U14 NSW Youth Championship Moore Shield, Round 3, Tonkin Park, 22 October 2023
MWJCA 7-223 (Jayaram 53, Pike 86, Cruickshank 35) defeated Sutherland 139 (Rosenkowitz 4/22, Moran 3/28, Horstead 2 catches 2 stumpings)
It was a blue skyed day with no cloud in sight, next to the river on the edge of the ground. Manly looking at the pitch winning the toss and choosing to bat first.
Opening the batting was Rohit and captain Harvey both getting off to a solid start. Harvey starting the game with a good score of 11 from 32 balls until getting LBW. Then in comes Angus Pike. After a while the Sutherland bowlers started to get frustrated at each other and bowl short – opportunities Rohit and Angus capitalised on. Unfortunately, Rohit was the next to fall but not after he scored a wonderful score of 53 from 72 balls. After Rohit was dismissed, Sutherland were talking again, taking two key wickets in the process of Darcy and Noah both scoring 7. The innings started slowing down after a while and Sutherland had no energy in the field. Explosive batting from Angus got the run rate going again with Lewis helping by turning the strike over. It was a great partnership until Angus got out for 86 from 91 balls. After Angus was out Caden and Will both got out cheaply with Lewis staying in and rotating the strike. Mitch came in on a mission to score runs. With Lewis on the other end Mitch scored 11 from only 10 balls. Lewis on the other hand scored a well-built 35 not out from 40 balls. In the end Manly got 7/223 after 50 overs.
The blue sky was still out after a fine Manly batting performance. Manly came out firing but Sutherland did well to keep the two opening bowlers in Louis and Will out. Until the last over of Will’s spell when he got one to clip the top of the off bail. Some people thought it was caught behind but, no it was bowled. Then Rocco and Murray came on both getting wickets in their first over. After their first over Murray had a destructive bowling spell taking 3/14 after 5 overs, while Rocco was giving the batters a challenging time at the other end. After Murray and Rocco’s fantastic spells on came the spin twins. Caden and Mitch. Both of them again taking wickets in their first overs with an excellent caught and bowled by Mitch and a great stumping by Darcy from Caden’s bowling. Manly kept the energy and the pressure to get three more wickets for Caden putting him on his second four wicket haul for the year. After Mitch’s three over spell Noah came on for an over and then Will came on for three more with Caden still bowling at the other end. After Will had his three over spell Murray came on for three more overs without taking any more wickets but ending up with 3/28 after eight overs. After Murrays spell from one end, Rocco came back on just before Caden finished his ten overs. Harvey came on from Caden’s end but not for long because Rocco had just taken the last wicket. Sutherland finishing on 10/139 and Manly winning comprehensively by 84 runs.
Report by William Grahm