Match Report – Manly V Canterbury Round 7
The players met at the local cafe for the team breakfast, everyone was enjoying themselves and having fun. We ate up all our bacon and egg rolls until it was time to walk back to the ground. We walked back and saw the pitch with the covers off. All the players had a look at the pitch and knew it would be a good batting wicket and hard to get wickets.
We then started our warmup. We did a slow jog around the ground as a pack and then started our run throughs and dynamic stretches. After we had finished that we played a fun little game of touch footy. Then it was time to toss – Lachie walks out to the middle and we won the toss and chose to bat!
The top 4 batters padded up and got throw downs to be ready to walk out onto the middle. It was then time, Paddy and Aidan K walked out to pitch to face up to the opening bowlers. It was windy, so we struggled to stand still and upright. The bowlers were really slow, and Paddy and Aidan K started well. They brought up 33 runs together until Paddy got bowled around his legs off the spinner. It was not long after when Aidan K was unfortunately run out. That brought Lachie to the crease. Aidan B and Lachie were going well until Lachie was adjudged LBW. At this stage of the game, we were 3 for 60 odd. Rohan and Aidan came together and hit the ball all around the ground and played some nice drives. Aidan B brought up a well made 50 but he wasn’t done there, they both kept going and brought up a 70-run stand until Rohan got out caught behind.
At this stage in the game we were 4 for 142, Will then came in and they started to bowl really well and tie us down. That was until Will got himself in and started batting very aggressively, hitting multiple boundaries. Sadly, Aidan B got out – for a classy 81. Which brought Miles to the crease and he brought the game back into our favour with him smashing the ball all around the ground with 4 fours. Miles got caught trying to get us to a high total. Tom then came out with only one over left and pushed the singles around got us to 207.
AC’s lunch was amazing with his kebabs and rice with satay sauce. We ate the lunch and the bowlers started to warm up and the batters got catches. It was finally time to walk out to bowl. We knew we had a good total on the board, but we knew the game wasn’t over yet and we had to bowl well.
Thomas and Oscar opened the bowling and bowled very well and were unlucky not to get a wicket. Then Freddie and Lachie came on to bowl. Freddie bowled very tight and not many runs came off him. Lachie on the other hand was the man to break through, he broke the partnership with an LBW. Lachie and Freddie kept on bowling and there was another period where we couldn’t get wickets. The batters weren’t trying to score, and we knew it was a good batting wicket, so it was hard to get wickets. After Lachie and Freddie’s spell’s Harry and Lucas came onto bowl. Harry and Lucas looked very promising and it looked like a wicket was coming with a couple leading edges. Lucas was the breakthrough man to get their number 3 “bowled!” and finally that partnership was gone. Then in about an overs
time Harry took a great caught and bowled catch. And this is where the wickets started to tumble. Harry trapped their opener in front, he had been batting for a long time, so he was a good wicket. Then Harry again got one to hit the seam, catch the edge off the batter’s bat and Paddy takes a good catch in first slip. Aidan B now easily runs out throws it right over the stumps for Will to take the bails off. Then again, another run-out but this time with Rohan and Thomas. Rohan at square leg throws it to Thomas down at the bowler’s end and Thomas takes the bails off. We thought the game was over now but from last week’s game we knew we had to go right to the end. Miles and Oscar came back on. Miles bowled an absolute beauty of a delivery knocking over the bails and they were now 8 down for around 110. Oscar also picked up a wicket in his second spell with a ball hitting something in the pitch shooting up to hit the batter’s gloves and an easy catch for Will to take. Then Miles came on for the last wicket and trapped the number 11 in front game over.
by Patrick White.
