Magnificent Manny Mauls Wimbledon Village

Matt van Staden writes...

Manoj Rajarethinam and Nick Gavigan put on one of the most impressive batting spectacles the Pirates have seen to date. Coming in at number 8 and 10, they blitzed a 126 run partnership with an array of positive shots and aggressive boundaries to take the Pirates to a mammoth score of 363.

Following a lacklustre performance by the top order, the Llamas were in trouble with only 79 runs on the board and 5 wickets down. Mobeen joined Pete on the square and immediately began to accelerate the run rate scoring a quick-fired 18 off 10. The wickets kept coming though and Pete was dismissed for a respectable 21 with what can only be described as a tennis ball delivery that saw him caught behind whilst playing a front foot defensive. Manoj stepped in at number 8 with only 84 on the board; immediately assessed the situation, the conditions and the bowlers and opened fire. Within a handful of overs he had managed to reach his 50 at which point the acceleration really kicked in; hitting 7 boundaries in a row off Wimbledon’s strike bowler (and many more thereafter).

Sumair, who had been diligently keeping Manoj on strike was then dismissed to be followed by Nick; Reigate were 153-8. Working together in a brilliant partnership they pushed the score up to 279, which saw Manoj achieve his century in excellent fashion, a huge 6 straight over mid-on. Together, Manoj and Nick hit over 75% of their runs from boundaries that day, even with the controversial ramp shot from Manoj bagging him a cheeky 4. However the ramp shot got the better of him which saw Manoj dismissed at 140 runs off 64 balls, fielding a huge 218% strike rate.

Nick kept his composure and working with our newest pirate, Shamannu Devaraju, kept rotating the strike and maintained the high run rate until the last over at which point, Shams was dismissed by run out. Nick continues his not out streak for the Pirates with a very well deserved 85*.

Reigate’s innings in the field began and ended with high pressure bowling which saw Wimbledon Village skittled for 98 all out. Sumair and Mobeen opened the bowling and set the precedent for the rest of the afternoon; picking up 5 wickets between them (Sumair: 2 wickets off 7 overs for 21 runs; Mobeen: 3 wickets off 9 overs for 25 runs). Other notable bowling performances were from Shams who got 2 wickets off 7 overs for 27 runs and Rambo junior picking up 2 wickets off 2.2 overs for 7 runs.

All in all, the game was won before Wimbledon Village began to bat due to Manoj and Nick’s excellent performance. Well done boys!