1st Grade:
Sydney University 10/267 (D Mortimer 115, T Ley 55, M Day 5/39) Mosman 3/17 (T Ley 2/5)
The students entered round 7 brimming with confidence after their dominant victory over the previously undefeated Grodon in round 6. Skipper Larkin won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like another very good cricket wicket. Good bowling by the Mosman quicks saw us in a bit of trouble with both Larkin and Carters out before the score had reached double figures, brining Greg Mail and Damien Mortimer to the crease. These two dug in and scrapped along getting the score to 42 before mail was caught for a dogged 15. May and Robertson both came and went leaving us struggling at 5/91. Ben Trevor-Jones joined Mortimer and these two battled hard, pushing the score up past 140. Trevor-Jones’ 80 minute stay was instrumental in allowing the students to post a relatively respectable score, he and Mortimer batted with fantastic patience and calmness before he was dismissed for a vital 20 runs. This saw Tim Ley join Morts, and these two wrestled the momentum back from Mosman and put on 110 for the 7th wicket. Mortimer brought up his second hundred for the season and pushed his season average up past 80. Damien once again batted with poise and control during his 210 ball stay at the crease. Tim Ley brought up his first half-century of the season before they were both dismissed in quick succession which brought Ben Joy to the crease. Needless to say Ben’s innings was short and eventful, scoring 8 off 4 balls including what has been described as a “dirty slog sliced over cover for six.”
Eventually we were dismissed for 267 in the 85th over, with 9 to bowl in the day. Tim Ley fresh off his half-century terrorized the Mosman batsman bowling with great control and pace, well supported by all the quick’s. Dugald Holloway took his first wicket in first grade for the year as well, catching the edge for a sharp catch at gully by Ashton May
2nd Grade:
Sydney University 9/289 (C Litchfield 103, D Miller 43, H Kerr 38, T Slack 4/69)
The students arrived at Allan Border Oval sitting at tenth on the ladder with a 3/3 records to take on the 5th place Mosman. An uneventful nil all draw at Nash preceded the new warm up game “shot at the Nash ball”. Skipper Dave Miller won the toss and quickly chose to bat.
William Hay and Jack Holloway headed out to open the innings against a very disciplined attack. The first breakthrough quickly became three as we found ourselves struggling at 3/25. Charles Litchfield, fresh from his 109* in 3rd grade last round, joined skipper Miller at the crease and battled through to lunch with the score sitting at 3/83.
Soon after lunch, Miller departed for a solid 43 brining Hayden Kerr, also fresh from an unbeaten 100 last week in third grade. Kerry and Litchfield love batting together, after putting on 235 last week they put on a very respectable 69 in quick time, before Kerr departed for his highest second grade score of 38. Crowley was unlucky to be dismissed first ball to a fantatic delivery, which brought NSW U17 All-Rounder Ryan McElduff to the crease in his debut 2nd grade game. Ryan and Litchy combined beautifully batting with patience beyond their years putting on a 90 run partnership. Charles brought up his second successive hundred and third for the year just after tea quickly followed by McElduff for 32 off 107 balls. This brought Jonathon Craig-Dobson to the crease with the score 7/257. Birdy who has had a tough start to the year with the bat decided it was best to hit out or get out and powered his way to 28 off just 16 balls to help the students finish the day on a very respectable 9/289.
3rd Grade:
Sydney University 8/296 (M Powys 68, TKierath 55, A Shaw 53, M Ali 3/57)
A highly contentious and heated game of Nash ended with the 2 all draw, giving old the victory and ensuring Lewis McMahon remained ropable for the remainder of the day. As per usual, Ash Cowan lost the toss, and we were sent in on a hard but green deck.
Despite Tom Kierath trying to get out first ball, we rocketed to 0/76 with TK brining up his first fifty for the year and his highest score in the grade. Nick Arnold, joined Ryan Danne and the two of them ticked along nicely bringing up the 100 in the 25th over before Nick chipped one to cover. This brought Ed Arnott to the crease and its fair to say that his dismissal was one of the more unusual and unlucky dismissals, somehow managing to kick a ball from outside leg stump onto his off stump while trying to leg glance. Ryan followed Ed shortly after and we went into two in a relatively precarious position of 4/119. However Alex Shaw and Matt Powys quickly grabbed the momentum back and both struck dominant 50s. Shawry surprised everyone by outscoring Matt as the pair brought up their 100 partnership. Shawry’s dismissal brought about a mini collapse losing 4/22 including skipper Cowan first ball.
However this brought together Kieran Tate and Lewis McMahon. These two added 52 very handy runs, with McMahon doing his best to frustrate the opposition into submission with a handful (or more) of cover drive play and misses. Tate ended up 25* with McMahon up the other end with a season high 28* ensuring we finished the day with a respectable total.
4th Grade:
Mosman 10/165 (L Kimber 66, N Heath 37, AJ Grant 5/53 off 26, A Peek 4/32) Sydney University 1/9
Sydney Uni fourth grade arrived at Rawson Park with the wicket looking like a beaten up boxer with spots everywhere. Skipper AJ Grant lost the toss and we found ourselves in the field. Despite tight bowling from Holcroft and Aidan Peek early on, Mosman put on 82 for the first wicket, and some tight bowling restricted them to 2-106 at Tea. After tea our self-proclaimed rigsman and heroic skipper took control and ensured Mosman were dismissed for 165. AJ bowled himself into the ground taking 5/53 off his 26 overs. To put this into context in the entire 2015/16 season AJ only bowled 27 overs. AJ was well supported by Aidan Peek who took 4/32 off 17. With both bowlers well and truly exceeding their previous PB for overs bowled in the day.
Aidan’s day was not over as he was elevated to open the batting with last week centurion Jake Day. Unfortunately Jake’s admission from the SUCC Rare graph had him riled up, however he was unable to convert his anger into runs as he was dismissed brining Nick Powys to the crease. Nick and Aidan got us through to stumps at 1/8 chasing 166 for victory next week.
5th Grade:
Mosman 7/343 (D Patel 69, A Carre 62, A Nouree 55, Z Islam 3/42)
Another vey tough day for the students, as we were unable to make regular breakthroughs as Mosman batted incredibly well passing 340 in the day. All our bowlers toiled hard, with Natesh the pick of the quicks with 2/58 supported by Islam who finished with 3/42, supported him. A huge chase is needed on day two to hopefully help get our season back on track and secure some points after a disappointing day 1.
Metro Cup:
Georges River 10/243 (A Salgueira 145) Sydney University 3/42.
It was a mixed day for the students dismissing Georges River for 213 on a decent wicket at Bland Oval. Alejandro Salgueira scored 145 out of their total and batted exceptionally well, with the students unable to dismiss him or stem the flow of runs. Luckily he was unable to find a partner to go with him and we were able to restrict them to a very gettable target. The students had 24 overs to bat at the end of the days play, and unfortunately lost three relatively key wickets for 42 meaning a huge day two approaches next weekend still requiring 170 with seven wickets in hand.