NSW YC Creak Shield
Sunday 20th October, Harbord Oval
Parramatta (5/183) defeated MWJCA (8/110)
Manly’s second game of the season kicked off at Harbord Oval in dry and windy conditions. With Jack Marris still nursing an ankle injury, Vice Captain Luke Willis stepped up to captain the side again. Manly won the toss and elected to field.
BOWLING INNINGS – (D.Brabant 2/18, J. Renshaw 1/26 and I.Kumar Singh 1/27).
Jack Dale and Jake Renshaw opened the bowling. They got off to a good start – keeping the bowling tight and runs down but were not able to get a breakthrough. Jake drew a false shot from one opener, but they survived, the top edge just falling short of Reuben’s grasp. Grayson and Ishaan took over after 8 overs. The two express pacers didn’t give the batters much and were well supported by their teammates in the field. The team were on the hunt with plenty of chatter keeping the batters on edge. After a couple of close calls for Parramatta, Manly took a wicket half way through the 17th over – a beauty from Dylan Brabant that smashed into middle stump.
Cooper Gabriel and Dylan continued to make life tough for the opposition. In the first over after drinks the second wicket fell and the team knew they were in the game. After Dylan’s second wicket Sam McKim, Luke Willis and Talon Davis bowled 7 overs between them as Parramatta started to throw the bat. Overall, it was a decent fielding effort with a run out by Jack and a sharp catch from Grayson which gave Ishaan his wicket – some reward for a great spell of hostile and accurate fast bowling. Unfortunately, things didn’t go Manly’s way in the last 15 overs and Parramatta did well finishing their innings at 5-183.
BATTING INNINGS – (C.Gabriel 39, J.Dale 28)
Our openers, Luke and Reuben, got us off with a pretty good start staying in and seeing out the opening bowlers, who bowled very well. Shortly following, Luke looks to up the run rate and hits a great shot but unfortunately Parramatta took a world class catch which saw Luke off for (5 off 28). Oscar comes in and tries to steady the ship after a lucky catch but shortly after Reuben gets bowled to a ball that looked like it swung a mile and goes for (6 off 23).
Manly are now 2 for 11, after 10 overs. Sammy makes his way to the crease; he gets off strike early but after a few balls Oscar edges it to a deep gully and gets out for (0 off 13). Ethan comes in at a tough time and hits a lovely boundary, but unfortunately shortly after he is bowled by an absolute peach(4 off 5). Cooper makes his way to the middle but not long after Sammy gets out to a very tidy run out by Parramatta. He fell for (2 off 10) Grayson comes in and hits a great shot for 4 off a no-bowl but then chips one out to point and another amazing catch is taken, Grayson makes (4 off 4).
Jack comes in at the 15th over, Manly are 6/32. Jack makes a great partnership with Cooper getting 54 between them. Unfortunately, Cooper gets out after a great knock of (39 off 73) in the 34th over. Ishaan comes in and is told to have some fun since the game was out of our hands. On the last ball of the game Jack gets out after a great batting innings of (28 off 72) with Ishaan getting (12 off 13*).
A tough day for Manly as Parramatta were a very strong fielding and bowling team. Their aggressive fielding positions put a lot of pressure on our batsman and with some very tight bowling, runs were not found easily. Parramatta kept their extras to 10.
REPORT by Sam McKim – Intro and Bowling Innings, and Oscar Clubb – Batting Innings.