It’s finals time! Already!
To those of us above a certain age (say, 21), October seems a touch early for a cricket final, but here we are: the last day of the Harry Solomon Little Bash is this coming Sunday, at North Sydney Oval, where Bankstown meets St George and Northern District faces Fairfield. The winners will advance to the grand final, later in the day. Bankstown advanced largely through the efforts of marquee player Will Bosisto, who had a big day last Sunday, cracking 86 from 50 against Sutherland and 88 from 48 against UTS North Sydney. Lachlan Shaw’s 107 from 57 was the main difference between Northern District and Eastern Suburbs. Perhaps the best of the quarter-finals was at Old Kings, where Fairfield-Liverpool needed nine from the last over of the day, and got there when Coby Holland hit Michael Sullivan’s fifth ball to the fence. As for this Sunday… Five Things doesn’t do predictions, but St George’s batting looks pretty formidable.
Saturday was a grim day for bowlers
It was no fun at all bowling at Sutherland on Saturday – cold and unpleasantly windy – and apart from about ten minutes the game was dominated by the bat. During those ten minutes, Andrew Ritchie took the first two Sydney University wickets, and Sutherland looked, briefly, like defending its total of 237. But Jack Attenborough set off with a string of boundaries – his first four scoring strokes went to the fence – and Tim Cummins matched him in a third wicket stand of 150. Cummins, busy and positive, accelerated through the middle overs and remained unbeaten on 92, while Damien Mortimer, in rich form this season, finished off the chase with 49 not out from 50 balls. University’s bowlers were little more penetrative than Sutherland’s, but they kept things tight, holding Sutherland to a reasonable total despite Andrew Deitz’s disciplined 116 not out.
You always remember the first one
By which we mean, of course, your first First Grade wicket. Certainly, Bankstown leg-spinner Mitchell Constantinou will remember his. And so will his victim, Gordon’s Mitchell Lole. Constantinou, an Illawarra product, came into the attack to bowl the 32nd over. Gordon was 5 for 143 and Lole, on 14, looked to be the key man if Gordon was to post a decent total. Constantinou’s first ball stuck in his fingers. It happens. The ball possibly landed in Lole’s half of the pitch, but only just. He could have hit it anywhere. But, with unerring precision, he picked out Daniel Solway at short mid-wicket. You can see it here, https://www.instagram.com/gordondcc/reel/DBDpYEvJ2Yh/, unless Lole has managed to get it taken down in the meantime. Constantinou went on to bowl six tidy overs for only 20 runs, which everyone is much less likely to remember.
Harry Manenti had a good day
Limited-overs games in October are usually played on flat, slow pitches and dominated by batsmen, so it’s worth acknowledging Harry’s Manenti’s effort for Easts against University of NSW on Saturday. The fourth bowler used by the Dolphins, Manenti bowled straight at a decent pace, trapping Ryan Meppem lbw, bowling Thomas Byrnes and removing Irish newcomer Gavin Hoey in his first spell. When he came back at the end of the innings, he was ever deadlier, ripping through the tail in a spell of 4-7 – and that included the five wides he sent down in an over-enthusiastic effort to complete a hat-trick. The Bees succumbed for only 147, a target that posed no real challenge to Easts openers Daniel Hughes and Will Simpson, who needed only 21 overs to knock off the runs.
The game at Hurstville might be the one when you rest that tight hamstring
We’re not suggesting that the NSW selectors have made a mistake, but there are plenty of grade bowlers hoping that they reconsider the question of whether Blake Nikitaras and Kurtis Patterson are Sheffield Shield batsmen. On Saturday, they dominated a very respectable Northern District attack, both hitting hundreds while sharing a second wicket partnership of 222 in just over 36 overs. Patterson was marginally faster, hitting 114 from 112 balls, but the feature of the partnership wasn’t massive hitting, but the ruthlessly methodical way in which the two left-handers rotated the strike and kept the score moving with sharp running and deft placement. The big hitting came on Sunday morning, when Nikitaras (86 from 46) and Patterson (63 from 38) needed only 14 overs to chase down Penrith’s 146 in the T20 elimination final. Unless the selectors change their mind some time soon, bowling at Hurstville Oval will not be an enjoyable experience this season.