In the sheds... Australian University Games

This week's episode of "In the sheds..." is literally brought to you from in the sheds in the final half hour before the Redbull Campus Cricket grand final against UNSW at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast:

Open eyes? Nope, too hard. Lift head? Nope, too hard. Remember what happened last night? The hardest of the lot. You slowly rise and are blessed by an unreal view over looking the Surfer’s Paradise beach. The view which stretches longer than the brain can possibly fathom wakes the mind and reminds you of the upcoming day ahead. The way to cope with the repercussions of last night’s activities ranges from of sleep ins, to trips to the beach for a refreshing start to the day or for some in particular (Clark/Pope ((Team Fat Club)) heading to the local Ronald McDonald a rough 6 hours after your last visit.   

Off field the week has seen the emergence of numerous bromances most notably the bonds formed by two of SUCCs rarest, Brodie (the Linfield Brawler) Frost and Jim (Carpaccio) Ryan. Thelove-hate relationship between club captain Clark Henry and SUCC director of cricket Gary Whitaker as strong as ever. 

All week we have been building towards this day. Monday and Tuesday we disposed of Bond and Griffith with relative ease, posting a mammoth 205 off 18 (after the openers chewed the first two for just 4 runs) in our second pool game.  A solid victory over grand final opponents UNSW saw us secure top spot in our pool.  Thursday saw us take on Monash, posting a competitive 153 and then restricting them to a miserly 99 runs.

The mood on Friday morning is considerably different to the previous mornings. After standing in the middle of a bomb-site which once resembled the room of a fine establishment, a serious spread of panic kicks when staring down the barrel of some 150 empty Green Grenades with twenty odd minutes left on the clock. The scramble of odd socks shoved into bag pockets, sweat stained shirts crumbled into the depth of kits, the panic of lost phone charger is all the calm before the storm.  The storm arrives as the straggles mosey on into the lobby met with 11 different voices screaming “CASE”.  That is before the barrage of colourful advice from Gary, which is positively hilarious for everyone else (See BTJ / Joe Kershaw / Wesley Clique on advice on this matter). 

We pile onto the bus and immediately Hope and Kershaw get the tunes flowing with banter thrown at some obvious candidates, both Holloways regular targets.  The first twenty minutes conversation primarily revolves around reminiscing and chatting about last nights antics, videos and photos and brought out as evidence of questionable behaviour.  As we get closer to the ground this chatter slowly dies down as we start to switch on and thing about the task ahead.  For some of us, this is our fourth successive AUGs final series without winning the ultimate prize.

We arrive at the ground and the competition sponsors Red Bull quickly organise individual and team photographs to promote the day.  The buzz and nervous energy of a final is palpable.  Today is also grand final of City V Country Nash game, after a few controversial victories earlier in the week its two all.  The good guys (country) score early thanks to some horrific gate keeping from the aforementioned Brodie Frost) and then extended the lead to run out eventual winners 2-0, claiming the serious 3-2. 

Benny Trev does what he has done all week, win the toss and bat.   The boys have a hit and then 5 minutes before the start of play comes that knock, “boys we are on our way”. Hopey and Jack Holloway confidently stride to the crease andour grand final has begun. 

For anyone interested in watching the final, it is being livestreamed via YouTube. Please click this link to check out the action.

Redbull Campus Cricket final beckons for Students

The University of Sydney cricket side has forced their way into a grand final match against arch-rivals UNSW at the Redbull Campus Cricket tournament at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast following a solid victory over Monash University in their semi-final today.

If it ain't broke don't fix it - and that means Sydney Uni again batted first, and for a second day in a row were in early trouble with two wickets falling quickly. The innings was steadied by skipper Ben Trevor-Jones who scored another classy half century (58 from 50 balls), and fellow SUCC 1st Grade all-rounder, Dugald Holloway (43 from 39 balls). This partnership took the Students to 2-60 from 10 overs and a good platform to push forward. Joe Kershaw continued his consistent contributions with another 22 from 20 balls, and helped push the score to 153 runs from the 20 overs.

With such a potent bowling attack, confidence was high and again Monash were restricted to less than a run-a-ball in the first 5 overs (0-15). And again, proving the "don't fix it" mantra, Brodie Frost entered the attack for immediate success, claiming 3-10 from his 4 overs. These were the only wickets to fall in the innings, but the class of Frost, as well as Jim Ryan (0-10 from 4 overs) ensured Monash were not even close, finishing 3-99 from their 20 overs.

This sets up the dream grudge final between Sydney Premier Grade Cricket combatants Sydney University and UNSW to be played at 2pm on Friday at Kerrydale Oval. Whilst pride is one motivating factor, the Sydney Uni side is determined to finally get the monkey off the back and claim the place in the World Campus Cricket tournament, to be played in Sri Lanka in October 2016.

#SUCC1864 #upthestudents #usydgameface

Editors note: yesterday's article stated today's match was against QUT, he has been informed that following the article a protest was entered and Monash were announced as a semi-finalist.

SUCC Events: T20 Community Day

Sydney University Cricket Club is set to host its inaugural T20 Community Day on Sunday 11th October 2015 from 10:00am.

The event, being partnered by the Sydney Thunder and Kingsgrove Sports, will coincide with the Club's home round of the Kingsgrove Sports T20 Cup scheduled for that day.

The T20 Cup will see Sydney Uni clash with fierce rivals Parramatta (10:00am) and Fairfield-Liverpool (2:30pm), both powerhouses in the Thunder conference of the tournament. With a victory over fellow heavyweight, Bankstown, in the opening round, these matches will be crucial to setting up a home semi-final berth and the opportunity to contest the finals series at the SCG in early November.

Sydney Uni Cricket's Operations Manager, Dale Bryant, said "this round of T20 cricket will be a true test, up against two of the better teams in the competition, one loss could see you knocked out of the race."

Led by the classy CNSW-contracted bat, Nick Larkin, the Sydney Uni T20 side has lost only one match in the last 12 months, being the 2014/15 grand final, and have been one of the most feared sides in the competition.

Larkin leads a squad full of talented and enthusiastic youngsters including powerful all-rounder, Tim Ley, lanky quicks, Nigel Cowell and Dugald Holloway, Australian U/19 representative, Jonte Pattison, and wily all-rounder, Liam Robertson.

Aside from some of the best T20 cricket action to be seen on local grounds, the Sydney Thunder will join us to run fun activities for the kids throughout the day. The Thunder Bus will be on-site with interactive activities such as cricket skills sessions and tv screens with various action taking place. There will be plenty of giveaways for kids participating.

There will also be a come'n'try session for Sydney Uni's brand new Milo in2CRICKET program  which is set to commence in late October. Kids, both boys and girls, aged 5 - 8, are invited to try out Australia's favourite summer sport in a friendly and relaxed environment.

"As one of the oldest cricket club's in Australia, we are dedicated to giving back to the community in any way we can, this is a wonderful opportunity to bring the community into the campus and show them what Sydney Uni Cricket is all about" Bryant said.

The day is free for all to attend, and anyone interested should visit http://bit.ly/1QM3jDw  to register (coaching and catering purposes only).

Road to AUGs glory rolls on

U-Syd's goal of claiming the Red Bull T20 Campus Cricket Tournament at the Australian University Games is one step closer to reality after accounting for arch rival UNSW in today's final preliminary round match.

Yet again batting first, U-Syd was uncharacteristically in trouble early, falling to 3-30 from 6 overs. This was before Dugald "The Chaz" Holloway, borrowed some of his older brother's form from early in the week to top-score with 62 from 52 balls. His display of power-hitting was well supported by both Joe Kershaw (26 from 11) and Jack Remond (22 from 20) to post a highly competitive 7-144 from their 20 overs.

Kershaw and fellow quick Jim Ryan applied the brakes early but were unable to land the killer blow with UNSW pushing to 0-30 from 6 overs. That blow came soon though as Brodie Frost, widely regarded as having the worst haircut on the Gold Coast (which is a big achievement given the 9,000 students currently there), entered the fray. Whether the haircut made any impact or not, he finished his spell of 4 overs with 3-12 next to his name. Some lower order hitting from UNSW gave the scoreline some respectability but were never near enough to trouble, eventually falling 11 runs shy.

The win means U-Syd finishes top of their pool with UNSW the other team to progress to the semi-finals. UNSW will take on fellow powerhouse UTS whilst U-Syd will need to be on their game up against the only non-Sydney team left, QUT. The winner of these matches will face off in the final at 2pm on Friday.

In the sheds... Round Two

Round One is always met with so much optimism, especially by the fast bowlers (more later). Optimism that is swifty taken away on Sunday morning when one wakes up to stiffness (not that kind...) and a sinking feeling that it will occur every Sunday until April. Seriously though, it is good to get out there after months of running, catching, bowling and evading (more later).
 
The transition from the SCG nets to lifeless actual turf wickets is an interesting one. Fast bowlers wonder why those “bouncers” bowled on the astroturf are now being dispatched to all parts.  And they are forced to bowl 7, 8 and 9 (sometimes more) ball overs as the umpire yells out no-ball: that certainly didn’t happen in the 18 yard preseason nets. Spin bowlers move from being fodder and something to hit in between the bouncers, to more difficult to play. They now have fielders and a wicketkeeper that keeps the batsman anchored to the crease. Batsmen start to play defensive shots and look for singles and the only time they fear being hit is by falling to a marlin.

So to Round 2 against an opponent that left us nude after Round 1 last year and managed to pick up a couple of flags and the club championship. Now that is something to get optimistic about. Go well on Saturday boys and see you at the Nags for a celebratory beer afterwards.

Students dominate on Day 2 of AUGs

Today saw a truly dominant performance by U-Syd against minnows, Griffith University.

The U-Syd team boasting four players with First Grade experience with SUCC, posted an extraordinary 205 runs from their 20 overs. In a rich vein of form, Jack Holloway led scorers with 60 from 42 balls, compiling the runs in a busy fashion and uniquely not hitting a single boundary. His sublime timing and determined running between wickets was offset with power hitting by Joe Kershaw (50) who plundered three towering sixes, and the unorthodox swipes of Max Hope (30 from 13 balls).

Skipper Ben Trevor-Jones took the opportunity to release the wicket-keeping shackles and claimed a sensational 2-7 from his 3 overs. He will be watching his back for 1st Grade keeping duties, as up-and-coming (Ed - these were Henry Clark's words) keeper, Max Hope performed well behind the stumps. Instead of releasing it through his batting, Holloway released his aggression through a barrage of short-pitched bowling to claim two wickets and gain a rare opportunity to claim a hat-trick (a wide inevitably followed). Griffith were restricted to 95 runs from their allotted 20 overs.

This puts U-Syd well on top of the pool of death, with the big grudge match against UNSW tomorrow. Guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals, U-Syd will look to gain a psychological advantage over their fellow heavyweights going into the finals matches.

U-Syd team dominant early at Australian Uni Games

The University of Sydney cricket team, coached by SUCC Director of Cricket, Gary Whitaker, and filled with predominately SUCC cricketers, has made a flying start to the Redbull T20 Cricket Tournament at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast today.

The U-Syd XI took on Bond University in their opening clash this afternoon, with captain Ben Trevor-Jones continuing his T20 form from the Kingsgrove Sports T20 Cup in the U-Syd innings, belting a composed yet dashing 60 from 46 balls. He was well supported Jack Holloway with 28 from 32 balls. U-Syd set the daunting total of 147 from their 20 overs.

Bond were never really in the hunt against a strong pace attack including Dugald Holloway, Joe Kershaw and Jim Ryan, and were kept to a paltry 76 runs in reply.

U-Syd's campaign continues tomorrow against Griffith University from 9am, with the big clash against arch rivals UNSW scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Semi-finals will take place on Thursday with the Grand Final on Friday.

The winner of the T20 tournament will be invited to participate in the World Campus Cricket Finals to be held in Sri Lanka in October 2016, and will meet teams from South Africa, Sri Lanka, UAE, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and England.