Due to some technical issues, we were unable to bring you our regular Top Ten Tuesday following round six, so here they are:
BATTING:
BOWLING:
A fantastic story from the St George & Sutherland Leader about former Sydney Uni leg-spinning all-rounder, Darius Visser.
Whilst we'd all still love for Darius to be wearing the Blue & Gold of Sydney Uni, it was a wonderful mention of the efforts we put into the development of Darius' cricket.
We wish you all success Darius, just not up against the mighty Blue & Gold.
Greg Mail's unbeaten 52 against Western Suburbs was his 112th innings of fifty or more in First Grade (41 of which have been centuries).
Joe Kershaw's 3-35 against Western Suburbs was his best analysis in First Grade.
Jack Maddocks made his debut in Second Grade.
Jono Craig-Dobson (69) and Hugh Kermond (43) each recorded his highest score in Fourth Grade.
Jonte Pattison's match-winning 110 (from only 92 deliveries) for NSW Country/ACT against Queensland was his highest score, and first century, in the National Under 19 championships.
Will Somerville's 5-110 against Queensland in Mackay was his best analysis, and first five wicket haul, in first-class cricket.
Sydney Uni Cricket/ers were heavily in the action over the weekend as the Sydney Grade Cricket competition continued in Round 7 action, whilst across the country our players were involved in Shield Cricket in regional Queensland and National U19 Championships in Adelaide, not to mention one gaining valuable T20 experience with the Thunder in New Zealand.
In the McDonald's Grade Cricket Competition, SUCC took on Wests in a crucial round.
In first grade, the bowlers got the job done to roll the opposition for 149, Cowell and Kershaw claiming three each, with Kierath and Joy picking up two each. Greg Mail lead the side to a commanding position at 0-75 at the end of play, finishing on 52no.
Second Grade returned to form with the bat to declare at 9-291 with runs coming from Hobson (73), Jum Larkin (52), Maddocks (36) and Ben Larkin (32). Wests were 0-44 in reply at the close of play.
Third Grade toiled hard to bowl Wests out for 169 on a placid St Paul's wicket before the evening dew caused havoc to see Uni 4-54 in reply. Lewis McMahon was the chief destroyer claiming 4-32 for Uni.
Plucky all-rounder Jono Craig-Dobson hit an entertaining 69 runs to lead fourth grade to a strong 8-267, well supported by youngster Hugh Kermond (43), Alex Mihalyka (40no) and Ed Arnott (39).
Fifth grade toiled hard in the field after losing a number of players to higher grades at the last minute. Wests scored 314 runs with Green Shield player Cullen Hathurusinghe claiming an outstanding 4-32 given the context.
Results are still to come in for Metro Cup on Sunday.
In Queensland, NSW took on Qld at Mackay's Harrup Park with over 4,000 in attendance for the the regional match. On a slow day, Qld finished the day on 4-215 with our own Will Somerville claiming two first-day wickets (2-63 form 25 overs). Former SUCCers were in the action early with Sean Abbott claiming Scott Henry for four in the opening spell. Play continues today and can be followed here.
In Adelaide, Jonte Pattison is leading his ACT/NSW Country side into the quarter final against Qld after finishing the preliminary rounds as the only undefeated side. Jonte has personally claimed three wickets and scored 166 runs at 55.33 including a majestic 110no off 92 balls in the round 4 clash against Qld. Full results can be found here.
Across the ditch, Tim Ley was pushing his claims for a spot on the Sydney Thunder roster as they played in pre-tournament practice matches in Canterbury. Ley claimed 2-38 (4) against the powerful Canterbury Kings side in a high-scoring affair, being the only Thunder bowler to claim multiple wickets. Ley then claimed 2-27 against a Canterbury Invitational XI to again be the pick of the bowlers. News stories from Thunder site here.
Nick Browne can bat
Although we wish there had been another way to learn this.
Nathan Price is under-rated
The highest, and classiest, innings of Sunday’s Kingsgrove Sports T20 final was played by Sydney University’s captain Nick Larkin; but the batsman who had the greatest impact on the result was Nathan Price. His assault on the new ball brought him 45 runs from only 25 deliveries, and was ended only by the first of two extraordinary catches Tim Ley held on the day (he also held an easy one, and executed a run-out). Price’s hitting down the ground was brutal, and he repeatedly threatened the cars parked in Alfreda Street. Incidentally, while several big hits were bashed into Alfreda Street on Sunday, only one found its way onto Dolphin Street. Is the ground longer at one end than the other? Was it the direction of the wind? We need to know.
Anyway, it was Price who ensured that Randwick-Petersham extracted the fullest possible advantage from the powerplay, setting his team up for a target that remained slightly out of University’s reach throughout the chase. Quite apart from that, Price stepped in with the ball to burgle the wicket of Liam Robertson just as the University all-rounder was threatening to take control of the game.
Price flies under the radar a bit, because he doesn’t churn out runs in industrial quantities, in the manner we’ve come to expect of the leading players in the competition. He seldom turns up in representative sides, although he has appeared for both New South Wales and the ACT in the Futures League. But he has a knack of making contributions when they matter, and when Randwick-Petersham wins a game, he’s usually played an important role somewhere along the line.
Congratulations to Randwick-Petersham on another T20 title, and thanks to the club for presenting such good facilities on the day. Thanks also go to Harry Solomons and Kingsgrove Sports for their immensely generous sponsorship of the competition.
It’s getting crowded in here
After six rounds of the First Grade competition, Sydney remains in the lead with an unblemished record of six wins; Easts, Campbelltown-Camden and Fairfield round out the top four. That’s when things get interesting; if you disregard quotients (and you shouldn’t, but we’ll get to that), then fifth place is shared by no fewer than ten teams. That’s right: exactly half of the teams in the competition sit on equal fifth. It has been many years since the competition ladder has been as tightly packed as this, and although there are plenty of games to go, this does strongly suggest that by March quotients could become very important in separating teams for places in the finals. Teams tend not to give much thought to quotients before the back end of the season, by which time it’s often too late to improve them very much, but if the table remains this congested then they may start to play a role in strategy long before March.
Nick Watkins can’t bowl
OK, so there are plenty of things you can say in Nick Watkins’ favour. He has overcome a hearing impediment to become a very fine top-order batsman (and, indeed, has represented the Australian Deaf team). He’s in the form of his life, having been named Player of the Round for his unbeaten 166 against St George, and following that with 202 against Campbelltown-Camden (in which, although he batted into the second day, he faced 293 deliveries, hitting 27 fours and two sixes). Not bad for a player who began this season in Second Grade after returning to Sydney from a stint with the Gold Coast Dolphins (Watkins is a native Queenslander, who played for Queensland Under-19s some years back). And yet he cannot bowl. We know this because, if he could, he must surely have been used by North Sydney by now. Although he currently averages 159 in First Grade this season, Watkins has not yet finished up on the winning side, because North Sydney simply can’t dismiss its opposition. Although Campbelltown-Camden lost both openers with only 43 runs on the board, they still chased down North Sydney’s target of 383 with relative ease. In six games this season, North Sydney has taken only 35 wickets, and these have cost 48 runs each. Unless North Sydney’s luck turns soon, Watkins is on track to challenge the record set by Geoffrey Boycott who, at Waverley in 1976-77, set the standard for the most runs scored in a team that won the least.
Dan Rixon’s back
You remember Dan Rixon. Kept in First Grade for Sutherland. Father used to play a bit. Decent, aggressive batsman down the order. Missed the start of the season. Well, in his second game of the season, Rixon walked out to open the batting for Sutherland Seconds against Hawkesbury at Owen Earle and just teed off. He faced 248 deliveries, smashing 32 fours and seven sixes, before he was eventually dismissed for 272 – just short of the highest score ever made in Second Grade. That record still belongs to North Sydney’s Alfred White, who hit 276 not out against Manly in 1904-05. But plenty of other records were massacred. Rixon’s innings was the highest score ever made for Sutherland in Seconds, and the sixth highest in any grade for any club. His third wicket stand of 347 with Jamie Brown was the highest for any club in Second Grade, and the highest for Sutherland in any grade. And this from a player who had never hit even a single century in his 261 previous matches for Sutherland.
During his innings of 90 in the Sheffield Shield match for New South Wales against Queensland, Ed Cowan passed 8500 runs in first-class cricket.
It was a good week for Will Somerville, whose 5-79 for NSW in the Futures League match with Tasmania at Coffs Harbour was his best analysis in the competition; he followed that with 60 not out against Mosman, which was his eighth half-century in First Grade (four for Easts and four for SUCC).
Liam Robertson has passed 1500 runs in First Grade.
Suda Sivapalan has passed 3500 runs for the club.
Jum Larkin has passed 2000 runs for the club.
Alex Mihalyka has passed 2000 runs for the club.
Henry Clark has taken his 50th wicket for the club.
This coming weekend promises to be one of the greatest in SUCC history both on and off-field, with a plethora of events guaranteed* to keep the keen player occupied from the early hours of Saturday until the early hours of Monday…
Firstly, on Saturday it is Day Two of our clash with the Mosman CC Whales and some intriguing contests are set up, with a massive chase, restarting of the juggernaut, maximum points and a reversi all on offer. Good luck to all players go well regards thx
Subsequent to the day’s play everyone is encouraged to retire to Uni No 1 for Team Tubs and Live Entertainment (not necessarily mutually exclusive, depending on your proclivities). This evening is one of the highlights of the social calendar and really a night not to be missed. The Social Club (with the help of cases owed from team members) has guaranteed* to ensure that there are sufficient beverages and food for the night and Tommy ‘2 plates’ Kierath’s award winning mount gay punch will be in attendance**. The playlist looks superb and my man on the ground informs me that both Josh ‘Milkers’ Toyer and Max ‘Pope’ Hope will be willing to play any and all of your requests, they are very partial to accepting tips. For Pope, these are best given in food and/or cuddles, Toyer prefers to receive tips on bowling fast outswing, chat and most importantly – Kit…
Following this excellent evening, Sunday morning will see the revival of a contest for one of the most coveted awards that the club can offer. Forget 1st Grade MVP, Clubman of the Year or Best and Fairest, the accolade that is the pinnacle in any SUCC cricketers CV is to be Nashball Campion***. Due to the 1st Grade T20 Final (more on that later) this competition is really missing some of the cream of the SUCC Nash crop (Ley, Larkin {J not N or B}, Pattison, Joy et al), however there is no doubt that it will be hotly contested. Bragging rights are bragging rights, something that I’m well placed to comment on as I sit atop a pile of discarded 3rd grade youths who are yet to get on the board in Nash this season (in terms of wins and often, points).
The teams have been decided, however something very much in keeping with SUCC selections, they are:
· Known only by a few
· Subject to last minute decisions on availabilities
· Cloaked in secrecy
· To be revealed to the playing group at the last minute
Details for the day are up on the SUCC Uni Army Facebook page and the Nash comp commences at 10:30am at Uni No 1. A light rain is forecast for Sunday morning, which will make conditions perfect, and I expect some high quality Nash. The winners will be showered with praise; the losers will be taunted and booed until my throat is sore (unless it is me, in which case the conditions and everyone else are definitely to blame).
The next event on this packed weekend will involve supporters, specifically experienced and up and coming members of the greatest cricket club supporters group in Sydney Grade Cricket (and therefore the world), the Uni Army. Speculation is rife as to when the Uni Army first began. Some believe that it was eons ago in the depths of time. Others believe it was started by Ben Joy at Manly Oval during the 1st Grade One Day Final at 11.15am on 27th February 2011. Regardless of which it is****, the recent history of the army has been well catalogued; refer to my aforementioned learned colleague’s recent work on the Army on this page.
This year thus far the Uni Army has not lived up to its past glories, and this must be changed this Sunday. The scene is set, a full day of activities beckon and the Army should be on top form for the main event, the piece de resistance, the 1st Grade t20 Grand Final at Coogee vs Randwick Petersham. This will be a cracker, with quality on both sides and it really is likely that the match will be decided solely on the strength of support from the sidelines*****. Club Claptain Henry Clark has taken care of the logistics, the rumour has it that fully laden eskies, body paint, a blow up pool and SUCC dancers may be in attendance. Plus, in a special SUCC social club offer exclusive to Uni Army Members, the first ten people who come through the gates wearing blue and glod (sic) body paint will receive a cheque for $40!!******.
So there you have it, an exceptional weekend of events hopefully culminating in another piece of silverware to add to the bulging SUCC trophy cabinet and an oversized novelty cheque made out to Cold Hard Cash. The Coogee Bay representative that we spoke to guaranteed* that oversized novelty cheques can be accepted over the bar, so if the boys win I expect that the post-match festivities are going to be exceptional.
Yours in Cricket, Nash, Uni Army and Refreshments.
* not a guarantee
** as will he, presumably
*** not really true or actually advisable to put on Cricket CV
**** the second one
***** not at all likely
****** cheques will not be honoured