1st Grade:

Hawkesbury 8/404 (Clarke 162, Malone 4/130, May 2/42) Def Sydney University 314 (D Mortimer 122, B Trevor-Jones 66, Nair 4/73)

Chasing 400 was never going to be an easy task, but Bensons Lane is as good a spot as any to get it done.

It didn't start well for the students, with a couple of starts in the top order and before we knew it we were 3-60 on a flat, if low bouncing wicket. Enter D Mortimer, who has been forced to sit and watch so far this summer and has been itching for a bat. I've only just met the bloke, but I'm guessing sitting still and patience are not really his things.

What followed was a innings stacked with maturity, composure, and skill. He rotated the strike superbly and placed his attacking shots well. We think he has been around a while, but forget how young he is. This was a serious innings under immense pressure, and bodes well for this summer and beyond. He found a willing ally in BTJ, also short of time in the middle, if comfortable in the rural surroundings. Another century partnership (that's four in four weeks) highlighting the resilience of our batting line up.

Alas an attempt to up the scoring rate led to a few wickets and we were forced to try to defend the last 10 overs or so. The lower order were courageous but the damage was done, we couldn't hold on for the draw.

Many more positives than negatives came from the weekend, and a reinforcement of Ian Chappell's oft quoted mantra: "When you win the toss, nine times out of ten, you bat. The tenth time you think about bowling, and then bat."

1st Grade Kingsgrove T20 Cup

Penrith 82 (T Rogers 3/12 off 4, D Malone 3/9 off 4, B Joy 2/17 off 4) Def by Sydney Uni 4/86 (D Mortimer 28* (26), L Robertson 25 (20), P Cummins 2/22 off 4)

Captain Larkin lost the toss and Penrith had no hesitation in batting. An aggressive start from the Penrith openers saw the score race to 0/26 after 3 overs. Rogers then removed the in form Ryan Gibson, signaling the beginning of the end for Penrith. Rogers bowled with pace and control to snare 3/12 from 4 overs, dominating the typically batsman friendly powerplay.

Malone and Joy were introduced in tandem and proceeded to take regular wickets, with Malone on t20 debut returning the remarkable figures of 3/9. Joy was at his frugal best to return 2/17 and have Penrith all out 82.

Lalor and Cummins formed a formidable new ball combination, and an early breakthrough gave Penrith some hope as Larkin edged to the keeper of Lalor. Liam Robertson was fearless in his approach to some hostile bowling as he hammered Cummins over mid off on his way to 25, shutting the men from the mountains out of the fixture. Damien Mortimer's calm 28* and James Larkin's tidy 13* saw Sydney Uni home with 6 wickets in hand.

Blacktown 145 (Horton 39 (39), Panesar 37 (26), Rogers 2/23 off 3, Robertson 1/22 off 4) Def Sydney Uni 7/132 (Mortimer 64 (53), Keen 3/12 off 3).

An afternoon game following a momentous triumph against Penrith was always going to test the students. Larkin again lost the toss and was asked to field. Some fatigue was evident as the bowling group struggled to control their lines. Blacktown played intelligent and hard t20 cricket, looking to attack the short boundary and generally hit the ball hard down the ground.

Malone was again the pick of the bowlers, conceding only 15 runs from his 4 overs, whilst Robertson was tidy, claiming 1/22 from his full allotment.

Blacktown set an above par 145, and with the sky darkening and pitch getting lower, the SUCC batters had their work cut out.

Robertson started well, finding the boundary a number of times inside the power play. His dismissal saw Blacktown able to slow the run rate and when Larkin edged behind for 18, Uni were fighting an uphill battle.

Mortimer and May combined well for a 65 run stand, but disciplined bowling meant the rate continued to climb and requiring 50 from the final 5 overs proved too much. Blacktown nailed their yorkers and held their catches, which saw uni fall 13 runs short.

Damien Mortimer capped off a fine weekend making a superb 64 from 53 balls, almost getting the side home single handedly. With two games now remaining in the rounds, uni will need to win both to advance to the semi finals of the thunder conference and have an opportunity to defend the title as Thunder Conference champions.

2nd Grade:

Sydney Uni 273 (Miller 143, Crowley 56, Ridgewell 4/51) Def Hawkesbury 126 (J Holloway 4/20, J Craig-Dobson 2/25) & 4/127 (Ridgewell 53*, J Craig-Dobson 2/39)

The SUCC scoobydoos returned to the home of cricket for day 2 against the undefeated Hawks. The admin housemates (Miller and Crowley) narrowly avoided a case thanks to some aggressive driving but no thanks to Henry Clark’s treason attempts along Western Avenue. Nicky ‘nowhere’ Craze not so narrowly owed a case after he was 30 mins late despite living 20m away. I can’t really remember the excuse offered, but something along the lines of his mystery Mrs not waking him up.

Adverse pepsi conditions were experienced on Saturday morning – dense, humid, Josh Toyer sweating conditions. Dave ‘Funky’ Miller coped well despite the controversy of whether 10 beers between 2.30pm and 10pm is considered a pepsi or not – que heated discussion in the post match fines meeting. Will Hay strongly on the negative side, Larkins on the affirmative.

Anyway, the olds dominated the young nuffies again in Nash before we took the field in search of 6 points. The Hawks essentially reversed their batting order last week to no avail, leaving 8 wickets to bag. Dugald ‘Big doobler’ Holloway bowled with good pace and direction first up and was unlucky not to break through. Keiran ‘wingnut’ Tate burgled the first 2 wickets for the day before Jack ‘the lesser’ Holloway with the sloppy rig chimed in with 2 wickets in as many balls. Hayza somehow managed to fall low to his right to take a great catch at 1st slip (behind Miller’s left calf) for Jack’s first wicket. His second was caught behind potentially off the inner thigh but we will tack em! Jack then nicked off their skipper to Funky Miller at 2nd slip thanks to a sharp grab above his head. Dugald ‘screech’ Holloway was rewarded with 2 freebies at the end to dismiss Hawkesbury for 126, still 147 in arrears.

Skipper Miller aggressively sent the Hawks back into bat, with plenty of overs in the bank to take 10 points. Dugald again bowled with good rhythm in his opening spell, snaring an edge behind the wicket in the process. Dibbly Dobson hit the seam (finally) and found 2 edges to Hay and Miller respectively. Unfortunately, 4 Hawkes wickets was all we managed in the 2nd innings thanks to some missed chances and poor ground fielding. Nevertheless, it was a solid all round team performance to get back into the winners circle.

3rd Grade:

Sydney Uni: 200 (Kerr 62, Arnott 52, S Mott 7/61) Def Hawkesbury 95 (X Frawley 6/35, L McMahon 2/27) & 6/206 (S Mott 81*, C Flynn-Duncombe 58, X Frawley 2/29)

Day two was shaping up to be a very tight affair, with Hawkesbury needing 151 to win, with eight wickets in hand.  With two injuries during the week ruling Jack Gibson and Kevin Jacobs out of action day two, we welcomed Henry Clark and a variety of first graders and 5th graders to take the field (huge thank you to Greg Mail, Ashton May, Liam Robertson, Ben Joy and Andrew Wilkinson). 

A triumphant come from behind victory for the old boys in Nash set the day up extremely well.  Urged on by his sub-par Nash form in goals, Xavier Frawley put on an absolute clinic with the ball.  Xavier (6/35 off 16)  and Lewis McMahon (2/27 off 13) bowled a beautiful length, enticing the batsman to drive.  Edward Arnott was flawless behind the stumps taking an absolute ripper of a catch to start the procession of wickets.  Xavier and Lewis were near unplayable at times, with the latter unlucky not to take a few more poles.  Ryan Kurtz joined the party with his first ball caught behind, before inviting a miss hit to cover to wrap up the innings for 95, with a 105 run lead.

Ash Cowan, invited Hawkesbury to bat again as 3s chased an outright victory.  Despite having Hawkesbury 5/77 still 28 runs behind, uni were unable to continue as clinically as they had started the day.  Hawks Shane Mott (81*) and Kain Flynn-Duncombe (58) pushed an outright victory beyond the students grasps and shortly after 5:30 both skippers agreed to call it a day. 

4th Grade:

Hawkesbury 204 (Fogg 64, AJ Grant 4/27) Def by Sydney Uni, 8/205 (Shaw 52*, Powys 32, Day 32)

4s arrived at St Pauls oval on Saturday morning chasing 204 for victory sitting on the precarious overnight score of 2/1.  Bracketed down from third grade, Joe Kershaw (27) joined Jake Day (32) at the crease and calmed the storm early in the day, before both being dismissed in quick succession to make it 4/60 still needing 145 for victory. 

Matthew Powys continued his good start to the year powering his way to 32 off 16 balls before being caught on the fence, as the game sat well and truly in the balance at 5/100.  Captain AJ Grant joined Alex Shaw, and the two of them showed enormous poise and control putting on 60 odd.  When the skipper departed for 29, Alex took over and put the result beyond question with a mature match winning 52*.

5th Grade:

Hawkesbury 38 (R Holcroft 4/14) & 119 (R Holcroft 5/36, C Slater 2/17) Def outright by Sydney Uni 7 dec 203 (A Bell 30, J Morley 53)

Having already claimed first innings points on day one 5th grade went out to Bensons Lane with clear intentions on securing the full ten points available. Skipper Mike Harris wasted no time in declaring straight away with a 165 run lead. 

All four of the bowlers used picked up wickets, with Natesh Yoganand bowling with great control claiming 2/27 off his 9 overs, he was well supported by Andrew Wilkinson 2/27.  Connor Slater continued to show his promise bowling sharp turning leg breaks, at less than 2 runs an over finishing with figures of 2/17 off 10. 

However the standout was once again Ryan Holcroft.  Fresh from his four wicket haul in week one, Ryan tore through the Hawkesbury top order claiming 5/36 off 11 overs. 

With the outright victory, 5th grade have moved into second place on the ladder. 

Metro Cup: Sydney University 334 (Gillespie 79, Frost 67 & Hughes 61, J Coutts 4/42) Def Easts 134 (S Deshpande 59, A Wilkinson 4/53, Rehan Gunawardhana 2/21).

Posting 334 on day one, Uni’s Metro cup team knew a job still needed to be done on day two.  The story off the day was Andrew Wilkinson, fresh from a Saturday out at Bensons Lane, Wilko decided bowling all 23 overs from one end on Sunday was a good idea.  Andrew bowled with exceptional control and suffocated the eastern suburbs batsman out finishing with figures of 4/54 off 23 overs.

Andrew was well supported by Ethan Clout, 1/35 and Rehan Gunawardhana 2/21 securing Metros first win for the 2016/17 season.