Green Shield vs Manly - 2011/12

Gordon go down to Manly to put us on edge for semi finals 

We started the match well with captain Borg winning the toss and electing to bat, but to no avail losing two quick wickets being 2-0 and then Lachie himself shortly after due to good quality swing bowling from the openers. Spratt made a quick fire 40 smashing the bowlers over their heads with ease and grace before being dismissed by the new arrival spin bowler. From there was some consolidation from Farrell and Papworth till drinks.

James Partridge during his innings.

The second ball after drinks Farrell played a loose cover drive to put Cordon five down and in need of a solid partnership. Right on queue Papworth and Partridge ground out a nicely crafted partnership that involved a balance in power and finesse till lunch. After lunch both pushed hard for more runs till Papworth fell and brought Turki to the wicket which was beneficial till Turki got run out in a case of sharp follow up fielding from a misfield. This brought Middlebrook to the crease crushing some majestic drives meanwhile Partridge made his way to forty-nine and pulled a ball  firmly but unfortunately holed out on the boundary for an easy catch. This brought out Campbell joining his fellow Barker counterpart and quickly getting a few handy boundaries before the tail eventually collapsed.

It was a beautiful day for playing cricket in Manly but unfortunately batting first and only making a 175 off 54 overs was always going to be hard to protect. Could we do it?

Chris Spratt, Max Papworth and Will Calov in action at Manly

We were in need of early wicketson a flat track and Borg started  tremendously taking a sharp reflex caught and bowled that put early pressure right back on Manly. The other opening batsmen had his luck early edging a couple of almost perfect deliveries by Borg and Middlebrook, until his luck finally ran out getting clean bowled by Middlebrook and letting the scoreboard operators know it with constant friendly banter at fine leg before this wicket. We kept the pressure on with tight fielding and rotating the bowlers accordingly with Calov, Partridge, Colley and Mactier.

Lachie Mactier, Lachie Borg and Harry Middlebrook try their hardest at Manly

Afternoon tea was shortly around the corner and we were in need of a wicket but as we finished afternoon tea the Manly pair with dogged hitting boundaries found their way to fifty each that put doubts in our minds our chance of winning. We hung in there with Campbell clean bowling one while Middlebrook collected the other scalp with a caught and bowled much like Borgs. Unfortunately for us it was too little too late and they comfortably got home at 4/176.

Scores

Report by Jordan Farrell