Whales in solid fightback - Mosman Cricket Club 14 January 2002

Mosman Cricket Club | September 06, 2023

This article was produced by Mosman Cricket Club and published by the Mosman Daily newspaper in 2001-02

A solid fightback from Mosman’s lower order batsmen has given the Whales some chance of taking the points against Sydney University this Saturday.

A solid late wicket partnership between veterans Trent Johnson and Warwick Adlam allowed the Whales to build the respectable total of 271, which should be close to a winning score.

Much will depend on the conditions next Saturday and performance of the in-form Mosman bowling attack.

Victory will consolidate the Whales position at the top-end of the Grade table.

Apart from Johnson, who piled on 51, and a solid contribution of 34 from Adlam, only Herman Schliebs and Brett Erickson kept the scorers active.

Schliebs made 45 while Erickson completed his second consecutive half-century.

In other grades, there was a mixture of results, with the highlight of the round a marauding innings in third grade from the ageless Craigie Hughes.

Hughes made a quickfire108 runs, hitting no less than eight sixes during his short stay at the crease.

In only his second game for the season, Hughes has wholly and solely given the thirds an opportunity to protect their top-six position on the table.

However the modest Hughes described his innings as more butchery than style.

“My timing was out and, on most occasions, it was really only pure strength that enabled me to bash the ball over the boundary,” he said. “If I was in better form, I’m sure I could have hit 14 or 15 sixes for the day.

“Anyway, it’ll do for the moment,” Hughes said reflectively. “But I’ll be trying harder than ever next match to give each and every ball a good old fashioned bull slog.”

In junior cricket, Mosman’s Under-16 Green Shield side won four of its seven matches to finish a creditable eighth in the competition – the club’s best performance for many years.

The team started well, with wins over the defending premiers Parramatta, and then North Sydney, but unfortunately this was followed by a three-game slump.

The team recovered to win its final two matches, against Western Suburbs and Randwick-Petersham.

The highlights came in the first and last matches, with the comprehensive defeat of Parramatta, and in recovering from 4-10 to beat Randwick-Petersham.

When you consider that the Mosman Green Shield had not won a match in two seasons, the efforts of this side was most meritorious.