And then there were nine…
With just two rounds remaining before the finals, there are only three teams outside the top six with any realistic prospect of playing at the end of March. Northern District’s pounding at the hands of Manly leaves the Rangers precariously positioned in sixth place, on 44 points, ahead of Parramatta only by virtue of a superior quotient. Behind them lurk Randwick-Petersham (42) and Penrith (41). Five Things doesn’t do predictions – we have enough other ways to look silly without trying that. But the big game this week appears to be the match between leaders Manly (55.9) and fourth-placed University of NSW (47). If the Bees win, they just about seal their place in the top six. Lose, though, and they could be passed by any or all of the five teams currently behind them. Just as important is the game between Bankstown (45) and Northern District (44) – the team that fails to take points from that encounter may very well lose control of its destiny, and need other sides to lose in the last round in order to reach the playoffs.
Sam Robson bowled again
Last week we made mention of Sam Robson’s return to the bowling crease, when he picked up three wickets against Hawkesbury. Fun stat of the week: despite his background as a teenaged leg-spin prodigy, in 189 first-class matches (mostly for Middlesex) Robson has taken precisely eleven wickets. But clearly the muscle memory is still there. Against Wests last weekend, Robson ripped through the visiting side to take 6-35 from only twelve overs. It would be nice to report that he was drifting the ball in, before turning it past the outside edge to hit the top of off. But in fact, Robson’s more of a Kumble than a Warne, bowling from a decent height and pushing the ball through quickly. Most of his wickets came when the Wests batsmen tried to carve him through the off side but found the fieldsmen instead (although Max Glen did execute a couple of stumpings). Easts had every reason to be satisfied with their bowling – Oliver Patterson, the left arm seamer and son of former Easts great Mark, made a pair of early breakthroughs to take his first wickets in Firsts, and Wests were dismissed for 175. In reply, Easts reached 3 for 104 but the Dolphins then fell in a heap against the lively Muhammad Irfan (3-39) and Jack Bermingham (4-17), losing five wickets for four runs before falling short by 38 runs.
Manly’s bowlers are a threat, just not always how you’d expect
Northern District won the toss against Manly on the weekend, and not much else. The Rangers were probably expecting a tough morning against State representatives Mickey Edwards, Ryan Hadley and Jack Edwards when they chose to bat first, but wouldn’t have expected to go to lunch at 7 for 30, and wouldn’t have expected most of the damage to have been done by Joel Foster. It was Hadley who struck first, when David Lowery groped forward and managed a fine nick through to Jay Lenton. But it was Foster’s nippy medium-pace that did for debutant Cameron Tunks, caught at slip, and three balls later a tentative Lachlan Shaw was lbw. The innings limped on for 43 overs, but realised only 51 runs, Foster taking 5-11. Opener Tunks top-scored in his first game in Firsts, but made no more than 13. Manly ran up a big lead by stumps, and were well placed to push for outright points had any play been possible on the second day.
Ben Abbott is fun to watch
For a while, it looked as though Parramatta’s push for a finals spot was in serious trouble: batting first, they slumped to 5 for 107 against Fairfield-Liverpool. Josh Baraba and Jaydyn Symmyns (sorry, Simmons) both bowled well early in the day, and they picked up Ryan Hackney and Nick Bertus cheaply. Simmons bowled two really good overs to Bertus, and was rewarded when a loose drive was pouched at slip. Ben Abbott came in with his side in trouble, and he reacted by doing… well, by doing what Ben Abbott does. Have you ever watched him between balls? He stands with his bat on his shoulder, like an axe, and that’s more or less how he uses it. Arjun Nair forced him to block a few balls early on, but defence isn’t really Abbott’s game, and soon he swung a ball that was only fractionally short to the fence at square leg. Abbott prefers the ball coming towards him with some pace, and in Baraba’s 12th over, he carved a fullish ball over point for 4, then cracked a length ball on off stump over midwicket for another boundary, punched an on-drive for 2, smashed another drive straight for 4, and leaned back to smack the ball past cover for another 4. Abbott raced to 63 from 62 balls, Parramatta recovered to reach 255, and its season remains alive.