The Saints went marching in
St George hasn’t appeared in the First Grade finals since 2015-16, and looked the longest of long shots to make it when the final round began last weekend. As we observed here last week, they needed Gordon to lose to Easts, and then they needed to beat Parramatta with a bonus point. Easts obliged by containing Gordon to 221, and could have snatched sixth place with a bonus point. Tim Armstrong got the chase off to a lively start, but Dylan Hunter applied the brakes, allowing only 35 runs from ten mean overs of left arm spin. In the end, Hunter was probably the difference between Easts playing next weekend or taking the early holiday. Will Simpson’s 67 got Easts home, but St George was now able to claim the last finals place by chasing down Parramatta’s 6 for 239 inside 40 overs. Saints went out hard, but lost early wickets, stumbling to 2 for 38, but Kaleb Phillips (77 off 59) and Tom Vane Tempest (50 off 35) revived the innings with a furious partnership. In the fourteenth over, Vane Tempest got under two good length balls from Jacob Workman and carved them over midwicket for six; Phillips hit straighter, lofting both Luke McNaught and Hayden Goulstone over long-on for sixes. That partnership ensured that the run rate would be no problem, but wickets began to fall and at 8 for 202 there was a serious risk that St George would be bowled out. Peter Francis, whose bowling has been so impressive this season, picked the right time to show that he can bat a bit as well. He and Joe Graham needed only 20 balls to pick off the last 40 runs, plundering 15 from Goulstone’s last over before Francis ended the game by whacking a leg-break from Gabriel Joseph straight down the ground for yet another six. Saints needed only 29.4 overs to seal the bonus point win, and a place back in the finals.
Premier Cricket set a new record. Not a particularly good one.
What do these players have in common? Peter Nevill. Stephen O’Keefe. Trent Copeland. Morne Morkel. Kurtis Patterson. They were, of course, the only Test cricketers who appeared in the First Grade competition this season. Never before in the 127 year history of the competition have so few Test cricketers taken part in a season’s matches. Of course, there are mitigating circumstances. Covid bubbles made life unusually difficult for representative players, and the expanded Big Bash increased their representative commitments. Travel restrictions all but eliminated the presence of overseas players. Even so, it’s the culmination of a bleak trend (8 Test players appeared in 2019-20, ten in 2018-19). No one expects a return to the days (say, 30 years ago) when current Test players could play over one third of a club’s grade games. That will never happen again, and for good reasons. But the complete separation of international cricket from Premier Cricket weakens the pyramid structure which has served the game well for a very long time. Let’s hope a few more, suitably vaccinated, representative players find time for a couple of days with their clubs next season.
There’s some average chat out there
Manly and Sydney University have played some epic contests over the last few seasons, and last Saturday’s game was up with them, Manly edging this one with one wicket to spare, thanks largely to Stephen O’Keefe, who bowled beautifully and showed all his experience with the bat at the end. For University, Liam Robertson struck the ball sweetly and ran out two batsmen, while Dugald Holloway was at his penetrative best with the ball. The result allowed Sydney to leapfrog the Students to claim the minor premiership, while Manly clinched third place. Things you won’t see often: Hayden Kerr and Jack Edwards both batting eleven (both due to injury). Manly looks well placed to make an impact on the finals, but seriously needs to improve the quality of its chat. Someone insists on shouting out, when Elliot Herd is bowling, “Come on, the Herd Locker”. The “Herd Locker”? Look, we understand that it’s a movie reference (Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards, we get it). And we appreciate that Herd sounds a little bit like “Hurt”, especially after the fourth beer. But as a nickname, it makes no sense, especially when Liam Robertson has just smacked you over long-on for a third six. All teams need to lift for the finals, so when better to introduce a new nickname? We would suggest TS (TS Eliot, try to keep up) but apparently those initials mean something different these days.
Ryan Smith went out in style
After 14 years of running in to bowl for Penrith, Ryan Smith’s knees have had enough, and they’ve announced that he’s retiring. Smith is revered at the foot of the mountains, partly for his long and tireless service to the club, but especially because of his efforts two seasons ago, when he took 62 wickets (a club record) and led the Panthers to a First Grade premiership. It didn’t seem appropriate for him to go out with a loss, but that was the way it looked late on Saturday afternoon, when Mosman was four for 177 chasing a modest target of 207. Smith had taken the early, key, wicket of Peter Forrest, who chopped a ball onto his stumps, and kept things tidy in his first six overs, allowing only 18 runs. When he came back for his final spell in Premier Cricket, Mosman needed 33 runs from eight overs with six wickets standing. Matt Moran skied his fourth ball to point, where Jordan Browne held the catch. Three runs came from Smith’s next over, and Mosman needed eleven runs from 24 balls when he bowled the 47th over of the innings. Which was chaotic. Ash Doolan (the only man, as we reminded him last week, to be dismissed twice in First Grade by Damien Mortimer), got the first ball away for four: seven needed off 23. He then missed what we’ll charitably call a slower ball, which hit him just below the knee roll, on the full, in front of his stumps. Luke Shelton hit the next for two, but nicked the following ball to Tyran Liddiard. Jake Turner unaccountably carved his very first ball to Kaine Balgowan at deep cover, and suddenly Mosman was nine for 203, still needing five runs. Greg West and Dean Crawford scrambled a couple of singles and a leg bye, and then West turned Ryan Fletcher behind square leg. The first run was completed easily, but West turned ambitiously for the match-winning second, and the throw to Liddiard was accurate enough to beat him home. So the game ended in a tie, and Smith ended his career on a memorable note, with three wickets in four balls and 5-34. He couldn’t have scripted it better.
Chris De Krester is a First Grader
Eight seasons ago, Chris De Krester left the Sydney University club because he thought he could play higher than Fifth Grade. Gordon agreed, and picked him in Thirds. He had three seasons with Gordon, playing a couple of games in Seconds, flirted with Hawkesbury in 2015-16, then rejoined the Hawks last season. This year, he’s been a valuable member of the Second Grade side, doing nothing spectacular, but bowling tidy leg-spin and contributing handy runs in the lower order. And for Round 15, he was promoted to Firsts for the match against Campbelltown-Camden. It took him nine years and 136 Premier Cricket matches to win his first First Grade cap. He didn’t let the Hawks down, bowling ten neat overs and picking out two wickets, both caught at mid-on by Mohammad Shinwari, and added some handy late-order runs. He would probably have enjoyed the day more if Hawkesbury had won, but no matter. A lot of players turn out in First Grade week after week, and many of them take it for granted. For others, it’s a goal that needs to be strived for, and when they get there, they deserve credit and respect for the persistence and self-belief that it took to achieve it.