1st Grade vs Hawkesbury at University Oval (50 Overs)

Sydney University 9/293 (50.0)
J Gauci 105 (128)
L Neil-Smith 2-18 (10.0)

DEF

Hawkesbury 202 (46.5)
P Moore 47 (79)
P Moore 4-41 (8.0)

Round 6 saw the student’s take on Hawkesbury at Uni No.1. With the Big Bash commencing mid-week, we welcomed back Lawrence Neil-Smith to the side who is currently in Sydney with the Sixers squad.

 Once again TC won the toss, bringing his winning streak to ten consecutive tosses. We batted first and got off to a steady start making it through the first ten overs with the score at 50 for no loss. Charlie Dummer and Jordan Gauci continued throughout the middle overs picking up the scoring rate throughout the innings until eventually Charlie was dismissed for 90 with the score at 185. Gauci continued to work hard through the middle overs ticking the scoreboard over and was complemented nicely by Liam Robertson who struck 37 off 24 balls to really boost the innings going into the last ten overs. Gauci brought up his first hundred for the club and soon after was dismissed for 105 off 128. Some strong running between wickets from Dugald Holloway (12 off 8) in the final few overs helped boost the score to 293.

Following the interval LNS took the new ball and put on a display, taking a wicket in his first over and then continuing to finish with figures of 2 for 18 from his ten overs. LNS was the pick of the bowlers showing what a player he has become, bowling with great skill, discipline and pace, a real level above. The other bowlers also did a job with Maladay (2/44 off 7), Holloway (2/63 off 10), Malone (2/37 off 10) and McElduff (1/40 off 10) combining to dismiss the Hawks for 202 in the 47th over.

Overall, a solid performance across the board with plenty of room for improvement saw the team continue the momentum which has been built over the last few weeks. We now sit in 10th place, six points outside the top 6 and with a great opportunity coming up against North Sydney to go into the Christmas break in a solid position.

 Ryan McElduff

2nd Grade vs Hawkesbury at Owen Earle Oval (50 Overs)

Sydney University 9/206 (50.0)
R Wikramanayake 111 (119)
S Anandarajah 5-16 (9.0)

DEF

Hawkesbury 133 (40.0)
K Vicary 42 (65)
B Roughan 4-30 (10.0

Coming off a tough loss to Sutherland, the 2s boys looked to get back into their winning form against a strong hawkesbury side. The day began on a damp Owen Earl outfield with a slippery game of nash, with the A’s taking on the Z’s.

The A’s looked to show some fight early but it was no match for the class of Kieran Tate who led the Z’s to a comfortable victory with an early run through that set the tone for the rest of the match. The students lost the toss and were sent in to have a bat on a Bensons Lane green top. Wickets fell early and the Hawkesbury seamers looked to be right on top of the Uni batsmen.

Enter, run machine Ravi Wikramanayake (111), who held his nerve in the early overs of the game and went on to build a mature innings which saw him reach his first 2nd grade hundred. This set the platform for the books to launch in the latter half of the innings. Wikramanayake who combined with Kieran Tate (21) applied the pressure on the Hawkesbury bowling attack to get the students into a good position going into the last over of the innings. Henry Clark (13*) then produced some serious ball striking, hitting a 6 and a 4 to close out the Sydney Uni batting innings.

The students found themselves with 206 on the board, although it was under par they were confident in defending it. Charlie Cassell (2/32) began the proceedings for the dents, picking up right where he left off, dismissing both opening batsmen within the first 10 overs. Cassell and Tate (1/24) both got the students off to a great start with 2 brilliant spells of fast bowling. Off the back of 2 early wickets the hawks looked to build and were building a steady 2nd wicket partnership, however ‘Resident Yogi’ Max Hope (2/32) and Henry Clark (0/21) put together a strong couple of overs to break the partnership and put the students right back in the contest.

Spin twins Hope and Sanjay Anandarajah (5/16) then combined to put the pressure on the Hawks in a crucial time of the game and broke the 3rd wicket partnership, this put the Uni boys into a strong position to close out the game.

A clinical performance in the field and with the ball saw the students bowl out the hosts for 133 and saw the 2s win by 73 runs.

Sanjay Anandarajah