Round 5 (Day 1) Match Reports

1ST GRADE

The students took the foot of the mountains eager to continue the form shown thus far. Winning the toss and electing to bat on what looked a batting day the students found themselves in a spot of bother early. Losing 4 wickets with the score on just 70 it was up to the the middle to rescue the ship, and rescue the ship they did. A counter attacking innings by Damien Mortimer (75) and Hayden Kerr (60) led the fightback for the students who quickly turned around the poor start. 

A few more quick wickets and again Uni were under some pressure. Enter Tim Cummins against his old side, he mixed delicate touch with some powerful stroke play to lead the charge well into the final session. Ably supported by strong contributions right down the order in the form of Tim Ley and Dugald Holloway the students were eventually dismissed for 320 with Cummins left stranded on 70*. A mark of the uni side so far this year has been the ability to find necessary contributions when desperately needed. A good sign for the season ahead. With Penrith 0/3 from 3 overs, the 2nd days play is well poised.  

Sydney Uni 320: D Mortimer 73, T Cummins 70*, H Kerr 59

Penrith: 0-3 

2ND GRADE

Sydney Uni 281: N Craze 129, J Craig Dobson 37, R Danne 31

Penrith 0-16

3RD GRADE

Day 1 of Round 5 saw the Units travel out to Bill Ball aka Cook Park to face the cats at the foot of the mountains. Various means were used to arrive (ours was the classic meet at Essence and then M2/M7/M4), but in an unprecedented display everyone managed to arrive on time and the full XI was (relatively) bright eyed and bushy tailed for Nash.

Wholesale changes due to unavailabilities this round meant that the youth were missing their top 3 (such has been their lack of quality that now Kevvy could be considered top 3) and this coupled with old having the extra man meant that there was only ever going to be one result – an absolute rout. Normal service was restored and the mercy rule was applied with old approaching 10 and young failing to have a shot on target. After multiple $$$ were incurred by your scribe, among others, for fraternising with the opposition, the toss was arranged. Speaking of normal service, Penrith won the toss (seems like all anyone has to do is simply attend the toss to win it against me) and their skipper Pete had no hesitation in choosing to bat on a hard wicket that looked perfect for batting.

Toyer, bald and the recently returned Sam Wood (a genuine candidate to take Danno’s place as No1 contender for the “Jack Maddocks perpetual Best Young Rig” trophy) opened the bowling and bowled with quality pace and accuracy to make scoring tough. Both were rewarded with early wickets and the Units were further emboldened by the Alpha wicky, Jack Hill and Tom Fullers being flawless in the cordon with all picking up catches.

The spin twins Whitaker and Lawson (combined height 3.2m, combined rare 18.7) then entered the attack and pressure was mounted from both ends with each delivering their best spell of the year. Both Liamo and Leggie Newington bowled accurately and scoring was stifled as the spinners turned the screws and the Units took control. After a sumptuous repast (best tea in grade cricket), further wickets to Toyer and Wood and an excellent piece of foxing from Tom Galvin to force a run-out meant that Uni took 10 wickets for 132 in just over 54 overs. Despite taking out the tin can and oiling up the shoulder, your scribe was not required to attempt some burglary/legside stumpings and overall it was a high-quality bowling and fielding effort from the entire side in a pleasing turnaround from last week.

The Units were faced with 23 overs to eat into the deficit and openers Hill and debutant Dilley strode out to the crease to face a hostile spell from former Uni stalwart, mostly coloured-in gentleman and all-round good guy Chrissy Withers. Withers wound back the clock and bowled with pace, accuracy and most of all aggression (which was directed in order at himself, the umpire, the universe, the batsmen, his teammates and finally, himself). A few wickets fell but at the close we are well placed at 3/68 with the Alpha wicky 20* and Michael Robbo at the crease.

Further fraternisation awaits week 2 as the units will endeavour to tick off the required and then see what can be made in the afternoon. 

Sydney Uni 3-68: J Hill 21, J Crowley 20*

Penrith 132: S Wood 4-37, J Toyer 3-38, J Lawson 2-34

4TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 85: A Bell 32, L McElduff 17, M Miles 15

Penrith 2-27: S Canagasingham 1-6, J Rinka 1-7

5TH GRADE

We were greeted at Rance Oval with an encouraging message for the day ahead, bellowed from the passenger seat of a moving car; the exact wording indistinguishable from the revving of the engine. If local knowledge is much to go by they must have said "Rance is a road mate, win the toss and bat" - perhaps foreshadowing the day ahead. Putting this helpful piece of information aside we began to balance teams for Nash. Unable to find enough Olds and with a flood of Nuffies, teams were instead chosen by the colour of one's shoes (white vs coloured). Some poor keeping early on meant the white wheels went up 2-0. Jono Phoebus left his mark on the game by slotting a header into the bottom left corner to put the colours well ahead. In a desperate attempt to bring his team back into the game, Jarrod Morley matched up against Islam in a goal line collision that saw the latter man out for the remainder of the contest (see photo). Colours finished the victors at 5-2 despite losing their match defining presence in goals. 

The coin seems to be landing on tails as often as I write match reports this season and the students were put to the field. The home team started quickly albeit unconvincingly with many of their runs coming off the outside edge. Tom Draca bowled with ferocity and pace with the new ball - especially troubling the left hander. Phoebus made the first breakthrough swinging the ball around the batsman and into off stump. Tight bowling and disciplined fielding held back the flow of runs until the tea break where we were rewarded with a diverse and substantial array of food.

Having been energised during the break Penrith's batting set out with a renewed vigour, intent on pushing the run rate and scoring freely on a wicket that was now giving little assistance to our bowling. The wisdom of the drive by local from the morning was starting to sink in. Nick Mortimer managed to burgle the wicket of their captain who was taking immense pleasure in sending the ball further over the fence with every hit. Islam and Shivansh Pathak also bowled well and were rewarded with wickets before the home team declared at 8/294. Sent out to negotiate a short period before the end of the day the students are 2/19 with Islam dominating the run scoring and looking to build his contribution for day 2. 

Sydney Uni 2-19: Z Islam 13*

Penrith 8-294 (dec) 

METRO CUP

A dramatically inexperienced team but a welcome home game this week for the Metro side vs Randwick Green. A physically lost but principally won toss as Uni is sent in on a flat deck, with a quick field and on a sticky warm day. An exciting trifecta and an opportunity to take control of the day from the beginning.

As usual, a pregame plan is discussed and new opening pair Rahman and Kirubanandan take to the crease. A solid start and a slowly climbing run rate as the pair's confidence began to increase.
A slight lapse in concentration and Rahman is out caught for 27. An opening stand of 56 off just 11 overs. Kirubanandan was in fine touch, placing the ball exquisitely into the gaps on either side of the field and never looked like getting out by the bowlers on merit. Then a moment of madness as Ashwin is dismissed for 48 "mankad" by Randwicks salty captain.
The less said about the incident the better...

Veteran presence Sivapalan joins Synnott at the crease and things keep rolling on steadily until Tim is caught behind for 32 just as he was looking most comfortable. 3/125 off 27 overs. Sivapalan played a calm and careful innings playing each ball on merit and taking opportunities when presented. 53 in his first match for some time a good sign of things to come as he get's more matches under his belt. Our "wild thing" Jon Aylward returns to the team after an injury lay off to play as a batsman. As usual, a patient start for Jono, hitting his first three balls for 4,4 and 6!
From then on the young hitter played an extremely mature innings displaying extraordinary power and placement on his way to a career-high 102. Greenie's will look forward to Jon joining them this season. Special mention goes to the big fella Muhammad Ghumman who finally getting a chance to bat dispensed the ball to all areas of the construction sites around the ground for a quick fire 51.

With all original targets exceeded a declaration comes at 6/330 off 53.4 overs and a chance to get a head start on next weeks tasks. Kirubanandan and Shanahan take the new ball and a nervous start with both bowlers struggling a little to find the "4th stump" line initially. Some adjustments are made and Max claims the first wicket with a sharp chance going to Tim at gully. 1/8 and we're off and running. Ashwin found his range and bowling with good heat claimed his first scalp for the club finishing the day with 1/16 off 9 overs. Oli Ottosson getting his first chance with the team this season came on and bowled with good shape finishing with 0/8 off 6. Team leggie and "shirtless scorer" Tim Synnott bowled a consistent little spell claiming a vital pole and mental victory for the team in the final over of the day. 1/0 off 2.4 overs.

Randwick 3/50 off 24 overs at stumps and with the job only just over half done we know what needs to be worked on at training this week for us to claim the 6 points with the expectation of going for 10. Overall a very fine and fun day with all the boys starting to buy into what it means to play for our mighty club!

Sydney Uni 6-330 (dec): J Aylward 102, S Sivapalan 53, M Ghumman 51

Randwick 3-50: T Synnott 1-0, A Kirubanandan 1-16, M Shanahan 1-17

Green Shield Squad Announcement 2017-18

Sydney University Cricket Club is proud to announce its A.W. Green Shield squad for 2017-18. 

1. Oscar Kirk
2. Luca Dimeglio
3. Ethan Jamieson
4. Ned Barnett
5. Ben Mitchell
6. Dominic O'Shannessy
7. Ewan Rogers
8. Shivansh Pathak
9. Jazz Rinka
10. Stuart Dingley
11. Jon Aylward
12. Sanjay Anandarajah
13. Gregor Dingley
14. Curtis MacKinnon
15. Bryan Handunneththi

The squad will be coached by former 1st Grade quick, Nigel Cowell. Their first match for the season will be on Thursday 14th December against Campbelltown-Camden.  

Congratulations to all players selected in the squad. We wish you all the best for the 2017-18 season. 

Team Selections Postponed

We advise that due to the unavailability of over 25 players for this round, together with some late withdrawals, we will be unable to finalise our team selections until late Friday.

We will both post the selections on our website and send out via email as soon as possible on Friday.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Neil-Smith named in preliminary squad for 2018 Under 19 Cricket World Cup

Sydney Uni young-gun, Lawrence Neil-Smith, has been selected in the preliminary squad of 28 players ahead of the 2018 Under 19 Cricket World Cup, being held in New Zealand from January 13th to February 3rd.

Each of the players selected in the preliminary squad have been identified by the State Talent Managers following impressive performances at previous events and with 15 spots available in the World Cup team, players named in the extended squad are in strong contention. CA Pathways Manager, Graham Manou, says "there's some exceptional talent coming through the Pathway right now, and it really is going to be a tough task to narrow down our Under 19 World Cup squad to just 15 players". 

Over the next six weeks, Cricket Australia's Youth Selection Panel will be making some difficult decisions based on performances at the Under 19 National Championships in Hobart and Launceston from December 4th to 15th.

Lawrence has been the leader of attack in our table-topping 2nd Grade team and currently leads all wicket takers at the Club with 17 wickets for the season at 14. 

Sydney Uni Cricket wishes Lawrence the best of luck throughout the upcoming selection process.

Kershaw breaks through

Sydney University opening bowler Joe Kershaw took his first wickets in Futures League cricket this afternoon, striking twice for AT/Country against Western Australia in Perth.

On a flat pitch at Richardson Park, and in oppressively hot conditions, WA built an imposing first innings of six for 416, with opener Will Bosisto reaching 200.  But Kershaw maintained his pace and accuracy impressively, claiming 2-62 from 23 overs, emerging as the most successful, and economical, of the ACT/NSW Country attack.  He took his first wicket when he had Clinton Hinchliffe caught by Jay Lenton, and he removed Tim David shortly afterwards.

A short time ago, ACT/NSW Country had reached 2 for 107 in its reply.

Round 4 (Day 2) Match Reports

1ST GRADE

After a dominant opening day, the students arrived believing that only the rain could cruel the momentum. Joe Kershaw was withdrawn from the game due to his upcoming Futures League fixture, allowing Tim Ley to come back in to the side.

Hawkesbury started as 3/24 in pursuit of 397. It didn’t take long for Ley to make an impact, demolishing the off stump of the night watchman. He then had Nair nicking to second slip, only for the chance to go begging. A partnership developed between Nair and Gauci, and as the rain continued to fall, conditions for bowling became increasingly challenging. With the once shiny kookaburra resembling a bar of soap, Dugald Holloway entered the attack. Despite the tough conditions, Holloway used his angles intelligently and was able to control his length, eventually drawing loose shots from the Hawks players and breaking the game open. 

Joy re-entered the attack, poised on 99 first grade wickets. His celebrated rise from a 6th grade stalwart to one of the best fast bowlers in the first grade competition is the stuff of legends. With Nair approaching a century, Joy wrapped his pads and a strong appeal was rewarded. 100 first grade wickets is a fantastic achievement, particularly for a man who has given so much to the club off the field as well. Malone and Cowan bowled their leggies in tandem as the students sensed a chance to finish off the tail. Cowan surprised even himself with nice flight and control, certainly warranting further overs throughout the season.

Malone showed remarkable skill to be able to spin the ball and largely bowl with control in conditions most wrist spinners would refuse to perform their craft in. He bamboozled the tail with flight and wronguns, claiming three wickets to end the fixture by tea time and ensure the students claimed six points in a round where draws were the order of the day.

Sydney Uni 9-397:

N Larkin 140, B Trevor-Jones 68, D Mortimer 53

Hawkesbury 199:

D Malone 3-44, J Kershaw 2-16, D Holloway 2-28

2ND GRADE

Another day and another early morning for the 2’s, who hit the motorways of Sydney’s Suburbia at the crack of dawn in search of 10 points. There was a consistent spray of water from the clouds, rain, but not enough to trigger the umpires to postpone the start time. So, as per usual, the pre-game chatter started between young and old. Shoutout to Jono CD playing barefoot as he forgot his trainers. The game was fast paced and again refereed not by strict rules, but by consensus and volume, with the shout of ‘Low’ being verified only on the basis that 3 or more people had shouted it in harmony. It would have made the many hairs on Mao spine stand up. The tremendous energy had usurped structured rules. This was the same for a goal, which, was cheered with multiple ‘yeeeeaaaaahs’ and thus, must’ve been inside the ill-defined parameters of a goal, regardless. The elderly took the game 2-0 but credit must go to the young who seemed to have built on their performance from last week. It will be an exciting matchup next week.

The wicket was rather different to the previous week, after some difficult weather patterns throughout. The strip was hard underneath a light covering of green grass. Of course, this meant that Jono Craig Dobson was salivating violently to go and take some wickets in the first innings, building on from the 3 wickets last week. He and Lawrence ran through the top order and made a very strong impression on the game. Lawrence finished with 4 wickets, Jono 4. To be frank, the bowling conditions were heavily in our favour, but the ball became wet very quickly and swelled to a more rotund object, with a ludicrous sized seam. This did not deter the two quicks from taking their booty from the sinking Hawkesbury ship. 

In order to gain the 10 points, we needed our bowlers to recharge their batteries in order to take another 10 wickets in the 20 minute break. Surprise surprise, Neil Smith ran in again and took another wicket early, and quickly they were 2 down, as the rain set in. As is common in the game, we had almost unanimously decided that the rain had come to stay and that we would be sailing on the high seas home to the Nag’s. This was a mistake in hindsight. We managed to fit in a rapid quiz in the break, something that really tests our team as a unit, led by McMahon. We are beginning to develop different subject specialists for the quiz and thus are assumed as unwavering experts. I, unfortunately, have the French language as my specialist subject for which I know nothing about, but I am from Europe and I know that Allemagne is Germany in French and thus that qualified me enough. I haven’t answered another question correctly since. Holloway has taken a more polymathic stance and delves into many subjects albeit with mixed subject. Again, his conviction is enough for the team to assume he is right.

To the credit of TK and Chip, they pushed to get on as soon as possible and continue to knock over the middle order, which was rapidly an actuality. Holloway took another wicket with his first ball, an expertly measured short ball into the shoulders and caught in comfort by Lew McMahon, who bowled with patience as well. To the credit of Hawkesbury, a fortunate partnership between two of their boys helped drag out the overs and although they were both dismissed before the close of play, they had shown a level of confidence rare within the spooked ranks of the Hawks. The game had been dominated by Uni from the very third ball and frankly, the 6 points were well deserved and were unlucky not to get a better go at 10. 

Routines are routines, and as the beverages were supplied by the youth, the team song quickly came into voice with a very impressive solo from Lawrence with both confidence and raw aggression, something that must have transferred from his fiery bowling. Uni have been dominant in their last two fixtures and take on Penrith in a home game next Saturday. 

Sydney Uni 6-420:

S Hobson 229*, C Litchfield 94

Hawkesbury 91 & 7-179:

J Craig-Dobson 4-36, L Neil-Smith 4-37 & 2-13

3RD GRADE

Well, well, well. To say that this was the most unbelievable game that I have been involved in would be an understatement. Given that I am not usually guilty of understating things in my published works, allow me to tell you what occurred on Saturday so you can be the judge...

After Day 1 turned out to be a harrowing bye week (which no-one enjoys), Day 2 was shaping up to be much of the same with showers forecast both Friday night and Saturday. Scrambling around on Friday arvo pre-Pepsi, the Uni groundstaff and a few excellent college gentlemen (Galvin, Hughes, Gibson et al) were enlisted to transport the spare (1 metric tonne) cover down to Camperdown to give us every chance of getting on. We arrived at the ground to find a hard, green pitch and there were good prospects to get most of a full day in. 

After an initial rain delay, the game was reduced from 120 overs to 112 overs and a game of Nash was hastened to allow the youth to try their wares against the heretofore superior old. Which they did, and I have cause to eat all my words from this year as the youth (no doubt galvanised by my relentless disparaging/harassment) put old to the sword in a masterful display. Kevvy Jacob had one of the best weekends of his life in the blue and gold, scoring a soccer goal (goal-line technology requested for future Nash games as Duffman wasn’t convinced) and leading the boys in Nash, chat and cricket. Something to behold, he even put his back to the post-match covers in a selfless display.

On to the charade that is the toss of the coin, whereby once again I was informed what we were to do rather than being able to choose (0 from 4). This was to bat, and Hilly and Danno put on a solid start on a seaming pitch to have us well placed to accelerate at the end with wickets in hand. After Danno got out, Kevvy picked up where he left off and a further rain delay meant that we were looking at 53 overs to set a total in a gentlemen’s agreement. Evergreen’s Shane Mott took the ball from the top end and bowled all 27 in a row and as always, he made scoring difficult. A few cameos from the lower order meant that we set a defendable total of 209 from the remaining 53 overs.

The Hawks came out firing and were soon racing along well above the required rate. Some tight bowling either side of a rain delay meant that there was now only 40 overs to reach the target and this got us back into the seesawing contest. Excellent aggressive batting from the top 4 meant that the Hawks were still ahead, and at 3/202 with 4 overs to go even the most optimistic would have had to say it was goodnight nurse for the Units.

That is to say all but Jim Ryan, who so far in his testimonial was dismissed for a duck, wicketless at about 6 an over and had lost Nash. He was however still running in hard and rare as the day is long, which enabled him to make the game turn in absurd fashion. The set batsman holed out to Hillsy at long off, and from that point on every other batsman that came in was looking to strike the winning blow and get off the field. The only issue was that the shots were now going to the fielders and we were holding catches, as opposed to earlier in the innings. Tate picked up a wicket (Kevvy an excellent diving catch to cap an all-round display) and then Jim took another 3 next over which gave him a remarkable 4 wickets in 8 balls and Uni had just taken 5/5 in less than 3 overs.

When Tate started the final over it was 3 to win with 2 wickets in hand. Their number 9 swung hard through legside to rapturous applause, only for everyone to realise it wasn’t going to reach the fence as Michael Robbo chased it down and kept it to 2 runs. This meant that scores were now tied and Tate’s next ball was perfect and disturbed the furniture so that the last man came out with 4 balls left and 1 to win, 1 wicket in hand.

Tate bowled straight and fast, the non-striker attempted to steal a bye and Alan Donald forgot to run, causing outrageous scenes as Powys fed Tate who removed the bails at the bowler’s end. The most remarkable finish to a game that I have seen, Hawks lost 7/7 in 17 balls to tie the match and never has anyone celebrated a tie as much as Kieran Tate after the final wicket. Tate it must be said was outstanding, bowling 17 of a possible 20 from the top end for 4 wickets and a run-out to put the icing on the cake. It will be difficult to comprehend the chaos and the result, it really had to be seen to be believed.

With results on our side across the grade we now return to the top 6, and hopefully that is where we remain. On to round 5 where we travel to the foot of the mountains where Chrissy Withers and his cats are lurking.

Sydney Uni 9-209:

J Hill 39, R Danne 36, K Jacob 34 

Hawkesbury 209:

J Ryan 4-69, K Tate 4-75

4TH GRADE

Fourth grade jumped back on the motorway under cloudy skies with 150 left to chase and 10 wickets in hand. They were greeted with a wet wicket and outfield and occasional spurts of rain which often delayed play in the first session. An improved showing from the Julios saw a close 1-0 Nash victory, however this proved to be one of the only high points of the day. Unfortunately for Uni, the level of application we showed in the field last week wasn’t quite replicated, with wickets falling at regular intervals. Against a spirited Hawkesbury attack, 170 proved too many to chase, as Uni we’re bundled out for a tick under 100.

We will go back to the drawing board during the week and work towards a return to form and an improved showing next weekend as we head into a string of matches against the historically strong opposition.

Sydney Uni 88:

L McElduf 28, O Thompson 19, J Crowley 19

Hawkesbury 170:

A Peek 3-33, S Canagasingham 2-15

5TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 137:

V Umbers 29, R Browne 27, L Hughes 25

Hawkesbury 219:

M Miles 3-34, J Rinka 2-38

METRO CUP

The Metro team travelled to Beauchamp again this week to find a ground and conditions that were in stark contrast to last weeks. The outfield was reasonably drenched and the square had a significant mud patch just over the to the side of our match pitch. The pitch itself had varying small wet patches that had no chance of drying on the day.

With fairness in mind, both captains agreed to give things an hour to try and super soak the square and the surrounding field to see if any significant improvement could be achieved. The Gordon players worked hard pushing a super soaker we believe Captain Cook may have used on The Endeavour to soak up spilt rum. In other words, it looked ancient and wasn't very effective at getting the job done.

At the end of the hour, it was agreed that conditions were unlikely to improve over the rest of the day and the match was called. In the famous words of Kenny Rogers' song The Gambler,  'you gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them' and those lyrics rang true today for the Uni boys. We all train hard and make the effort to get to the ground and want to play hard but fair cricket. The main consideration today is the word fair and chasing 337 in those conditions would not have been a fair fight. The season is long and we will get at least one more chance to prove our worth against the current competition leaders.

We now need to reset and recommit our attitude's and efforts, and keep our standards high this week at training so we can hit the ground running for our home match next week against Randwick. 

Gordon 8-337:

T Synnott 4-75, P Adikarige 2-31

Lawson joins the Great Debate

University of NSW has strengthened its side for Friday's Great Cricket Debate by calling up former Test fast bowler, and UNSW graduate, Geoff Lawson.

Lawson took 180 Test wickets between 1980 and 1989, and represented the UNSW Bees throughout his playing career.  He is currently the bowling coach for the NSW Blues.  His debating style has been described by knowledgeable observers as "take no prisoners".

Lawson rounds out a UNSW team that also includes Cricket NSW Chief Executive Andrew Jones and ACT Meteors star Katie Mack.  Sydney University will be represented by former Test opener (and incumbent Steve Waugh medalist) Ed Cowan, "Grade Cricketer" co-author Ian Higgins and SUCC Chairman and professional arguer Max Bonnell.

The Great Cricket Debate will take place at Sydney University's TAG Grandstand on Friday 10 November, commencing at 12.30pm.  Most tickets are sold, but some are still available through this website.