Mannofield XI secure second victory

Beautiful day, stunning surroundings, great cricket, brilliant teas and, most importantly, three points. Mannofield secured themselves a continuation of their 100% league record on what was a perfect cricketing day.

Rossie Priory can be forgiven for their uncovered wicket, topographic pitch and rustic changing facilities as they more than make up for it with their never-ending supply of cricketing tranquillity, pleasantries, highland cattle and, above all, abundant pies and cheesecakes to satisfy our athletic diets

Put into bat, openers Shayanthan Nanthakumaran and Grant Jamieson positively skipped to the wicket set in the front garden of Rossie Manor, (9 bedrooms, detached). They set up a solid start before Grant fell cutting a wide-ish delivery that popped a bit more than expected. Andy Innes joined Shay at the crease and the two seasoned Mannofield veterans set about building a decent partnership. Good strokeplay from Innes, aided by a generous portion of extras, set up a solid run rate before the former skipper was adjudged to be leg-before trying to clip a ball through midwicket. Callum Martin confidently strolled to the onto the pitch, once he was able to find the wicket he look in good nick for a short while before being clean bowled by an ‘unplayable leg-cutter’.

The Mannofield faithful were starting to get a little edgy on the boundary at this point as although the rate was more than decent we had lost three key batsmen in a relatively short space of time and, with last game’s collapse fresh in the memory, the supporters’ benches were being littered with fingernails. Our concerns, however, were lost on Indika Yahathugoda as he blissfully dispatched the change-bowlers around the pitch, aided by some fairly mediocre fielding. Shay was still in and playing a key role in keeping the strike rotating. Eventually Indika fell for a very well made fifty-odd which put the momentum very much in Mannofields’ favour. John Dickinson joined Shay at the crease and continued where Indi left off, playing some of his trade-mark lofted drives. Shay fell for a very well made thirty-odd, setting up solid foundation for our middle-lower order hitters to come in and do some damage in the last 15-20 overs. Mark Assiter didn’t bother the scorers too much being caught out by the relative slowness of the deck. William Anderson came in and looked the part (as he always does) before an uncharacteristic rush of blood caused him to advance down the wicket and was somewhat deceived by the length of the delivery, gifting the keeper an easy stumping.

Fraser Proud was due in next and played a supporting role to Dicko. The two kept the scoreboard ticking at a very healthy rate before Dickinson fell. Rene Van Oorschot strolled in at ten. Now it was his turn to play a supporting role, and was fortunate enough to have a front row seat to the most destructive innings of the Mannofield XI season thus far (unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon). Young Proud’s innings included a succession of sixes off the opening bowler and thoroughly took the wind out of the Rossie sails, thereby essentially taking the game away from the home side and posting a very competitive 280.

In reply Rossie Priory attempted to keep on par with the required run rate but effective opening spells from Fraser and William, supported by an incredibly sharp fielding side, restricted the batsmen to stealing occasional singles and forced to take risks for the occasional precarious boundary. Wickets fell in regular intervals as all bowlers took their share of the spoils. Jamieson bowled a very tidy change-spell, taking three wickets including an incredibly agile C & B’d the like of which is not often witnessed in the second eleven. Both Hamish Niven and Mark Assiter bowled very intelligently, utilising the conditions to maximise their respective bowling styles. Hamish was able to vary his pace when required and Mark managed to occasionally turn the ball around corners. Both would have been a handful to any seasoned pro and consequently were able to rip through the Rossie Priory batting order.

We eventually bowled Rossie out for around 120 as Callum Martin, nowadays unencumbered by domestic burdens, absolutely rifled a the ball from the boundary straight into Shay’s gloves, running out the last man.

This was probably some of the best cricket the Mannofield XI has played in recent years, dominating in all three departments. Hopefully this will give the highly talented squad the confidence required to maintain this style of cricket throughout the season