Five Things We Learned from Round Three

The Bees are resilient

There are times when it isn’t easy playing cricket for University of NSW: the club seems to be engaged in a more or less constant struggle with a University administration that hasn’t quite figured out that, in order to play cricket, you need access to a ground.  However, adversity breeds resilience, and with pretty much the same group of players who finished ninth last season, the Bees have raced out of the blocks this season, holding a share of second place after three rounds.  Things looked grim on the first day when Angus Robson (son of the man who was University of NSW cricket for nearly twenty years) anchored Easts’ innings with an immensely professional 161.  375 is a tough target anywhere, but if you need to chase it, you may as well do it at David Phillips – and it helps if you have Matt Gilkes in the side.  Coming in after Sufan Hassan and Jack Attenborough had laid a strong platform, Gilkes teed off, racing to 201 not out from only 150 balls.  He hit fifteen fours and cleared the boundary 12 times, registering his highest First Grade score and his second First Grade double century.  Gilkes saved several of his bigger hits for Marcus Atallah’s off-spin – possibly as punishment for Atallah leaving the Bees for Easts a couple of seasons ago.  It was a pretty decent week for Gilkes, who hit 72 and 48 in the Shield match against Queensland at Drummoyne.  It’s reasonable safe to say he’s in tidy form at present.

Jimmy Greenslade had a breakthrough

North Sydney’s win on the weekend was doubly satisfying: it came at the expense of neighbours and rivals Mosman, and it was secured through the efforts of a local player who climbed through the grades at the club.  Actually, Mosman could claim Greenslade as a junior as well – he started out with the Whales before joining North Sydney as a Third Grader.  Last season he scored consistently in Seconds and Thirds, earning a First Grade debut and showing signs of promise with a polished 78 against Bankstown.  A tall, wristy left-hander, Greenslade knows North Sydney Oval well, having spent his winters there playing full-back for the Northern Suburbs Rugby club.  And he’s plainly good at absorbing pressure.  Chasing 320, North Sydney made the worst possible start when Elijah Eales bowled Brent Atherton first ball.  Dangerman Justin Avendano cracked Dean Crawford for three successive fours, but then fell lbw to Eales for only 23.  At 4-79, North Sydney was in serious trouble, but James Rew and Greenslade played maturely and positively to set up a successful chase.  Inevitably, the chase was finished off by Robbie Aitken (who is significantly older than Rew and Greenslade put together), who hit an unbeaten fifty, but it was Greenslade’s day.  He ended up on 118 not out, 96 of which came in boundaries (21 fours and two 6s).

The British are coming

Sydney’s annual influx of county professionals and young county aspirants has resumed after a two-year Covid break and, as is making up for the lost time, British players are swarming into Premier Cricket.  And there are some interesting faces in the mix.  Somerset’s left handed keeper-batsman, James Rew, made an unusual first-class debut when he turned out for a County Select XI against India before appearing for his own county.  Since then, he’s played for England in the Under-19 World Cup final, and scored a County Championship century for Somerset against Essex.  Rew made an immediate impact for North Sydney, hitting 91 to help the Bears chase down Mosman’s target of 320.  One of Rew’s Under-19 team-mates, Tom Prest of Hampshire, made a solid start to his stint with Easts, scoring 55 and picking up two handy wickets.  Kent’s Tawanda Muyeye made an excellent start to his time with Randwick-Petersham, hitting a classy half-century against Northern District.  Muyeye has a fascinating story: his family are refugees from Zimbabwe, and he’s in the process of qualifying for England.  It may take him a while his live down his old coach’s assessment that "he could be the best player in the world" but he can certainly bat.  And apparently, Blacktown has recruited Lancashire pace bowler Jack Blatherwick, whose name sounds as though he ought to be a minor character in a DH Lawrence novel.  Blatherwick, who started out with Nottinghamshire before moving to Lancashire, had a quiet 2022 after some highly promising moments in 2021.  At his best, he bowls with real pace, moving the ball away and generating uncomfortable bounce.  If he finds his rhythm, he could unsettle a few batsmen before returning home.

Trent Copeland still bowls

It feels as though he’s been around forever, and these days he seems to be on TV as often as he is on the field, but Trent Copeland is still only 36 (we checked) and he can still bowl.  He effectively settled the match between St George and Parramatta in his opening spell last weekend, when he straightened one back to Ryan Hackney (lbw for 2) and then removed Nick Bertus, caught by Rafael McMillan for 2.  From that point, Parramatta was never likely to overhaul St George’s 287, and Copeland finished things off with surgical precision, ending up with 5-47.  His virtues are unspectacular: an endlessly repeatable action, accuracy, control and subtle movement – but he remains a highly impressive craftsman.  And he was ably supported by the more explosive Peter Francis, who picked up 4-30.

Hayden’s back

Starting his season late due to injury, it hasn’t taken Hayden Kerr long to remind everyone why he’s now one of the most valuable white-ball players in the game.   Blacktown had set Sydney University a challenging target of 160 in their T20 match on Sunday, and that target then became 94 from 10 overs after a break for rain.  Ridiculously, University romped home with two and a half overs to spare.  Kerr began almost cautiously: after facing four balls from Jeremy Nunan and Asfar Riaz, he had scored only one, and by that stage University needed two runs a ball to win.  At which point, Kerr decided the outcome of the game in a few minutes.  From the next 13 balls he faced, from Riaz and Jacob Wood, he carved 55 runs, including seven sixes, reaching his fifty from only 17 balls.  Wood’s first over cost 26 runs, including three successive sixes; Kerr then smashed the next ball he faced, from Riaz, over the fence to make it four in a row, and added another two sixes later in the over.  When Kerr was leg-before to Smit Raval, for 56, early in the fifth over, the score was 59 and Nick Larkin had contributed two singles.  Larkin and Tim Cummins steered University home, and the Students sit on top of the Little Bash Thunder Conference with some absurdly astronomical net run rate.

Five Things We Learned from Round Two

Devlin Malone won the clash of the nerds

It was always going to be Devlin Malone’s day, after his very first delivery – full and flighted – collected Ethan Jamieson on the pad and won an lbw decision.  The pitch at Sydney University was slow, but Malone managed to turn the occasional ball a very long way, and he totally deceived Brandon McLean with a wrong ‘un that rattled into the off stump without the batsman offering a shot.  The Sydney University leg-spinner was the leading wicket-taker in First Grade last season, and his 6-42 against University of NSW gave him eight wickets from the first two days of 2022-23.  He was well backed up by Caelan Maladay, who bowled an excellent fourth stump line and worried every batsman.  University of NSW struggled to 163, and then Nick Larkin gave Sydney a rapid start, latching onto anything short and cracking 45 from only 53 deliveries.  Sydney University was superbly placed at 1 for 82, before rain washed out the whole of the second day.

La Nina was the Round Two MVP

Of the fifty games played across the five grades in Round Two, only three produced results.  St George grabbed six points in Seconds after stalwart Andrew Walsh (4-30) and leggie Joshua Moors skittled Bankstown for only 95.  Randwick-Petersham Fourths knocked off the Ghosts thanks to some excellent new ball bowling by Thomas Gibson (5-15) and senior citizen Nigel Singh.  And in Fifth Grade, Fairfield-Liverpool’s Zeel Nizama steered his side to victory over Sutherland with 61 not out.  No-one else managed a result: 26 matches never started at all.

Cricket has never figured out a way to deal with the inherent unfairness caused when one team gets a chance to play and another doesn’t.  It’s always shrugged off as “the luck of the game”, but perhaps that’s just an excuse for lazy thinking.  Offhand, we can’t think of any other sporting league that tolerates a situation that allows some teams to collect competition points while others don’t even make it onto the field.  Finding the answer is the hard part.  Reintroducing bonus points might help a little: at least that would give some reward to a team that hammers its opposition in the limited time it has to play.  Or, more radically, competition points might be awarded only in a round in which (say) half the teams in the grade manage to play for a certain minimum amount of time (80 overs, for example).  That might sound artificial and arbitrary, but can you imagine anyone tolerating a situation in which the Panthers reach the NRL finals because they got to play the Bulldogs on a day when the Roosters were “washed out” against the Tigers?  No sport accepts this as a sane outcome.  Except cricket.

Blacktown has a bit crazy man

It was a pity that rain brought a premature end to a fascinating battle of the northwest: Hawkesbury had its nose in front, as Blacktown needed 71 runs to win with only three wickets standing.  Still, one of those wickets belonged to Smit Raval, so anything might have happened.  Raval had already worked his way through the Hawkesbury innings, taking 7-66 with his leg-breaks, and he has a lot going on.  He started out as a pace bowler in Gujarat, but by the time he moved to Sydney on a tourist visa, injuries had forced him to take up slow bowling.  According to his social media profiles, he's a professional cricketer, ICC coach, “fitness coach for modelling agencies”, “philanthropist” and a ”bit crazy man I am”.  Unfortunately the rain prevented us from discovering whether he could add “match-winning lower order batsman” to what is, already, a formidable list of credentials.

That man’s following me…

Last season, in Round Two, the highest scorer in First grade was Sutherland’s Jarryd Biviano, with 172 against Hawkesbury – just ahead of Justin Avendano, who smashed 171 (with 11 sixes) for North Sydney against Gordon.  The highest scorer in First Grade in Round Two last week was… Jarryd Biviano (with 153 against Fairfield), just one run ahead of… Justin Avendano, who hit 152 for North Sydney against Sydney.  Sutherland and North Sydney both built impressive first-innings totals, without having time, before the rain, to force a win.

We don’t know what the “HQ” bit means, but it’s not “High Quality”

So, as far as we can tell, someone at Cricket Australia decided that the MyCricket platform provided large amounts of information more or less instantaneously, and decided it was time to put a stop to it.  This season, if you want to track down live Grade cricket scores online, you need to find something called “PlayHQ”.   Which has about 8% of the information that was on MyCricket, but makes up for that by giving it to you much, much more slowly.   In Round 1, we decided to be charitable, and put it down to teething trouble – which was fair enough because, you know, who could have predicted that Grade cricket would start on the last weekend in September?  But this last round it’s become obvious that PlayHQ just isn’t up to the job.  If you’re lucky, it uploads innings totals as the match unfolds, but that’s about it, unless you access it through the MyCricket app. It doesn’t update scorecards; it doesn’t integrate with live streaming platforms.  In a two-day game, it gives you innings details more slowly than you used to get them when they were printed in the Sunday papers, and at the time of writing, PlayHQ still insists that someone called ******* took 7-66 for Blacktown in the last round.  Putting Grade cricket on this system, in its current state, isn’t quite the same as hiding it under a rock, but it’s not far off.

Five Things We Learned from Round One

The Whales are good in the wet

First Grade premiers Mosman got their title defence away to a solid start with a win in a rain-shortened game at Howell Oval.  The difference between the two sides was probably Harry Dalton’s rapid 52 from 53 balls at the top of the innings which, backed up by Nathan Hinton’s more cautious 50, laid the platform for a competitive total of 223 from 45 overs.  Ryan Gibson and Tyran Liddiard gave Penrith’s reply a rapid start, adding 58, but after they fell in quick succession (to Dean Crawford and Matt Moran), the run rate was dragged back by Jayden Park.  The left arm spinner choked the middle order, allowing only 21 runs from his 8 overs while picking up three wickets.  Liam Doddrell made the finish interesting by blasting 45 from 33 balls, but Penrith’s chances evaporated when he was bowled by Jake Turner.  Even after just one round, Mosman looks every bit as efficient a team as it was last season.

The Students made an impressive start

For an hour or so, Campbelltown-Camden was well positioned in its game against Sydney University at Raby.  The Ghosts built a slow but steady start, profiting from some early-season fielding fumbles to reach 1 for 60.  From then on, the Students were clinical.  The spin attack of Dylan Hunter (3-26), Ryan McElduff (2-12) and Devlin Malone (2-28) strangled the innings, claiming 7 for 66 from the 26 overs they shared.  The fielding sharpened up, thanks to Jordan Gauci, who snared five catches.  Tim Cummins stumped Luke Webb to complete the rare achievement of 400 First Grade dismissals.  And then Nick Larkin (52), Hunter and Damien Mortimer (41 not out) made short work of the target of 129, walking off with a bonus point.  Sydney University enjoyed an excellent white ball season in 2021-22, and looks set, on this form, for another strong white ball campaign.

Saints’ second century is away to a good start

Two Saturdays back, St George celebrated the centenary of its admission to First Grade cricket with a match at Hurstville against the NSW Blues and a memorable dinner attended by hundreds of former players, including club royalty Brian Booth and Warren Saunders.  After all that, the actual cricket could have been an anticlimax, but St George launched its season with a thumping win over Hawkesbury.  Ever-reliable Nick Stapleton set up his team’s innings with a bright 67, and Luke Bartier finished it with a furious 64 not out from only 49 balls, but really everyone else was overshadowed by Blake Macdonald, who cleared the cycling track eight times on his way to 144 from only 104 balls.  It was Macdonald’s fifth century in First Grade, and took him past 2500 First Grade runs for St George at the very healthy average of 46.  Any chance Hawkesbury had of reaching its Duckworth-Lewis target before the rain came was then snuffed out by Trent Copeland, who produced a typically miserly spell of one for nine from seven overs. 

Evan Pitt had a breakthrough day

Opening bowler Evan Pitt has been part of the Parramatta club for ten years now, coming through the 2012-13 Green Shield side and generally hovering between Seconds and Thirds.  After playing a bit of indigenous representative cricket, he made his debut in First Grade late last season, when he bowled only four wicketless overs.  So Blacktown’s batsmen probably weren’t alarmed to see his name on the Parramatta teamsheet last Saturday.  With only Nick Bertus (56) looking in full control, Parramatta struggled to 8 for 190, not a lot of runs for an inexperienced attack to defend.   But Pitt sliced through the top order, removing Will Affleck, Tim Affleck and Puru Gaur in quick succession.  Blacktown crashed to 6 for 35 (before recovering to 80 all out) and Pitt collected 3-19 from his 8 overs.  Pitt has always been a popular clubman at Parramatta; now he has the chance to make a big contribution in the top grade.

Plus ca change…

Odds are that you’re not all that familiar with the 19th century French journalist Alphonse Karr.  If you’re an especially keen gardener, you might remember that there’s a species of bamboo named after him.  Almost certainly, though, you’ve heard the most famous words he ever wrote: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Writing about this season is a bit like writing about last season.  Mosman has hit the ground running in First Grade.  It’s wet: another season is about to be dominated by La Nina.  Sydney University is looking good in short-form cricket.  Games at Raby are being called off.  North Sydney’s teams are full of people called Aitken.  Hurstville Oval is good for batting.  Dean Laing still turns out for Hawkesbury and Stephen Wark still turns out for St George, although rain on Saturday prevented them from turning out against each other.  Even the Cricket NSW Match Centre website spent the entire weekend defiantly stuck in 2021-22.

Next week, though, things could look a little different, as two-day cricket returns after who remembers how long.  For the first time in ages, First Graders will go looking for their whites, middle order batsmen will have more than eleven overs to bat, and teams will need to apply themselves in the field for more than three hours.  It’s going to be interesting.  Unless it rains, which it probably will.

Five Things We Learned from Round 17

Liam Robertson has called it a day

Having quietly announced that this will be his last season in the game, Liam Robertson probably expected the chance to make a farewell appearance for Sydney University, but Sydney’s incessant rain wiped out what would have been his last three matches, so it never quite happened.  As it turned out, his last game was the match at Campbelltown, his 233rd in First Grade, in which he collected his first five-wicket haul in the top grade.  Robertson was certainly a handy bowler – he took 150 First Grade wickets – but his bowling was possibly the least impressive aspect of his game.  He fielded brilliantly anywhere, and he hit the ball superbly, especially down the ground.  At his best, he was as good a white-ball cricketer as there was in the Sydney competition.  A one-club player, who rose from Green Shield to First Grade captain, he scored 8192 runs in all grades, 5386 in Firsts.  But maybe the most impressive statistic is this one: in all, he played 327 games for University and no fewer than 60 of them were finals.  The teams he played in, won.  He’ll be missed.

Odd things happen in the final round

So, your Seconds are in the running for the finals, Firsts are not, and you lose a few players from your top side.  What do you do?  Well, obviously, you ask three players from Third Grade to make their debuts in Firsts.  That’s what Easts did, anyway, and the strange thing is that it worked, up to a point.

Easts squeaked home in Firsts, largely because of an unbroken fourth-wicket stand between Angus Robson and Marcus Atallah, who took 195 runs from the last 162 balls of the innings.  After a slowish start to the season, Robson has been excellent towards the end: this was his third hundred in his last six innings.  Atallah cracked 102 not out from 86 balls, bringing up his first hundred in First Grade and clearing the fence six times in the process.  Sutherland made a good fist of the chase, and perhaps looked to be on top when Jarryd Biviano and James Arnold took the score to 2 for 222.  But Easts held on: a six from the final ball would have won the game, but Will Straker could only manage a single.  The debutants did nothing wrong, either: Chris Thompsett (who has, in fairness, played a couple of T20 games already) picked up three vital wickets, Max Cotter held a couple of catches behind the stumps, and Ollie Maxwell… well, Ollie Maxwell still hasn’t batted in Firsts, but he did help run out Andrew Deitz, so there’s that.

Not everything worked out for Easts, though.  They made a great start in Seconds, reaching 125 without loss in 28 overs before rain intervened, Harry Byrnes-Howe leading the way with 81 not out.  An adjusted target left Sutherland needing 166 from 28 overs.  Another Straker – Tom – was on strike for the last ball, needing only a single to win, but Will Lawrance had him caught so the game ended in a tie.  As it turns out, even if Easts had won, Sydney University did too, so the extra three points wouldn’t have lifted them into the finals anyway.

Ryan Felsch remembers how to tee off

For a player so well-suited to the white ball game, Sydney’s Ryan Felsch has had a strangely muted season, not reaching fifty since the first round of the competition.  But he put that right on Saturday, pulverising University of NSW’s finals hopes by pounding 124 from only 87 deliveries.  He actually batted even faster than that suggests, since he managed only a single from the first ten balls he faced.  Then he punched Declan White through cover for four, and he was away.  In the next over, he casually launched Tom Scoble over wide long-on for six, and he proceeded to add another ten sixes to his tally.  When Felsch is in form, his sixes don’t just clear the boundary, but clear it by miles, as if somehow it might be worth eight if the ball travels a bit further.  Sydney’s total of 281 looked impregnable when the Bees crashed to 6 for 67, but for a moment it looked as though University of NSW might have one more miracle finish left: Ethan Jamieson scored a classy, rapid hundred, and Suthangan Thanabalasingam contributed a fighting 66.  Just when Sydney was feeling nervous, Thanabalasingam and Hayden McLean both fell in the same over to – of course – Ryan Felsch.  Sydney and the Bees were effectively playing off for sixth place, and it’s Sydney who advance to the finals next weekend.

Everything old is new again

There was a finals playoff at St Pauls Oval on Saturday, when the winner of the game between Sydney University and Gordon was certain to advance to the post-season, while the losers could put their boots away for the next six months.   On a pitch that was never easy for batting, Gordon struggled against a tidy University attack, battling to 113 from 38.5 overs.  It didn’t look enough, but when the Students crashed to Tom Stacy, losing 5 for 20 (and then 6 for 33), Gordon was firmly on top.  The Stags’ hopes were dashed by Noah Bloch (from Zimbabwe via Perth), who rode his luck and cracked 47 not out so quickly that University not only won the game, but also took an improbable bonus point.

So that was quite a game, but that’s not the interesting bit.  Because, back in 1994-95, Sydney University faced Gordon at home in the last round before the finals, on a Saturday when there had been no play the previous week because of heavy rain.  On a pitch that was never easy for batting, Gordon struggled against a tidy University attack, battling to make 124.  It didn’t look enough, but when the Students crashed to 5 for 19, Gordon was firmly on top.  Yet University recovered to win the game.  Sydney University advanced to the finals, Gordon didn’t. 

Hang around this game long enough, and whatever you saw once, you’ll probably see again.  Incidentally, University went on to win the competition in 1994-95, so if you believe in omens, there’s one for you.

Gladys is a Shire girl at heart

It was always likely that the season’s final Gladys Berejiklian Award for the Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Round would be handed out in a game involving Sutherland – no team has tried so hard, and so consistently, to earn this particular accolade as the Sharks’ Thirds.  And they put in another big effort on Saturday, slumping from the respectability of 2 for 44 to be dismissed for only 90.  And yet, and yet.  Easts’ Fourths, against Sutherland, did even better.  Meaning worse.  Having ground out a decent start at 4 for 105, Easts fell in a heap to Sam Fitzgibbon (3-13) and Luke Ritchie (3-14), losing their last six wickets for only ten runs.  It turns out that Gladys is a Shire girl at heart.

Five Things We Learned from whatever the hell that Round would have been

That game back in round three was actually pretty important

Now that the rain looks like easing and there could be some finals played, teams through the grades are furiously performing calculations to see what needs to be done to play on into the post-season.  Somewhere in all this they might reflect that the biggest game of the season was actually that one back in round three, which they didn’t win but maybe should have, and didn’t seem like that big a deal at the time, but now makes the difference between a comfortable finals spot and a Saturday spent anxiously checking MyCricket scores from three other grounds.

Anyway, let’s be crazy wild optimists and pretend that games will go ahead this weekend.  Northern District (85 points), Mosman (78), Randwick-Petersham (75), Manly (69) and St George (59) will be progressing to the finals no matter what happens.  The Rangers will be minor premiers unless they lose heavily to St George and Mosman manages a massive bonus-point win over Campbelltown-Camden.  In that event both sides would have 85 points and Mosman might, in theory, emerge with the better quotient.  Sydney, on 52, has its destiny in its own hands: if it beats University of NSW (46), it stays in sixth spot.  But then it gets messy.  Wests (51) can break into the six if they beat Bankstown and Sydney loses to University of NSW – or, just possibly, if Sydney beats University of NSW but Wests pick up a bonus point and improve their quotient just enough to edge ahead of Sydney.  If University of NSW beats Sydney, both sides will be on 52, and the Bees will have the better quotient, so they would take sixth spot unless Wests win.   And then there’s Sydney University.  There’s a theoretically possible universe in which UNSW beats Sydney but without improving its quotient, while Sydney University monsters Gordon enough to win a bonus point and lift its quotient from 1.1021 to above 1.2, which is what would be needed.  For that to happen, not only would the Students need to win by some colossal margin, they’d also need University of NSW to win by a tiny margin, and Bankstown to beat Wests.  Whatever the odds of this are, it would be worth putting a dollar on it – it won’t happen, but if it did…

Second Grade is… complicated

One thing we know about Second Grade is that Mosman will be minor premiers.  They’re sitting on 85 points, so they could forget to turn up this week and all go on holidays for the first week of finals and still get through to the semis.  Then Sutherland (60), Manly (59) and Gordon (59) will all be in the finals, though the pecking order is subject to all manner of permutations (Sutherland, second with a huge quotient of 1.7930, sit in second but as a mathematical possibility could be sixth).  Northern District (54) can seal its place by beating St George (48) and Sydney University will stay in the six if they beat Gordon.

After that, though, it gets complicated.  Easts, on 52, will play Sutherland.  If they win that one, they could go past either or both of Northern District or Sydney University if they lose.  Then there are Bankstown and St George, both lurking on 48 and looking to pass any of the three teams ahead of them that stumbles.

Eight doesn’t go into two

It’s unlikely that we’ll know the makeup of the Third Grade finals until very late on Saturday afternoon.  The top four are secure – Northern District (73) will be minor premiers, followed by Bankstown (61), Sydney University (56) and University of NSW (53).  But no fewer than eight teams could hypothetically take the remaining two spots.  Parramatta (47) can clinch a place by beating 15th-placed Penrith, who have won only four times this season.  And Easts (43) will expect to overcome 14th-placed Sutherland in a highly anticipated clash of the two sides in Sydney whose batting has collapsed most often this season.  But if either Parramatta or Easts slip up, Randwick-Petersham (42) can go past them by beating North Sydney.  And then there are Manly (41), Mosman (41), North Sydney (40), Gordon (38) and even Wests (37), who could all squeak into sixth spot with a big win and a vast number of favourable results at other grounds.

There’s a play-off in Fourth Grade

There’s a virtual finals play-off in Fourth Grade, where fifth-placed Sydney University (48) plays seventh-placed Gordon (46) with the winner all but assured of a place in the top six.  University captain Ash Cowan will be looking to maintain a streak of playing finals cricket in every season since 1988 (although it’s possible we made that bit up).

Parramatta (60) can clinch the minor premiership by beating Penrith, but if they stumble, Northern District (58) can pass them by beating St George (52), who can’t be displaced from the six whatever happens.  Manly (54) will be there too, and University of NSW (47) needs to beat Sydney to be sure of keeping its place.  Then there’s a string of increasingly insane permutations that would allow Sutherland (45), Wests (42), Easts (41) and Mosman (40) to leap into the six from deep in the pack, but our brains hurt too much to figure all that out.

Easts are on track in Fifths

In Fifths, Easts (65) are minor premiers if they beat Sutherland, but if they don’t, they can be passed if University of NSW (60) beat Sydney (42).  Sydney needs the win, because then if Northern District (45) loses to St George, Sydney can jump into the top six.  Gordon (52), North Sydney (49) and Manly (48) look fairly safe, although both Hawkesbury (44) and Randwick-Petersham (41) both have what CNN correspondents like to call a “path to victory”.

Five Things We Learned from Round 14

This feels like it could be a record

Campbelltown-Camden made a promising start against Sydney University on Saturday, getting away to 1 for 86 at around four an over.  Then Liam Robertson intervened.  Robertson has always been a very handy one-day bowler, though knee trouble, and his reluctance to use himself when he was captain, have meant that he’s bowled less than you might expect.  He ambles to the crease and has no great pace, but he’s extremely effective in the short game because he bowls intelligently and varies his pace so that it’s very hard for batsmen to set themselves for a big hit.  He beat Adam Whatley completely with a ball that jagged back off the seam; trapped Jackson Isakka in front with a fuller ball that also moved in; induced Will Salzmann to slice a drive to Nick Larkin at cover; picked up Akshat Mishra from a swipe to long-on; and bowled Blake Smith with a full, straight one.  University lost early wickets, before Larkin (72) and Tim Cummins (59) produced an assured stand of 119, and Damien Mortimer and Ryan Danne finished things off.  But Robertson’s 5-42 was the decisive performance.  It was the first time in First Grade that he’d taken five in an innings, raising the question of whether anyone else has ever waited 233 matches to do it.  Jungle Robson maybe?  Anyway, it feels like a record.

Wests are contenders

There was minimal change in the First Grade table this week, and Wests remain a point away from the top six after outplaying Mosman (who lose their share of first place as a result).  It was an impressive effort, driven by an opening stand of 216 between Nick Cutler (104) and Josh Clarke (134 not out).  Mosman got close, reaching 2 for 143 with Lachlan Hearne in fine touch – but he inside-edged a drive at Liam Ford onto his stumps when he made made 57.  Ford grabbed two wickets in the over, and though Matt Moran and Elijah Eales fought hard, Wests held on to win by nine runs.  The much-improved Jack Bermingham snared four wickets, and Clarke (player of the match by some distance) was the meanest bowler on display, taking 1-22 from his nine overs.  Wests now face the challenge of the in-form Randwick-Petersham side this week – assuming that the rain holds off.

Oh, McLean, you’ve done it again

You might remember that, a few weeks ago, Hayden McLean found himself facing his first ball with University of NSW needing six to beat Mosman in the Little Bash semi-final, and whacking that ball out of the ground.  That kind of thing happens once in a career, if you’re lucky.  So no-one had any great hopes last Saturday when the Bees collapsed to 8 for 156 against Bankstown, still needing 91 to win from 81 deliveries.  McLean and Suthangan Thanabalasingam chipped away at the target until 23 runs were needed from the last two overs.  Brad Simpson seemed to have settled the issue by bowling an exceptional 49th over, allowing only four singles, so 19 were needed from the last.  Dayne Heward – who had bowled well for his two wickets – was entrusted with the final over.  McLean whacked the first ball through square leg for 4, then missed a slower ball but scrambled a leg-bye.  The third ball was on a length on off stump, but Thanabalasingam carved it over cow corner for six.  Suddenly, for the first time, the odds favoured the Bees, with eight needed from three balls.  Thanabalasingam scrambled two from the fourth ball, and another two from the fifth (although a better throw would have run out Thanabalasingam by yards), so four were needed from the last delivery.  This one was fuller, but Thanabalasingam set himself deep in the crease and smacked it high over mid-wicket for six.  The win keeps the Bees in the hunt for the finals, and gives McLean a second once-in-a-career moment in the space of a few weeks.

The baby sharks have teeth

High point of a fairly forgettable season for Sutherland was the club’s Poidevin-Gray Shield success on Sunday.  On paper, both Sutherland and Penrith looked stronger with the ball than the bat, and Penrith was well in the contest when Sutherland slumped to 6 for 121.  But Andrew Ritchie, who led his side impressively throughout its campaign, struck 48 from 48, including three 6s, and Sutherland ended up with a very presentable 9 for 214.  Penrith started brightly, and was well in the contest at 1 for 45, but Third Grader Zac Philipson made a crucial breakthrough, and the rest of the innings folded to Will Straker and Justin Green.  Straker, outstanding with the ball in PGs this year, finished with 5-25, and Green snaffled 3-10.  They had great support from keeper Lachlan Ball, who held six catches – following his six catches in the semi-final, a double which we’re sure (but again can’t prove) is some kind of record.

Gladys played 4s this week

The Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Week Award goes to… someone in Fourth Grade.  Who, we’re not sure.  Bankstown, looking solid at 3-82, lost seven for 41 to be all out for 123.  Penrith, last week’s winner, looked OK at 2 for 44 before eight wickets crashed for 22, Manly’s Adam Parkinson grabbing 4-0 in 13 balls.  Against Sydney, Easts lost 5 for 25 before a partnership of 38 steadied the innings – only for Kshitij Cyril (a commentator’s nightmare) to wreck the innings again with a hat-trick.  But maybe it was Northern District.  Chasing Sutherland’s 178, the Rangers crashed from 2 for 45 to 7 for 53 and then 8 for 63.  At which point, Peter Murray and Jaden Sequiera (who hadn’t scored more than 3 since November) added 114 for the ninth wicket to steer their side to the points.  You choose.

Five Things We Learned from Round 13

Finals are coming

Under the new, revised draw, there are now four rounds remaining, one of which is a two-day game in First Grade.  Three bonus points and an outright would give a team 31 points, so as a matter of mathematical possibility, just about every side could make the finals.    Probability, unfortunately, is a little harsher, and suggests that only five sides outside the top six have much of a chance.  The top four is all but certain to be some combination of Northern District (76), Mosman (76), Randwick-Petersham (67) and Manly (61).  Four wins would give 11th placed Easts 60 points (assuming no bonus points), which would make it possible for them to overhaul St George (currently on 50) or Sydney (44) if either side implodes  But St George has a reasonably easy run home (but for a match against Northern District in the last round).  Sydney, whose form has been inconsistent and who has a harder draw, will do well to hold on to sixth spot. 

The Students are still in the hunt

First Grade cricket returned to two-day games last weekend – well, in most places, anyway.  Several games lost day one to rain, and only a handful of balls were bowled at Bankstown Oval, where the home side faced Sydney University in a battle to see who could keep their finals hopes alive for the season.  University’s batting has been fragile in recent weeks, and didn’t seem to have improved at the start of day two when the first three wickets fell for 30 runs in the face of some hostile bowling by Liam Marshall.  The innings was rebuilt by Charles Litchfield, who batted positively and maturely to post his first half-century in the top grade, in company with Damien Mortimer.  Mortimer has looked in good touch for the last few weeks and, relishing the chance to bat for a longer time, he compiled a very polished 86.  Litchfield and Mortimer laid the platform for captain Tim Cummins, who batted freely to reach his fourth First Grade hundred from only 120 deliveries, whacking six 6s in the process.  Cummins timed his declaration nicely, asking Bankstown to chase 292 in 67 overs on an increasingly easy pitch.  For about half an hour (while University tested a theory that Nick Carruthers was vulnerable to short balls outside off stump), Bankstown was ahead of the required rate; but Ryan McElduff (a vastly improved off-spinner this season) then removed Carruthers and Zeeshan Ahmed with successive deliveries.  The Bankstown innings after that was oddly schizophrenic – sometimes it looked as though they were chasing, but then someone would sedately block out a maiden.  Daniel Solway anchored the innings, and played very well, but seldom tried to take on the attack.  With twenty overs remaining, Bankstown needed 120 runs with five wickets in hand, but Declan Malone removed Tyler Van Luin and Dugald Holloway then settled the issue by grabbing three wickets in a single, remarkable over.  Daniel Burns dug in with Solway, and came close to saving the game, but with 19 balls left in the day he tickled a catch to Tim Cummins (his fifth, completing a rather tidy day’s work).  The Students are now in the territory where they need to win most of their games and hope that other results go their way, but they’re still alive.

Cam Hawkins is in good nick

Camden Hawkins has had a slightly unusual journey in the game.  Born in New Zealand, he attracted attention as a student at Trinity Grammar, and played Green Shield for Sydney University.  He then shifted to Mosman, where he was quickly promoted to First Grade, and then decided to return to New Zealand in an attempt to break into first-class cricket.   He had some success, passing fifty five times in 14 first-class games for Otago, with a top score of 90, but returned to Sydney this season and joined up with Randwick-Petersham.  It’s taken a while for him to readjust, but in the last two weeks he has played vital innings in low-scoring games.  First there was his 52 in the Little Bash grand final; then, last weekend, he held together RP’s innings with a patient, unbeaten 72 against University of NSW.  The Bees managed only 133 against a highly efficient seam attack led by Adam Semple and Daya Singh, but looked to be in the contest when Randwick-Petersham lost five wickets quickly after a solid opening stand.  Hawkins ensured that there would be no further alarms, batting for more than three hours to guide RPs to the points.  Perhaps the most impressive thing about it was his ability to follow a 41-ball fifty in a T20 game with a patient, sheet-anchor role in the two-day game.

Sam Skelly had a day out

Perhaps the most critical moment of the match between Easts and Fairfield-Liverpool came mid-way through the first day, when Sam Robson fell for an excellent 73.  As we’ve already established, Easts have never won a match in which both Robson brothers have scored hundreds, and Angus was already well on the way to a dominant 146 not out.  For the good of the side, there was only one thing Sam could do.  Easts declared overnight on 3 for 335, Will Simpson having played nicely for 80 not out, and then Sam Skelly took control.  He had Awad Naqvi caught behind from a delivery the batsman appeared to be trying to leave; Jaydyn Simmons also seemed to be trying to leave a ball with tennis-ball bounce that looped from the face of the bat to Angus Robson at slip. Skelly then trapped Arjun Nair on the crease, had Luke Ohrynowsky caught behind second ball, bowled Yuvraj Singh and induced Jarrad Burke to slice a catch to point.  At that stage, Skelly had the first six wickets to fall, but Will Simpson spoiled his party by grabbing the next wicket, and Skelly ended up with 6-37.  He bowled an impressive line, hit the seam, and found life in the pitch that had eluded Fairfield’s attack.  Routed for only 68, Fairfield did well to stave off an outright defeat.  Incidentally, has anyone else noticed how Easts’ keeper Max Glen stands upright fidgeting with his gloves until the instant before the bowler releases the ball?  Once you’ve seen it, it’s incredibly distracting.

Gladys went west this week

As always, Round 13 featured some high-quality collapsing around the grades, with the Fairfield-Liverpool and Gordon sides, in particular, displaying their ability to lose wickets in big, ugly clumps.  But no-one did it quite as well as Penrith’s Fourth Grade.  Batting first at Cook Park, Matthew Halse and Leo Astill got their side away to a rattling start, punching past fifty inside the first ten overs.  Mosman’s bowlers were rattled and lost their line, bowling one wide after another.  At 1 for 77, Penrith looked to be in complete control.  But experienced spinner Nitin Gandhi bowled Astill and then utterly strangled the middle order.  Penrith’s last nine wickets crashed for only 30, with Gandhi snaring 6-21.  After the openers, no batsman passed seven.  This was Classic Gladys: a position of absolute strength, followed by unmitigated disaster.

Five Things We Learned from Round 12

RPs held their nerve in the Little Bash

So, the Harry Solomons Little Bash still remains the biggest competition Sydney University has never won, after the Students were outplayed in the fifth – fifth! – T20 grand final they’ve reached but lost.  University looked a good bet at the half-way mark, after Randwick-Petersham tumbled from 3 for 90 to be all out for 114.  Although Hayden Kerr struck a vital early blow by removing Jason Sangha, Cam Hawkins – a former University Green Shield player – was good value for his 52 from 41 deliveries.  But just when Randwick-Petersham looked likely to push on to a serious total, Hawkins feathered a catch to Tim Cummins, and the innings fell in a heap.  Five wickets fell for five runs inside a couple of overs, as Ryan McElduff (4-13) cut through the middle order.  Devlin Malone finished things off with 3-13 and the Students approached the chase with plenty of confidence.  But RPs had taken a good look at the pitch, and worked out that it offered the bowlers a bit of sideways movement and some uneven bounce.  They realised that the way to succeed was to abandon their usual T20 methods (short ball/yorker/change-up) and bowl a two-day line and length instead.  What followed was a superbly disciplined effort with the ball, led by the ageless Adam Semple (3-11) and Australian T20 representative Darren Sams (2-8).  Nothing was given away: RP’s bowlers didn’t concede a single wide or no-ball.  Hayden Kerr gave his side some hope with a determined innings, launching two massive sixes down the ground.  But when he holed out for 37, the cause was lost.  Randwick-Petersham claimed its fourth T20 championship, and coach Mick Haire collected his third in five years (two of them with Sydney).  The game, incidentally, was very well supported by followers of both clubs.

Dale McKay still plays

It’s been a fairly forgettable season for Hawkesbury in First Grade, with only two games won in the first 11 rounds, but they’ll take encouragement from Saturday’s win over local rivals Penrith.  The Panthers batted first and posted a pretty competitive 7 for 269, then removed both the Hawks’ openers with 71 runs on the board.  At which point, Dale McKay took over.  He’d missed a couple of games due to the birth of his daughter, but he was quickly into his stride, brutalising the spin of Adam Burton and Adam Bayliss, and driving sweetly against the seamers.  He found a willing partner in Connor Mizzi, and together they added 142 in 21 overs.  McKay reached his hundred from only 83 balls, and though Ryan Fletcher removed him soon afterwards, Hawkesbury got home with almost two overs to spare.  McKay is a relative rarity in modern Grade cricket, a one-club player for 13 years, and his innings took him within a couple of boundaries of 7000 First Grade runs.

Brent Atherton likes batting at North Sydney

A disciplined bowling effort from North Sydney left the Bears with a modest target to chase against University of NSW on Saturday, which meant that Brent Atherton started off a little less like a runaway train than usual.  Atherton, who began his Grade career with St George around ten seasons back, also turned out for Hawkesbury and Penrith before joining North Sydney last season.  This year, he’s shown all the benefits of having North Sydney as his home ground: he’s just short of 500 runs for the season, with an average above fifty and a very healthy strike rate.  He needed to get his head down on Saturday, because the Bears slumped to 2 for 17 when Chris Tremain had Justin Avendano caught behind from an airy drive.  The left-hander loves to cut and pull, and he knows exactly where the short boundaries are.  His fourth-wicket stand of 107 with Jack James pretty much settled the outcome, at which point the only question was whether Atherton could reach his first top-grade hundred.  On 84, though, he tried to scramble a quick single to mid on and failed to beat an underarm throw from Brandon McLean.  He actually hung round for a moment or two to question the decision, but it stood, so that first ton will have to wait.

Both the Ryans won

Manly took the points from Parramatta on Saturday, falling over the line when Jake Carden, needing one to tie, whacked the last ball of the day just over the hands of Ben Abbott at short cover.  But Ryan Hackney and Ryan Hadley were both winners, since after the game they were named in the squad for the Sheffield Shield match starting today in Brisbane.  In each case, it’s a reward for several years of consistent performances: Hadley (who actually went wicketless on Saturday) has taken 122 First Grade wickets in his four-year career with Manly, while Hackney (who enjoyed several good seasons with Penrith) has compiled over 700 runs at an average above fifty for Parramatta this season.

Remember, Gladys used to be Gordon’s local member

It’s tempting to give the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Week Award to Randwick-Petersham, who lost five for five (and 7 for 24) in the Little Bash grand final.  But they won, and we didn’t, and so that would feel like sour grapes.  You can’t ever keep Sutherland’s Thirds out of this: they collapsed yet again, losing 4 for 8 in the middle order after reaching two for 40 against Blacktown.  But they won too, after Blacktown matched their collapse by losing 7 for 27 following an opening stand of 32. 

So instead, the winner this week is Gordon (whose home ground is, of course, in Ms Berejiklian’s old electorate).  The Stags’ bowlers performed well to limit Sydney to 204 at Drummoyne, but their chase was a debacle.  Wearing what looked like one of Rafael Nadal’s discarded headbands, Left-armer Alex Glendenning got the ball to bend around, and he had Michael Fletcher caught behind with his second delivery.  Dylan Hunter, caught on the crease, edged his third ball to Beau McClintock and Gordon was 2 for 0.  When Glendenning dipped a ball in to Jamie Bekis’ front pad, Gordon was 4 for 9 and he had 3-2; that became 4-2 in the ninth over when he trapped Taj Brar in front.  By then, Gordon was 5 for 13, and there was no way back.

Five Things We Learned from Round 11

Scott Rodgie’s form is ridiculous

There were two moments on Saturday when North Sydney looked to be in the contest with Northern District.  First, they reduced the visitors to 2 for 11, when Matt Alexander opened his second over with two wides followed by two wickets.  Then, chasing 282, the Bears climbed to 1 for 196.  Each time, it was Scott Rodgie who shattered their hopes, first with a massive 147 from 157 balls, then with a spell of 4 for 6, in which he was twice on a hat-trick.  Apart from the T20 games, Rodgie this season has 604 runs at 86 and 25 wickets at 11.  The engraver can start work on the O’Reilly Medal any time now.

Imagine if they could bowl straight

Weird match of the day was at Raby, where Campbelltown-Camden shot out Sutherland for 128, collapsed to 4 for 35, then fell over the line to win by three wickets.  That’s not the weird bit – which is that although only 257 runs were scored in the day, no fewer than 40 of them (or just over 15%) were wides.  Campbelltown-Camden contributed 25 of them; Luke Webb, whose left arm swing did most of the damage, sent down 10 wides while taking 4-27.  Top-scorer with the bat was Chris Williams, who managed only 23.   When Campbelltown batted, Tom Pinson ripped the top off the innings, and grabbed 4-41, but sent down 14 wides of his own.  Pinson’s chaotic first over included two wickets (Adam Whatley looping a leading edge to point, Jackson Isakka edging behind), a boundary and five wides.  In the end, Blake Smith ushered Campbelltown to its second win of the season.  But imagine if they could bowl straight.

The Conference finals were epic

It’s hard to recall a season in which both Conference finals in the Harry Solomons Little Bash were so compelling to watch.  University of NSW looked well placed to take the Sixers flag after posting a competitive 5 for 167 and reducing Randwick-Petersham to 3 for 11.  Thomas Scoble hit five 6s in his 82 not out, while Jack Attenborough needed only 38 balls for his 60.  Then Declan White removed Jason Sangha and Chris Tremain dismissed Daniel Sams to leave Randwick-Petersham in all kinds of bother.  No-one counted on Adam Semple launching eight 6s in a furious 100 not out from only 54 deliveries.  With two overs remaining, Randwick-Petersham still needed 20 to win, but the left-handed Semple sliced Chris Tremain past point for four, smacked a pull to the fence, and then smeared another short ball over midwicket for 6.  That last over was never needed.

Parramatta seemed in control at the halfway mark at Sydney University, after Ryan Hackney’s polished 88 and a furious cameo from Luke Dempsey, whose 41 from 21 included five 6s, all of which cleared the fence by a considerable distance.  6 for 191 was a pretty decent total, but Nick Larkin and Charlie Dummer hammered the bowling all around the ground, carving 61 runs from the first five overs of University’s innings.  Dummer lashed three successive sixes from off-spinner Hayden Goulstone, the last of which was caught by one of the Uni Army sitting high in the Grandstand.  Unsurprisingly, the chase was finished off by Liam Robertson, who has now scored more Premier Cricket T20 runs than anyone except Scott Rodgie, Dan Smith and Adam Crosthwaite.  Robertson’s unbeaten 73 came from 44 balls, and although he hit no fours, he cleared the fence six times (including two more massive blows against Goulstone).  Damien Mortimer made a vital contribution, Ryan McElduff bustled at the end, and University squeaked home with a ball to spare.  Let’s hope that the rain (which is forecast for the next ten days) doesn’t spoil what ought to be an exceptional grand final.

Saints march in to another Green Shield

The Green Shield season ended in suitable style with a gripping final at Hurstville Oval.  Northern District posted a competitive 8 for 205, mostly through Tom Bermingham (57) and Sam Weir (78), who added 71 for the second wicket.  After which, the match appeared likely to turn on whether and when NDs could dismiss Sam Konstas, whose form this season has been phenomenal.  Konstas duly crunched his way to 54 from 48 balls, and St George was 71 without loss after 14 overs.  But Konstas then dabbed at a ball from left arm spinner Peter Murray, and edged it only as far as the keeper, Jordan Netto.  Murray tightened the screws – he finished with 4-37 – and the contest was alive.  But Tom Forrester anchored the innings with a patient 59, and Jackson Ingram played a vital, bustling innings towards the end.  St George prevailed with three wickets and 16 balls to spare.

Konstas, though.  He ended the Green Shield with a record 795 runs at an average of 113.  He followed up with a hundred in Second Grade on Saturday, and 51 in the Poidevin-Gray semi-final on Sunday.  In all grades so far this season, he has 1139 runs at 75.  This is so insanely impressive that it feels slightly mean to point out that his bowling hasn’t flourished quite so much (and, remember, he took 5-47 in a Third Grade semi-final last year).  He finished up the Green Shield season with only one wicket, conceding 177 runs.  And so, we think, he made history by becoming the first player in Green Shield ever to average over 100 with both bat and ball in the same season.

Mo, meet Gladys

Here’s a paradox for you: the least coveted award in Grade cricket is the most hotly contested.   There were contenders all over Sydney for the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Week Award.  England, by the way, is still not eligible, although by losing their last four wickets in as many balls in the final T20 match against the West Indies, they continue to show the amateurs how it’s done.  Sutherland Thirds, obviously, put in a persuasive bid, this time at the top of the order, beginning a chase against Campbelltown-Camden by losing 5 for 24.  In First Grade, North Sydney reached 1 for 196 against Northern District before losing five for 14.  But it’s hard to go past Penrith Firsts.  They began their match against Wests by losing 3 for 13, with returning Pakistani fast bowler Muhammad Irfan junior doing most of the damage.  While Irfan rested, Adam Bayliss and the promising Jordan Watson assembled a partnership of 140 – and then six wickets crashed for only 13 runs, completing a spectacular Split Gladys. Irfan marked his return to Wests by taking 5 for 15 from his ten overs.  Irfan, incidentally, answers to “Mo”, which could cause all manner of confusion at the next Wests players reunion.

Five Things We Learned from Round 10

Northern District dropped a game

It’s very rare for a First Grade side to make it through a season unbeaten, and it’s not going to happen this year, after Northern District was upset by Fairfield-Liverpool at Rosedale on Saturday.  Fairfield’s win was set up by a second century for the season from Jaydyn Symmyns (sorry, Simmons), who opened the innings and batted through to the final over until he was run out by Ross Pawson’s direct hit.  Fairfield started slowly after losing two early wickets and it wasn’t until the 17th over that Simmons began to accelerate, clipping Scott Rodgie for a leg side six.  He cleared the boundary again later in his innings, picking up a short ball from Pawson and cracking it over midwicket.  But, although Luke Ohrynowsky got after Toby Gray, Northern District managed to hold the total to 4 for 244.  That looked an achievable target, especially once Scott Rodgie, David Lowery and Daniel Anderson had carried the Rangers to 3 for 187.  But miserly bowling by Jarrad Burke left the Rangers needing 56 from the last six overs, and although there were plenty of wickets in hand, the asking rate was too steep.  Harmon Sandhu was rewarded for his accuracy with some cheap wickets as the batsmen became increasingly reckless, and a final-ball run out gave Fairfield a memorable win by 14 runs.

If both Robsons score hundreds, Easts are in trouble

Weird stat of the week: Easts never win when Angus Robson and Sam Robson hit centuries in the same innings.  Now, you may argue that the sample size is on the small side (it’s happened twice) but, come on, numbers don’t lie.  Back in 2019-20, Angus hit 134 and Sam 113 against Northern District, and the game was drawn when the second day was washed out.  And last weekend, Angus hit 128 and Sam 103 against Randwick-Petersham, a game that Easts lost by 31 runs.

The Robsons joined forces after both of Easts’ openers had been dismissed first ball, and they proceeded to add 194 in 36.2 overs.  Sam’s dismissal, bowled by Jason Ralston, left Easts still needing 100 runs in 12.3 overs, but Ralston and Riley Ayre bowled some tidy overs before Daya Singh and Adam Semple closed out the innings with some well-controlled death overs.  In the end, the difference between the sides was the 25 not out from RP’s Basit Ali, who faced only five balls from Will Simpson and Sam Skelly but hit four of them for six, with a series of surprisingly casual bottom-handed swats over cow corner.

Easts play Manly this weekend.  It’s just a thought, but Manly might consider bowling absolute dross to the Robsons for as long as possible.  It’s practically foolproof.

Daniel Rixon’s second career is going nicely, thank you

You may remember Daniel Rixon as Sutherland’s long-serving First Grade wicket-keeper: his career behind the stumps for the Sharks extended to 274 matches (a club record), in which he completed 359 catches and 82 stumpings.  His batting, while useful, was never exceptional – his highest score in the top grade was 98, and his average was a touch above 20.  After taking up an appointment as club coach, he stepped down to Second Grade, where he reinvented himself as a batsman who bowls medium pace.  It seems to be working: he now has 72 wickets to his name, his batting average in Seconds stands at 49.41, and he’s hammered hundreds in his last two innings.  At Chatswood Oval in Round 9, he plundered 157 from only 120 balls, clearing the fence six times, hitting 18 fours, and sharing an opening stand of 180 with James Arnold.  Last Saturday, Sutherland found itself chasing 216 to beat St George, and Rixon and Arnold knocked off the runs without losing a wicket and with almost six overs to spare.  Arnold made his second 79 in succession, while Rixon was relatively sedate, soaking up 142 balls for his 126 not out.  So far this season, Rixon averages 90 with the bat in Seconds, and 18 with the ball, and his form is the main reason why the Sharks are sitting in third place.

The Conference finalists have been decided

As the Big Bash (finally) draws to a close, so the Harry Solomons Little Bash approaches its climax.  The Conference finals are being played today: Sydney University meets Parramatta, while University of NSW takes on Randwick-Petersham.  Sydney University fielded a strange-looking team in its semi-final against Blacktown: injuries and Covid reduced the Students to an attack of three spinners, one regular opening bowler and the (these days) occasional medium-pace of Liam Robertson.  In fact, after Ryan McElduff made the early breakthroughs, it was Robertson who did most damage, claiming 3-26.  That included the wicket of Matt Day to a ludicrous catch in the deep by Nick Larkin, who sprinted in past the ball before throwing himself into reverse and clinging on to the ball with one hand while flying backwards.  Devlin Malone was tight, Caelan Maladay bowled it out efficiently, and University was left chasing only 116, a target that Larkin, Robertson and Charlie Dummer ran down in only 64 balls.  Robertson, who cracked an unbeaten 37 from 19, was playing the 58th finals match of his career, which is outrageous. 

The match of the round, though, was at Mosman, where the home side’s 8 for 154 owed most to Matthew Calder, who cracked five 6s in his 56.  Brandon McLean replied with 52 from 31, and when Jake Turner took the ball for the last over, the Bees needed seven to win with four wickets standing.  The first delivery was angled across Krishna Padmanabhan, who swung and missed.  The second was skied to deep cover, and Liam O’Farrell took the catch.  That gave the strike to McLean, who sliced the ball high into the air, Jordan Cox clutching the ball as he ran towards third man.  So Suthangan Thanabalasingam had strike with seven needed from three and Turner on a hat-trick – which he completed when Cox held a regulation edge behind the stumps.  Declan White then scrambled a single, which left Hayden McLean to face the last delivery with six runs needed.  Turner bowled a length ball on off stump, but it fell perfectly into the arc of Mclean’s swing, and disappeared over the midwicket fence.  It was the kind of finish T20 games are expected to deliver, but so rarely do.

Gladys was spotted in Malcolm Turnbull territory

There was plenty of high-quality collapsing in Premier Cricket last weekend: special mention must go to Sydney, who lost 3-0 at the start of its innings against Penrith in First Grade.  But this week’s Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Week Award goes jointly to Eastern Suburbs and Randwick-Petersham in Second Grade.  Batting first, Easts reached 4 for 102 before losing Max Glen, who spanked 71 from only 63 balls.  And then they fell in a heap, losing 6 for 23.  Dave Dubey, whose Second Grade bowling average had been 54, wrapped up the innings in a spell of 3-1.  In reply, RPs were cruising at 46 without loss, before losing four wickets for six runs, mostly to Ned Patterson.  Coming into the game, Patterson had taken three Second Grade wickets in 8 games this season, at an average of 98.  He grabbed five for 13.  Dubey revived the innings, so that with three wickets standing Randwick Petersham needed 11 to win.  But then Sam Wood struck twice, and the last three wickets added only five runs.  So Easts took the points, but truly, when it comes to this week’s Gladys, we just can’t separate these two sides.

Five Things We Learned from Round 9

It wasn’t Elijah Eales’ fault

So here’s how Elijah Eales’ Saturday went.  He knocked the top off Northern District’s innings by striking twice in his third over.  He wrapped up the innings with 4-27.  He hit three sixes in his 51 not out.  He lost.

He lost mostly because of Scott Rodgie, who batted all the way through the Rangers’ innings for 111 not out, then snuffed out a Mosman middle-order recovery with two quick wickets.  Rodgie is becoming the Ian Moran of his generation – an all-rounder who’s been so good for so long that it seems odd that he never played much at higher levels.  This was his 300th First Grade match, and this season (outside T20s) he averages 81 with the bat and 9 with the ball, which are simply ridiculous numbers.  His form is the main reason why Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash was never much of a contest, and why NDs remain unbeaten with nine wins from as many games.  Basically, Northern District could not turn up for the next six games, and still reach the finals in March.  Not that we recommend it.

Ahillen Beadle still plays

Now in the twentieth year of his First Grade career, Ahillen Beadle has taken a while to get going – in his first six innings, he didn’t make it past thirty.  But there’s plenty of life left in him, and after notching 93 not out against Bankstown before Christmas, he recorded his eleventh First Grade hundred against Fairfield-Liverpool.  Manly was in all sorts of trouble at 3 for 24 before Beadle and Joel Davies, who’s half his age, repaired the damage with a stand of 171.  Ryan Hadley and Greg West then shot out Fairfield’s top order, and the result ended up a lop-sided 172-run victory for Manly.  Beadle’s experience (he passed 8500 runs in Firsts on Saturday) has been vital to Manly during the Big Bash.

The shape of the table is a worry

Even after two upsets on Saturday, Blacktown and Campbelltown-Camden continue to prop up the bottom of the First Grade ladder, and the four teams immediately above them are Hawkesbury, Fairfield-Liverpool, Penrith and Parramatta.  And the club championship ladder isn’t all that different.  In other words, the clubs that represent Sydney’s greatest population centres in the west, north-west and south-west are all performing poorly this season.  Which is a worry, because if the game’s going to grow, this is where it needs to happen.

Of course, this is a snapshot of just one season.  Most of these clubs have had powerful teams in the past, and will again.  And they do continue to produce fine players – it’s just that they’re not quite so good at holding on to them.  There’s no crisis yet – but this is something that the SCA should be watching with interest.

Anyway: the weekend’s upsets were a healthy sign.  Campbelltown enjoyed its best moment of the season by outplaying a depleted Easts at Waverley, with the consistent Nick Appleton contributing a career-best 78.  Campbelltown must be one of the few clubs that looks forward to playing away, given that games at Raby Oval get called off with such alarming frequency this season.  And the Mounties surprised St George, building a solid total after a lively century by Harjas Singh and then defending it despite a ferocious 99 from Blake Nikitaras. 

Gladys was spotted in Hobart

We wanted to present today’s Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Week Award to England, but we can’t, apparently, because (a) they don’t play in Premier Cricket and (b) their collapses are no longer unexpected.  So, we did what you do in that situation and checked out how Sutherland’s Thirds went.  As usual, they gave it their best shot, losing five for ten at the end of their innings against Gordon, but even that was a touch short of their catastrophic best. Actually, Gordon had a stab of its own, losing 5 for 15 at the back end – the wrecker was Christian Bennett, who had figures of 4-132 for the season, before grabbing 4-0 in his last spell.  University of NSW was travelling comfortably in Seconds against Sydney University, reaching 1 for 48 before losing 5 for 7, which was quite outstanding.  But this week’s winner is Mosman’s Fourths, who folded from the relative respectability of 5-109 to lose their last five wickets for five runs.  Two things set this one apart: first, NDs proceeded to lose their first three wickets for seven runs, so between them the teams lost 8 for 12 in a rare Joint Gladys.  Secondly, NDs then scraped home only through a last-wicket stand of 21, so who knows what difference another edged boundary might have made?

Those numbers all stand for something

Two years and counting into the Covid pandemic, all those numbers in the 9am announcements have lost their capacity to shock: so many cases, ICU cases, even deaths, seem to mean little after so long.  Until you can put a name to them.

Former Wests and Randwick fast bowler Bob Barber had been battling a different kind of health crisis – throughout the pandemic, he’d been treated for leukaemia.  He handled gruelling treatment (chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants) with unfailing optimism, good humour and gratitude for the care he received.  But his condition meant he couldn’t be vaccinated, and when he contracted the Covid virus his body didn’t have the strength to withstand it.  He died in hospital on 9 January.

Bob played for Combined Country against City in 1980-81 (dismissing Phil Marks) and joined Wests the following season.  He was an unsophisticated fast bowler with an open chested action: when everything clicked, he bowled rapid inswingers, and the odd ball that landed on the seam and jagged away.  One of his first wickets in the top grade was Peter Clifford, bowled through the gate by a quick one that swung sharply.  When he was off form, he gave his wicket-keepers nightmares by spraying the ball down the leg side, and you could never be sure which Barber was going to show up.  His form was so erratic that he bounced up and down the grades: once he spent a full year in Fourths before coming back to be Wests’ leading wicket-taker in Firsts the next season.  50 of his 289 wickets for the Magpies came in Firsts.  He played a season with St George, and ended up at Randwick, where he helped to win a premiership in Thirds.  But – and this is the point – there was nothing about Grade cricket that he didn’t love.  Anywhere there was a group of old players talking garbage about the game, there you’d find Bob.  As recently as late December, he was at a Wests reunion at Pratten Park.  Next time, they’ll only be able to talk about him, not with him.  Remember that when you hear the numbers tomorrow.

Five Things We Learned from Round 8

The Students are creeping up

After making an uncharacteristically slow start to the season, Sydney University has now crept up into fourth spot on the First Grade ladder, following a comfortable bonus-point win over the Blacktown Mounties.  Blacktown was never really in the contest: Caelan Malladay, Dugald Holloway and Kieran Tate knocked the top off the innings, after which Devlin Malone (4-32) continued his excellent recent form.  Ryan McElduff then sealed the bonus-point win with a positive, unbeaten innings of 59, while Liam Robertson’s rapid 21 not out included two fours and two sixes.  Except for Northern District and Mosman, who have broken clear at the top (but play each other next week), the competition ladder is now seriously congested, with only a single point separating Sydney University in fourth place and St George on seventh.

Some things change, some stay the same

It was, if we’re honest, an odd round of matches.  What with the Big Bash hoovering up increasing numbers of reserves, and sides missing Covid-affected players, there were plenty of weaker sides on the field and an unusual high number of debutants in First Grade.  Manly fielded its third First Grade wicket-keeper in as many games, which isn’t something you see all that often, and both wicket-keepers in the Penrith-Northern District match were making their debuts.  But some things stayed the same, by which we mean that Northern District had another big win.  Penrith had the worse of rain-affected conditions at Howell Oval, and once Ross Pawson and Lachlan Fisher reduced them to 4 for 7, there was no way back into the game.  Penrith was contained to 97 in 30 overs, after which Axel Cahlin and Scott Rodgie made ridiculously short work of the Duckworth-Lewis target.  Most seasons, a team with 50 points reaches the finals: Northern District has passed that number with seven games to go.

Tom Pinson bats now

Over the years, Sutherland’s tall opening bowler has been consistently impressive with the ball in his hand and… well, not quite so impressive with the bat.  Before this season, he had played 163 Premier Cricket matches and his one half-century (six years ago in Second Grade) looked like an aberration.  Last season he scored precisely zero runs for Sutherland (although, to be fair, he batted only twice), and his career First Grade average has hovered around ten.  It was a surprise when he began this season with a hard-hitting 42 not out against University of NSW but, as it turns out, it was no fluke.  He then clubbed 37 not out against Mosman and (promoted to number eight) 43 against Randwick-Petersham.  On Saturday, he went to the crease with Sutherland in deep trouble at 6-101, chasing Wests’ 208.  Wests’ spinners (Josh Clarke, Tom Brooks and Javed Ahmadi) had all bowled too well for the Sharks’ middle order, and with 19.3 overs remaining, Sutherland still needed 108 runs.  Pinson’s tactics weren’t entirely orthodox: for quite a while, he either blocked or slogged, so that his first scoring shots were 4, 6, 4 and 4, with plenty of dots in between.  His method has the virtue of simplicity: if it’s up, he drives, if it’s even slightly short, he pulls, and the rest he blocks.  With Andrew Deitz giving sensible support, Pinson whacked 59 from 61 balls, and although he was dismissed within sight of the target, Andrew Ritchie hit the winning boundary with four balls remaining.  If you exclude his one T20 innings, this season Pinson has 190 runs at 63.33, the kind of performance that in other sports would call for a stewards’ inquiry.

Gladys has a strange relationship with Sutherland

Close readers of Five Things will appreciate that the Sutherland club has a strange relationship with the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Dramatic Collapse of the Week Award.  Some weeks the Sharks’ bowlers trigger the best collapse, and some weeks their batsmen contribute it, but somehow or other they’re always there or thereabouts.  There were hot contenders for this week’s award in the First Grade match between Fairfield-Liverpool and Randwick-Petersham, in which both sides lost 3 for 0 at the top of the order.  R-Ps reached 1-19 before losing Cam Hawkins, Anthony Sams and Riley Ayre without adding a run, but Fairfield’s collapse was superior.  They were 11 without loss before Adam Semple struck, removing Amritpal Singh, Yuvraj Sharma and Luke Ohrynowsky in successive balls to complete a hat-trick.  After allowing a wide and a single, Semple then bowled Awad Naqvi, so that Fairfield had lost four wickets for only two runs.  Semple’s 6-37 (the best return in the First grade competition so far this season) helped Randwick to defend its modest total of 101.

That was good, but not quite as good as Sutherland’s Thirds, who appeared to be cruising to victory against Wests, reaching 105 without loss (and then 1-118) chasing a mere 120.  And then, something distinctly odd happened, and bowlers who had seemed tame a few minutes earlier suddenly turned deadly.  Bilal Khan sliced through the batting so decisively that five wickets crashed for only two runs in the space of a couple of overs before Sutherland fell over the line for a Winning Gladys.

The Kids Are Alright

It’s that time again, when a bunch of kids run around on top-grade ovals and try to figure out whether Premier Cricket is for them – a decision that involves, not only an assessment of talent and aptitude, but a careful consideration of exactly how many summers they feel like squandering in pursuit of a Third Grade average of 23.  Thankfully, if this year’s Green Shield is any guide, there are still plenty of talented young men willing to submit to that bargain.  It wasn’t that tough a choice for St George’s Sam Konstas, who won’t be seen much longer in Thirds.  Although he didn’t start for his new club (he was at Easts last year) until Round 6, he already has nearly 600 runs for the season, in Thirds, Seconds, PGs and Green Shield.  Yesterday, his 52 helped St George to overhaul Campbelltown’s 192, to which the highly consistent Riley Kingsell contributed 105.  Lachlan Ritchie’s 117 not out against University of NSW was Sutherland’s first hundred in the competition for eight years.  Best of the bowlers in the last two rounds have been Campbelltown’s Lachlan Fitzpatrick (who destroyed University of NSW with 6-8 and a hat trick) and Sydney University’s Reehan Shyamsundar, who ran through Wests to take 6-20.

Five Things We Learned from Round 7

Oli Zannino possibly feels like a Tooheys

There was a remarkable match at North Sydney Oval, where Justin Avendano crunched his second hundred within a week, yet ended up on the losing side.  The ground is in great shape – flat pitch, fast outfield – but the pitch was set on the edge of the square, which created one unreasonably short boundary and made life particularly uncomfortable for the bowlers.  Brent Atherton and Avendano got the Bears away to a rapid start, Mac Jenkins batted brightly for fifty, and the innings was topped off by James Aitken, who smashed the first ball he faced over the short boundary despite looking as though he had accidentally wandered in from a nearby Fathers v Sons match.  In the end, a target of 302 was probably no more than par, but it looked better than that when Matt Alexander reduced the Students to 2-12.  Jordan Gauci and Liam Robertson dragged their side back into the contest with a stand of 130.  Robertson drove imperiously on his way to 89 from 67, continually teasing the long-off fieldsman by punching the ball just out of reach.  But the match swung back in North Sydney’s favour when Jack James removed both Gauci and Robertson in quick succession.  Ryan McElduff, previously short on runs this season, immediately found touch and received good support from Charles Litchfield and Dugald Holloway.  But Holloway was given run out (apparently on the theory that if it’s a direct hit, it must be out) and University still needed 53 from six overs.  The new batsman, keeper Oli Zannino, was only making his First Grade debut because the Cummins brothers aren’t very particular about who they have dinner with, and he had no form at all with the bat – over the last season and a half, he averages ten in Seconds.  And yet he blasted his side home, thumping 33 from 16 balls.  Twice in an over he heaved Sam Alexander over the long boundary, and with three needed to win, he cracked the cleanest of pull shots over mid-wicket from Matt Alexander.  He’s way too young to remember this, of course, and so are you, but in about 1975 there was a very successful TV advertisement for Tooheys, in which the New South Wales keeper, Steve Rixon, goes in last and needs five to win from the last ball.  Dennis Lillee drops one short, and you can guess the rest.  As the jingle goes: “How do you feel when the ball leaves the field and clears the pickets on the way?”

It’s a pretty happy Christmas for Northern District

There was nothing very dramatic about Northern District’s win over Gordon on Saturday.  The Rangers’ pace attack – Ross Pawson, Lachlan Fisher, Scott Rodgie and Chad Soper – suffocated Gordon’s batting and then, after the loss of two early wickets, Corey Miller and Lachlan Shaw added 134 to put the result beyond doubt.  It was the kind of clinical, well-organised cricket that has given NDs seven wins from as many games, and a clear lead in the competition at the Christmas break.  Interestingly, there’s only one Rangers batsman (Scott Rodgie) in the top 35 run-scorers in the competition and only two bowlers (Pawson and Rodgie again) in the top 35 wicket-takers.  But they have depth, everyone does his job and they play as a team.  They may need to play a little differently when the two-day games start – but so will everyone else, and by then NDs should have a finals berth well and truly secured.

Mark Stoneman is back, and he appears to be in reasonable nick

As England’s average opening partnership in Tests this year is 8.3 (or something – we made that last bit up), there was added interest to the game at Waverley Oval, where two England openers of the recent past faced up against each other.  The win, by TKO, went to St George’s Mark Stoneman, who lashed 150 from only 131 balls.  Sam Robson hardly failed, reaching 47 for Easts, but it was Stoneman’s innings that defined the game.  Of course, he did have the advantage of facing Robson’s bowling, which he twice launched over the fence.  Stoneman and Luke Bartier shared a third-wicket stand of 212 in 38 overs, by which time the game was pretty much out of reach for Easts.  They did put up a spirited reply, but no-one made the big score that might have made the contest closer.

There’s a new Gladys in town

And so we head to Fourth Grade, where competition for the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Unexpected Collapse of the Week Award is fierce.  There was a highly commendable bid by the Gordon Fourths who, chasing Northern District’s 140, reached 1-29 before crashing to 55 all out, losing their last five wickets in 13 balls without adding a single run.  That was good, but not quite as good as Randwick-Petersham’s effort against Sutherland.  Batting first, RPs added 12 runs without any alarms before Joshua Wiseman, playing his first game in Fourth Grade, removed Ben Chaplin, Chaik Hathurusinghe and Joshua Bird to complete a hat-trick.  Then Tom Vandermaal struck twice, and RPs had lost 5-12.  But what makes this one special is that it was that rarest of all beasts, the Winning Gladys.  Because RPs scrambled together 119, and then dismissed Sutherland for just 111, with the evergreen Nigil Singh snaring 4-26. 

The Green Shield is on

This season’s Green Shield season is underway, and in the second round, Hayden McCarthy of University of NSW enjoyed what The Grade Cricketer would regard as the ultimate success available to a cricketer below circuiting age: 105 not out and 4-34, in a team that lost.  McCarthy’s heroics were overshadowed by Penrith’s opener Leo Astill, who slaughtered an extraordinary 162 from 112 balls, which included 12 sixes and 10 fours.  Astill, who hit hard and, mostly straight, doubles up as Penrith’s Fifth Grade wicket-keeper and, by coincidence, he had played McCarthy in Fifths the day before.  On that occasion, McCarthy bowled him for 29 in a game the Bees won.  It’s fair to say that it didn’t take Astill long to get his revenge.  Play their cards right, and these two could be trying to Alpha each other for years to come.

Five Things We Learned from Round 6

Mosman is having a moment

Approaching the halfway point in the season, it’s time to acknowledge that Mosman is travelling exceptionally well.  The Whales are unbeaten in First Grade, sitting in second place behind Northern District; have reached the conference semi-finals in the Little Bash; and have won six from six in Seconds.  If you really wanted to quibble, you might point out that four of Mosman’s five wins have been against teams in the bottom half of the competition table, but that overlooks the possibility that those sides may be in the bottom half of the competition precisely because they have played Mosman.  The key to the team’s success has been its firepower with the bat; Peter Forrest has been in rich form, as have Lachlan Hearne and Anglo-Australian wicket-keeper Jordan Cox.  But against North Sydney on Saturday, Hearne went lbw first ball, Forrest wasn’t playing, and Cox made only four.  Even so, the Whales made light work of a target of 241, with Harry Dalton hitting 76 and Matt (The Chef) Moran launching three sixes in his unbeaten innings of 63.  Again, if you were looking to find fault, you could argue that Mosman’s seam-based attack is best suited to the white-ball game; but Dean Crawford, Jake Turner, Elijah Eales and Moran have been so consistent and efficient that Saturday’s game was the first time this season that Mosman has needed to chase more than 200.  Interestingly, Mosman has chased in every game so far, and hasn’t lost more than five wickets on any occasion, so its quotient is a ridiculous 2.6177.  Mosman hasn’t reached the First Grade finals for eight seasons – that drought may be about to break.

Ethan Jamieson is developing nicely, if not quite how we expected

We’ve been watching Ethan Jamieson for five years now, since he was a Green Shield player for Sydney University, and it’s no surprise that he’s now emerging as a very handy First Grader.  What is slightly surprising is how he’s doing it.  He’s always looked the part as a neat, well-organised, wristy left-handed batsman, but nothing in his past few seasons (with St George and now University of NSW) gave anyone reason to think that his bowling would become a serious weapon.  Nonetheless, his leg-breaks have become an essential part of the Bees’ attack, and he had an exceptional weekend, snaring 3-30 against Manly and 3-9 against Sydney – which he backed up with the bat, hitting 56 and 67.  His bowling may still be a work in progress (he seems to vary genuine wrist-spun leg-breaks with off-breaks from the front of the hand), but he’s accurate and thoughtful, and beat Manly’s Elliott Herd with a classic leg-spinner that clipped the top of off stump.  On Sunday, he went to the crease with the Bees in trouble at 2-11, and turned the chase into a stroll with an authoritative 67 from 48.  He reached his fifty by lofting Kain Anderson over long-on for six, then blasted the next delivery straight down the ground for six more.  Somewhere in the last month, Jamieson has changed from young and promising into a key member of the Bees’ side.

We have some finalists

The surprising thing about the last preliminary round of the Harry Solomons Little Bash is how unsurprising it was.  On the whole, higher-placed teams beat lower-placed teams, and results turned out more or less as you’d have expected.  Perhaps Northern District, unbeaten in First Grade, might have been favoured to beat Sydney University at home, especially after containing the Students to 8-136.  The Rangers reached 2-55, with Scott Rodgie in ominous touch, before Devlin Malone turned the game on its head with a brilliant four-over spell of 3-9. Liam Robertson picked up important wickets, Kieran Tate bowled a nerveless final over, and the three-run victory kept University at the top of the Thunder conference.  Blacktown, meanwhile, accounted for Hawkesbury and so leap-frogged Northern District to claim a place in the top four.  In the Sixers Conference, Lachlan Hearne’s 80 helped Mosman to a big win over Manly, which opened the door for University of NSW.  The Bees strangled Sydney’s batsmen with spin, then chased confidently – they’ll now take a place in the conference semi-finals, on 9 January.

She may not be running for Warringah, but Gladys gets around

Possibly hoping to be co-opted by the Prime Minister into some ill-advised, short-lived venture, sides all over Sydney competed furiously to win the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden and Total Collapse of the Week award.  Hawkesbury’s Thirds were 4-121 chasing Sydney University’s 243, but then lost six for 15, experienced seamer Lewis McMahon causing most of the damage with 6-16.  In the Little Bash, Easts attempted the rare Split Gladys, losing 3-0 at the top of its innings and 4-1 at the end, but spoiled things by scoring a few runs in the middle.  But the classic Gladys is an unforeseen collapse from a position of absolute strength, and no-one did that better than Easts’ Thirds.  Chasing Parramatta’s 194, Easts cruised to 2 for 162, with Jonah Trope cracking 86.  With only 32 runs needed, plenty of time and wickets in hand… enter Gladys.  Parramatta captain, Michael Ho, tried seven other bowlers before taking the ball himself, and his leg-breaks triggered a remarkable collapse in which eight wickets tumbled for 25 runs.  Parramatta somehow won by seven runs, Ho walked off with 8-40, and Easts walked away with this week’s Gladys.

Sometimes, it’s not just about the cricket

A few weeks ago, Archer Gray’s only problem was working out how to succeed as a sixteen year-old leg-spinner in Second Grade.  He was handling that pretty well, as it turns out: having been lifted straight from last year’s Green Shield (when he was named in the competition’s Team of the Year) into Wests’ Seconds, he started off with an impressive spell of 3-25 against North Sydney.   Players at Wests insist that he’s an excellent bowler, and an even better person.  But now he’s facing a batch of new problems, having been diagnosed with a brain tumour.  He’s already begun radiation therapy, and his family faces a tough time and steep bills.  The Western Suburbs club has launched an appeal to help with his medical costs, and the GoFundMe page is here.   This time of year, there are plenty of good causes to support, but please consider this one.  Already, Wests President Mike Swan reports that the support received has been fantastic, but every bit helps.

Five Things We Learned from Round 5

Robbie Aitken’s still playing

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last week, you’ve probably noticed that North Sydney all-rounder Robbie Aitken played his 500th First Grade match on Saturday.  He’s the first player to achieve that extraordinary milestone, although his father, Bob, certainly would have done so if teams played as many matches during his career as they do now.  When Robbie Aitken made his debut for Fairfield back in 1992, he didn’t score a run or take a wicket, and his 500th game was equally unproductive – and yet he played a crucial part in North Sydney’s win.  Aitken sent down his ten overs on Saturday for only 32 runs, and helped to contain a powerful St George line-up to an attainable total of 244.  Aitken hasn’t lasted this long by wasting energy; he barely bothers with a run-up these days, preferring a short shuffle into his delivery stride.  But that has the advantage that he hurries through his overs – on Saturday, he hustled through a maiden to Nick Stapleton in about 90 seconds.  North Sydney didn’t let Aitken down: they lost early wickets in the chase, but then Aiden Bariol (58), Tim Reynolds (68) and Brent Atherton (52 not out) combined to hand St George its first defeat of the season.

There was a grand final rematch.  Sort of.

 You could just about argue that the match at Drummoyne Oval on Saturday was a grand final rematch – Sydney outplayed Manly in last season’s decider only five games ago.  But that’s a difficult argument to sustain, because the two sides are now almost completely different.  Remarkably, only three players – Elliott Herd, Ryan Hadley and Ryan Farrell – remained from Manly’s grand final side, while half of Sydney’s side has also moved on.  Anyway, it was a tightly-fought contest between two good sides, and Manly squeezed out a win by only ten runs.  Ryan Hadley made the difference: from number ten, he bashed 21 not out to boost Manly to a defendable 206, and then he intervened with the ball when Nathan Doyle (72) seemed to be steering Sydney to victory.  First he bowled Doyle behind his legs, then he darted a ball through a tentative prod from Kain Anderson and with his next delivery he trapped Craig Di Blasio lbw – a match-winning spell of 3-1.  The other standout for Manly was reserve keeper Matt Brewster, who stepped into Jay Lenton’s shoes and blasted a quickfire 67 at the top of the order.

The par score at Chatswood Oval is 731

Not that we’ve calculated it scientifically, or anything, but that seems to be about what you need to score if you bat first at Chatswood and want to win.  Wests got their calculations slightly wrong, reaching merely 5-287 from their 50 overs on Saturday – enough to win almost anywhere else, but Chatswood has a very flat pitch and very short square boundaries.  Dylan Hunter followed a tidy, containing spell with the ball by smashing five 6s in a 97-ball 105 not out, while Taj Brar (108 not out) helped Gordon to a nine-wicket win with a ridiculous 44 deliveries to spare.  Three weeks ago, neither Hunter nor Brar had scored a First Grade hundred – now they each have two.

I’m Gladys, and so is my PG side

Let no-one say that we dish it out, but can’t take it.  This week’s Gladys Berejiklian Sudden Total Collapse Award goes to… Sydney University’s very own Poidevin-Gray side, which at one point was 2-48 chasing Campbelltown-Camden’s 2-113 in a game reduced to 16 overs each.  Spoiler alert: they didn’t get them.  Leg-spinner Owen Cole had 0 for 12 from his first 14 balls, and then everything went absolutely Gladys.  A full delivery was miscued to cover; the new batsman charged past the ball and was stumped; and Cole completed his hat-trick when the next player swept over the top of a full-length ball on off stump.  Six wickets fell for three runs in three overs of chaos (including a run-out with some comedic value), Cole walking off with 4-16.  But it’s a fickle game; about half the Campbelltown side stayed on to play in the Little Bash game in the afternoon, when Cole’s only over disappeared for 13 runs.

It’s finals time.  Nearly.

As the Big Bash kicks off, the Harry Solomons Little Bash is rapidly approaching a climax, with the last round before the finals to be played on Sunday.   The most interesting contests will be in the Sydney Thunder Conference, where Sydney University and Parramatta are certain to advance, but Wests and Northern District could, in theory, be overtaken by one or more of Blacktown, Penrith, Bankstown and Hawkesbury.  If Penrith can beat Wests, they’ll leap-frog them on the table, as then both sides would have 6.5 points and Penrith already has the better net run-rate.  But that doesn’t guarantee Penrith a place in the finals, because Blacktown can jump to 7 points by beating Hawkesbury. Hawkesbury is the longest of long shots, needing a huge win and about three other results falling in its favour.  Sydney University can take out first place in the conference by beating Northern Districts, but if they don’t manage that, Parramatta can take the top spot by beating last-placed Campbelltown.  Things are similar in the Sydney Sixers Conference, where St George and Mosman go through no matter what, and Randwick-Petersham and Manly will try to hold off University of NSW, North Sydney, Easts and Sydney.  It would be a strange white-ball finals series without Sydney, but the Tigers need to massacre University of NSW and hope that (among other things) Manly loses heavily to Mosman.  Even if that does happen, Sydney could miss out if North Sydney upsets St George.  Of course, all this assumes that it won’t rain, and it almost certainly will, in which case just about anything could happen.

Five things we learned from Round 4

Jay Lenton is hitting them OK

For a while there, the match between Manly and UTS North Sydney was quite evenly poised.  In the 21st over, Ollie Knight removed Joel Davies to reduce the home side to 4-102, and it was entirely possible that Manly could have been contained to a reasonably modest total.  That, however, was as good as it got for the Bears, who bled for 12 runs an over for the rest of the innings.  English import Tom Lammonby played his part to perfection, stroking an unbeaten 45 from only 26 deliveries, while Jay Lenton carried on his excellent form, reaching 120 not out.  Lenton began calmly enough – it took him 53 balls to reach fifty, a milestone he achieved by picking up a delivery from Robbie Aitken that was only fractionally short and pulling it into the tennis courts.  Lenton then got to have a bit of a rest, as no-one could figure out how to retrieve the ball, and when it was eventually recovered, he accelerated, carving 69 runs from his next 33 deliveries.  Aitken’s sixth over went for 21, with Lammonby launching a straight six before Lenton blasted two of his own, over long-off and extra-cover.  Lenton was on 94 when James Campbell took the ball for the 31st and final over.  Campbell is a good bowler who had been bowling well – one for 25 from six, at that point.  But it made no difference to Lenton, who carved the first ball high over long-off before celebrating exuberantly.  He then creamed a length ball over mid-on, missed a wide yorker and hit two sweet drives over long-off – four sixes in five balls, so that his two to long-off from the final ball was something of an anticlimax.  Lenton already has two hundreds this season, and looks to be hitting the ball as well as he ever has.

Dylan Hunter must be sick of white-ball cricket

Here’s the thing – Dylan Hunter is a decent bowler.  The Gordon left-arm spinner has pretty good control, varies his pace and flight, and turns it a touch.  And twice, in recent weeks, he’s been absolutely slaughtered.  There was that ten-ball, 35-run over against North Sydney, and last Saturday his four overs against Easts went for 53 runs.  Baxter Holt slapped his first two balls for 4 and 6, while Will Simpson cleared the boundary three times in his fourth over.  Hunter must be longing for a return to red-ball cricket, where the batsmen occasionally block one.  In a rain-reduced match, Easts raced to 9-220 in only 28 overs.  The ploy of opening with Marcus Atallah was a success, and Holt (60 from 43) and Simpson (69 from 33, with a ridiculous eight 6s) provided the acceleration.  Hunter thumped two retaliatory sixes of his own, but Gordon never got close to its target.  Weird statistic of the day belonged to Gordon seamer Ash Premkumar, who dismissed three batsmen (Angus Robson, Jono Cook and Rupert Lilburne) for golden ducks, but without taking a hat-trick or even being on a hat-trick.

It’s not always like this, Jack

Promising young Newcastle batsman Jack Hartigan made his First Grade debut for St George on Sunday in the Little Bash match against Sydney, and he could be forgiven for having an exaggerated opinion of the standard of cricket in the big smoke.  He found himself in the same side as three internationals – Kurtis Patterson, Nathan Ellis and New Zealander Colin Munro.  Patterson was back on club duty (for his 100th First grade game) after leading NSW during the week, while Ellis and Munro are in Sydney to prepare for the Big Bash.  Sydney batted first and St George, having some kind of theory about taking the pace off the ball, opened the attack with Kaleb Phillips’ unalarming off-spin.  It worked: the dangerous Ryan Felsch sliced the first ball he faced behind point, where Munro held the catch.  Ellis then removed Surrey batsman Laurie Evans, and the much improved Jono Craig-Dobson picked up two middle-order wickets.  A few late blows from Alex Glendenning made the score respectable, but not large enough to contain Munro and Patterson, who ran down the target with more than five overs to spare.  Munro thumped his way to 61 from 49 balls.  Hartigan didn’t bat or bowl, but it’s a safe bet that he learned plenty.

Hayden Kerr’s overnight success took a while

A highlight of last week, in between rain and Covid scares, was the performance of Hayden Kerr against Victoria.  Making his first-class debut in the Shield match in Sydney, Kerr played with remarkable maturity to score 62 not out and 11 not out, as well as picking up three useful wickets.  He followed up with a player-of-the-match effort in only his second Marsh Cup match, smacking 43 (with two sweetly-struck sixes) and picking up 2-16 in a tidy spell with the ball.  Which tells us what, exactly, about Premier Cricket?  Well, more than you might think.  Kerr was certainly a handy cricketer at Chevalier College, Bowral (where he played in the same side as Jack Preddey), but he was missed in sweep for talent in the junior pathways, and when he arrived at Sydney University he started in the Metropolitan Cup side.  For two seasons he bounced between Fifth Grade and Fourth Grade; in his third season, he was a key member of University’s premiership-winning Fourths.  It wasn’t until his fourth season that he reached Firsts, and his improvement from that point has been exponential.  The point being – the junior pathways are certainly one way to spot and develop talent, but there’s also a place for the player who develops a little later (or just gets missed when he’s 16), and Premier Cricket remains a very effective platform for developing them into top-class cricketers. 

We have a new contender

Regular readers will recall that Easts’ Fourths took out the Gladys Berejiklian Sudden Collapse of the Week Award in Round 3, losing five for one against University of NSW.  That only prompted a resounding “hold my beer!” from the UTS North Sydney PG side.  The Bears were up against it at Glenn McGrath Oval on Sunday, chasing Sutherland’s 3-141 from 20 overs.  They gave it a shake, and when Harrison Lee-Young cracked Will Straker for six over midwicket, they had reached 5-117 and needed a mathematically-possible 24 from seven balls to force a Super Over.  At which point, everything came up Gladys.  Lee-Young played all around a low full toss and was bowled.  John Nevell had strike for the final over, delivered by Sutherland captain Andrew Ritchie, but sliced the first ball to Kieran Weatherall at point.  Ritchie, a right-arm seamer, bowled full and straight and reaped the rewards as North Sydney’s tail swung away hopefully.  Everett Oxenham (with a name like that, could you guess that he went to The King’s School?) swiped his first ball straight up in the air, and Ritchie completed his hat-trick by knocking back Ben Knox’s off stump.  Toby Laybutt bunted his first ball back down the pitch, which was something of an achievement in the circumstances, but mishit the next to Cody Philipson at cover.  Ritchie had four wickets in five balls, and the Bears had lost 5-0 in six balls.  It’s an effort that will take some beating, but we’re sure someone’s up to the challenge.

Five Things We Learned from Round 3

Apparently Jack Preddey bats now

Jack Preddey is now in his fifth season with Eastern Suburbs (after stints with Campbelltown and RPs), and for most of that time you’d have ranked his batting as somewhere between nearly-an-all-rounder and handy-in-the-lower-order.  Last season, he made some useful runs in the bottom half of the order, without reaching fifty once in 16 innings.  But last Saturday, he promoted himself to number six, and played an innings that suggested he’s capable making a stronger impact with the bat.  Easts were down and (almost) out.  University of NSW, batting first, had posted a decent total of 7-277, with Tom Scoble hitting 73 and the impressively consistent (and consistently impressive) Jack Attenborough reaching 64.  In reply, Easts lost 3-43, and had recovered only slightly to 5-112 when Declan White held a return catch from Angus Robson.  At that point, Easts still needed 166 from 144 balls, which seemed a pretty hopeless task.  Preddey and Udit Mehta steadied the innings, but only 14 runs came from the next six overs, making the target 152 from 108.  But then Preddey began to accelerate, and started to clear the boundary.  12 runs came from the 38th over, 13 from the 39th, 11 from the 40th, 11 from the 41st.  Preddey hit only two fours in his innings, but lashed six sixes, and by the time Hayden McLean took the ball for the last over, Easts needed only six to win.  Preddey hit twos from the second, third and fourth balls to finish an improbable chase with two deliveries in hand, remaining unbeaten on 98 (from 79).  Preddey has now played 147 Premier Cricket innings without scoring a century.  We suspect this won’t be his last opportunity.

Nick Bertus still bats

On yet another day when the New South Wales top order collapsed, Nick Bertus took yet another opportunity to remind anyone watching just how good a batsman he can be.  Batting wasn’t easy at Chatswood Oval, but Gordon’s modest total of 171 looked pretty good when Parramatta slumped to 6-68.  But Bertus was still there, and with support from Jacob Workman and Hayden Goulstone, he worked Parramatta back into contention.  The run rate was never a problem, so it was a restrained and disciplined innings for the most part, although Bertus did allow himself the luxury of smacking three successive boundaries from Ben Parsons.  Bertus was run out for 74 with Parramatta in sight of its target, but Owen Simonsen and Luke Hodges finished the job with nearly four overs in hand.  Bertus’ career for the Blues was brief and unfulfilled, but innings like the one he played on Saturday raise the question of how he might have performed if allowed an extended run in the side.

The British are coming

One outcome of the Covid pandemic has been that, over the past couple of seasons, the flood of English county players to Premier Cricket slowed down to a trickle.  Now there are signs that they’re starting to return, like Christmas beetles and mosquitos, at the start of summer.  Tom Lammonby of Somerset has lobbed into Manly with a glowing reputation as a batsman and… well, not much reputation at all as a bowler.  Yet it was with the ball that he made his first impact, bowling left arm seamers at a respectable clip.  He persuaded Josh Clarke to play around his pads, winning an lbw decision, then hit the top of Oliver Hing’s off stump, finishing with 2-26 from 8 overs.  Defending 170, Wests were in the game when Manly lost 4-62, but Lammonby and Joel Davies then built a critical partnership.  Lammonby played well enough for his wristy 23, but was overshadowed by Joel Davies, who compiled a matchwinning 70 from 119 deliveries in only his third innings in the top grade.  The compact left-hander played with impressive maturity before dabbing hard-working Jack Bermingham to Hing behind the stumps.  Meanwhile, at Glenn McGrath Oval, Lachlan Hearne’s century for Mosman was scored in partnership with Jordan Cox, a well-regarded keeper-batsman from Kent, who remained unbeaten on 70.  Cox turned out for Easts when he last played in Sydney.

La Nina is Spanish for washout

The most significant event of the week occurred, not on the field, but in the office of the Bureau of Meteorology, where whoever is responsible for these things declared a La Nina event.  Now, there’s lots of science that goes into this, but we did Latin for five years at school, so we’re not exactly trained scientists, and it makes absolutely no sense at all to us.  What it seems to mean, though, is that we can expect it to rain.  A lot (and even, it seems, in India).  We’ve already lost the whole of round two of the T20 Little Bash, and there’s rain forecast for at least the next two weekends.  The more usual rain patterns often impact the closing month of the season, but this time around the luck of the weather seems likely to play a part throughout the competition.  Time to upgrade those covers, maybe.

We have a contender…

The Gladys Berejiklian Sudden Collapse of the Week Award goes to Easts’ Fourth Grade side.  Facing a testing target of 236 against University of NSW, Easts began well enough, reaching 1-37 after eight overs.  But then it all went very Gladys, very quickly.  Mitchell Law removed Oliver White.  Oliver Maxwell (who surely ought to be playing quite a bit higher than Fourth Grade) tapped a single, but in the next over hit a catch straight back to Ed Walker.  Luca La Costa missed his first ball of the season and was ruled lbw.  After Law bowled a maiden to Nick Farrar, Walker was removed from the attack and replaced by Arunav Duggal.  Farrar was run out from the first ball of the over, and Duggal then had Max Cotter caught from his next.  Five top-order wickets had fallen for only one run in the space of 19 balls.  We can look forward to plenty more collapses this season, but surely this one sets the benchmark.

Five Things We Learned from Round 2

Bon Andrews is a horrible place to bowl

Sometimes we’ve wondered (usually, if we’re honest, while bowling there) just how effective those fences at Bon Andrews Oval really are.  You know the ones – the high ones on the eastern side of the ground that are supposed to protect North Sydney Council against the catastrophic consequences of a cricket ball dropping through the windscreen of a car travelling at 70kph along the Warringah Freeway.  Well, the fences will seldom be tested out as thoroughly as they were on Saturday, when UTS North Sydney and Gordon forgot all about cricket and decided to play a game of Bat instead.  Bon Andrews (North Sydney No2, if you’re old) is not a large ground, and even though the outfield was covered in sand, it was lightning-fast.  To top it off, the pitch may as well have been dropped in from the nearby Pacific Highway.  North Sydney batted first, and Jack James sliced the first ball of the day past point for four.  The scoring rate did drop after that, but not by much.  Justin Avendano smashed his way to an absurd 171 from 122 balls, clearing the fence 11 times.  Avendano actually constructed his innings quite carefully; it took him 13 balls to reach double figures, and after facing 45 balls he had only scored 39 runs.  He then accelerated so effectively that his century came from the 92nd ball he faced, when he punched Quincy Titterton to long-on for a single.  But the real impetus came when left-arm spinner Dylan Hunter was recalled to bowl the 42nd over of the innings.  The first ball, flat and quick, was muscled over long-on for 6; the next soared over cow corner for 6 more, and disappeared southbound towards the Harbour Tunnel, so that a replacement ball was required.  Avendano missed a swipe at the next delivery, but heaved the fourth over wide long-on, after which things rather disintegrated.  Hunter replied with two wides outside off-stump and a chest-high no-ball that was pounded over mid-wicket for yet another 6.  Avendano then launched yet another 6, and Hunter served up another no-ball.  Anything could have happened on the next delivery, a free hit, but Avendano got so wound up that in the end he slipped and fell swiping at a full toss, which trickled away for a single.  The over lasted for ten deliveries and produced 35 runs.  Yet it was Hunter who had the last laugh: his 123 included five 6s of his own, and his stand of 165 with Taj Brar (in which both hit their maiden First Grade century) set up Gordon’s run chase, which was completed by an excellent late cameo from Jack Ritchie.  Maybe next week they might move those big screens from the eastern side of the ground and put them between the bowler and the batsman.  The bowlers need some kind of protection.

Dugald Holloway found his rhythm

The Harry Solomons Little Bash is back, and in its first T20 match of the season, Blacktown made a solid start to its chase at Sydney University Oval.  Chasing a more-or-less par score of 5-152, the Mounties reached 1-47 until Dugald Holloway stepped in.  There’s a kind of Mitchell Johnson-ish quality to Holloway’s bowling; he’s a tall left-armer, sharp, with a slightly unorthodox action, and some days, he bowls to the left, he bowls to the right.  Other days, though, it all clicks in a way that makes life extremely uncomfortable for any batsman who gets in the way, and he can turn the course of a match in no time at all.  Sunday was one of those days; in his first over, Holloway accounted for James Newton with his third ball and had Yianni Theodorakopoulos caught behind from his next delivery.  James Fawcett got the hat-trick ball away for four, but the last ball of the over crashed into his stumps, and Holloway then had Hayden Fox caught from the first ball of his second over – a ridiculous sequence of WW4WW.  Holloway ended up with 5-24, his best return in Firsts, as a tight contest turned into a very comfortable win for the Students.

Too many Blakes are never enough

 Three centuries were scored at Bankstown Oval on Saturday, and naturally all the attention went to Dan Solway (109 not out), Blake McDonald (109 not out) and Blake Nikitaras (105 not out).   It is, after all, a batsman’s game.  We haven’t checked this, or anything, but we’re pretty sure that this was the first time in the long history of the First Grade competition that an unbeaten double-century partnership has been shared between two unbeaten century-making batsmen both called Blake.  Blake squared made short work of St George’s target – they ran down Bankstown’s 5-216 with 13.2 overs to spare, McDonald lashing five sixes and Nikitaras three.

 For our money though, and without in any way detracting from the efforts of the Blakes, the standout player on the field was St George opening bowler Peter Francis, who grabbed three early wickets to reduce Bankstown to 3-32.  Francis ended up with 3-46; the other bowlers in the match managed 3-338 between them.  He moves the ball away from the bat at a decent pace, bowls with plenty of aggression, and gives the St George attack a genuine cutting edge.

 John who?

 It should, in theory, be possible to write a paragraph or two about Elijah Eales without mentioning his father.  Here goes.

 Almost no-one expected Mosman to win its first T20 game of the season, against white-ball experts Sydney, especially after the Whales posted a so-so target of 137 at Drummoyne Oval.   But Eales (who bowled off-breaks not so very long ago) opened the bowling with his accurate seamers, and in his first over he convinced Will Fort to chip a drive to mid-on, where Matt Junk bobbled the catch before holding it.  Things then got worse for Sydney – Ryan Felsch, after doing his best to run himself out first ball, then smacked a shortish ball from Jake Turner straight to Harry Dalton on the cow-corner fence.  All of the Sydney middle order made a start, but each time the Tigers looked like getting the initiative, Eales took a wicket – Justin Mosca sliced the ball to point, Nathan Doyle clipped a full ball to mid-wicket, and Matt Rodgers hoisted one to Matt Moran behind square leg.  Eales doesn’t look like a bowler who’ll run through a side in a two-day game, but he has good control, bowls thoughtfully, and built enough pressure to induce reckless strokes.  Mosman ran out winners by the surprisingly convincing margin of 23 runs, with Eales (4-17) the difference.

 Ronak Bedi has improved

 Sydney’s lower-grade players have never had a longer off-season in which to work on their game, and not many players have used that time as well as Ronak Bedi seems to have done.  Last season, the Sutherland leg-spinner played four matches in Seconds, taking just a single wicket for 155 runs.   But his improvement this season has been striking, and after collecting three wickets in Round One, he produced an astonishing spell against Hawkesbury on Saturday.  Chasing 236, Hawkesbury had begun to rebuild its innings after an excellent opening burst from Will Straker, in which the first three wickets fell for only two runs.  But Bedi shredded the lower order, and the last five wickets fell while only two runs were scored. Incredibly, seven Hawkesbury batsmen were dismissed without scoring.  Bedi wrapped up the innings for just 64, grabbing 5-8 from 4.4 overs.  His bowling average in Seconds so far this season is approximately 26 times lower than it was last season.

Five (and a bit) things we learned from Round One

Sydney still looks pretty good

Anyone who thought that the reigning premiers might be rattled by their unsettled off-season received a sharp wake-up from the Tigers’ strong win over Sydney University in the opening round.  From last season’s Grand Final, Sydney has lost a couple of Manentis (to Tasmania), Anthony Mosca, Dan Smith (captaining Seconds) and Nic Bills (retired) – as well as long-serving, highly successful coach Mick Haire.  Yet they won their first game by five wickets, with almost 13 overs to spare.  Ryan Felsch was in the thick of things, as he so often is in the shorter game, gutting the University middle order before whacking 53 from 42 balls.  Felsch began unusually slowly, and might have been caught from a steepling hit that went an enormous distance into the air though not all that far from the pitch.  He responded to his let-off by thumping six sixes in ten balls, four of them from a single over.  After Felsch missed a sweep at a Ryan McElduff off-break, Sydney captain Matt Rodgers steered his side home with a measured, positive innings.  Possibly the standout performer for Sydney, though, was young quick bowler Jack Nisbet, who impressed with his economical action and steep bounce.  The large number of 50-over matches at the front end of the season certainly plays to Sydney’s strengths.

Krishna Padmanabhan made a memorable start

New recruit Krishna Padmanabhan, formerly of Melbourne’s Richmond Cricket Club, made a memorable debut in Sydney cricket for University of NSW, helping his new club to a solid win over Sutherland.  Padmanabhan’s unbeaten 26 from 22 helped the Bees to a strong total of 7-262, to which the most important contribution was Jack Attenborough’s polished 71.  Bowling whippy spin with a rapid arm, Padmanabhan then struck three times in his first three overs, holding a return catch from Ben Dwarshuis, luring Callum Weatherall into a misguided chip into the on-side, and then removing James Arnold with possibly the filthiest delivery that will be seen on any First Grade ground this season.  Arnold was so surprised by a very slow, very loopy full toss that he could only bloop it tamely into the hands of Jack Attenborough at mid-on.  Padmanabhan ended the day with 4-20, capitalising on a very effective new-ball spell from Chris Tremain.

Scott Rodgie is in form

On paper, a Manly team top-heavy with representative players looked a bit too strong for Northern District but, as legendary Rugby League coach Jack Gibson used to say, your scrapbook never won any matches (actually he said “yer scrapbook”, and added a colourful adjective, but as a University club we do need to observe some standards).   Manly started well enough, reaching 2-55 with Jay Lenton (who cracked one delivery into the tennis courts) and Ollie Davies hitting the ball cleanly, but then Scott Rodgie intervened.  Rodgie wasn’t the most obvious threat to Manly’s batsmen – his handful of wickets last season were fearfully expensive – and 8 runs came from his first 14 balls.  But then Ollie Davies spooned a loose drive to cover, and the middle order folded rapidly.  Ryan Farrell sliced a drive to Toby Gray at a wide slip, Jay Lenton slashed without moving his feet, and Manly lost four wickets while adding just a single.  The eventual total of 118 never looked like enough, and Rodgie collected four for 10 from his last 46 deliveries.  Northern District lost three early wickets, but Rodgie followed up his bowling effort with a forceful, unbeaten 40 (in company with former Manly player Chris Green) to seal the result.

Age shall not weary them.  Much.

36 years ago, a quietly-spoken, lean, intense left-hander from Armidale made his Grade debut for Western Suburbs at Blick Oval, marking his arrival with a match-winning century (after which he became a little less quietly-spoken).  Paul Ryan went on to have a highly successful First Grade career as a keeper-batsman with Wests, St George and Mosman, scoring 8202 runs until he retired from Premier Cricket in 2004.  Now he’s back where it all started, lured out of retirement by Wests president Michael Swan to captain Second Grade.  It didn’t take Ryan long to feel at home – Wests’ top order collapsed, and James Aitken was bowling, so it was pretty much exactly like a game from the 1980s.  Understandably, Ryan started slowly, but he warmed up with a trademark whip off his toes to the midwicket boundary, and stabilised the innings in a stand of 69 with Liam Sparke.  Despite his advanced years, Ryan even cleared the boundary, swinging Kobe Allison over fine leg.  His 50 steered Wests to 8-226, which turned out to be far too many for UTS-North Sydney.  It looks as though this season the players in Wests’ Seconds will learn quite a bit about competing intensely, batting sensibly, and sore muscles.

Davo was one of a kind

Round One began a few days after the passing of Alan Davidson, which makes this the first Sydney season in 73 years in which he hasn’t been involved in some way.  Davo began his Grade career in 1948-49 with Northern District, and moved to Western Suburbs four seasons later when his bank job moved him to Strathfield – where he lived for the rest of his life.  At a time when international players appeared regularly in Grade cricket, Davidson was one of the last men to attract large paying crowds to club games.  They came for his hostile swing bowling and brilliant fielding, but most of all for his dynamic hitting – the lawn bowls games next to Pratten Park were frequently interrupted by Davidson’s bigger hits.  After retiring from first-class cricket, Davidson played on with Wests, steering the club to a First Grade premiership in 1963-64.  He might have repeated that success the following season, but he was injured in the semi-final, while scoring a matchwinning even 100 out of his team’s total of 167.  Less publicly visible was the fact that, for many years after his retirement, he’d still turn up at club committee meetings and contribute to the running of the grass-roots game.  He’ll be missed.

And one bonus thing

Imitation is, of course, the sincerest form of flattery, and we noticed with interest the Cricket NSW website running a piece that seems to us to borrow rather heavily from the (obviously, massively popular) Five Things format.  Go to https://www.cricketnsw.com.au/news/the-opening-spell-round-one-premier-cricket/2021-11-08 and decide for yourself.  Does adding the sixth “thing” make a difference?  Our copyright lawyers will let us know soon.

Five Things We Learned from Round 15

The Saints went marching in

St George hasn’t appeared in the First Grade finals since 2015-16, and looked the longest of long shots to make it when the final round began last weekend.  As we observed here last week, they needed Gordon to lose to Easts, and then they needed to beat Parramatta with a bonus point.  Easts obliged by containing Gordon to 221, and could have snatched sixth place with a bonus point.  Tim Armstrong got the chase off to a lively start, but Dylan Hunter applied the brakes, allowing only 35 runs from ten mean overs of left arm spin.  In the end, Hunter was probably the difference between Easts playing next weekend or taking the early holiday.  Will Simpson’s 67 got Easts home, but St George was now able to claim the last finals place by chasing down Parramatta’s 6 for 239 inside 40 overs.  Saints went out hard, but lost early wickets, stumbling to 2 for 38, but Kaleb Phillips (77 off 59) and Tom Vane Tempest (50 off 35) revived the innings with a furious partnership.  In the fourteenth over, Vane Tempest got under two good length balls from Jacob Workman and carved them over midwicket for six; Phillips hit straighter, lofting both Luke McNaught and Hayden Goulstone over long-on for sixes.  That partnership ensured that the run rate would be no problem, but wickets began to fall and at 8 for 202 there was a serious risk that St George would be bowled out.  Peter Francis, whose bowling has been so impressive this season, picked the right time to show that he can bat a bit as well.  He and Joe Graham needed only 20 balls to pick off the last 40 runs, plundering 15 from Goulstone’s last over before Francis ended the game by whacking a leg-break from Gabriel Joseph straight down the ground for yet another six.  Saints needed only 29.4 overs to seal the bonus point win, and a place back in the finals.

Premier Cricket set a new record.  Not a particularly good one.

What do these players have in common?  Peter Nevill.  Stephen O’Keefe.  Trent Copeland.  Morne Morkel.  Kurtis Patterson.  They were, of course, the only Test cricketers who appeared in the First Grade competition this season.  Never before in the 127 year history of the competition have so few Test cricketers taken part in a season’s matches.  Of course, there are mitigating circumstances.  Covid bubbles made life unusually difficult for representative players, and the expanded Big Bash increased their representative commitments.  Travel restrictions all but eliminated the presence of overseas players.  Even so, it’s the culmination of a bleak trend (8 Test players appeared in 2019-20, ten in 2018-19).  No one expects a return to the days (say, 30 years ago) when current Test players could play over one third of a club’s grade games.  That will never happen again, and for good reasons.  But the complete separation of international cricket from Premier Cricket weakens the pyramid structure which has served the game well for a very long time.  Let’s hope a few more, suitably vaccinated, representative players find time for a couple of days with their clubs next season.

There’s some average chat out there

Manly and Sydney University have played some epic contests over the last few seasons, and last Saturday’s game was up with them, Manly edging this one with one wicket to spare, thanks largely to Stephen O’Keefe, who bowled beautifully and showed all his experience with the bat at the end.  For University, Liam Robertson struck the ball sweetly and ran out two batsmen, while Dugald Holloway was at his penetrative best with the ball.  The result allowed Sydney to leapfrog the Students to claim the minor premiership, while Manly clinched third place.  Things you won’t see often: Hayden Kerr and Jack Edwards both batting eleven (both due to injury).  Manly looks well placed to make an impact on the finals, but seriously needs to improve the quality of its chat.  Someone insists on shouting out, when Elliot Herd is bowling, “Come on, the Herd Locker”.  The “Herd Locker”?  Look, we understand that it’s a movie reference (Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards, we get it).  And we appreciate that Herd sounds a little bit like “Hurt”, especially after the fourth beer.  But as a nickname, it makes no sense, especially when Liam Robertson has just smacked you over long-on for a third six.  All teams need to lift for the finals, so when better to introduce a new nickname?  We would suggest TS (TS Eliot, try to keep up) but apparently those initials mean something different these days.

Ryan Smith went out in style

After 14 years of running in to bowl for Penrith, Ryan Smith’s knees have had enough, and they’ve announced that he’s retiring.  Smith is revered at the foot of the mountains, partly for his long and tireless service to the club, but especially because of his efforts two seasons ago, when he took 62 wickets (a club record) and led the Panthers to a First Grade premiership.  It didn’t seem appropriate for him to go out with a loss, but that was the way it looked late on Saturday afternoon, when Mosman was four for 177 chasing a modest target of 207.   Smith had taken the early, key, wicket of Peter Forrest, who chopped a ball onto his stumps, and kept things tidy in his first six overs, allowing only 18 runs.  When he came back for his final spell in Premier Cricket, Mosman needed 33 runs from eight overs with six wickets standing.  Matt Moran skied his fourth ball to point, where Jordan Browne held the catch.  Three runs came from Smith’s next over, and Mosman needed eleven runs from 24 balls when he bowled the 47th over of the innings.  Which was chaotic.  Ash Doolan (the only man, as we reminded him last week, to be dismissed twice in First Grade by Damien Mortimer), got the first ball away for four: seven needed off 23.  He then missed what we’ll charitably call a slower ball, which hit him just below the knee roll, on the full, in front of his stumps.  Luke Shelton hit the next for two, but nicked the following ball to Tyran Liddiard.  Jake Turner unaccountably carved his very first ball to Kaine Balgowan at deep cover, and suddenly Mosman was nine for 203, still needing five runs.  Greg West and Dean Crawford scrambled a couple of singles and a leg bye, and then West turned Ryan Fletcher behind square leg.  The first run was completed easily, but West turned ambitiously for the match-winning second, and the throw to Liddiard was accurate enough to beat him home.  So the game ended in a tie, and Smith ended his career on a memorable note, with three wickets in four balls and 5-34.  He couldn’t have scripted it better.

Chris De Krester is a First Grader

Eight seasons ago, Chris De Krester left the Sydney University club because he thought he could play higher than Fifth Grade.  Gordon agreed, and picked him in Thirds.  He had three seasons with Gordon, playing a couple of games in Seconds, flirted with Hawkesbury in 2015-16, then rejoined the Hawks last season.  This year, he’s been a valuable member of the Second Grade side, doing nothing spectacular, but bowling tidy leg-spin and contributing handy runs in the lower order.  And for Round 15, he was promoted to Firsts for the match against Campbelltown-Camden.  It took him nine years and 136 Premier Cricket matches to win his first First Grade cap.  He didn’t let the Hawks down, bowling ten neat overs and picking out two wickets, both caught at mid-on by Mohammad Shinwari, and added some handy late-order runs.  He would probably have enjoyed the day more if Hawkesbury had won, but no matter.  A lot of players turn out in First Grade week after week, and many of them take it for granted.  For others, it’s a goal that needs to be strived for, and when they get there, they deserve credit and respect for the persistence and self-belief that it took to achieve it.