THE Nor-West Jets have won the DILLIGAF Cup at their third attempt, beating Manly-Warringah by 39 runs in the annual showdown at Bensons Lane on January 22, 2012.
After losing the first two matches - by one wicket in 2010 and seven wickets in 2011 - the Jets took control of DILLIGAF III in the early stages and never relinquished it.
After winning the toss and batting and being treated to Manly's rousing rendition of the Northern Beaches National Anthem, Nor-West lost two early wickets at the hands of Wolves' star and former Tasmanian State junior Tom Beckett to be 2/18, and when captain Ryan Johnston was out shortly after, it was 3/36 in the sixth over of the scheduled 26.
But there would be no more joy for the colourfully dressed Wolves for quite some time as Aaron 'Macoft' Bayne (who did actually have his stumps shattered by Beckett first ball - taking advantage of the 'first ball free hit' rule), Jebal 'Stiffy' Williams and Warwick 'Wokka' Smith put the bowlers to the sword, smacking four fours and seven sixes between them as all reached the retirement score of 30 in double quick time.
At 3/129 off just 14 overs, the Jets' score looked like being anything, but Manly fought back with some good bowling as the Jets' lower order got bogged down and struggled to lay bat on ball.
Brock 'Gibbo' Gibson had his teammates screaming for the umpires to break the rules and give him out lbw as he struggled to eight off 17 balls, and the runs were coming just as slowly at the other end as Steve 'Chyna' Chase faced seven dots in a row.
The pressure brought the wickets of Chyna and Les 'Carpet' Cass as the scoring slowed to 5/144 off 19, but the arrival of Seb 'Goldy' Goldrick sparked the match back to life.
'Gibbo' remembered what the thing in his hand was for and belted 16 runs off his next four balls before being dismissed for 24 and Goldy cracked an unbeaten 26 to lift Nor-West to a DILLIGAF record score of 9/211 off its 26 overs.
Beckett was the start for Manly with 2/9, while Owen 'Wristy' Williams picked up 2/14 and Chris Donovan and Phil Horrell and Jamie Stewart were also successful (the first two, however, got sore necks from watching the ball sail out of the park regularly in their opening spells).
The Wolves got off to a great start in the chase as the Horrell brothers provided a good contrast - Byron smashing it everywhere and Phil smashing the shine off it back down the pitch to see off the openers.
Byron reached his 30 in just 15 balls and Phil was out shortly after for 22 off 21 (recovering from 3 off 8), but Manly was still looking good.
But that's where it changed, as spinner Brent Johnston took down Beckett and Darren Fagan for ducks and Donovan wasn't wasting the scorers' ink either, facing nine dots before getting off the mark to put his team behind the over rate.
Donovan would work himself to 15, but apart from Flynn Petterson's 14 (off 24 balls - another victim of forgetting it wasn't a two dayer, having earlier been out first ball) no other batsman made double figures until Matthew 'Razzle' Rawle clubbed 13 in his second bat (the Wolves were one player short) and Byron Horrell (out first ball on his return to the crease) got 10 off three balls as last man's tucker, with Manly finishing at 13/172.
Macoft took four catches and picked up a couple of wickets, although his second over, which was the worst in DILLIGAF history, taking 12 balls to be completed and including five wides and a no-ball. It went for 22 runs and still had time to include two dot balls and a wicket!
Brenno's 3/12 off two overs were the only triple wicket figures (Beckett would have but for the first ball rule), while Goldy took 2/19 and Macoft 2/30. Other wickets were taken by Grant 'Hassel' Hoffman, Wokka, Chyna, Gibbo, Daniel 'Daffy' Harding (who would have had two but for the first ball rule) and Carpet.
Special mentions must also go to Jamie Stewart, Daffy and Wokka, who not only bowled maidens, but they were wicket maidens, an outstanding performance in this crash and bash style of game.
The only disappointing aspect of the Jets' performance was their sub-standard drinking skills, with only a couple being able to hold their heads high in this respect. Plenty of training will be undertaken in a bid to rectify this problem before the Cup defence next year, but, at the end of the day, DILLIGAF!!!!!
DILLIGAF III
NOR-WEST JETS v MANLY-WARRINGAH
At The Hallowed Turf of Bensons Lane
Nor-West won the toss and batted
NOR-WEST INNINGS..................................Runs.....Balls.....4s.....6s
Scott Braid..........b Beckett.......................1.........7......0......0
Peter Richardson.....b Beckett.......................7.........7......1......0
Aaron Bayne..........not out*.......................34........24......3......1
Ryan Johnston........b Donovan.......................8.........7......1......0
Jebal Williams.......retired........................33........15......0......4
Warwick Smith........retired........................31........22......1......2
Brock Gibson.........c B Horrell b Williams.........24........22......2......1
Stephen Chase........c Beckett b Williams............3........11......0......0
Les Cass.............c DILLIGAF b Stewart............1.........4......0......0
Seb Goldrick.........not out........................26........18......2......1
Grant Hoffman........run out (B Horrell)*...........10.........7......0......1
Brent Johnston.......run out (DILLIGAF)..............6.........6......0......0
Daniel Harding.......c DILLIGAF b P Horrell..........0.........2......0......0
SUNDRIES: 1 bye, 22 wides, 4 no balls...............27
TOTAL:............................Nine wickets for 211.......160.....10.....10
*Bayne and Hoffman were out first ball.
FOW: 1/9 (Braid), 2/18 (Richardson), 3/36 (R Johnston), 3/74 (Bayne - ret), 3/118 (Williams - ret), 3/133 (Smith - ret), 4/139 (Chase), 5/144 (Cass), 6/173 (Gibson), 7/189 (Hoffman), 8/198 (B Johnston), 9/198 (Harding).
BOWLING (overs/dots/runs/wickets): Byron Horrell 2/5/14/0, Tom Beckett 2/6/9/2, Matthew Rawle 2/5/16/0, Chris Donovan 3/5/33/1, Phil Horrell 3/3/36/1, C Pavitt 2/6/19/0, R Wearne 2/3/13/0, Flynn Petterson 2/4/14/0, R Collins 2/5/10/0, Owen Williams 2/7/14/2, Darren Fagan 2/6/20/0, Jamie Stewart 2/8/12/1.
MANLY-WARRINGAH INNINGS...........................Runs.....Balls.....4s.....6s
Byron Horrell........c Bayne b Goldrick.............30 ........15......2......1
Phil Horrell.........c Bayne b Smith................22........21......3......0
Chris Donovan........b Harding*.....................15........18......1......1
Tom Beckett..........c Hoffman b B Johnston..........0.........4......0......0
Darren Fagan .......c Bayne b B Johnston........... 0........ 3......0......0
R Wearne ........b Bayne........................ 5........ 9......0......0
Jamie Stewart........b Hoffman.......................9........11......1......0
Flynn Petterson......run out (Cass).................14....... 24..... 0......0
Craig Pavitt.........st R Johnston b B Johnston..... 5........11..... 1..... 0
Matthew Rawle........c sub (Stever) b Chase..........9........ 7......0......1
R Collins............c Williams b Bayne..............6.........8......0......0
Owen Williams........run out (R Johnston)............7........ 7......0......0
Matthew Rawle........c Bayne b Gibson...............13.........7......1......1
Byron Horrell........not out........................10.........3......1......1
SUNDRIES: 4 leg byes, 20 wides, 3 no balls..........27
TOTAL:..............................13 wickets for 172.......148.....10......5
*Petterson and Pavitt were out first ball.
FOW: 0/56 (B Horrell - ret), 1/56 (P Horrell), 2/57 (Beckett), 3/58 (Fagan), 4/73 (Wearne), 5/81 (Donovan), 6/91 (Stewart), 7/104 (Pavitt), 8/120 (Rawle), 9/126 (Petterson), 10/137 (Collins), 11/158 (Williams), 12/159 (B Horrell), 13/172 (Rawle).
BOWLING (overs/dots/runs/wickets): Jebal Williams 1/4/2/0, Peter Richardson 2/5/14/0, Scott Braid 2/3/25/0, Grant Hoffman 2/6/15/1, Michael Gray 2/9/12/0, Warwick Smith 1/6/0/1, Stephen Chase 2/8/6/1, Brent Johnston 2/8/12/3, Brock Gibson 1.1/5/6/1, Daniel Harding 2/9/5/1, Aaron Bayne 2/4/30/2, Ryan Johnston 2/7/13/0, Les Cass 2/5/8/1, Seb Goldrick 2/5/19/2.
NOR-WEST JETS WON BY 39 RUNS
Last Modified on 24/02/2012 14:45
