Parramatta will be playing in the finals
Here at Five Things, we don’t make predictions, because we already have enough ways in which we can look stupid. But here’s one: Parramatta can get ready to think about playing finals cricket in March. There are five rounds to go, all of them two-day games, which means that theoretically each side could gain another 50 points, which means that as a matter of simple arithmetic, even Mosman (last place, one win, 10 points) could reach the play-offs with a string of outrights. However, as we say every season, generally if your team gets 60 points, you play in the finals, and turning into the New Year break, Parramatta already has 52. Parramatta doesn’t have an easy draw after Christmas (Fairfield, Penrith and St George will all be hard to beat), but it does play two of the sides that are currently in the bottom three, and on our reckoning it only needs two wins to stay in the top six. Its demolition of Northern District in Round 11 was brutally clinical: Michael Sullivan and Isaac Earl reduced the top order to 5 for 34, so that an eventual total of 110 represented something of a recovery. Then, against an attack containing three representative bowlers (Pawson, Anderson, Gray), Parramatta cruised to victory with eight wickets and nearly 17 overs to spare. They look like a side who will win more than two of their last five games.
But we have eight more finalists already
50-overs cricket is the unloved bastard child of the game, not as demanding as red-ball cricket, not as fun as T20, but kept alive because every four years the 50-over World Cup generates vast amounts of money for the ICC. Cricket Australia handles the 50-over problem by playing its competition so early and so late in the season that we bet you didn’t even remember that it’s still going on (New South Wales plays its next game in February, at something in Hobart called Ninja Stadium, which sounds both dangerous and a little ridiculous). NSW Premier Cricket deals with the issue by grafting the One Day Cup onto the Belvidere Cup, so that teams play in two competitions simultaneously. That can make it hard to keep track of the fact that the One Day Cup is actually happening, until December when – whoosh! – we now have eight quarter-finalists. Parramatta, unsurprisingly, finished on top and will meet Sydney University at Old Kings in late January. Randwick-Petersham will plays Easts in a local derby, while Gordon will play Wests. On Saturday, Hawkesbury produced an exceptional bowling performance to upset St George – defending only 142, Aidan Van den Nieuwboer (4-29) led a highly disciplined bowling effort, reducing St George to 8 for 68 and 100 all out. Hawkesbury’s reward for that effort is a home quarter-final against… St George.
We need to talk about Tym
Last season, Gordon captain Tym Crawford dominated the competition, forcing his way into the NSW Second Eleven with 1303 runs at 56, and claiming a share of the O’Reilly Medal. This season, he’s already played fourteen innings, and hasn’t yet reached fifty. That could suggest that he’s lost form, or is batting badly, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. He actually seems to be batting pretty well, just not for very long. Last weekend was a good example: chasing Blacktown’s 147, Gordon lost two for 12 in the first four overs, with Lancashire quick Jack Blatherwick in hostile form. Crawford promptly slapped Blatherwick for two boundaries, then hit two more fours in Benjamin Butler’s first over, and raced to 36 from 26 balls before miscuing Blatherwick to Smit Raval. Crawford has played a lot of innings like that this season: 18 off 17 against St George, 48 from 46 against Manly, 24 from 16 against Northern District, 24 from 20 against Campbelltown… and there are plenty more like that. Most games he’s been dismissed trying to force the pace in a limited-overs contest. He actually has 339 runs at 26.08, which isn’t brilliant, but has faced only 287 balls. Gordon needs to win most of its last five games to have a chance of reaching the finals, and will be hoping that the return to two-day cricket gives Crawford the opportunity to build some longer innings.
Sam Robson can beat you on his own
Sam Robson has been around for so long that the way your remember him may vary, depending on what stage of his career he was in when you first saw him. Maybe you recall the 16 year old leg-spinner, who took six wickets on his First Grade debut for University of NSW, but batted at eleven? Or perhaps you saw the England opening batsman who hit 127 against Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2014? More recently, he’s been a solid senior pro for Middlesex, who makes occasional appearances for Easts over the Christmas holidays. Anyway, Fairfield will remember him as the player who can beat you almost single-handed. Fairfield did well enough to reach 9 for 261 against Easts last Saturday, with Luke Ohrynowsky leading the way with 109 from 108 balls. The total may have been larger but for the fact that Robson was the most economical of the Easts bowlers allowing only 41 runs from his ten overs, and removing Brent Williams. The many admirers of Sam’s father, James (“Jungle”) will be pleased to see that Sam now bowls in the approved family fashion, which is to say by bowling from a short run with no pause at all between deliveries, allowing the batsmen no time to reset between balls and getting through his overs in seconds rather than minutes. Anyway, Robson followed up his spell with a dominant innings of 160 not out from only 154 balls, featuring a six, 15 fours and a partnership of 138 with his brother Angus (51). He finished the game in style, lashing three successive balls from leg-spinner Yash Dekmush for 4, 4 and a six over cover.
Green Shield has started
The early pace-setters in this season’s AW Green Shield (Under 16) competition have been Northern District, Sydney University, University of NSW and Parramatta, who have all won each of their first three matches. Northern District has a well-balanced attack, in which Ed Byrom and Lachlan Bartlett have performed strongly, a very capable all-rounder in captain Finn Bailey, and a handy opening batsman – Zac Haddin – with a strong Northern District pedigree. Hamilton Seoung has been in great form for Parramatta, notching 110 against Mosman and 73 against UTS North Sydney. For UNSW, Neel Patel (167) and Nirav Sharma (103) shared a massive opening stand of 279 against Bankstown. And Archie O’Hara (a Wests Illawarra product) has been in outstanding form for Sydney University, posting 74 against UTS North Sydney, 135 not out against Bankstown and 55 against Hawkesbury. The competition resumes with Round 4 on 9 January (when the two University teams are drawn against each other).