We have a winner
Last time we were here, we suggested that maybe St George’s batting strength might be the decisive factor in the final of the Kingsgrove Sports T20 competition. That prediction looked as clueless as all our other forecasts when, the day before the finals, St George was absolutely rissoled for 93 by Fairfield’s Yuva Nishchay and Jaiveer Singh Dhanoa. So who did St George play on Sunday in the grand final? Fairfield-Liverpool again. Fairfield set St George a target of 166, powered by Coby Holland’s boisterous 65 from 37. That, on North Sydney Oval, wasn’t obviously a winning score, but after Blake Nikitaras and Kurtis Patterson took 31 from the first five overs, Patterson sliced Hamish Reynold’s first delivery straight to Jaydyn Simmons at point. Two balls later, Blake McDonald swished at a wide delivery and nicked it to Holland behind the stumps. Reynolds might even have had a third wicket in the over if there had been a slip in place to intercept Nikitaras’ outside edge. But in the following over, Brent Williams held a blooped return catch from Matt Rodgers, and St George was deep in trouble at 3 for 36. At that point, Nikitaras had scored 16 from 17 balls. From his next 42 balls, he smashed 91 runs. And he did it, mostly, with pretty conventional batting, rather than reverse dinks and inside-out scoops. Mostly, he stood still and whacked the ball through the off side whenever he was given any width. He clipped Reynolds off his toes for four, and when Luke Hodges came on, he picked up a shorter, quicker ball from the left-armer and swung it behind square leg for six. In the fourteenth over, he chopped Liam Hatcher past slip for four, sliced a drive to the fence at backward point and then hit a third boundary with a sweetly-timed square drive. He raised his century by driving Hodges high over mid-off, and hit the winning boundary in the following over, with 15 balls to spare. As if that wasn't enough, he backed up the next Saturday to hit 152 from 117 balls in the second innings of the grade game against Fairfield, who by now must have been sick of the sight of him. Not a bad week’s work.
Matt Moran came back
Matt Moran hasn’t played for Mosman for a couple of seasons – we assume he’s been trying to perfect the pepper sauce at Aria, or something, although it’s possible we got a bit confused there. Anyway, on his return to First Grade, he walked out to bat in the local derby against Manly, with the score on 6 for 87 and Ryan Hadley bowling with his tail up. Understandably enough, Moran started cautiously, but he found things a touch easier when Andrew Boulton replaced Hadley, striking a perfectly timed drive past cover, and playing with wristy elegance whenever the ball went near his pads. Then he took the attack to the Sussex off-spinner, Bertie Foreman, with a fierce pull shot and a drive through mid-off. When Hadley came back after tea, Moran was well set, and hooked a short ball in front of square for a flat six. He added 118 runs with Shehan Sinnetamby, and reached his own century (from 138 balls) by dabbing Thomas Kaye to the third man boundary. It probably should have been a match-winning innings, but wasn’t, because Mosman batted on into the second day until they had scored 361 and only 80 overs remained. That turned out to be not quite enough time to bowl Manly out. Jay Lenton, driving crisply, peeled off his 16th century for Manly – a new club record – but there were 47 balls left when Manly’s ninth wicket fell. Mosman crowded the bat, but Kaye and Josh Seward played out the draw.
Justin Avendano has resumed usual service
It has been odd this year to watch Justin Avendano turning out for the Blacktown Mounties, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we’re just so used to seeing him with North Sydney. Possibly he’s been disoriented, too, because his start to the season hasn’t been as productive as we’ve come to expect. Well, normal service has been resumed. University of NSW set the Mounties a testing target of 285 and made some early inroads through Thomas Gibson and Gavin Hoey. But Avendano and Puru Gaur then took control with an unbroken third-wicket stand of 215, in which they both completed their own centuries, to provide the Mounties with their first win of the season.
Randwick-Petersham look solid
Randwick-Petersham produced the round’s most dominant performance, a clinical effort to crush a pretty decent Western Suburbs side. A massive total of 5 for 375 was based upon the second-wicket stand of 179 between Austin Waugh (121) and Eknoor Singh (135 not out), each of whom hit his first hundred for the club. Then skipper Riley Ayre baffled Wests with his left-armers, grabbing 5 for 16 in 16 overs. As always, Randwick-Petersham seems to have a team composed almost entirely of all-rounders, providing depth in the batting and plenty of options with the ball.
There’s a reason this ground was named after a batsman
There are still a few Sydney University players who have sleepless nights over that game at Mark Taylor Oval some years back, when University seconds declared with a score of 500, an hour before stumps on day one, and lost. Well, there’s a reason the ground was named after a batsman. Mark Taylor Oval is back in action this season, and very welcome it is, too – unless your idea of fun on a Saturday afternoon is bowling. Northern District’s Thirds ran up the small matter of 4-403 against Campbelltown-Camden, with William McFadden – who had a couple of games in Seconds last season – racking up 201 not out from 205 balls. No sixes! But he did hit 26 fours, and added 225 for the fourth wicket with Elijah Stead, who hit a hundred of his own. So that’s a winning score, right? Well, only if you can take ten wickets. Northern District took six. Both Campbelltown-Camden openers (Agnik Podder and Karanbir Kahlon) hit centuries, and the game ended in a draw, in which ten wickets fell for 739 runs. University of NSW Seconds play at MTO this week. Spare a thought for their bowlers.