Jay Lenton is hitting them OK
For a while there, the match between Manly and UTS North Sydney was quite evenly poised. In the 21st over, Ollie Knight removed Joel Davies to reduce the home side to 4-102, and it was entirely possible that Manly could have been contained to a reasonably modest total. That, however, was as good as it got for the Bears, who bled for 12 runs an over for the rest of the innings. English import Tom Lammonby played his part to perfection, stroking an unbeaten 45 from only 26 deliveries, while Jay Lenton carried on his excellent form, reaching 120 not out. Lenton began calmly enough – it took him 53 balls to reach fifty, a milestone he achieved by picking up a delivery from Robbie Aitken that was only fractionally short and pulling it into the tennis courts. Lenton then got to have a bit of a rest, as no-one could figure out how to retrieve the ball, and when it was eventually recovered, he accelerated, carving 69 runs from his next 33 deliveries. Aitken’s sixth over went for 21, with Lammonby launching a straight six before Lenton blasted two of his own, over long-off and extra-cover. Lenton was on 94 when James Campbell took the ball for the 31st and final over. Campbell is a good bowler who had been bowling well – one for 25 from six, at that point. But it made no difference to Lenton, who carved the first ball high over long-off before celebrating exuberantly. He then creamed a length ball over mid-on, missed a wide yorker and hit two sweet drives over long-off – four sixes in five balls, so that his two to long-off from the final ball was something of an anticlimax. Lenton already has two hundreds this season, and looks to be hitting the ball as well as he ever has.
Dylan Hunter must be sick of white-ball cricket
Here’s the thing – Dylan Hunter is a decent bowler. The Gordon left-arm spinner has pretty good control, varies his pace and flight, and turns it a touch. And twice, in recent weeks, he’s been absolutely slaughtered. There was that ten-ball, 35-run over against North Sydney, and last Saturday his four overs against Easts went for 53 runs. Baxter Holt slapped his first two balls for 4 and 6, while Will Simpson cleared the boundary three times in his fourth over. Hunter must be longing for a return to red-ball cricket, where the batsmen occasionally block one. In a rain-reduced match, Easts raced to 9-220 in only 28 overs. The ploy of opening with Marcus Atallah was a success, and Holt (60 from 43) and Simpson (69 from 33, with a ridiculous eight 6s) provided the acceleration. Hunter thumped two retaliatory sixes of his own, but Gordon never got close to its target. Weird statistic of the day belonged to Gordon seamer Ash Premkumar, who dismissed three batsmen (Angus Robson, Jono Cook and Rupert Lilburne) for golden ducks, but without taking a hat-trick or even being on a hat-trick.
It’s not always like this, Jack
Promising young Newcastle batsman Jack Hartigan made his First Grade debut for St George on Sunday in the Little Bash match against Sydney, and he could be forgiven for having an exaggerated opinion of the standard of cricket in the big smoke. He found himself in the same side as three internationals – Kurtis Patterson, Nathan Ellis and New Zealander Colin Munro. Patterson was back on club duty (for his 100th First grade game) after leading NSW during the week, while Ellis and Munro are in Sydney to prepare for the Big Bash. Sydney batted first and St George, having some kind of theory about taking the pace off the ball, opened the attack with Kaleb Phillips’ unalarming off-spin. It worked: the dangerous Ryan Felsch sliced the first ball he faced behind point, where Munro held the catch. Ellis then removed Surrey batsman Laurie Evans, and the much improved Jono Craig-Dobson picked up two middle-order wickets. A few late blows from Alex Glendenning made the score respectable, but not large enough to contain Munro and Patterson, who ran down the target with more than five overs to spare. Munro thumped his way to 61 from 49 balls. Hartigan didn’t bat or bowl, but it’s a safe bet that he learned plenty.
Hayden Kerr’s overnight success took a while
A highlight of last week, in between rain and Covid scares, was the performance of Hayden Kerr against Victoria. Making his first-class debut in the Shield match in Sydney, Kerr played with remarkable maturity to score 62 not out and 11 not out, as well as picking up three useful wickets. He followed up with a player-of-the-match effort in only his second Marsh Cup match, smacking 43 (with two sweetly-struck sixes) and picking up 2-16 in a tidy spell with the ball. Which tells us what, exactly, about Premier Cricket? Well, more than you might think. Kerr was certainly a handy cricketer at Chevalier College, Bowral (where he played in the same side as Jack Preddey), but he was missed in sweep for talent in the junior pathways, and when he arrived at Sydney University he started in the Metropolitan Cup side. For two seasons he bounced between Fifth Grade and Fourth Grade; in his third season, he was a key member of University’s premiership-winning Fourths. It wasn’t until his fourth season that he reached Firsts, and his improvement from that point has been exponential. The point being – the junior pathways are certainly one way to spot and develop talent, but there’s also a place for the player who develops a little later (or just gets missed when he’s 16), and Premier Cricket remains a very effective platform for developing them into top-class cricketers.
We have a new contender
Regular readers will recall that Easts’ Fourths took out the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden Collapse of the Week Award in Round 3, losing five for one against University of NSW. That only prompted a resounding “hold my beer!” from the UTS North Sydney PG side. The Bears were up against it at Glenn McGrath Oval on Sunday, chasing Sutherland’s 3-141 from 20 overs. They gave it a shake, and when Harrison Lee-Young cracked Will Straker for six over midwicket, they had reached 5-117 and needed a mathematically-possible 24 from seven balls to force a Super Over. At which point, everything came up Gladys. Lee-Young played all around a low full toss and was bowled. John Nevell had strike for the final over, delivered by Sutherland captain Andrew Ritchie, but sliced the first ball to Kieran Weatherall at point. Ritchie, a right-arm seamer, bowled full and straight and reaped the rewards as North Sydney’s tail swung away hopefully. Everett Oxenham (with a name like that, could you guess that he went to The King’s School?) swiped his first ball straight up in the air, and Ritchie completed his hat-trick by knocking back Ben Knox’s off stump. Toby Laybutt bunted his first ball back down the pitch, which was something of an achievement in the circumstances, but mishit the next to Cody Philipson at cover. Ritchie had four wickets in five balls, and the Bears had lost 5-0 in six balls. It’s an effort that will take some beating, but we’re sure someone’s up to the challenge.