NSW YC Cawsey Shield
19 October 2025, Nolan’s Reserve
A bright sunny morning greeted the boys as they arrived at Nolan’s No. 2 for our first home game of the season. After a tough trial match a few weeks ago, it was already known that Hawkesbury would be a strong opposition.
When Manly won the toss and elected to bat, Tom T and James found the going very tough early. Their opening bowlers had both swing and pace with their leading bowler from last season being able to move the ball both ways. Tom went in the 4th over to bring Will K to the crease to make a solid partnership to see off the opening bowlers.
However, runs remained tight, the outfield slow and bowling accurate. James batted very solidly at the top for 68 ball 28 and showed great patience with accurate bowling. The 2nd half of the innings saw Hugo (16) , AJ (11) and Ethan (22) up the run rate nicely to get a competitive score of 118 on the board with some Ethan power hitting providing 2 of only 3 boundaries in the innings.
With wickets needed early, Charlie (3-18) steamed in and got two early breakthroughs to give Manly early joy and a super slips catch from Ethan helped the cause. With a run out and Hawkesbury behind the run rate approaching half way, the boys were right in the game. However, their two strongest batters joined each other and put on a 50 run partnership before Tom G (2-36) combined with Arthur to remove their top batter. Great chat and energy from the lads saw several more wickets tumble quickly.
Only 3 wickets were then needed for a win but Hawkesbury played very solidly and took their singles well to get the last 29 runs and win with 5 overs to spare.
Really great effort and energy all day in the field from our boys but it wasn’t quite enough for a team we will surely have to beat when we meet again to make the finals.
Written by Conor O’Brien.