1st Grade
Round: 9
Toss: Sydney University elected to Field
Result: Sydney University won by 7 wickets
Game scores: Uni 3/169 def North Sydney 165
Notables: Ley 4/35, Sommerville 3/19, Larkin 72n.o
REPORT: First Grade arrived at North Sydney Oval hoping to extend 2013's form into the New Year and were bolstered by the return of Sean Abbott from representative duties. Greg Mail won the toss and elected to bowl first on a flat, if slightly slow, pitch. The students seemed to still be on holidays as the Bears made a promising start, reaching 1/75 after 16 overs as things weren't going our way. Tim Ley produced some unplayable deliveries, and Mark Faraday, having survived fielding at point at Uni no. 1 for the first half of the season, got a bad bounce and wore a nasty blow to the cheek. Alf was able to continue but came up looking like he'd been frequenting Newcastle pubs again. When the red fox, Liam Robertson, claimed a sly caught and bowled with his first ball, the students sprung to life and strangled the rest of the North Sydney innings, restricting the opposition to be all out for 165 in the 49th over. Will Somerville was again the pick of the bowlers returning 3-19 from his full allotment, a tremendous return given the size of the boundaries on offer.
The lunch time suggestion that the Bears were "about 100 short" proved to be the case with the University top order making short work of the chase. Nick Larkin showed his new batting maturity guiding us home with an effortless 72 not out.
Second Grade
Round: 9
Toss: North Sydney
Result: Sydney University won by 148 runs (with 1 bonus point)
Game scores: Uni 6/326 def North Sydney 178
Notables: Hobson 121n.o, Miller 51, Kierath 4/17
REPORT: With yet another all-too-short new year’s break behind us , the students set about kicking-off their 2014 campaign in style by dismantling the Bears . The early signs weren’t good with both Nash sides clearly suffering the ill-effects of too much turkey at the Xmas table as the traditional warm-up contest ended in a dubious 1-1 draw between the old-stagers and the young punks . At least the showing out in the middle was much-improved , with Funky miller doing much to further refute his nice-guy image treating the new ball flingers with almost disdain having been sent in to face the music on a slightly greenish surface . The early pyrotechnics seeing the blue & glods rattle on at around 8/over into the first drinks break , before a mini-collapse triggered one opposition onlooker to rip off his lid and show everyone present that he truly bled black and red . Cometh the hour , cometh the bald man as the ship’s departure just shy of 50 saw North’s worst fears realized with the Hob-nob reprising his dashing display against the same side last year to deliver an even more virtuoso performance to conclude the innings with 121 not . Ably supported by the diametrically opposed D-vis , the cone showed all the skills learned over his 25 years as an amateur professional bringing up three figures with a delightful scoop to the vacant fine leg region before showcasing his admirable cranium in celebration to the delight of all the cats on the hill. 326 was always going to be a difficult chase and with Benny Joy back on deck sporting a Daniel Vettori-like profile , the good guys wrapped up the job comfortably in the end with a bonus point in the back pocket . North’s tail-enders at least trying to drag out the affair with one depositing a bemused-looking Miller into Bruce Ross’s cottage , while the others disproved the benefits of private-school education showing repeated difficulty in following basic instructions . Good sing rounding out affairs as we jumped back on the horse with a lovely little Bright ale in hand .