Don’t worry, we’re as confused as you are
It’s going to take a while to sort this out.
When the season kicked off last Saturday, with the first two rounds of the Harry Solomon Little Bash, most teams were packed with new players, alongside countless old players in new colours. It was all very confusing. Sydney University fielded no fewer than four debutants (Bailey Lingard, Cameron Frendo, Mikey McNamara and Darcy Mooney). Justin Avendano turned up to play at North Sydney, which is usual, but was playing for Blacktown, which isn’t. Easts’ top six included three newcomers in Trystan Kennedy (formerly of Gordon), Harry Manenti (ex Sydney) and Jake Cross (from Ipswich). Connor O’Riordan played in the Randwick-Petersham/St George game, but for St George, not Randwick-Petersham, which felt like Opposite Day. The point being, sides have changed a lot since last season. Bear with us. We’ll probably catch up some time around Christmas.
Dylan Hunter still goes off
There should probably be, somewhere in the playing conditions, a rule that prevents Dylan Hunter from playing at Bon Andrews Oval. That ground, which some of us still think of as North Sydney No2, isn’t quite big enough to contain him, besides which an expressway runs past it, creating some fairly obvious risks. Western Suburbs’ total of 7 for 177 felt slightly under par, but it was at least defendable – until Hunter clicked into gear. The bare statistics of the left-hander’s innings are impressive enough – 123 not out from only 64 balls, with 8 fours and a ridiculous 11 sixes – but what that doesn’t tell you is that Hunter didn’t score at all from the first eight balls he faced. He got over it, though, hitting Hanno Jacobs for 4 and 6 to get moving, and then carving 18 runs from Jack Bermingham’s first over. Hunter continued to clear the fence with unusual frequency, and when he slammed the last ball of the 18th over to the boundary, University had strolled to a comfortable victory. Hunter’s move to Canterbury last season allowed him the opportunity to make his first-class debut and play three List A games, although curiously the New Zealand province didn’t use him in any of its T20 (sorry – make that “Dream 11 Super Smash”) games. As he showed on Saturday, while he’s a good player in any format, he can be especially destructive in the shortest of them.
Some bloke called Warner showed up
And all credit to him. It’s rare for any representative player, even a recently-retired one, to show up in Premier Cricket these days, and a batsman like David Warner has little to gain and a lot to lose. If he’d scored big runs for Randwick-Petersham against Bankstown, that would only have been what was expected, and if he missed out, he left himself open to criticism. But he turned up and played, and made a memorable game (to the extent that anyone remembers any T20 game) a bit more special for both his teammates and his opponents. For the record, he started out with two dabbed singles, missed an attempted pull shot and then skied a leading edge from an inside-out drive at Ryan Felsch to deep cover, where Jake Smith held the catch. Randwick-Petersham really should have won: they needed nine from the last over, with seven wickets in hand and Jason Sangha (who had 72 from 46) on strike. But Felsch produced a remarkable final over, allowing only two singles from his first three balls. Alex Ross clubbed the fourth ball to long-on and scampered through for two – four needed from two balls. Angus Campbell’s smart return ran out Ross as he attempted an impossible second run, which meant that Eknoor Singh needed to hit the last delivery for 4 to win the game. But Felsch cramped him for room, and he could only chop it away for two, leaving Bankstown victorious by a single run.
The Ghosts are away to a good start
Campbelltown-Camden didn’t enjoy the best of seasons last year, but started 2024-25 in impressive style, winning both of their opening matches. The Ghosts have recruited well: former Penrith all-rounder Jake Scott kickstarted their innings against Fairfield-Liverpool, hammering 62 from only 35 balls, and cracked 42 from 35 against Manly. Scott also picked up handy wickets, and another newcomer, Jermey Nunan, showed his wicket-taking potential as well.
Dave Dubey plays in Sydney now
Dave Dubey has been quietly making a name for himself in Canberra for a couple of seasons now, playing for ANU in the ACT competition and turning out for the ACT side in the Toyota Cup Second Eleven matches. His start in Sydney was impressive: he opened for Penrith against Sydney and hammered 93 from only 46 balls. Dubey, who’s only 19, is a tall, wristy batsman who looks capable of adding more power to his game when his spare frame fills out a little. Even so, he hit the ball cleanly enough, especially when repeatedly hoisting Tom Mullen’s spinners over the short midwicket boundary at Merrylands Oval. He was within two hits of a debut hundred when he got underneath a scoop at Hugh Sherriff and skied it to fine leg, but it was a very promising start nonetheless.