Sydney Uni Cricket Player of the Year (Round 1)

Votes have been tabulated in the Player of the Year following Round 1 action in the McDonald's NSW Premier Cricket competition and as would be expected, 6 players are in the lead on 3 points.

In First Grade, Club debutant Ashton May was voted player of the round for his contribution of 60 not out with the bat and 2-37 with the ball.

Dugald Holloway claimed the maximum points in 2nd Grade for his 34 and 3 -43; Ash Cowan in 3rd Grade for his 5-23 and 25 runs; Ryan Danne in 4th Grade for his 46 and 2-12; Sam Roby in 5th Grade for his dominant 66 not out; and Zohirul Islam in Metropolitan Cup for his innings of 122.

Other honorable mentions for the two and one point votes included Hamish Rogers for his 106 runs in Metropolitan Cup; Greg Mail for his 85 runs in 1st Grade; Devlin Malone for his 4-31 in 1st Grade; and Lewis McMahon for his 3-12 in 4th Grade.

Each round we will announce one Player of the Round, who will win a dinner for two at Surjits Indian Restaurant, and one Performance of the Round, who will win a $20 voucher at The Nags Head Hotel.

For round 1, Ashton May has claimed the Player for the Round for his all-round performance in 1st Grade's win over Campbelltown-Camden. As a debutant, Ashton will get the opportunity to sample the finest Indian food in Sydney from Surjits for the first time.

Performance of the Round goes out to club favourite and 3rd Grade skipper, Ash Cowan, for his match defining 5-23 to help defend a meagre total at St Paul's Oval. We're sure Ash will make full use of this Nags Head voucher.

Round 2: Sydney Uni vs St George

Sydney Uni have named their sides for this weekend's second round clash against St George in O'Keeffe - O'Sullivan Trophy round.

First Grade will compete against the always strong St George for the O'Keeffe - O'Sullivan Trophy at Hurstville Oval on Saturday.

With a strong first round win under their belt, and only one change - Kieran Elley coming in for Tim Ley who is unavailable - Sydney Uni will be confident of claiming the trophy for the first time in its short history.

Second Grade will welcome James Larkin, Charles Litchfield and Lawrence Neil-Smith into the team due to forced charges with Will Hay unavailable, Nicky Craze injured during the U-Syd's Australian Uni Games win, and Elley moving into first grade.

Third Grade will see a new look side for this weekend's play with five changes, seeing Kevin Jacob, Ryan Danne, Alex Shaw, Matt Powys and Jack Holloway coming into the team. Out goes Tom Kierath (work), Galvin (injured), Larkin, Litchfield and Neil-Smith (promotions).

The changes continue as we go down the grades with five changes in the Fourth Grade side, with skipper AJ Grant unavailable due to personal commitments, whilst Ryan McElduff is on rep duties, and Danne, Shaw and Powys all promoted. They will be replaced by Suda Sivapalan (who will captain in Grant's place), Sameer Murthy, Henry Clark, Brodie Frost and Connor Slater.

Metro Cup skipper, Andrew Wilkinson, will step up into Fifth Grade and lead a young side on Saturday at Camperdown Oval. After their centuries in Metro Cup last weekend, Zohirul Islam and Hamish Rogers have both earnt promotions, whilst 2015-16 Green Shield alumni, Murray Miles will join the side.

With Wilkinson stepping up to 5s, newcomer James Gillespie will take the reigns in Metropolitan Cup at St Andrew's Oval on Saturday, and will welcome Tristan Mears and Green Shield extended squad members Tom Draca, Ayush Mishra and Rehan Gunawardhana into the fold.

For full team selections for Round 2 matches against St George, please click here.

Good luck to all taking the field for The Students this weekend.

Five things we learned... Round 1

1.    The premiers will be hard to beat, again

On paper, St George looked to have just about the strongest team going into the first round of this season’s Premier Cricket competition.  It could field two Test players, in Moises Henriques and Trent Copeland; Kurtis Patterson, fresh from his performances with Australia A; and a handy off-season acquisition in prolific opener Nick Watkins.  In the end, though, its loss to Bankstown wasn’t even particularly close, with the premiers closing out the game with fifty runs to spare.  There was a little irony in the fact that the decisive innings of the game was played by a St George product, Philip Wells, who has been with Bankstown since 2011.   Wells’ 127, and his partnership of 118 with Mitch Brown, gave Bankstown the useful – though hardly unassailable – total of 261.  At one for 110, St George was well placed in its chase, but veteran spinner Jarrad Burke removed the dangerous Patterson, and Mitchell Phelps settled the issue by dismissing Henriques and Copeland in quick succession before Nathan McAndrew finished things off with a flourish, disposing of Darius Visser, Ben Patterson and Nathan Ellis.  It was an impressive start to the season for Bankstown, who showed the mixture of class and grit you’d expect of a premiership team.

2.    It’s possible for a man to score 205 in a 50 over match and lose

A batsman who scores 205 not out, from 149 deliveries, in a 50-over game really ought not to end up on the losing side, but that was exactly where Fairfield-Liverpool’s Ben Rohrer found himself on Saturday.  After Anthony Sams’ robust 152 from 139 steered Randwick-Petersham to 7 for 332, Fairfield always had a challenging chase on its hands, and it became even more demanding after the first two wickets fell for 13 runs inside the first four overs.  In company with his fellow veteran, Anthony Clark, Rohrer rebuilt the innings in a stand of 123, but after Clark gave a return catch to Soumil Chhibber, the pressure was too great for the middle order.  Soon Fairfield was 7 for 224 – effectively, eight down, since keeper Andrew Deitz was unable to bat.  That was the signal for Rohrer to cut loose: he smashed all but eleven of the 99 runs added for the last two wickets, pushing Fairfield within 10 runs of victory.  His 205 was the highest score ever recorded in a Sydney 50-over game, passing Scott Hookey’s 200 against Fairfield in December 1994.  Hookey isn’t well-remembered these days – his career with NSW and Tasmania was fitful, and his temperament never quite allowed him to do justice to a phenomenal talent, but he was a kind of prototype David Warner, a left handed opener who liked nothing better than smashing the ball to the fence in the first over of the game.  He may also have been the first cricketer of whom it was said that he had more clubs than Tiger Woods.  Fairfield was one of them, but he was playing for North Sydney when he hit his double hundred at Rosedale Oval: his innings lasted only 136 balls, and included seven sixes and 31 fours (although he reached both his hundred and double-hundred with singles).  There were still 13 overs left in the innings when he was dismissed.  And North Sydney won by 213 runs, which is exactly what should happen when you score two hundred in a limited-overs game.

3.    Campbelltown is rebuilding

Campbelltown-Camden enjoyed a very successful 2015-16 season in First Grade, reaching the qualifying final.  But only five of the side that played in that final remained at the club for this season.  The outstanding Ryan Gibson has joined Penrith (signing on with 65 against Parramatta), last year’s captain Joshua Clarke (who opened the season with 95 not out against North Sydney) and promising Jordan Gauci are at Hawkesbury, and Tom Rogers and Damien Mortimer faced up to their old club for Sydney University.  A great deal now depends upon grizzled captain Scott Coyte, who leads a very inexperienced side.  A disciplined University attack, and some inspired leg-spin bowling by Devlin Malone, contained Campbelltown to only 168 on Saturday.  Still, they had their moments, sending a fright through the University supporters when the home side was reduced to three for 21, with three contracted Blues players back in the sheds.  Greg Mail and new University recruit Ashton May then killed the contest in a high-class partnership of 133.

4.    Michael Clarke is still pretty handy

Back in 1968, Australia’s Test captain, Bob Simpson, retired from first-class cricket at the age of 31.  He was still good enough and fit enough to play, but there was no money in the game then, and he needed to make a living.  But he didn’t throw his kit away, instead turning out for Western Suburbs every weekend, and showing Grade bowlers what a Test-class batsman looked like.  Something a little similar is happening this season, with recent Test skipper Michael Clarke appearing in at least the first three matches of Wests’ season.  Clarke steered Wests to a first-round victory over Mosman.  In pursuit of the admittedly modest total of 141, Clarke stoked a masterful 99 not out from only 108 deliveries.  Wests have now equalled their total of First Grade wins from last season, and with Clarke on board (and an efficient-looking attack) will fancy their chances of upsetting Randwick-Petersham this week.  Either way, it’s healthy for Premier Cricket to have Clarke in action.  Clarke might well have rounded off his innings with a century, but a newcomer from Macksville (Philip Hughes country), with the improbable name of Alec Baldwin, impudently closed the match by hitting the last ball of the 38th over for six.  Rumours that Baldwin will soon be joined at Wests by his brothers Stephen, Billy and Daniel, remain to be confirmed.

5.    Even in Fifth Grade, there might be giants

An historic moment occurred on Saturday, but it passed without notice because it happened at Marrickville Oval, in Fifth Grade.  But never before have two players opposed each other in Grade Cricket – sorry, Premier Cricket – who had scored a higher total of runs between them (which we haven’t finished counting yet, but comes to somewhere over 28,000).  Usually, you’d expect this record to involve Greg Mail and just about anyone else, but the players concerned were Warwick Hayes of St George and Geoff Spotswood of Bankstown.  Before the start of the season, Hayes had scored 15,834 Grade runs for St George alone – and when you add on his one season with Sydney University, he’s well above the 16,000 mark.  Spotswood had 10,384 runs for Bankstown when the season started, and has well over 12,000 when his runs for Wests and Hawkesbury are taken into account.  St George won, with Hayes adding 41 runs to Spotswood’s 27 – but at this stage of their careers, what matters more than the runs are the experience and mentorship they provide to their younger team-mates.  Their clubs are lucky to have them.

Top Ten Tuesday: Lower Grades Hit Leads

Our first Top Ten Tuesday sees our Lower Grade players on top with centuries from Metropolitan Cup's Zohirul Islam and Hamish Rogers seeing them top the batting chart, and 3rd Grade skipper, Ash Cowan's 5-wicket haul, having him on top of the bowling chart.

Click here to see the Top Ten following the Round 1 clash with Campbelltown-Camden.

Milestone Monday: Debuts, Tons, Legends & Partnerships

This season's opening Milestone Monday features:

• 15 x Sydney Uni debuts
• a Greg Mail masterclass
• more Tom Kierath wickets
• 2 x Metro Cup centuries including a record partnership

Please click here to see the full Milestones for Round One.

A Greg Mail masterclass on show

Devlin Malone fires in for a runout on debut

Tom Rogers sends one down on debut

Ashton May was all class on debut

Zohirul Islam (122) and Hamish Rogers (106) after their 182-run partnership in Metro Cup

Sydney Uni starts season strongly

Sydney Uni sides started the 2016-17 McDonald's NSW Premier Cricket Competition strongly with wins in 4 out of the 5 grades, and an unfortunate loss in Metropolitan Cup due to rain.

1st Grade:

For the first time in quite a number of seasons, First Grade took to Uni No. 1 Oval for Round 1 of the season, up against Campbelltown-Camden in a Limited Overs match.

Naming four debutants for the game provided energy and excitement for round one of 2016-17. Larkin lost the toss and was invited to field on a typically slow and lifeless wicket at Sydney Uni Cricket Ground (No. 1 Oval).

Ley and Rogers bowled with discipline and control, restricting the Ghosts from scoring freely at what was the best time to bat.

Tim Ley in motion

Tom Rogers sends one down, Ed Cowan awaiting a chance

Three debutants had a hand in the first wicket - Mortimer chasing hard to the boundary and flicking the ball back from the rope; Malone swooping on it and throwing it 70 meters; and May whipping off the bails to complete first grades best piece of fielding since Ian Moran's famous 'backhand flick' in 2011/12.

A Damien Mortimer save, for a Devlin Malone rocket...

... ends in an Ashton May take and runout

The spin pairing of May and Malone took control of the middle overs, restricting scoring and yielding six wickets as Campbelltown slumped to 8/112. At this point, on of the two had been involved in every dismissal, with May producing a sublime save to effect another run out. 

May prepares a delivery amid his controlled spell of off-spin

As the spinners finished their allotted overs (Malone 4-31, May 2-37) the Ghosts lower order decided batting for time was their best option for making a defendable total. Despite high quality spells from Joy, Ley and Rogers, the defensive batting approach made wickets hard to come by. Ley and Rogers took one each in the final overs to leave SUCC chasing 169 for victory in the afternoon.

A wobbly start saw Cowan, Larkin and Carters back in the sheds with just five runs between them. At 3/21, there was no better man for the task at hand than Greg Mail. Summing up the wicket, Mail attacked the spinners from his first ball, changing the tempo of the innings. He found a more than able partner in May, who's dream debut rolled on, as they compiled a clinical partnership of 133 to get the home side within spitting distance of victory. Mail finally fell for a superb 85, leaving Liam Robertson to hit the winning runs and finish 8 not out, with man of the match May undefeated on 60.

A Greg Mail sweep shot highlighted a masterclass

May hits out with less than 10 runs to win

A pleasing display and valuable six points, but the bar will have to be raised again in round two against St George.

2nd Grade:

A young SUCC 2nd grade side had an early start heading out to Campbelltown for round one. Some traffic at the international airport almost saw a few early cases but all arrived in time for young vs old Nash. The youngsters struggled to take the ascendancy with the extra man but eventually took advantage and the beers.

University lost the toss and were made to bowl on what looked like a reasonable first up wicket and fast outfield. Despite a bit of a wayward start, Uni had Campbelltown 3-43 and were looking good. Liam Whitaker came on and things got even better as he took a wicket with his first ball in Second Grade, followed by two more in his 10 over-straight spell to finish with 3-41 and leaving Campbelltown 6-138. At this stage Uni were confident of bowling Campbelltown out for a modest total, however a 7th wicket partnership of 77 at better than a run a ball saw Campbelltown reach 236 from their 50 overs despite some good bowling through the middle and at the death from Dugald Holloway (3-43). Hayden Kerr also impressed on debut in 2nd grade with 2-46 and Kieran Elley in his first game for the Students bowled well for his 2 wickets (2-38).

Chasing 236 on a good wicket and fast outfield should have been relatively straightforward. However, the Students lost wickets at regular intervals before some middle order resistance by Craze (31) and Holloway (34). Struggling to build any momentum against a spin-heavy attack on a turning wicket, it was a disappointing effort with the bat that saw Uni bowled out for 169 in the 43rd over.

Expect plenty of improvement across the park for a tough round two fixture against St. George.

3rd Grade:

The Third Grade title defence started off shakily as new (but not so new) opener, Tom Kierath, was adjudged LBW first ball of the match. Aside from the unfortunate Kierath, most of the top-order made starts on a slow St Paul's wicket, but unfortunately could not capitalise, losing regular wickets throughout the morning.

Ed Arnott top-scored with a well compiled 49 runs and combined with skipper, Ash Cowan (25) to push the Students total up to a competitive 182, leaving 10 overs in the sheds.

Kierath played a part in some revenge, catching his opposite Campbelltown-Camden opener off teenage speedster, Lawrence Neil-Smith (1-21), for a golden duck.

Cambelltown-Camden were however cruising towards victory, being 3 down for 90 runs before a Cowan inspired demolition began. Cowan proceeded to claim 5-23 from 8 overs of innocuous medium pacers, and was supported by the wily Kierath (2-26), miserly Jono Craig-Dobson (1-8 from 6 overs), and leg-spinner Ryan Kurtz (1-13), to bowl Campbelltown-Camden out for 144 runs and a 38 run victory.

4th Grade:

A newly formed Sydney Uni 4s rolled into Raby 3 to commence our title defence campaign and were greeted by a slightly under prepared surface. Luck seemingly on our side, Sydney Uni were able to win the toss and requested the Ghosts to have first use of the facilities with the bat. On a tacky surface, the bowlers were asked to be disciplined and make batsmen play, which they delivered, resulting in Sydney Uni gaining an early ascendancy and having the Ghosts reeling at 6/50. Wickets continued to fall with applied pressure and the opposition were removed in the 30th over for a total of 76.

All bowlers were strong, claiming at least 1 wicket each, but Lewis McMahon (3-12), Nick Powys (2-3) and Ryan Danne (2-12) the standouts.

With a bonus point looming, Sydney Uni recognised the need to maintain control of the match and not allow a low total chase wobble to be introduced. Danne (46) and McElduff (23) managed this task brilliantly and took the lads within a whisker of a 10 wicket victory. However, both openers lost their claim to red ink with 2 runs to win, and it was left to resident bad boy, Jake Day to whack one through the infield to close out the game in the 23rd over. 

A nice early mark and a strong start to the year enjoyed by all.

5th Grade:

A strong 5-wicket victory gave stand-in skipper Suda Sivapalan the perfect start to the season with a young side under his wings.

Winning the toss and sending Campbelltown-Camden in to bat, the Students maintained pressure throughout the innings, picking up wickets at regular intervals to allow no partnership greater than 40 runs. Debutant Sameer Murthy (3-26) was the pick of the bowlers, and was ably supported by Ryan Holcroft (2-20).

Cambpelltown-Camden setting a total of 8-195 for the Students to chase, and chase they did. Kevin Jacobs (17) and Braydon Dilley (18) starting solidly, before skipper Sivapalan (48), Sam Roby (66no) and Murthy (21no) guided the team home with 2 overs to spare.

Metropolitan Cup:

Two amazing innings' from the Students was to no avail as rain and circumstances led to an unfortunate loss to Randwick-Petersham Green despite being well on top on Sunday.

Zohirul Islam led scorers with 122 runs, and with youngster Hamish Rogers (106) put on a 182-run fourth wicket partnership to set a mammoth 307 runs from their allotted 45 overs.

Unfortunately, rain interfered, and with Randwick-Petersham knowing all they needed to do was be ahead of the run rate, swung lustily to finish 6-173 runs from their 25 overs. This saw Randwick-Petersham's run rate of 6.92 eclipse Uni's 6.82 despite only having 4 wickets in hand to hit the remaining 134 runs needed to reach the total.

Danny Wicks claimed 2-5 from 2 overs and Green Shield squad member (and younger brother of centurion Hamish), Ewan Rogers claimed 2-44 runs.

A harsh loss, but one that the young lads should still be proud of.

Full scorecards for all matches can be found here.

This weekend will see Sydney Uni take on the powerful St George DCC in Limited Overs matches.

The first grade match at Hurstville Oval will be played for the O'Keeffe-O'Sullivan Trophy and we urge all our alumni and supporters to get out to the game starting from 9.30am to enjoy a fine day put on by St George to celebrate the friendship between the club legends, Kerry O'Keeffe and Mick O'Sullivan.

Sydney Uni selects strong sides ahead of Round One

Sydney Uni announced strong teams across all grades for this weekend's opening round clash against Campbelltown-Camden in the McDonald's NSW Premier Cricket competition, at tonight's Season Launch.

The first grade side will welcome the inclusion of NSW players Ed Cowan, Ryan Carters and Nick Larkin this week, will see regulars Liam Robertson, Tim Ley, Ben Joy and Greg Mail return, and will welcome freshers' Ashton May, Damien Mortimer, Tom Rogers and Devlin Malone to the fold.

Second grade will be led by new skipper, Dave Miller, and sees a largely fresh-faced side including Ben Trevor-Jones, Nicky Craze, Hayden Kerr, Dugald Holloway, Kieran Tate and Nick Arnold. Kieran Elley is welcomed to the Club, and Liam Whitaker earns his opportunity as the sides spinner. Miller is joined by the experienced heads in Will Hay and Ben Larkin.

The reigning champion Third grade side will again be led by Ash Cowan, and will be boosted by Club legend, Tom Kierath joining his side. They'll be joined by Charlie Litchfield, James Larkin, Tom Galvin, Ed Arnott, Jono Craig-Dobson, Jack Gibson, Xavier Frawley and Ryan Kurtz, with teenage speedster Lawrence Neil-Smith rounding out the team.

The effervescent AJ Grant will lead his premiership winning side again this season with Ryan Danne, Ryan McElduff, Hugh Kermond, Matt Powys, Jake Day, Lewis McMahon and Nick Powys returning for another crack, Alex Shaw returning to the fold, and newcomers Vince Umbers and Christian Lorenzato looking to make their mark.

With the upcoming nuptials of Fifth grade skipper Mike Harris, Suda Sivapalan will fill his shoes as captain and takes on an exciting bunch of talented youngsters including Kevin Jacobs, Braydon Dilley, Doug Rogers, Alex Bell, Jarrod Morley, Ryan Holcroft, Aidan Peek, Muneeb Shirazi, and 2015-16 Green Shield alumni Natesh Yoganand and Connor Slater.

Metropolitan Cup will again be led by Andrew Wilkinson and sees an almost completely new side for 2016-17. He is rejoined by Jono Phoebus, Islam Zohirul and Ethan Clout, with freshers' Sameer Murthy, James Gillespie, Danny Wicks, Brad Osman-Kayani, and Hamish Rogers joining them. Hamish is joined by younger brother and Green Shield squad member Ewan, as well as fellow Greenie, Shivansh Pathak.

Full team lists can be found here.

Round 1 action will be Limited Overs matches with 1st Grade starting off at home on the hallowed turf of Uni No. 1 Oval, now to be known as the Sydney Uni Cricket Ground. Play starts from 9.30am and as always will be streamed live via our website.

Good luck to all our players and supporters for another powerful season.