Some things are much clearer now. Others, not so much.
Here’s what we know after Round 11: with four games to play, Sydney University, Sydney and Manly form a pretty clear top three in First Grade. Sydney had the unusual experience of thumping Bankstown at Bankstown only to discover that they’d fallen slightly behind the leaders, University, who won all ten points against Campbelltown-Camden. Manly consolidated third place by chasing down an awkward target set by Blacktown.
But nothing else is any clearer, because results elsewhere only created more congestion on the table. Bankstown and St George both dropped out of the top six, St George’s loss keeping Wests’ hopes alive. Fairfield blew a chance to strengthen its grip on fourth spot when it lost its last five wickets for 18 runs at North Sydney – a result that keeps the Bears in the hunt for the finals. Randwick-Petersham twice looked dead and buried against Sutherland; on day one, when Sutherland reached one for 209 (before losing nine for 33), and on day two, when their reply stuttered to six for 86. Twice Randwick-Petersham fought back impressively: their six points lifted them to sixth. And Northern District capitalised on two surprisingly poor batting displays by Easts to grab an outright win that lifted them to fifth. As things stand, seven points separate nine teams, with fourth-placed Fairfield on 39 and twelfth-placed Wests on 32. This week, Wests need to beat Manly to maintain the pace, while Randwick-Petersham will probably need points against Sydney University to remain in the six. There’s a lot riding on the game between Bankstown and Fairfield, and Sydney could make things very difficult for St George.
Bankstown has the season’s first trophy
Because there are times when T20 cricket produces gripping finishes, it’s easy to overlook the structural problem with the format: that the result can be decided by a single emphatic performance relatively early in the contest. That’s exactly what happened in the final of the Harry Solomons Little Bash on Australia Day, when Nick Carruthers basically settled the outcome in the third and fourth overs of the day. In the space of eight deliveries, from Adrian Isherwood and Djali Bloomfield, the left-handed Carruthers plundered 34 runs, and although Bloomfield then dismissed him, his early assault laid the foundation for a target that always looked beyond the Bumblebees. Bankstown reached one for 64 after five overs, and while University of NSW pulled things back a touch, the home side was always likely to defend 184. One of Jack Attenborough or Adrian Isherwood needed to come off for the Bees to have a chance; but each hit a sweet, clean six and was then dismissed (Isherwood to a particularly pointless runout). After that, Bankstown did exactly what they needed – they bowled tightly and fielded athletically and aggressively. Dan Solway (who contributed 56 with the bat) set his field astutely, and the Bees struggled to reach the boundary when boundaries were sorely needed. Aaron Bird, who has been playing T20 cricket for as long as it has existed in this country, tightened the screws: he started with a maiden, sent back Suffan Hassan lbw with the first ball of his second over, and eventually conceded a single from the ninth ball he bowled. His three overs cost only six runs. There was a time when it was his suspiciously faster short ball that worried batsmen, but these days, it’s his slower ball that causes havoc. The eventual margin, 70 runs, was a little cruel. It was an anticlimactic end to a seriously impressive campaign by the Bees, but a thoroughly well-deserved first T20 title for the Bulldogs.
Ben Joy gives hope to Metro Cup players everywhere
Four balls in to his first spell of the weekend, Sydney University opening bowler Ben Joy persuaded Campbelltown’s Adam Whatley to spar at a lifting delivery outside off stump, and so picked up his 200th wicket in First Grade. In itself, that’s a commendable but not especially unusual milestone, yet in the context of Joy’s career, the fact that he reached it at all is extraordinary. Joy first appeared for the club back in 2007, when the selectors, for reasons that remain obscure, decided that it would be best for him to spend a couple of seasons playing Metropolitan Cup. Even though he took large numbers of wickets for small numbers of runs, it then took him another season to climb past Fourths. His breakthrough came in 2011-12, when he grabbed 8-12 against Penrith in Seconds, and made his First Grade debut. Even so, many seasons passed before he became a regular in First Grade, and he was an important part of the University side that won four Second Grade premierships in succession. In fact, he’s one of only two University bowlers (the other is Tom Kierath) with 200 wickets in both Firsts and Seconds. Many other players in these circumstances would have switched clubs, but Joy has remained a one-club player throughout his grade career. This season, he wasn’t expected to feature much in First Grade: it was thought that Joe Kershaw, Charlie Cassell and Dugald Holloway would form the Students’ pace attack, with Hayden Kerr chipping in as well. Instead, Kershaw’s persistent injuries have prevented him from taking the field at all, while Kerr’s role as permanent unused X-factor sub for the Sixers has limited him to five overs all season. Joy, on the other hand, now has 32 wickets in First Grade – the most of any bowler in the competition. He makes full use of his height, moves the ball away from the right hander, gets steep bounce and is half a yard quicker than most batsmen expect. On Saturday, he ran through Campbelltown to take 5-34, setting up an outright win after Liam Robertson invited the Ghosts to bat first on a pitch with a distinctly green tinge. This season he’ll lead the University attack into the finals, while offering hope to players in their second year of Metro Cup that the future could be quite bright after all.
Tom Brooks gives it a rip
Western Suburbs now has two country-bred leg-spinners on its books, and that simple fact disguises much more than it reveals, because Jono Cook and Tom Brooks could hardly be more different cricketers. Cook, lean and agile, skids his leg-breaks through quickly, relying on relentless accuracy, subtle variation and over-spin. Brooks, whose bleep test is not his strongest point, uses his big hands to give the ball a solid rip, and isn’t afraid of tossing the ball up or sending down the occasional very hittable ball. Cook has grade cricket’s most prominent manbun; Brooks could just use a haircut. Cook comes from Taree; Brooks is from Scone, where he played A Grade cricket at the age of 12. But they can both bowl, a point that Brooks emphasised in Wests’ upset win over St George on the weekend.
It was actually a genuine team effort from the Magpies: Lachlan Ford, Oscar Oborn-Corby and Zain Shamsi all bowled well when the ball was new, and all of the top order made useful contributions, with Nick Cutler’s 72 the standout. But Brooks’ 4-45 in Saints’ first innings particularly caught the eye. Brooks wastes no time on a run-up, taking just a couple of steps to the crease, but he still manages to get plenty of body into his action, and he’s capable of turning the ball on most surfaces. He also has the attacking-leg-spinner’s gift of taking wickets with the odd loose ball. Brooks has given Josh Clarke a genuine attacking option, and could be very handy in the closing weeks of the season.
Old Kings is no place for bowlers
After the pounding they sustained at the hands of Sydney in Round 10, Hawkesbury bounced back impressively against Parramatta, racking up 8 for 398 and reducing their hosts to 3 for 85. Normally, you win from there. Patrick Moore (123) and Scott Baldwin (124) put on 207 for the third wicket, Connor Mizzi set up the declaration with 52 from 35, and then left-armer Ben Roughan marked his First Grade debut by removing the dangerous Ben Abbott, who miscued a drive to mid-off. But it was all downhill for the Hawks from there. Scott Copperfield, who has completed his transition from opening bowler to middle-order batsman, hit his second hundred of the season to put his side back in the race. Dhruv Kant then took control of the game. The former Blacktown keeper, in his first season with Parramatta, recorded his first century in First Grade, 126 not out, and his partnership with Jacob Workman (whose 59 included four 6s) put Parramatta within striking distance. Kant drove cleanly and, once his eye was in and the field was scattered, brought out the slog-sweep against the quicker bowlers. By the time Workman was dismissed, Parramatta’s main enemy was the clock, but Kant and Owen Simonsen needed only 33 minutes to knock off the remaining 70 runs. Kant and Simonsen peeled 15 runs from the last over of the day, Kant settling the game by smashing a drive high over mid-off. It was an epic effort from Parramatta, who enter the record books by securing the club’s highest-ever successful chase. Hawkesbury may well have created their own record, too – we can’t recall the last time a team conceded 400 runs twice in succession.