The Students win the tight ones
Teams that reach the finals generally win matches that they shouldn’t. Sydney University has shown that knack more than once this season, and pulled off another escape act on Saturday, defeating Randwick-Petersham in a gripping finish by just 11 runs. The Students produced a limp performance with the bat on the first day, struggling to reach 183. Dylan Hunter, who’s in the form of his life, mixed dogged defence with some fierce strokes to remain unbeaten on 66, but Jason Ralston and Daya Singh sliced through the lower order, and it took a few improbable runs from Devlin Malone to lift the total to something defendable. Randwick-Petersham batted slowly but steadily to be 1 for 47 overnight – 137 needed with nine wickets in hand, which, since three of the top five had experience of first-class cricket, looked like an undemanding chase. But Caelan Malady was excellent on the second morning, removing Ashley Burton and then taking the crucial wicket of Riley Ayre. Kieran Tate held a sharp return catch from Cam Hawkins, and at 4 for 57, the game was wide open. Anthony Sams and Tawanda Muyeye steadied things for a while, but Muyeye hasn’t seen all that much leg spin in Kent, and he nicked a tentative back-foot push at Malone into the safe hands of Tim Cummins. Then Angus McTaggart thrust his pad out to a straight one, and at six for 85 the Students were on top. Everything rested on Anthony Sams, who responded magnificently, shepherding the tail and punishing anything loose. Ben Mitchell played calmly for a while, but Maladay returned to remove him and Ralston. With twelve runs needed for the win, Sams slapped Malone to cover, where Charles Litchfield held a sharp catch diving to his left. The result left University in third spot, and Randwick-Petersham 12th, though that’s certainly not a true indication of the gap between the sides. Incidentally, it’s possible to argue that University won because its ex-RPs players (Hunter and Maladay, 4-50) did better than RPs ex-University players (Hawkins, 28 and Mitchell, 24).
More than one highway runs through Chatswood
In its last two home games, Gordon has scored 408 and 412. At different points in these games, its score has reached 6 for 342 and 2 for 313. It has lost both games. It’s ridiculous.
Chatswood Oval has never had long boundaries, especially square of the wicket, and this season the pitch and outfield could easily be cut out and relaid onto the nearby Pacific Highway. While Jack James and Tym Crawford were building their excellent partnership of 223 against Easts last Saturday, every defensive push that beat the field went for four. Of course, as long as the conditions are the same for each side, there’s no unfairness, but some ridiculous statistics are being compiled. In Easts’ colossal innings of 463, Will Simpson converted his maiden First Grade century into a massive 174, while Englishman Oliver Cox announced his arrival with 116 and opener Blake Harper notched his first half-century in Firsts. Cox struck a crucial blow on the second day when he removed Crawford during a short spell bowling comically harmless leg-breaks, but the game was decided by Sam Skelly, whose hostile late overs, combined with scoreboard pressure, swung the game in favour of the Dolphins. Yet again the sympathy vote goes to Tym Crawford: in his last three games, he’s scored 66, 53 and 144, as well as taking 5-55, and lost each time. It’s not an especially fair game.
Manly seems untroubled by its late start
Speaking of things that make no sense, Manly now has an 8-point lead on top of the First Grade ladder – despite the fact that, because of rain, the team didn’t even make it on to the ground in Rounds 1 and 2. The seasiders have won their last two games outright (and actually came close to winning another outright against Blacktown). The match against Mosman was closer than that makes it sound: Mosman began the game strongly, reaching one for 95, before collapsing horribly to be all out for 140. Ryan Hadley, maintaining a lively pace and attacking the stumps, did almost all the damage, ending up with 8-48. Manly made heavy weather of the chase, struggling to 7 for 108 at stumps. But Hadley was in no mood to lose, and last Saturday he added some vital runs in company with Ollie Davies, who returned from State duty for the second day. Elijah Eales bowled well for his 5-57, but Manly led by 14 on the first innings. Mosman then batted positively in an effort to set Manly a target, but were reined in again by Hadley, who finished up with a remarkable 14 wickets in the match. In the context of the game, a target of 186 looked challenging, but Manly ran it down in less than 22 overs. Ollie Davies and Jay Lenton started with a brutal assault on the new ball, and then Joel Davies saw the chase through with an unbeaten 78 from 49. The reigning premiers now find themselves in eleventh place and with plenty of work to do.
We have our first finalists
The first eight finalists of the season were decided on Sunday, in the last of the preliminary rounds of the Harry Solomons Little Bash. St George, Gordon, Sydney and Manly will play in the semi-finals of the Sixers Conference, while in the Thunder Conference, Bankstown, Sydney University, Penrith and Blacktown go through. Sydney University sealed its place with a thumping win over Parramatta: Dylan Hunter followed a career-best 4-25 with an astonishing 54 from 28 balls, including a lost ball which – appropriately enough – was last seen bouncing into the Emergency Ward at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Hayden Kerr hit the ball just as hard and just as far for 72 from 49, and University ran down its respectable target of 156 with 29 balls to spare. Bankstown sealed top spot in the conference with a close win over Wests, driven by Nick Carruthers’ extraordinary innings: in pursuit of 121, he belted 77 from 33 balls, 70 of them in boundaries, while eight of his team-mates managed 36 runs between them. The closest game of the Sixers Conference was at Waverley Oval, where Waverley needed 16 from Ben Mitchell’s final over. Mitchell was equal to the task, however, and Tom Coady failed even to make contact with any of the first three balls. Even though the left-hander smacked 12 runs from the last three deliveries, by then the game was out of reach.
Bowling in Third Grade is not much fun just now
There have been some unusually tall scores in Third Grade this season, culminating in an absolute run feast at Birchgrove Oval. Sydney took first use of a faultless pitch and ran up the little matter of 2 for 419 (from only 72 overs) on the first day of its game against Blacktown. Opener Henry Kirk led the way with an unbeaten 210, made from only 209 balls, with 28 fours and four 6s. Kirk, who started out with Northern District, has had an odd career with Sydney: he had already made hundreds in Seconds and Thirds for the club, but has tended to mix very large scores with rather small ones, with not much in between. Anyway, he thoroughly dominated the Blacktown attack, and shared a second wicket stand of 376 with former Western Australian Tyler Robertson, who contributed 169, his first century for the Tigers. Blacktown couldn’t have been criticised if they’d fallen over on the second day; instead, though, they gave Sydney a real scare, reaching five for 362 before the game ended in a draw. Opener Remi Ferdinands contributed a hundred of his own, while Hassan Rauf made 89. Over the two days, seven wickets fell for 781 runs, and no bowler took more than a single wicket.
Nothing says “It’s Christmas” like an obscure cricket history book
Anyone still looking for the perfect gift for that hard-to-please, literate, cricket obsessed relative, could a lot worse than picking up a copy of Black Swan Summer, which is undoubtedly the best book ever to explain the connections between Western Australia’s first Sheffield Shield season, Communism, beer strikes and Sir Laurence Olivier – mostly because it’s the only book ever to attempt it. You’ll find it in all bookstores where obscure cricket books are sold, or by clicking here and asking Dymocks to send you one. Or more than one.