1ST GRADE
Sydney Uni 3-32
Bankstown 291: T Ley 4-42, H Kerr 2-38, B Joy 2-69
2ND GRADE
Sydney Uni 275: J Larkin 95, J Crowley 65*, M Powys 36, R Danne 35
Bankstown 0-28
The Students arrived at Bankstown Memorial Park facing a day of intense heat and humidity. Skipper Jum Larkin won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat on what was a good, hard wicket. Before that however was a fiercely contested game of Nash. A sumptuous strike off the boot of Earan Tate gave the Young an early advantage and in a game that swung back and forth thanks to a rocket from Alex Shaw that rattled the roof of the net, the Young were able to capitalise on uncharacteristic errors from the Old. Messrs Tate, Danne and Powys carried the Young to an unlikely victory that allowed a few of the Young to taste their first free beer of the season. Despite this, Brothers Holloway were poor as usual and sheepishly accepted their ale at the end of the day.
Matt Powys the man with an eye like a dead fish got us off to a quick start much like he has done so many times this season. The top order wasn’t able to fully capitalise on this platform after Powys was dismissed (36 off 37), wickets fell consistently throughout the innings as we were unable to put together a truly match defining partnership. Skipper Jum (95) carried the top order and showed steely determination to rebuild the innings after being 3-64 then 4-100, along with his usual flair he steered the Students back into the contest. He was cruelly denied a century and was visibly disappointed to not go on and make a big hundred. Ryan “No.1 Chest in the Club” Danne (35) chimed in with another good looking 30 as he begins to find his feet in Reserve Grade. James “@sundriessport” Crowley was left to bat with the bowlers and he continued his good form this year, combining deft placement and smart running between the wickets with punishment of any loose bowling. Tom “Glass Chin” Kierath and Jonathon “Worst Nash Keeper in the Club’s History” Craig-Dobson batted smartly around Crowls and our final score ended up on 275. This was about 25-50 short of where we had hoped to be at the close of play but a decent result from 3-64.
Uni had a minimum of 18 overs to bowl and Bankstown appeared keen to put as much of a dent in the score as they could. The swing bowling of Tate and Craig-Dobson was met with some aggressive stroke play and Bankstown reached 28 for no loss when the rain arrived. Lightning ensued and that put to bed any hope of further action on day one.
With the match evenly poised Uni will have to be at their best to come away with a crucial six points against a good batting lineup on day two.
3RD GRADE
Sydney Uni 2-107: B Dilley 38*, A Cowan 29, L Bedford 26
Bankstown 105: J Lawson 4-14, J Toyer 4-27, AJ Grant 2-14
After the dizzying highs of the previous round it was back to fortress Camperdown to take on the Bulldogs who whilst out of the 6, always present a tough challenge. Interesting sidenote, Andrew Deitz of Bankstown was faced with tackling his subject matter after compiling luxurious words to the good of Wood and Toyer midweek (along with the big left unit Counsell, erstwhile of Uni but now back at Manly, congrats).
Putting aside the obvious sadness inherent in your scribe’s detailed knowledge of NSW Premier Cricket periodicals, it was on to business and a heated game of Nash with 11 (relatively) fresh faced Units and one M Pope, who had arrived and volunteered to score, only if we were batting. The game once again was intense, and the high-quality Nash that has come to be expected from 3s was evident throughout. A low scoring affair was heading toward the final minute as your scribe was called upon to go and consult the umpires in the matters of the day (stumps, sightscreens, cones, trees, sheds, et al) as well as the standard captain’s approach to ensuring overall umpire happiness to surreptitiously guard against any dubious 50/50 calls. As luck would have it, Old managed to secure the winner short-handed in my absence, which would have to be put down to co-incidence, unless you were familiar with my previously published works.
Speaking of 50/50s, the coin toss once again fell in favour of whoever I am playing, and skipper Jehan had no hesitation in electing to bat on a hard and grass track that promised to be good. Despite Pope’s strident encouragement from the hill to kick them over, the Bankstown openers settled in and went about creating a solid partnership. After a somewhat circumspect start at 0/49 your scribe was cycling through his bowling options in the hope of securing the breakthrough. Enter Leggie, who along with AJ combined in a strong partnership to crack the game open. 0/49 became 5/74 and despite nothing changing in the conditions, the momentum had swung back to the Units and we were right on top and looking to press home our advantage.
Toyerbald, fresh from his MOM performance last round, re-entered the attack and decided that the best way to acquire wickets on a benign pitch was to bowl fast, and often short. The results were instantaneous and despite the occasional boundary from the big hitting Lozinski the wickets kept falling, and when the dust had settled Bankstown were bowled out for 105 in 42 overs. Truly a remarkable comeback after the solid start, and we found ourselves having taken 10/56 in circa 25 overs. Toyer was sublime, as was the Big Bustler Grant, whose 2/14 off 8 overs was the spell that turned the game.
Leggie on the other hand, deserves a paragraph to himself. Acquiring his best figures for the Blue and Glod, his 4/14 off9 overs (4 maidens) was picked up by Milestones Monday as a game changing spell and those who weren’t present would no doubt suggest that this was phenomenal bowling from the young leggie. And indeed, it was, although not in the way that you may think. Some days are diamonds, and some days are stones, and if leggie didn’t buy a Powerball ticket after that diamond day I don’t know when he would. He bowled exceptionally well for absolutely no result, and his wickets were obtained as dusty half-tracker (c&b), dusty half tracker (caught short fine leg), same again, and dusty full bunger laced and caught (somehow) by your scribe at cover. 20 ripping leg-spinners went past the bat and didn’t find an edge, but Wood would be forgiven for being aggrieved after sending 8 past the outside edge for no result. At any rate, you don’t have to draw pictures, although I have done so via this medium where it is probably unwarranted. Well bowled Leggie.
This left us with 35 overs to attempt to garner 6 points, and once again the odd-couple of Dilley and your scribe went out to the crease. No-one would be shocked by what ensued, with the partnership resulting in 39 quick runs off the first 9 overs before your scribe was comically dismissed trying to reach the adjacent basketball courts. Dilley batted with a healthy mix of solid defence and a couple of lucky edges from the young quick Heward who bowled with good pace and bounce, and your scribe batted with a cheat-day mix of lusty lofted sixes over mid-off and dusty snicks over the slips to the chagrin of the cordon.
This brought England’s Lew Bedford out to greet Brayden, and both applied themselves well in the face of some good bowling to put together a 50+ partnership to take the 1st inns away from the Dogs. After Lew departed Wood was elevated to number 4 (a position he has no intention of relinquishing Jack Hill) and he carried on his excellent form from last week to post 11* to ensure that we were ahead at the close. An excellent innings from young Brayden in what could be the start of something special for the young man, who weathered some adversity on his way to 38*.
All in all, another great day for the Units, and it is now on to week 2 where we can hopefully push for a 2nd innings result and an invaluable 10 points as we line up for finals.
4TH GRADE
Sydney Uni 0-22
Bankstown 277: J Robertson 3-36, V Umbers 3-41
4’s arrived at Jensen Park to a ground where the grass was neatly trimmed and pitch seem all but dead. Nash commenced in Bankstown with near 40 degree heat with the Julios starting strongly with some near misses. The nuffies however scoring a last minute goal finishing on top with a 2-0 win.
Skipper Peeky lost the toss and sadly the students were asked to bowl. We knew we were in for a challenge and the students embraced the heat and got on with it. 2 early wickets for the students and we were well ahead at 2/10 until their opener made best-suit of the conditions and with some hard hitting boundaries were found effortlessly. The students felt in for a chance but that was never found until Bell and Robertson with some part-time spin came on and removed the two set batsmen. With Robertson at one end and Vinnie at the other the students found wickets regularly and after being 3/234 the dogs were all out for 277.
The students faced 8 overs and rightfully handled the openers finishing on 0/22. A tough start but nonetheless well fought throughout the day. Umbers remains not out on 14 and Storey on 8. The students require 255 runs next week with 10 wickets in hand.
5TH GRADE
Sydney Uni 159: E Jamieson 40
Bankstown 1-116
METRO CUP
Sydney Uni
UNSW Black 1-52
A rare and pesky Sunday game for Metro the week against the "other" University
UNSW at the drizzly and cross windy David Phillips Field. Did I mention we must win to keep our finals chances alive?
A spirited game of Nash in the rain started us off and some new rules and plays are seen
through the introduction to the side of club veterans Wilko and Shez.
As a group we are starting to understand this game and enjoy it a little more as the weeks go by!
Due to the constant drizzle/sleet the main game is set for a 15 minute delay
as final preperations are made to the square.
The toss is won (before the covers had come off mind you) and the skipper
has no hesitation in sending the Bee's into bat based on our strengths and the conditions.
The pitch actually looked a belter and much better than the 1st day pitch our 5th grade had to bat on last round so we knew we would have to take control of things with the ball and not offer any freebies in the field.
In the conditions this was going to be a day of patience and seeing who blinked first, us or them.
Wickets weren't flowing but with the batsman severly restricted by our tight lines and the field conditions, the plan was to push on as is until the batsman became frustrated into a mistake.
The first and only wicket of the day reflected this as Ashwin Kirubanandan sent down a short ball that was pulled straight to recent recruit Alex Powys at square leg.
Fielding was one of our main focusses today. For reasons.... our lower grade fielding standards
have been dropping lately but there is no reason why all the boys shouldn't be able to refocus and be switched on when required before every ball.
Enter Bryan Handunneththi another one of our recent recruits who still has one year remaining of Green Shield eligibility, who was fielding at mid off today. He was simply outstanding, stopping every single ball hit in his direction. Byran's skills, attitude and demeanour are very impressive and we can't wait to see his cricket develop for us in the coming seasons.
Alex Powys and Ashwin also very impressive with their energy in the field throughout the day.
Thanks to Wilko for helping to keep the ball as dry as possible as well by thoughtfully bringing some towels!
The bowling corps today and that's what they were.. A group of bowlers working together in tandem from each end to get the job done were outstanding.
Shez Canagashingham, Ashwin, Max Shanahan and Wilko combined for 16 maiden overs
of the 33 bowled before rain stopped play for the day at tea.
Yes more wickets would have been nice but with the UNSW run rate at 1.57 rpo we have a good insight for next week into our opposition and how we need to continue to bowl and field.
We need to believe in ourselves more in the lower grades as we have a very solid team this week and we are representing one of the most feared and respected clubs in Australia.
Hopefully the weather will be fine next weekend so we can finish the job started....