Bon Andrews is a horrible place to bowl
Sometimes we’ve wondered (usually, if we’re honest, while bowling there) just how effective those fences at Bon Andrews Oval really are. You know the ones – the high ones on the eastern side of the ground that are supposed to protect North Sydney Council against the catastrophic consequences of a cricket ball dropping through the windscreen of a car travelling at 70kph along the Warringah Freeway. Well, the fences will seldom be tested out as thoroughly as they were on Saturday, when UTS North Sydney and Gordon forgot all about cricket and decided to play a game of Bat instead. Bon Andrews (North Sydney No2, if you’re old) is not a large ground, and even though the outfield was covered in sand, it was lightning-fast. To top it off, the pitch may as well have been dropped in from the nearby Pacific Highway. North Sydney batted first, and Jack James sliced the first ball of the day past point for four. The scoring rate did drop after that, but not by much. Justin Avendano smashed his way to an absurd 171 from 122 balls, clearing the fence 11 times. Avendano actually constructed his innings quite carefully; it took him 13 balls to reach double figures, and after facing 45 balls he had only scored 39 runs. He then accelerated so effectively that his century came from the 92nd ball he faced, when he punched Quincy Titterton to long-on for a single. But the real impetus came when left-arm spinner Dylan Hunter was recalled to bowl the 42nd over of the innings. The first ball, flat and quick, was muscled over long-on for 6; the next soared over cow corner for 6 more, and disappeared southbound towards the Harbour Tunnel, so that a replacement ball was required. Avendano missed a swipe at the next delivery, but heaved the fourth over wide long-on, after which things rather disintegrated. Hunter replied with two wides outside off-stump and a chest-high no-ball that was pounded over mid-wicket for yet another 6. Avendano then launched yet another 6, and Hunter served up another no-ball. Anything could have happened on the next delivery, a free hit, but Avendano got so wound up that in the end he slipped and fell swiping at a full toss, which trickled away for a single. The over lasted for ten deliveries and produced 35 runs. Yet it was Hunter who had the last laugh: his 123 included five 6s of his own, and his stand of 165 with Taj Brar (in which both hit their maiden First Grade century) set up Gordon’s run chase, which was completed by an excellent late cameo from Jack Ritchie. Maybe next week they might move those big screens from the eastern side of the ground and put them between the bowler and the batsman. The bowlers need some kind of protection.
Dugald Holloway found his rhythm
The Harry Solomons Little Bash is back, and in its first T20 match of the season, Blacktown made a solid start to its chase at Sydney University Oval. Chasing a more-or-less par score of 5-152, the Mounties reached 1-47 until Dugald Holloway stepped in. There’s a kind of Mitchell Johnson-ish quality to Holloway’s bowling; he’s a tall left-armer, sharp, with a slightly unorthodox action, and some days, he bowls to the left, he bowls to the right. Other days, though, it all clicks in a way that makes life extremely uncomfortable for any batsman who gets in the way, and he can turn the course of a match in no time at all. Sunday was one of those days; in his first over, Holloway accounted for James Newton with his third ball and had Yianni Theodorakopoulos caught behind from his next delivery. James Fawcett got the hat-trick ball away for four, but the last ball of the over crashed into his stumps, and Holloway then had Hayden Fox caught from the first ball of his second over – a ridiculous sequence of WW4WW. Holloway ended up with 5-24, his best return in Firsts, as a tight contest turned into a very comfortable win for the Students.
Too many Blakes are never enough
Three centuries were scored at Bankstown Oval on Saturday, and naturally all the attention went to Dan Solway (109 not out), Blake McDonald (109 not out) and Blake Nikitaras (105 not out). It is, after all, a batsman’s game. We haven’t checked this, or anything, but we’re pretty sure that this was the first time in the long history of the First Grade competition that an unbeaten double-century partnership has been shared between two unbeaten century-making batsmen both called Blake. Blake squared made short work of St George’s target – they ran down Bankstown’s 5-216 with 13.2 overs to spare, McDonald lashing five sixes and Nikitaras three.
For our money though, and without in any way detracting from the efforts of the Blakes, the standout player on the field was St George opening bowler Peter Francis, who grabbed three early wickets to reduce Bankstown to 3-32. Francis ended up with 3-46; the other bowlers in the match managed 3-338 between them. He moves the ball away from the bat at a decent pace, bowls with plenty of aggression, and gives the St George attack a genuine cutting edge.
John who?
It should, in theory, be possible to write a paragraph or two about Elijah Eales without mentioning his father. Here goes.
Almost no-one expected Mosman to win its first T20 game of the season, against white-ball experts Sydney, especially after the Whales posted a so-so target of 137 at Drummoyne Oval. But Eales (who bowled off-breaks not so very long ago) opened the bowling with his accurate seamers, and in his first over he convinced Will Fort to chip a drive to mid-on, where Matt Junk bobbled the catch before holding it. Things then got worse for Sydney – Ryan Felsch, after doing his best to run himself out first ball, then smacked a shortish ball from Jake Turner straight to Harry Dalton on the cow-corner fence. All of the Sydney middle order made a start, but each time the Tigers looked like getting the initiative, Eales took a wicket – Justin Mosca sliced the ball to point, Nathan Doyle clipped a full ball to mid-wicket, and Matt Rodgers hoisted one to Matt Moran behind square leg. Eales doesn’t look like a bowler who’ll run through a side in a two-day game, but he has good control, bowls thoughtfully, and built enough pressure to induce reckless strokes. Mosman ran out winners by the surprisingly convincing margin of 23 runs, with Eales (4-17) the difference.
Ronak Bedi has improved
Sydney’s lower-grade players have never had a longer off-season in which to work on their game, and not many players have used that time as well as Ronak Bedi seems to have done. Last season, the Sutherland leg-spinner played four matches in Seconds, taking just a single wicket for 155 runs. But his improvement this season has been striking, and after collecting three wickets in Round One, he produced an astonishing spell against Hawkesbury on Saturday. Chasing 236, Hawkesbury had begun to rebuild its innings after an excellent opening burst from Will Straker, in which the first three wickets fell for only two runs. But Bedi shredded the lower order, and the last five wickets fell while only two runs were scored. Incredibly, seven Hawkesbury batsmen were dismissed without scoring. Bedi wrapped up the innings for just 64, grabbing 5-8 from 4.4 overs. His bowling average in Seconds so far this season is approximately 26 times lower than it was last season.