Wynnum Manly v Northern Suburbs
Men’s First Grade Round 15 - 2 Day
18 & 25 February 2023 at Bill Albury Oval
Another correct call by Corey Hunter at the coin flip (that’s 80% in two-dayers this season) and the Sea Eagles were batting in pretty good conditions at Bill Albury Oval. Unfortunately, debutante Dakota Rodgers clipped one to square leg eight balls in and Jordan Kingdon edged to slip 11 balls later to make it 2/9 (Kingdon a tad unlucky to be out on the 7th ball of the over!). Hunter and Reuben Burger had to work hard, taking the runs on offer from the southern end while Noah McFadyen reeled off maiden after maiden from the north. The partnership reached 31 before both fell either side of the drinks break to reduce Wynnum to 4/44. Jones could not get started and was out in the 23rd lofting a drive to Prestwidge at mid-off to give McFadyen the enviable figures of 3/8 from 12 uninterrupted overs. Jed Wilson and Jehan Daniel dug in to guide Wynnum to lunch at 5/84.
After lunch, the game might as well have been moved to a different ground! Wilson and Daniel settled in, picking off singles, frustrating the bowling with the LH-RH combination and bringing up a 50 partnership from 80 balls in the 37th over. It was Daniel’s 9th single which brought up his 50 (from 68 balls) an over before drinks. Wilson’s 50 (from 84 balls) and the 100 partnership (from 145 balls) - the 4th of the season - came via a boundary from the first ball after drinks. The partnership reached 134 from 186 balls - the second highest of the season for the Sea Eagles - when Wilson was caught by keeper, Raveesh Srivastava off the bowling of Ryan Walker for a well made 69 from 104 balls; his third 50 of the season. Sukhveer Singh and Daniel guided Wynnum to Tea at 6/218. The session yielding 1/134.
Resuming on 92 after Tea, Daniel picked off a couple more singles to move to 94 then exploded with a six to bring up his century in the 68th over - the second century of the season for Wynnum Manly First Grade and the first since August 2022. JD’s 109 from 150 balls took 2 minutes short of three hours, featured 9 fours, 4 sixes, an atypical 26 singles and when he was finally out in the 73rd over, had moved the team from a precarious 5/55 to 7/237. From that point runs dried up for Wynnum Manly with just 19 added in the remaining 12 overs of the innings.
A minimum of seven overs remained and Josh Fraser made the most of these. An edge by Josh Brown from the first ball of the first over was gleefully held by Grayson Jones at slip and from the last ball of the day, Joe Burns was struck in front by Fraser and was out LBW to make it 2/40 for Norths.
Day Two dawned and the news was awful. Josh Fraser succumbed to illness without a ball bowled. Jehan Daniel stepped into the breach and was on hand at the bowler’s end receiving a throw from an alert Dakota Rodgers to run out a stranded Raveesh Srivastava; 3/47. Five overs later, Daniel trapped Connor Carroll in front; 4/58. Kendal Fleming and Noah McFadyen consolidated taking Norths past drinks before that man Grayson Jones nabbed his 23rd catch of the season to dismiss McFadyen off the bowling of Plumb; 5/82. Fleming and Nikhil Chaudhary, guided Norths to lunch 151 runs in arrears with 5 wickets in hand.
As was the case the previous week, everything changed after lunch. Fleming and Chaudhary added 26 runs before Fleming retired hurt with a hamstring strain with the score on 131. Sam Neale joined Chaudhary and after taking just 5 from 25 balls, the pair accelerated at better than a run a ball to record a 50 partnership from 79 balls. Chaudhary notched his 50 from 109 balls in the 60th over, but lost Neale shortly after when he pushed a return catch back to Cameron Steinhardt. Fleming returned to the crease and added 16 with Chaudhary before Tea; reducing the deficit to just 30 runs.
On the first ball after Tea, Jackson Plumb, took the edge of Fleming’s bat and Burger did the rest; Norths now 7 wickets down. A few balls later, Plumb succumbed to injury and was forced out of the attack, Tom Eyley completing the over. With the Wynnum attack severely reduced and sensing “blood in the water”, Chaudhary launched a brutal assault, taking 68 off his next 35 balls (including 6 fours and 5 sixes) and bringing up a century from 156 balls. Chaudhary’s partnership with Ryan Walker added 82 from 59 balls and propelled Norths to 8/308. A spectacular boundary catch by Tom Eyley off Cameron Steinhardt brought Chaudhary’s knock to an end in the 77th over. Jehan Daniel capped a fine match with a brilliant direct hit run out a few overs later and Steinhardt nabbed a 3rd wicket when he broke through Walker’s defences in the 85th.
Wynnum batted again for a minimum seven overs notching up 2/33.
One match remaining against a 3rd place University side at Bill Albury next week.
