The Students are creeping up
After making an uncharacteristically slow start to the season, Sydney University has now crept up into fourth spot on the First Grade ladder, following a comfortable bonus-point win over the Blacktown Mounties. Blacktown was never really in the contest: Caelan Malladay, Dugald Holloway and Kieran Tate knocked the top off the innings, after which Devlin Malone (4-32) continued his excellent recent form. Ryan McElduff then sealed the bonus-point win with a positive, unbeaten innings of 59, while Liam Robertson’s rapid 21 not out included two fours and two sixes. Except for Northern District and Mosman, who have broken clear at the top (but play each other next week), the competition ladder is now seriously congested, with only a single point separating Sydney University in fourth place and St George on seventh.
Some things change, some stay the same
It was, if we’re honest, an odd round of matches. What with the Big Bash hoovering up increasing numbers of reserves, and sides missing Covid-affected players, there were plenty of weaker sides on the field and an unusual high number of debutants in First Grade. Manly fielded its third First Grade wicket-keeper in as many games, which isn’t something you see all that often, and both wicket-keepers in the Penrith-Northern District match were making their debuts. But some things stayed the same, by which we mean that Northern District had another big win. Penrith had the worse of rain-affected conditions at Howell Oval, and once Ross Pawson and Lachlan Fisher reduced them to 4 for 7, there was no way back into the game. Penrith was contained to 97 in 30 overs, after which Axel Cahlin and Scott Rodgie made ridiculously short work of the Duckworth-Lewis target. Most seasons, a team with 50 points reaches the finals: Northern District has passed that number with seven games to go.
Tom Pinson bats now
Over the years, Sutherland’s tall opening bowler has been consistently impressive with the ball in his hand and… well, not quite so impressive with the bat. Before this season, he had played 163 Premier Cricket matches and his one half-century (six years ago in Second Grade) looked like an aberration. Last season he scored precisely zero runs for Sutherland (although, to be fair, he batted only twice), and his career First Grade average has hovered around ten. It was a surprise when he began this season with a hard-hitting 42 not out against University of NSW but, as it turns out, it was no fluke. He then clubbed 37 not out against Mosman and (promoted to number eight) 43 against Randwick-Petersham. On Saturday, he went to the crease with Sutherland in deep trouble at 6-101, chasing Wests’ 208. Wests’ spinners (Josh Clarke, Tom Brooks and Javed Ahmadi) had all bowled too well for the Sharks’ middle order, and with 19.3 overs remaining, Sutherland still needed 108 runs. Pinson’s tactics weren’t entirely orthodox: for quite a while, he either blocked or slogged, so that his first scoring shots were 4, 6, 4 and 4, with plenty of dots in between. His method has the virtue of simplicity: if it’s up, he drives, if it’s even slightly short, he pulls, and the rest he blocks. With Andrew Deitz giving sensible support, Pinson whacked 59 from 61 balls, and although he was dismissed within sight of the target, Andrew Ritchie hit the winning boundary with four balls remaining. If you exclude his one T20 innings, this season Pinson has 190 runs at 63.33, the kind of performance that in other sports would call for a stewards’ inquiry.
Gladys has a strange relationship with Sutherland
Close readers of Five Things will appreciate that the Sutherland club has a strange relationship with the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Dramatic Collapse of the Week Award. Some weeks the Sharks’ bowlers trigger the best collapse, and some weeks their batsmen contribute it, but somehow or other they’re always there or thereabouts. There were hot contenders for this week’s award in the First Grade match between Fairfield-Liverpool and Randwick-Petersham, in which both sides lost 3 for 0 at the top of the order. R-Ps reached 1-19 before losing Cam Hawkins, Anthony Sams and Riley Ayre without adding a run, but Fairfield’s collapse was superior. They were 11 without loss before Adam Semple struck, removing Amritpal Singh, Yuvraj Sharma and Luke Ohrynowsky in successive balls to complete a hat-trick. After allowing a wide and a single, Semple then bowled Awad Naqvi, so that Fairfield had lost four wickets for only two runs. Semple’s 6-37 (the best return in the First grade competition so far this season) helped Randwick to defend its modest total of 101.
That was good, but not quite as good as Sutherland’s Thirds, who appeared to be cruising to victory against Wests, reaching 105 without loss (and then 1-118) chasing a mere 120. And then, something distinctly odd happened, and bowlers who had seemed tame a few minutes earlier suddenly turned deadly. Bilal Khan sliced through the batting so decisively that five wickets crashed for only two runs in the space of a couple of overs before Sutherland fell over the line for a Winning Gladys.
The Kids Are Alright
It’s that time again, when a bunch of kids run around on top-grade ovals and try to figure out whether Premier Cricket is for them – a decision that involves, not only an assessment of talent and aptitude, but a careful consideration of exactly how many summers they feel like squandering in pursuit of a Third Grade average of 23. Thankfully, if this year’s Green Shield is any guide, there are still plenty of talented young men willing to submit to that bargain. It wasn’t that tough a choice for St George’s Sam Konstas, who won’t be seen much longer in Thirds. Although he didn’t start for his new club (he was at Easts last year) until Round 6, he already has nearly 600 runs for the season, in Thirds, Seconds, PGs and Green Shield. Yesterday, his 52 helped St George to overhaul Campbelltown’s 192, to which the highly consistent Riley Kingsell contributed 105. Lachlan Ritchie’s 117 not out against University of NSW was Sutherland’s first hundred in the competition for eight years. Best of the bowlers in the last two rounds have been Campbelltown’s Lachlan Fitzpatrick (who destroyed University of NSW with 6-8 and a hat trick) and Sydney University’s Reehan Shyamsundar, who ran through Wests to take 6-20.