Jack Hill is less like red wine than you think
Unanticipated MVP of the week was Sydney University’s Jack Hill, whose maiden First Grade century steered the Students to the points against Penrith. There’s nothing inherently surprising about Hill scoring a First Grade hundred: he began the season in good form, and has over 3000 runs to his name in Seconds, including a double hundred. It’s just that he made his debut for Sydney University in 2006, and was playing in his 251st Premier Cricket match, and had never before scored more than 19 in First Grade. We’re reluctant to claim records we can’t quite prove, but we haven’t been able to identify anyone else who has played so much Premier Cricket before reaching three figures in Firsts.
If we were just five percent lazier than we actually are, this is the point where we’d roll out the line about how Hill improves with age like a fine red wine. But we won’t do that, partly because it’s an awful cliché, and partly because that really isn’t how red wine works. Certainly, most reds don’t keep getting better once they’ve been in your cellar for 18 years, which is how long Hill has been cellaring in Seconds and Thirds.
Hill batted for three, very different, sessions. The first was an uncomfortable passage of play on the first evening after University had dismissed Penrith for 124. The pitch was green and quick, the light indifferent. Liam Doddrell was hostile and menacing, Sam Grant probing and insistent. Hill could have been dismissed half a dozen times, but he clung to his wicket tenaciously and guided his side through to stumps with only one wicket lost. On the second morning, he batted carefully and responsibly with Tim Cummins to take University to within a single run of victory. Then, after lunch, he stood and delivered, driving, pulling and hacking boundaries all around the ground. He reached his hundred by carving Doddrell through cover for four. It was a memorable innings: reports that Hill celebrated with a glass of red wine remain unconfirmed and dubious.
It was a good round to bowl first
Green pitches, heavy skies: it was a good round to bowl first. The side bowling first won in eight of the ten First Grade matches. The game between Parramatta and Bankstown was effectively decided within the first 22 overs, in which Bankstown was bundled out for only 80. Isaac Earl pinned Dan Solway lbw with his second ball, after which Bankstown’s batsmen kept nicking the ball to Dhruv Kant, who held no fewer than six catches (including one spectacular diving grab to remove Riley Kingsell). Parramatta lost only one wicket before claiming the points. Similarly, Wests seized the chance to bowl first against Sydney, who managed only 124. Muhammad Irfan (6-42) did most of the damage, but Finn Gray had the game of his life, taking 4-19 before scoring his first First Grade hundred as Wests piled up a hefty lead.
Riley Ayre is in form
He has always been an all-rounder, but at the start of his career, Riley Ayre probably a bowler who batted. More recently, he has been more of a batsman who bowls. This season, though, he bats at four and takes wickets for fun. On Saturday, against his old club Sutherland, he took a career-best 8-29, the best First Grade bowling figures ever recorded for Randwick-Petersham. His first wicket was, perhaps, a little lucky: Matthew Hopkins clipped the ball firmly, only for Max Robinson to hang on to a reflex catch at short leg. Andrew Deitz then slashed at a quicker, wider ball and Anthony Sams juggled the ball before hanging on to it. Adam Whatley played an extraordinary innings, sweeping his first ball for six, missing a second sweep, and slicing his third ball to slip. Lachlan Ball was beaten in flight, and prodded the ball to short mid-wicket. Ayre, left arm orthodox, didn’t turn the ball alarmingly, but he was relentlessly accurate, used the conditions expertly and varied his attack thoughtfully.
Spencer White looks alright
Every club enjoys it when one of its local products nails down a First Grade place, and Spencer White is the latest batsman to come up through the ranks at Northern District. White, a graduate of Marist College Eastwood and ND’s Green Shield team, spent most of last season piling up runs in Second Grade, but has well and truly grabbed his opportunity in Firsts this year. White notched his first century against Campbelltown in Round 4, and followed it up with a savage display at David Phillips last weekend. There wasn’t all that much pressure when he went in at 3 for 291, but even so, his 57 not out occupied only 26 balls and was an impressive piece of hitting. He launched five 6s, and with Lachlan Shaw added 104 runs in only 8.5 overs of mayhem. He’s not, perhaps, the most elegant of batsmen, but he picks up the length very quickly and has a wide range of scoring strokes when giving just a little room to free his arms. It will be interesting to watch his progress over the course of the season.
The British are coming
The annual influx of English county professionals is now well and truly underway. It’s not impossible to imagine a universe in which Dom Bess would now be resting up from England’s tour to Pakistan and getting himself ready for a trip to New Zealand. As it is, the off-spinner played the last of his 14 Tests in 2021 and seems to have fallen off England’s radar altogether. His first outing for Mosman this season was a mixed bag: he scored a rapid 49 opening the innings, but made no impact with the ball as Fairfield chased down its target with ease. Leicestershire all-rounder, Ben Mike, picked up an early wicket for Northern District at David Phillips, and his county team-mate Louis Kimber turned out for Sydney against Wests. Kimber made headlines last season with an absurd innings against Sussex: he went in at 6-144 with Leicestershire chasing 464 to win, and hammered 243 from 127 balls, including 21 sixes (and 43 from a single over bowled by England seamer Ollie Robinson). No such fireworks this week, but Kimber did follow his four-ball duck by taking two wickets with his off-breaks. The most successful of the imports this week was Lancashire medium-pacer Tom Aspinwall, who collected 4-43 in Eastern Suburbs’ close loss to Manly.