The Bees are resilient
There are times when it isn’t easy playing cricket for University of NSW: the club seems to be engaged in a more or less constant struggle with a University administration that hasn’t quite figured out that, in order to play cricket, you need access to a ground. However, adversity breeds resilience, and with pretty much the same group of players who finished ninth last season, the Bees have raced out of the blocks this season, holding a share of second place after three rounds. Things looked grim on the first day when Angus Robson (son of the man who was University of NSW cricket for nearly twenty years) anchored Easts’ innings with an immensely professional 161. 375 is a tough target anywhere, but if you need to chase it, you may as well do it at David Phillips – and it helps if you have Matt Gilkes in the side. Coming in after Sufan Hassan and Jack Attenborough had laid a strong platform, Gilkes teed off, racing to 201 not out from only 150 balls. He hit fifteen fours and cleared the boundary 12 times, registering his highest First Grade score and his second First Grade double century. Gilkes saved several of his bigger hits for Marcus Atallah’s off-spin – possibly as punishment for Atallah leaving the Bees for Easts a couple of seasons ago. It was a pretty decent week for Gilkes, who hit 72 and 48 in the Shield match against Queensland at Drummoyne. It’s reasonable safe to say he’s in tidy form at present.
Jimmy Greenslade had a breakthrough
North Sydney’s win on the weekend was doubly satisfying: it came at the expense of neighbours and rivals Mosman, and it was secured through the efforts of a local player who climbed through the grades at the club. Actually, Mosman could claim Greenslade as a junior as well – he started out with the Whales before joining North Sydney as a Third Grader. Last season he scored consistently in Seconds and Thirds, earning a First Grade debut and showing signs of promise with a polished 78 against Bankstown. A tall, wristy left-hander, Greenslade knows North Sydney Oval well, having spent his winters there playing full-back for the Northern Suburbs Rugby club. And he’s plainly good at absorbing pressure. Chasing 320, North Sydney made the worst possible start when Elijah Eales bowled Brent Atherton first ball. Dangerman Justin Avendano cracked Dean Crawford for three successive fours, but then fell lbw to Eales for only 23. At 4-79, North Sydney was in serious trouble, but James Rew and Greenslade played maturely and positively to set up a successful chase. Inevitably, the chase was finished off by Robbie Aitken (who is significantly older than Rew and Greenslade put together), who hit an unbeaten fifty, but it was Greenslade’s day. He ended up on 118 not out, 96 of which came in boundaries (21 fours and two 6s).
The British are coming
Sydney’s annual influx of county professionals and young county aspirants has resumed after a two-year Covid break and, as is making up for the lost time, British players are swarming into Premier Cricket. And there are some interesting faces in the mix. Somerset’s left handed keeper-batsman, James Rew, made an unusual first-class debut when he turned out for a County Select XI against India before appearing for his own county. Since then, he’s played for England in the Under-19 World Cup final, and scored a County Championship century for Somerset against Essex. Rew made an immediate impact for North Sydney, hitting 91 to help the Bears chase down Mosman’s target of 320. One of Rew’s Under-19 team-mates, Tom Prest of Hampshire, made a solid start to his stint with Easts, scoring 55 and picking up two handy wickets. Kent’s Tawanda Muyeye made an excellent start to his time with Randwick-Petersham, hitting a classy half-century against Northern District. Muyeye has a fascinating story: his family are refugees from Zimbabwe, and he’s in the process of qualifying for England. It may take him a while his live down his old coach’s assessment that "he could be the best player in the world" but he can certainly bat. And apparently, Blacktown has recruited Lancashire pace bowler Jack Blatherwick, whose name sounds as though he ought to be a minor character in a DH Lawrence novel. Blatherwick, who started out with Nottinghamshire before moving to Lancashire, had a quiet 2022 after some highly promising moments in 2021. At his best, he bowls with real pace, moving the ball away and generating uncomfortable bounce. If he finds his rhythm, he could unsettle a few batsmen before returning home.
Trent Copeland still bowls
It feels as though he’s been around forever, and these days he seems to be on TV as often as he is on the field, but Trent Copeland is still only 36 (we checked) and he can still bowl. He effectively settled the match between St George and Parramatta in his opening spell last weekend, when he straightened one back to Ryan Hackney (lbw for 2) and then removed Nick Bertus, caught by Rafael McMillan for 2. From that point, Parramatta was never likely to overhaul St George’s 287, and Copeland finished things off with surgical precision, ending up with 5-47. His virtues are unspectacular: an endlessly repeatable action, accuracy, control and subtle movement – but he remains a highly impressive craftsman. And he was ably supported by the more explosive Peter Francis, who picked up 4-30.
Hayden’s back
Starting his season late due to injury, it hasn’t taken Hayden Kerr long to remind everyone why he’s now one of the most valuable white-ball players in the game. Blacktown had set Sydney University a challenging target of 160 in their T20 match on Sunday, and that target then became 94 from 10 overs after a break for rain. Ridiculously, University romped home with two and a half overs to spare. Kerr began almost cautiously: after facing four balls from Jeremy Nunan and Asfar Riaz, he had scored only one, and by that stage University needed two runs a ball to win. At which point, Kerr decided the outcome of the game in a few minutes. From the next 13 balls he faced, from Riaz and Jacob Wood, he carved 55 runs, including seven sixes, reaching his fifty from only 17 balls. Wood’s first over cost 26 runs, including three successive sixes; Kerr then smashed the next ball he faced, from Riaz, over the fence to make it four in a row, and added another two sixes later in the over. When Kerr was leg-before to Smit Raval, for 56, early in the fifth over, the score was 59 and Nick Larkin had contributed two singles. Larkin and Tim Cummins steered University home, and the Students sit on top of the Little Bash Thunder Conference with some absurdly astronomical net run rate.