opened up and quickly asserted their dominance, racing to 0-50 off the first 5 overs, Bossy hitting some great bombs and Mason being especially severe on the short balls both sides of the wicket. He really is a fantastic batsman in full flight.... anyway, Mason had run one too many 3’s and decided to give another batsman a chance when on 40, I mean 39, and Deano arrived to join his “Scotty”. Bossy left the scene on 115 for a well made 56, his first ever grade 50, and Deano soon after for 24. But Stino (32no) and Lance (19no) both showed the class that they have as batsman by picking off the required 40 runs in the next few overs, with us chasing down 172 inside 29 overs.

We had the better of the conditions but you can only play what is put in front of you, and we were clearly the better side. The win Almost makes the season a little harder to take, as we had so much talent in our side, especially our batting, but we just weren’t mentally good enough when we needed to be. So our focus goes onto the footy season (go the Rats), but the pre-season always comes around quickly. See you all next season.

Fifth Grade Report – Dave Farrell

There was a lot to play for at Punchbowl Park on Saturday. Wests still had asniff of finals and we could have dropped to 5th with a loss.

The deck was really tacky, so bowling first was the right choice after winning the toss. Arshdeep once again swung the ball huge and had 2 wickets in his opening spell, both well caught by Pughy at short mid wicket. Butch found his rhythm to also pick up 1 by the same fielder and the Tahs were into their middle order for not many on the board. Pughy and the skipper came on and continued the good work, claiming another 3 wickets and all of a sudden we had the chance to bowl them out really cheaply. Esky Ashe then bowled one of the best overs seen this summer. Cameron had figures of 3 for 0 after it, reducing the Westies to 9 for 71. His next over saw a big
outside edge missed by the umpire. Esky should have had 4 for 0, but these things happen in cricket. A frustrating last wicket stand of 30 got Wests to 101 all out after 42 overs. Great catching effort from the boys. Not 1 went down all innings.

Arshdeep - 2 for 25
Butch - 1 for 17
Farrell - 3 for 12
Pughy - 1 for 12
Esky - 3 for 10

I was looking for a bonus point, not a close chase when it was our turn to bat. 5 ducks later, we were in serious trouble towards the end. Thicky's proved our saviour on the day, with a masterclass in concentration and technique. Jarrod's 40 not out was the only reason we came away with the points. A few of our batsmen really have to take a good hard look at
themselves after the manner of their dismissals. Not up to grade standard. We got there in the end 8 down.
Thicky's - 40no
The rest - Not many

We move on to the Finals, at home (Grahams) to Bankstown Sat/Sun. Success will only come with desire and commitment. To all at Manly, come down and cheer on the mighty 5's.