Bucktrick – Monday News – Rd5 v Campbelltown – Day 1 & T20 v Sydney

The Waratah’s only managed to start play in the two home games on Saturday with Raby Oval out of action for 1sts, 3rds and 5ths. As usual the groundsmen for Manly and Grahame’s did a magnificent job, ensuring we had two great pitches, all things considering. In 2nd grade, Manly won the toss and had a bat but were not able to get gpoing and face an uphill battle (although not insurmountable) to get some points back. 4th grade were sent in and managed a respectable 6/150 on a seaming wicket and slow outfield, setting it up for an interesting day 2.

On Sunday 1st Grade went down in a thriller in their T20 QF, losing by a wicket to Sydney at Drummoyne. Nathan Buck picked up an incredible hattrick to give the Poms some credibility over the weekend but it wasn’t enough to get us over the line

Nathan lobbed after round 1 and immediately made an impact in his first game for the club in 2nd grade. Straight away he was up to 1st grade and he has impressed all with his raw pace and attitude. On the weekend Nathan took it on upon himself to get Manly back in the T20 qualifier and bounced Sydney into submssion with a hostile spell including a hattrick to give us a chance. I can’t recall our last Englishman to be able to do this – he certainly has it over David Lawrence, Steve Andrew and Nick Derbyshire for pace. Keep it up mate

! 

Babula to Buck: “Bust some heads” 

1st Grade – No play

1st Grade – T20 QF v Sydney.  Manly 5/119 (T. Cruickshank 38, A. Beadle 39) lost to Sydney 9/122 ( N.Buck 4/29 incl hat trick, J.Ritchie 3/21)

First grade unfortunately lost their qualifying final vs Sydney at Drummpyne Oval yesterday. After winning the toss and batting on what looked like a good deck, we got off to a solid start not losing many wickets and scoring at around 6 an over for the first half of the innings.
 
We didnt really ever kick on during the innings with the run rate remaining about 6 an over. Tim played the standout knock of the innings scoring 38 off 32 deliveries, while AB top scored with 39 off 36. We ended up scoring 5-119 off our twenty, which was a few more than it looked as the outfield was very slow and the straight boundaries very long.
 
Unfortunately we didnt get off to the greatest of starts with the ball with Sydney racing to 1-82 off 11 overs. We were able to pick up a few wickets at this point which stemmed the flow of runs, and slowly we wrestled back the momentum and got ourselves back into the game. At 5-91, things were close, however a small partnership ensued and the match looked beyond us with the score at 5-118.
 
What happened next was truly unbelievable and goes to show what an unpredictable game cricket can be. Bucky took a hatrick (all short balls) and then AB chimed in with a wicket the next over to leave Sydney 9-118 needing 2 runs for the win and us just needing 1 wicket. After seeing out a couple of balls, the Sydney number 11 was finally able to hit a bounday and see the Tigers home.
 
The wickets were shared around with Bucky taking 4-29 off 4, Ritchie 3-21 off 4, Nicko’s 1-17 off 4 and AB 1-29 off 3.4.
 
It was shame to lose the match after getting so close, however realistically we never really deserved to be in such a position. We never quite clicked during the entire T20 competition, despite some good individual performances from various guys

 

2nd Grade – Manly 67 and 4/41 v Campbelltown 2 dec 69

It was a disappointing day for the Tahs on Saturday at manly oval. Batting first Manly slumped to 5 for 50 odd, before a big storm rolled through and play was delayed for a couple of hours. Once the rain had stopped and after a massive clean-up of the ground, play resumed and the Manly boys were looking to consolidate and build a respectable total. However this didn’t happen and Manly ended up being bowled out for 67.

Taking to the field, with the pitch still having a bit of juice in it, the Tahs were confident of picking up some early wickets to put the pressure back on Campbelltown. However this did not occur. With a combination of good batting and undisciplined bowling, the Ghosts past Manly’s total 2 down just after tea. The pick of the bowlers was Taylor Beatty (2-23) who took both the wickets in consecutive balls.

With a lead of 2 runs the Campbelltown skipper made a sporting declaration and sent the Tahs back in. The Manly top order however didn’t learn from the previous innings and with a combination of good bowling and poor stroke play, they were reduced to 4 for 41 at the end of the days play.

Like I said it was a disappointing day for the Manly boys on Saturday, however with the point the game is at there is a huge opportunity to take something positive out of it, and with smart cricket the Tahs can still take 6 points out of the game.

Mitch

3rd Grade – No Play

4th Grade – Manly 6/150 v Campbelltown

The Grahame’s pitch was surprisingly good, the outfield a little long but all up a well presented oval given all the rain. CC won the toss and sent us in and just as we were about to take the field it bucketed down for a while along with thunder etc. Luckily we were able to get the covers down before the lightning was obvious and this allowed us to get a game started at 3pm, 52 overs to be bowled. Bill (11) threw his bat at one way too early in such circumstances and was caught at gully, Jacob (11) looked solid before he got a snick, Aidan (33) looked great but lost concentration and was out with a lazy shot to point, Sam Hole (33) also looked great before he played on. Matt Cole (7) got a bit bogged down and drove one down mid off’s throat and Tom Kelly battled hard before falling for 10. Danny (8no) and Matt Alexander (22no) looked solid at day’s end and will take the field for a slog next week. Overall I am pretty happy with the end result, we already have a competitive score and with more rain around for the week, I have no doubt the outfield will again be lush and pitch will favour good line & length bowling.

Wazza