Sydney still looks pretty good
Anyone who thought that the reigning premiers might be rattled by their unsettled off-season received a sharp wake-up from the Tigers’ strong win over Sydney University in the opening round. From last season’s Grand Final, Sydney has lost a couple of Manentis (to Tasmania), Anthony Mosca, Dan Smith (captaining Seconds) and Nic Bills (retired) – as well as long-serving, highly successful coach Mick Haire. Yet they won their first game by five wickets, with almost 13 overs to spare. Ryan Felsch was in the thick of things, as he so often is in the shorter game, gutting the University middle order before whacking 53 from 42 balls. Felsch began unusually slowly, and might have been caught from a steepling hit that went an enormous distance into the air though not all that far from the pitch. He responded to his let-off by thumping six sixes in ten balls, four of them from a single over. After Felsch missed a sweep at a Ryan McElduff off-break, Sydney captain Matt Rodgers steered his side home with a measured, positive innings. Possibly the standout performer for Sydney, though, was young quick bowler Jack Nisbet, who impressed with his economical action and steep bounce. The large number of 50-over matches at the front end of the season certainly plays to Sydney’s strengths.
Krishna Padmanabhan made a memorable start
New recruit Krishna Padmanabhan, formerly of Melbourne’s Richmond Cricket Club, made a memorable debut in Sydney cricket for University of NSW, helping his new club to a solid win over Sutherland. Padmanabhan’s unbeaten 26 from 22 helped the Bees to a strong total of 7-262, to which the most important contribution was Jack Attenborough’s polished 71. Bowling whippy spin with a rapid arm, Padmanabhan then struck three times in his first three overs, holding a return catch from Ben Dwarshuis, luring Callum Weatherall into a misguided chip into the on-side, and then removing James Arnold with possibly the filthiest delivery that will be seen on any First Grade ground this season. Arnold was so surprised by a very slow, very loopy full toss that he could only bloop it tamely into the hands of Jack Attenborough at mid-on. Padmanabhan ended the day with 4-20, capitalising on a very effective new-ball spell from Chris Tremain.
Scott Rodgie is in form
On paper, a Manly team top-heavy with representative players looked a bit too strong for Northern District but, as legendary Rugby League coach Jack Gibson used to say, your scrapbook never won any matches (actually he said “yer scrapbook”, and added a colourful adjective, but as a University club we do need to observe some standards). Manly started well enough, reaching 2-55 with Jay Lenton (who cracked one delivery into the tennis courts) and Ollie Davies hitting the ball cleanly, but then Scott Rodgie intervened. Rodgie wasn’t the most obvious threat to Manly’s batsmen – his handful of wickets last season were fearfully expensive – and 8 runs came from his first 14 balls. But then Ollie Davies spooned a loose drive to cover, and the middle order folded rapidly. Ryan Farrell sliced a drive to Toby Gray at a wide slip, Jay Lenton slashed without moving his feet, and Manly lost four wickets while adding just a single. The eventual total of 118 never looked like enough, and Rodgie collected four for 10 from his last 46 deliveries. Northern District lost three early wickets, but Rodgie followed up his bowling effort with a forceful, unbeaten 40 (in company with former Manly player Chris Green) to seal the result.
Age shall not weary them. Much.
36 years ago, a quietly-spoken, lean, intense left-hander from Armidale made his Grade debut for Western Suburbs at Blick Oval, marking his arrival with a match-winning century (after which he became a little less quietly-spoken). Paul Ryan went on to have a highly successful First Grade career as a keeper-batsman with Wests, St George and Mosman, scoring 8202 runs until he retired from Premier Cricket in 2004. Now he’s back where it all started, lured out of retirement by Wests president Michael Swan to captain Second Grade. It didn’t take Ryan long to feel at home – Wests’ top order collapsed, and James Aitken was bowling, so it was pretty much exactly like a game from the 1980s. Understandably, Ryan started slowly, but he warmed up with a trademark whip off his toes to the midwicket boundary, and stabilised the innings in a stand of 69 with Liam Sparke. Despite his advanced years, Ryan even cleared the boundary, swinging Kobe Allison over fine leg. His 50 steered Wests to 8-226, which turned out to be far too many for UTS-North Sydney. It looks as though this season the players in Wests’ Seconds will learn quite a bit about competing intensely, batting sensibly, and sore muscles.
Davo was one of a kind
Round One began a few days after the passing of Alan Davidson, which makes this the first Sydney season in 73 years in which he hasn’t been involved in some way. Davo began his Grade career in 1948-49 with Northern District, and moved to Western Suburbs four seasons later when his bank job moved him to Strathfield – where he lived for the rest of his life. At a time when international players appeared regularly in Grade cricket, Davidson was one of the last men to attract large paying crowds to club games. They came for his hostile swing bowling and brilliant fielding, but most of all for his dynamic hitting – the lawn bowls games next to Pratten Park were frequently interrupted by Davidson’s bigger hits. After retiring from first-class cricket, Davidson played on with Wests, steering the club to a First Grade premiership in 1963-64. He might have repeated that success the following season, but he was injured in the semi-final, while scoring a matchwinning even 100 out of his team’s total of 167. Less publicly visible was the fact that, for many years after his retirement, he’d still turn up at club committee meetings and contribute to the running of the grass-roots game. He’ll be missed.
And one bonus thing
Imitation is, of course, the sincerest form of flattery, and we noticed with interest the Cricket NSW website running a piece that seems to us to borrow rather heavily from the (obviously, massively popular) Five Things format. Go to https://www.cricketnsw.com.au/news/the-opening-spell-round-one-premier-cricket/2021-11-08 and decide for yourself. Does adding the sixth “thing” make a difference? Our copyright lawyers will let us know soon.