A slightly disappointing weekend for the Manly boys with some fantastic, fighting performances combined with a couple of dissappointing floggings. While still a mathematical chance, with only 2 rounds to go the results may just be telling when the season is over and the Club Championship winner is known.
But there is a positive in every negative, and 3rd Grades crushing win against the 3rd place Bankstown side has them geared up for another crack at the minor premiership. 2nd Grades close win continues a season of getting up in those tight ones, and they sit 5 points out of the top 6 with 2 rounds remaining. And with Sunday's crushing 1st Grade One Day Semi Final win against Fairfield at Rosedale, the worlds biggest ground, we already have one team into the decider. If we keep up the work at training and the intensity on the field, winning a few competitions is not out of our grasp.
Don't forget to get down to Manly Oval on Sunday to support the First Grade boys in their quest for our first One Day title in 6 years against Sydney Uni. Click here to download flyer
Player of the Week - Matt Cranney
Loose Cranney was at his punishing best on Saturday, smoking 95 against Bankstown in 3rd Grade to continue his fantastic form this season. Loose has now hit 502 runs this season (including one innings in 2nd Grade), and is the leading run scorer in the 3rd Grade competition. With Loose officially announcing his retirement next year to concentrate on work, music and making babies lets hope he goes out by winning a comp. Special to mention to Ryan "Doochman" Bonner for his 62 and 2 for in the 2nd dig, Michael Visser for a well deserved 4 wicket hall in 2nd grade, Andrew Jeffrey for his fighting 67 also in 2's, and Joel Mason for a brilliant fielding exhibition in 4th Grade. Shane Cleary, Adam Crosthwaite and Ben Davis also showed their class in the one day victory against Fairfield.
1st Grade Report vs Bankstown
Manly 92 and 1 for 69 Defeated by Bankstown 203
After rolling Bankstown for 203 the week before, 1st Grade were feeling confident of realingin the total with little difficulty. However, Dan McLaughlan had other ideas. The opening bowler ripped through our top order to leave us 7 for 40, with
only Tim Cruickshank offering any type of resistance with 22. At that point, our lower order started to dig in, with Bomber making a patient 18 not out, Jimmy Muntingwith 18 and Jackson Bird with 15. But it proved to be to big an ask, andwe were bundled out for a paltry 92. The Second dig came and went without much fuss, but the loss now puts us just out of the top 6. Onto next week vs Penrith.
2nd Grade Report vs Bankstown
Manly 8 for 193 Defeated Bankstown 191
Beginning the day at 5/132, Bankstown were looking to get on with it, but a fantastic bowling effort, once again, proved to be too much for Bankstown and they were bundled out for 191 off 91 overs. Star of the day was Michael Visserwith 4/68, andDylan Marshall with 2/28. However, all the bowlers toiled well.
In reply, our batting struggled once again, with only AJ standing up and going on with an innings of substance with 69. However, only Javed Badyari and Beaver got over 20, with Javed's innings showing his maturity in basically getting us over the line. We passed Bansktown 8 down to win another close one, but our batting still needs to improve if we are to give the competition a shake. Still, 5 points from the top 6 and we are still a massive chance of a semi final spot.
3rd Grade Report vs Bankstown
Manly 3 for 193 Defeated Bankstown 171
To view the 3rd Grade action from the weekend, courtesy of club photographer Ian Bird, click here
After the week befores spectacular bowling from Adam "Inzy" Parkinson, along with some great fielding, helping reduce 3rd place Bankstown to 173, Loose and Ryan "The Doochman" Bonner started the day confident at 0/12. At 0/120 odd, that confidence was full blown ecstasy as the main grade was well on the way to bouncing back from the previous rounds loss to Hawsbury. We ended up knocking over the required runs 2 wickets down. Star of the day was Loose with a fantastic 95 to continue his main grade dominance, but he was well supported by Doochman who hit a patient 62 off 120 odd balls. Aparently there was a bomb or 2 in there, but he is showing that is maturing as a batsman and is in the frame for some big runs come finals.
Our top order batting has been one of our strengths all year and it was no exception on Saturday, with Scott Patterson also getting some time in the middle with 20 not out, and Inzy hitting a sparkling 3 not out. After sending Bankstown back in, we had them 4/72 in the second dig to show that the 1st Innings bowling was no fluke, with Bonner continuing his good game with 2/27. Even Loose got in on the act and picked up a wicket with his Murali's. Jesus, did anyone else play this game for us? It was a 2 man show!! Win for us.
4th Grade Report vs Bankstown
Manly 126 Lost to Bankstown 1 for 127
Main grade 2nd X1 turned up to Jenkins Park, which boasts that much atmosphere it rivals Grahams Reserve, keen to wrestle the match back in our favour and put us on the path to finals cricket. Bossy and Vinnie practiced their karma sutra positions on the massage table with assistance from Matty Mee before skipper extraordinaire Mason arrived with his whiteboard and the cricket was underway. During the stretches the boys were entertained with a story from the previous Saturday night which involved two central coast boys, a Canadian girl and a pending lawsuit but then Rowley stepped in, gave us all a spray and correctly turned the attention to the game at hand.
So we resumed on 8/91 with Digits and Stino at the crease determined to add some more runs to the total to regain some control of the match. The Bankstown opening bowler decided he hadn’t bowled enough overs last week (23 overs straight) so he took the ball again and bowled all morning. Runs we a little easier to come by this week as the groundsman obviously decided he’d stop growing his own daintree rainforest andfound some money to put some petrol in his lawnmower. The bulldogs bowled consistently but the boys in the middle were building a partnership through accidental and intentional strokeplay. Stino finding some boundaries behind square while Digits was busy penetrating the field on the off side. Stino was the first wicket to fall after he tried to work one too many deliveries on the leg side and was trapped in front for 26. Stiltsy then strided out to the middle taking no time at all and was also trapped in front on his second delivery, leaving digits stranded on 24. The Manly boys were all out 126, struggling with the bat yet again which has been the story all year.
So we took to the field with Vinnie and Stewart taking the new ball, Vinod unlucky not to have an lbw go his way early while Stewart was replaced after 4 overs by a fired up Deano, who threw in some accidental bouncers mixed in with a good spell of bowling. However the boys lacked intensity in the field and after a flat, wicketless first hour the Bankstown openers had taken control of the match. Pughy was brought in and bowled well keeping one end tight while Stiltsy tried to extract what turn he could out of the deck bowling a good spell but also remaining wicketless. Maxy ‘bang bang’ Burgess replaced Pughy and was the pick of the bowlers all day from what the author could see from cow corner. Mixing up his flight, Maxy brought about the first wicket with a catch through to Stino, although Bankstownwere approaching 100 by this stage. The remaining pair then finished off the total with minimal excitement. We bowled reasonably well in the hot and humid conditions however lacked the mongrel in the field required to make inroads into the bulldogs batting order.
4thgrade are still failing to post a competitive score withthe bat, which has been a trend throughout the season. It seems that we rely on one or two blokes to do all the batting with the rest are not taking ownership of their wicket, lacking patience and a gritty mindset. This must change if we want to finish the year off with a couple of wins and set the tone for next year.
With skipper Mason off to his 1,000th wedding next week its left to the experience of Rowley to change the attitude and lead the team to win next round. Lets all get to training and post a big score against Penrith on our home turf.
5th Grade Report vs Bankstown
Manly 106 Lost to Bankstown 6 Dec 285
Manly 5thgrade were pretty well outplayed all game against Bankstown. In the field on Day 1, Bankstownknocked up 6 for 247 before rain stopped play an hour early. Our bowling was not particularly disciplined on a good wicket and our fielding at times was very poor. Key moments in the innings were lost andthey got away from us with some solid batting.
Bankstown batted on for 4 overs on day 2, declaring at 6 for 285. We were confident at this stage that we had the batting to give it a shake and if not, at least drawing the game. Unfortunately, our batting was not up to scratch from 1 to 11. The top score for the innings was 21 from Jarrod, with Cliffy on 18no showing some fight at the end. We were not good enough by a long way. Manly bowled out for 104 in 60 overs. Not 1 to remember and enough said.
1st Grade LO Semi Final Report vs Fairfield
Manly 9 for 231 Defeated Fairfield 184
Wow. That is all I can say. Cricket is cruel one day and kind the next, and that is exactly what happened to our first grade side on Sunday in their quest to enter the First Grade Limited Over final. Whats more we always thought we wrea chance of getting the final at home, so it was a big day. With Rosedale also a big ground and wicket not great for shotmaking, anything over 200 was going to competitive.
Winning the toss and batting, Adam Crosthwaite and Ben Davis were cruising at 0-116 before Ben Davis fell for a well made 62 from 74 balls. Crossy was on fire as well until departing with the score on 140 for 61. From here though we started to a struggle, with Fairfield bowling tight and ourselves losing regular wickets. At 6-167 the game was in the balance, but the last few overs were brought home nicely by Nat Hill (42) and Beaver (17) seeing us through to a very defend-able score of 9-231 from our 50 overs.
Fairfield have a string batting line and it was never going to be easy, as proved through their start of 0-49 before Jackson Bird and Munter struck, removing Harivel and danger man Lambert in quick succession. This started a mini collapse, and at 4-57 the game looked ours. Some good strokeplay from the Fairfield middle order and the board was rolling again, but they were always behind the run rate required, andeventually fell for 179 in the last over. The bowler with the figures was once again Shane Cleary. He is having a great season and picked up an important 3 wickets. With Cubby also contributing with 2 wickets, it was a great all round effort from the boys and a well deserved win.
Now onto next Sundays Final against Sydney Uni at Manly Oval. It has been 6 years since we won our last First Grade One Day competition, so come on down and support the boys in what promises to be a big day.
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