2021/22 Round 5 – Match Report – MWJCA Reps U12 Div 1 against North Shore Reps U12 Div 1 @ Keirle Park 2 on 19 DEC 21
Summary – Manly won by 18 runs
Top Scorers: Noah Keam (47); Angus Pike (37); Harvey Matheson (32)
Wickets: Louis Corcoran and Lewis Cruickshank – 1 each
Catches: Tobias Overhoff and Louis Corcoran – 1 each
Unassisted Run Outs: Rohit Jayaram and Darcy Horstead – 1 each
Assisted Run Outs: Darcy Horstead – 2; Harvey Matheson, Noah Keam and Mitch McCombe – 1 each
Full scorecard – Match Details | NSW Youth Championships (nswyc.com.au)
It was a scorching hot and humid day for the unbeaten Manly side and their biggest challenge would be to get through the heat. Round 5 was a game against a really strong North Shore side. Captain Darcy Horstead won the toss and elected to bat. Rohit Jayaram and Tobias Overhoff put their pads on and confidently walked out onto the middle and the cheers started.
Rohit cut one behind square to get Manly off the mark. But he fell trying to pull a rising ball and got caught by the keeper for 2. Next was Tobias, who leg glanced a ball but could only find the edge, and fell for 1. Darcy hit a beautiful square drive behind point which raced to the boundary. Manly knew that the outfield was racing. Unfortunately, Darcy got bowled to an absolute peach of a delivery, which ended his innings for 5. Out walked in-form Noah Keam, who partnered with Harvey Matheson. They frustrated North Shore and together, put 75 runs on the board. Noah hit beautiful boundaries and Harvey played a solid anchoring innings. Harvey was unlucky to get bowled on 32 looking to accelerate. Angus Pike, who played a match winning 44 last week, joined Noah and continued his solid form, smashing beautiful drives that raced along to the boundary. Noah was unfortunate, skying a ball, resulting in being caught on 47 just short of another 50. Angus departed by smashing a cover drive but mid-off took an excellent catch, ending his innings on 37. A selfless Lewis Cruickshank and Mitch McCombe put the finishing touches, boosting Manly’s score to 6 for 153. We knew this was a competitive total for this ground.
Coach Rich Matheson was impressed with the score and it was time for the bowlers to shine. Everybody looked set during the fielding drills.
Will Graham and Lewis took the new ball and their opening spell was beautiful. Louis Corcoran, Declan Webb, Mitch, Harvey and Caden Rosenkowitz continued in the same vein, restricting the run rate by giving nothing away and by the 20th over, North Shore hadn’t lost a wicket but their score was only 44. The first wicket fell subsequently with the opener edging it straight to Tobias, who took an excellent catch. It was really well bowled by Louis. The number three was struggling to get going as Louis bowled an excellent spell.
By the 30th, North Shore needed 80 runs to win. It was game on at Keirle Park. The batsmen smashed it onto the legside and called two. Noah picked up the ball as clean as a whistle and threw it in to Darcy, who dived and whipped off the bails and got the runout. A diving effort from Rohit at square leg then stopped a single and he threw it in hard for a direct hit to get the in-form batsman out for 44.
A sudden storm erupted and stopped the game for an hour. Although it wreaked havoc across the Northern Beaches, it passed the ground relatively quickly and the game was able to resume. In these last five overs, North Shore needed 60 runs to win. Lewis was brought into the attack and the batsmen hit it into the air. Louis took an excellent catch and Manly was on top.
It was the last over and North Shore needed 27 runs to win. Angus, our specialist death bowler, was given the ball. Angus ran in and the batsmen skied it into the blue sky. Mitch was under it but he could not take it. A few balls later the batsmen hit it straight to him again and he picked it up from the boundary and threw it 45 metres right into Darcy’s gloves and got a runout. The last ball was bowled and they got a quick single although the batsman was run out attempting a second run. Manly had managed to beat North Shore by 18 runs.
It was Manly’s toughest game of the season so far and a great and positive team performance led to an outstanding result. Well played Manly!
Written by Rohit Jayaram
