Pair takes a hat trick

Teammates Gary Manuel and John Fogarty each took a hat trick for Umina's fourth grade cricket team to see the side win outright over Wyong.

"Gary achieved his in their first innings, just an hour after being dismissed for 87 in Umina's innings," said club publicity officer Mr Gary Blake.

"Then on day two, John repeated the feat.

"A hat trick is a fairly rare achievement on the cricket field and for two teammates to each take one in the same match is something that no one in the club can recall happening," Mr Blake said.

"Our first grade had their first win of the season when we tallied a competitive score of 263 set up with an excellent partnership between Brad Jones (86) and Craig Brown (55), then a 40-run last wicket partnership between skipper Mitchell Smith and opening bowler Ryan Clement.

"This rearguard action combined with Mitchell's heroics with the ball taking 5/35 enabled us to defeat Wyong by 17 runs.

"Second grade defeated Wyong on the back of a mighty all round performance by Jamie Doran who backed up his 3/18 with a match winning innings of 87.

"Medium pacer Scott King's 5/36 from 21 overs helped restrict Wyong to a moderate total and then skipper Cameron Dunn (43) combined with Jamie to ensure a relatively comfortable win.

"Third grade again took first innings points before collapsing in the second innings to lose outright.

"Solid bowling from Luke Egan (4/27) and Josh Wakem (3/17) put Umina in a strong position and Geoff Byrnes carried the team home with an inspiring 68.

"Unfortunately, our second innings effort undid a lot of the good work.

"Fourth grade's outright win was highlighted by the hat trick double, but solid contributions by Michael Cowan (30 runs and 3/34), Brendan Jones 31, John Carroll 42 not out, added to Gary Manuel's 87 and 3/19 and John Fogarty's 4/18 have seen the fourth grade move into a share of the competition lead.

Mr Blake said the club saw some mixed results in the One Day Limited Overs competition.

"Our A grade team are currently on top of the table after successive wins over the past two Saturdays against Gosford and Kincumber.

"Stand-in captain Ryan Mathews has led the way with the bat scoring 47 and 62 not out. "Solid all-round contributions from popular local school teacher Steve Collins (35 runs and 2/32), and James Archibald with 53 runs and 3/31 against Kincumber after his 4/23 against Gosford have been instrumental in these wins.

"The B grade team have been struggling to score runs recently and as a result suffered two defeats, but it is a long season and the boys are confident that they can turn things around in the next couple of weeks."

The C grade had a win against Wyong and a close loss to Narara.

"Peter Jones with 6/53 and Scott Aitchison scoring 70 got the team home against Wyong, while Brendan Egan (52 runs) helped set a reasonable target, but despite wickets being shared around we were unable to prevent Narara getting the points.

"Our D grade is an interesting collection of mostly fathers and their sons, we had a good win over Wyong Gold with strong batting by Lachlan O'Donnell (51 not out) and Jacob Clement (40) setting up a total that was too much for Wyong, while we had a narrow loss to Doyalson Blue despite a magnificent 80 from former first grader (and life member) Dave Frazer.

"Gordon Ives and John Fogarty have been selected on their selection to play for an Australian Over 60's team to play against their English counterparts in Melbourne before representing NSW in the interstate carnival.

"Gordon and John are two of the most respected cricketers in Central Coast cricket."

Press release, 12 Nov 2008 Gary Blake, Umina District Cricket Club