NSW YC Cawsey Shield
27 October 2024, Pioneers Park, Malabar.
The Manly boys turned up to sandy conditions on the outfield at Pioneers Park looking to maintain their unbeaten start to this year’s competition. Captain Blake Cotte made it 3 from 3 toss wins and elected to bowl.
Manly’s opening bowlers, Eddie Etherington and Jesse Matheson (1 wicket) bowled a very good opening spell, with Jesse bowling a beautiful bouncer to start his first over and this seemed to rattle the opposition’s openers. Eddie and Jesse both maintained a solid line outside off-stump and tested the openers, who made a very slow, cautious start. The opening spell was followed by Manly’s first change bowlers who bowled their usual very tight line and length, with Charlie Corcoran (who was desperately unlucky not to pick up a wicket) and Jensen du Plessis (who produced an inspired spell of leg-spin, taking 3 wickets), slowing SEJCA’s run-rate down even further. Ethan Calligeros, Ekam Dhillon and Zac Catchpole then continued the unrelenting, accurate bowling performance with Ethan and Ekam rewarded with sensational wickets and an outstanding economy rate, whilst Zac continuously tested the batsmen in varying his line and length. Ethan clean bowled one of SEJCA’s most dangerous batsmen and Ekam built on his great start to the season by picking up another 2 wickets.
SEJCA really struggled to get to grips with Manly’s attack throughout and the innings was finally closed out by the spin twins, Jensen and Ekam, who ensured that the pressure was applied right to the last ball, with SEJCA finishing on 7/113.
At the halfway mark and on the back of a great bowling and fielding performance, the mood in the Manly tent was upbeat and the feeling was that the team was in a very strong position to close out the game.
Manly’s openers, Luke and Cruz, started very well and put on a solid opening stand of 23 runs. However, losing both openers within the space of one over for the addition of only 1 run, was not ideal and when Manly’s number 3, Ekam, was needlessly run out with the score on 30, the team found themselves with an uphill battle at 3/30 and SEJCA bowling an impeccable line and length, backed up by excellent fielding, certainly the best that Manly had encountered all season. Blake and Zac tried their best to steady the ship, but Blake departed with the score on 37 and when Zac was bowled by SEJCA’s captain, Manly found themselves in a heap of trouble at 5/50.
What followed was a wonderful, ultimately match-winning partnership of 45, under enormous pressure, by Ollie Smith and Wes Harpur and they took Manly closer to the winning target, with Ollie eventually departing at 6/95. Jensen, Wes and Ethan continued chipping in with a further 14 runs but when all 3 departed in relatively quick succession, the team faced the very real possibility of losing its first match of the season at 9/109, still needing 5 runs to win.
Eddie Etherington and Jesse Matheson, however, had other ideas and again, under massive pressure from SEJCA, who crowded our batsmen, they finished the job for Manly, with Jesse displaying wonderful composure and defensive skills in preserving his wicket and Eddie hitting a beautiful straight drive over mid-on for 4 and then taking a well-judged single to round off the victory.
A very tough match in which Manly’s bowlers did a tremendous job but the batsmen had to dig very deep, eventually keeping their nerve under intense pressure. Well done to the boys – Manly ended up winning by 1 wicket.
Report by Jensen du Plessis