SUCC Metro v Sydney Black
1st grade | 2nd grade | 3rd grade | 4th grade | 5th grade | 6th grade
1st Grade
Sydney University 137 lost to Mosman 9/182
(Matt Morgan 55, Marty Paskal 29, Ian Moran 3/48, Marty Paskal 2/34, Greg Matthews 2/18)
After hard fought victories over both defending premiers, the good guys turned up at No. 1 under overcast skies looking to build their momentum by knocking over a motley crew of Mosmanites. Although Nash possessed many of its usual features – Ian ‘Rig’s lieutenant’ Moran went himself, Nick ‘stingy’ Dunford didn’t put in, ‘whispers’ Hay failed to convert, ‘Thektor’ Paskal was a liability – it didn’t conceal the fact that the Students seemed slightly off their game. Nonetheless, having lost our third successive toss of the season, the ‘Glods’ were asked to field and managed to restrict the Dolphins to 9-182 from their 50 overs. Of the bowlers, the Banjo Brothers provided a familiar tune, with ‘screech’ Dunford managing to scare a few batsmen back to the sheds with his pungent odor, while Ian ‘Brian, or is it John?’ Moran played his part in their duet with some gentle little swingers that even the great ‘Retro’ Sanders would have been proud of. Party Maskal toiled hard for us in the middle overs, and was rewarded for his efforts with a couple of poles (one LBW decision given entirely on the back of his grade cricket ‘reputation’), and his now iconic, vaginal-shaped sweat stain which, needless to say, his crowd of adoring fans simply lapped up. Mo proved once again that Jason Krezja must also be spiking the selector’s drinks, taking 2-18 from a masterful 10 overs of spin bowling.
With members of our 3rd grade already enjoying a couple of ‘cold ones’ on the sideline after an action-packed victory up on No. 2, the ‘Dents’ started in a controlled fashion with Alf and Edward trying to get on top of some miserly Mosman dibbly-dobblers. However, disaster was lurking just round the corner, with Alf given out LBW, the skip chipping one back to the bowler, Hayza finding yet another embarrassing mode of dismissal, and ‘Warwick’ TheobAld involved in a horrific mix-up which left one of Trinity Grammar’s finest tearing out what few hairs he has left. After Edward’s street fighting skills abandoned him, an enormous burden was placed on ‘ITS jnr’ and our ‘resident ladies man’ to steer us to what would have been unlikely victory. Fortunately, M&M proved that, unlike his namesake, he is not comprised entirely of hot air, and scored a well-compiled 55, gaining strong support from Marty ‘the milkman’s son’ Paskal who scored a blistering 29 and, to be honest, made most of the top order look like Rig every time he tries to do the Rooster dance. In spite of their best efforts though, the hole dug by those at the top was simply too deep, and we ultimately fell 50 runs short of our opposition’s total.
Thankfully, all players were honest in their post-game appraisals, citing a lack of enthusiasm from the outset as the fundamental cause of our downfall, which I have no doubt will be corrected as of this weekend. Sadly though, our loss spoiled an otherwise great weekend for the Club with all other 5 grades getting the points, lifting us to second in the Club Championship. It also meant, that Saturday 11/10/2008 will be remembered more by those in 1s for the post-match team tub, drinking games and nude six-hitting competition, than for our performance on the cricket-field.
Sydney University 2/139 (M Cook 43no, N Hale 41) defeated Mosman 137 ( M Culkoff 6-13 C Withers 2-30) with 1 bonus pt
With the draw panning out as it did second grade were doomed to the trip to the paradise that is Mosman (see Nick Hale for further details). An errie loss of direction by Josh Toyer saw him owing a case early, and his day fast became worse when the country origin nashball squad were taken to school by the veteran city team.
Skipper and prominent member of the Lebanese community Daniel 'Italian soccer star' Ward yet again won the toss, and for the third week in a row the units were fielding. Mosman were scratchy at best to start, with both Toyer and Withers looking likely. Withers finally got the first break through, leaving Mosman 1 for 42.
The return of Michael Culkoff to the team yielded instant results, following up a dynamic 12 overs in the field, he began slicing through the Mosman lineup like a hot knife through butter. Culky as he is affectionately known by many took a PB in 2's of 6 for 13, including 5 bowleds.
In the end the trendy Mosman XI were skittled for a measly 136. Withers chimed in with 2, Miller 1 (not including Wards butchering of a potential 2nd) and Tom 'I'm happy to take the fine for it' Kierath burgled 1 also. Honourable mention to Josh 'dental plan' Toyer who toiled as hard as any.
There was no doubt amongst the camp that this was the day that we would see the best of one Nick 'I'll pay you back next week' Hale. Feeling right at home in the fashionable suburb, and with an army of drunken supporters on the hill, Hale looked determined to impress. Despite a dicey start Hale eventually found his feet and caressed a suave 41, finally to be run out. He instantly rewarded himself with a sip of beer, due to the fact that his coke went warm. Well earnt. Larkin chimed in with a cheeky 19, and Miller 17 not out, but the main stay was Mitchell 'Wallace and Grommit' Cook, who compiled a patient and well thought out unbeaten 43, to go along with his snair in the cordon earlier in the day.
The units coasted home in the 38th over, taking with them the bonus points, and what was left of Mosman's pride. Great improvement on last weeks dismal efforts in all departments.
Mosman 85 all out (Hackett 4-9 inc hat trick; Smith 3-16)
Sydney University 89-3 (Larkin 45*, MacKay 19, Stanley 17*)
The day started in rather disappointing fashion with all members of the Richards turning up prior to the 9am case time, and so no additions to the already lengthy list were made. Smash Cowan, enthused by being at the ground within three hours of the allocated time, initiated Nash ball which saw the much fancied young punks given a lesson by the older ranks, with the deft footwork of Elder statesman Smith being the deciding factor. After some discussion of bat or bowl, the skipper proved a brave man and voted against the wishes of Bruce Willis, who was of the opinion that it wouldn’t swing, and stuck Mosman in. The new rock hooped around from ball one, but disappointingly, some good periods of bowling from messers Stanley and Greene were interspersed with all too frequent wide deliveries (with admittedly some extremely harsh off side calls) and general tosh (mainly from the fat scouser) which relieved the pressure all too easily. Crofty picked up the first pole, with the shorter Larkin brother at gully taking a very sharp chance, in catch it or wear it fashion. The introduction of Wizzard Smith however changed the game. With one eye on horse 7, race 7 at Caulfield, BJ picked up two lbw’s in his first over, and engineered a nick behind soon after, giving Crowley his first of 4 for the day. BJ, bowling in tandem with the Sandman, stitched the game up and made runs extremely hard to come by for the rapidly rotating Mosman top order. Sanjiv was rewarded for his efforts by having a long hop slapped straight to the Wizzard at square leg, which was taken with a distinct lack of panache, but taken all the same. Mosman were in all kinds. BJ’s searching spell brought no more rewards, but the introduction of Mark Hackett soon turned the game firmly in uni’s favour. After two over’s for seven runs earlier in the day, the change of ends soon brought about the desired effect. The fourth ball of the over tempted the drive and saw Crowley snare his second of the day. The next ball saw the Mosman captain attempt to slay it through the covers first rock, however only managed to put the young wicketkeeper to work again. The field closed for the hat trick ball. The Mosman batsman made little attempt to play the ball, shuffled forward, the ball wrapped the pads and everybody went up. As did the umpires finger, cue celebrations and the immediate totting up of potential fines: first hat-trick, first third grade hat trick, first hat trick against Mosman, first hat trick of the season on number two, first hat trick of the season by an Western Australian playing for uni etc. The innings was quickly wrapped up with Sanjiv getting a deserved second and giving slinky his fourth catch of the day, and Thorpey finishing the innings in style by disturbing the middle stump. Lunch was taken watching the 1’s, who were just commencing their 29th over.
Prior to batting, it was decided a positive yet controlled approach would be taken, with hopefully the boys knocking off the required 85 within 25 overs for the bonus point. The innings started superbly with the Benny Larkin clipping a comfortable three off the first rock. Smash took guard and promptly departed first ball after being wrapped on the pads by the Mosman skipper, who took great delight in his first test wicket, sorry first of the day. Two balls later, Crowley went the same way as Cowan, and suddenly 3-2 didn’t look too comfortable. The older Larkin took control and settled the nerves with some lovely timing in the second over, which brought up consecutive boundaries. As Huw faced up to the Mosman skipper, the attempted bumper on a slow track was easily dispatched. At BJ’s insistence, another one followed, with the same result. A third boundary finished off the over, and uni were going along steadily at 26-2 off three over’s. The carnage continued, with Benny and Huw repeatedly peppering the boundary until the fifth when Huw was bowled by the Mosman skipper. Cue wild celebrations, an enormous send off (‘that’s the middle stump’ if we couldn’t already tell) and carry-on of a pre school class given too much red cordial. 45-3 off 5. Troy strode out and took to the task of defusing the bomb, sorry the situation with all of the aplomb of a veteran action hero who always gets the girl. He provided superb support for Benny who looked a cut above, and played some marvellous strokes all around the wicket. Boxhead and Troy calmly went about plundering the ball to the boundary and the game was duely wrapped up with the 4th ball of the 9th over, which saw muscles Larkin heave one over the ropes on the full, with a little help from the fielder on the boundary. Game over, two bonus points secured and it was down to number one with a case of beers just in time to watch Uni face the first ball of their reply. I wish all Saturdays ended up like this.
The Green Dog
This not so bright eyed student arrived at the somewhat picturesque Rawson oval in the suburb which has been referred to as ‘the cradle of life’, by one delusional Uni Boy. None the less the view was nice, and my late arrival ensured the first brews of the season were on me. The early win of Nash went to the batsmen, with the bowlers not able to cash in on good efforts of Cowell and Leunig. The work of AJ was unparalleled and the bowlers ran away with it, as the scoreboard didn’t show how close it was.
As the coin fell, Skins decided it was best left to the opposition to decide our fate, and the Students would have first crack with the stick. Ominous deck, ominous weather, not too sure what to expect. With our captain out of anger management for the weekend, he thought it best to open the batting with Pete Jordan. Jordo copped a good rock early on and went without troubling the scorers. Walshy strode to the crease and played a couple of epic drives, only to get wrapped in front. Enter the blackest white man, Adam Tracey. Toupac and Skins decided the bowlers needed to be shown where the boundary was, sending the ball there at regular intervals. Following a flurry of fours (not the alliteration), Cyclone Tracey was dismissed in the 20th for a well belted 50, with the students cruising at more than run-a-ball. This left the Skins to work some singles and keep things rolling.
Gun-show Grant strutted to the crease, working the ball well and looking the goods. A 50 run stand ensued, but as the ‘Pale Whale’ Skinner and ‘XS-singlet’ Grant fell quickly, the nerds were left to consolidate in the 30th over. With 15 to go in the dig, a slight lapse in concentration saw two more go quickly, leaving the good guys 7-195. The scoreboard continued to tick over, with Jimmy ‘I sweat buckets’ Kazag working the ball nicely and pumping the first HORNS of the year in 4’s, and Nigel moving between the wickets at the rate of Asafa Powell. The last few overs resulted in Kazag and Swollen Matthews (ask him why they call him Swollen) to kick the ball around and push us to 8-282. Jimmy belted one to the keeper on the last ball of the innings, however invoked “Can’t be given out last ball”, and the umpires had no choice but to record the not out. Great dig for the students, Matt ‘Surly Duff’ Skinner 69, Tracey 50 and Puddles 80n.o.
The trip to Mosman shops for lunch provided much controversy, at least for this reporter. In search of a humble Four N Twenty pie, I found I was wanting, with the only option costing $8, and tasted rather interesting. Massive school boy error! The chicken rolls and pad thai were great fielding foods, and the Units were fired up to have the whales cheaply and pick up bonus points.
The early going was arduous, as the quicks bowled well without reward. Cowell bowled areas with good pace, but went wicketless in his first spell. Mosman were travelling at 4/over at drinks, but with bigger hitting required we knew we had the goods. The first and second came together, as AJ and Swollen opened our account. The chat was great from the students; with Adam ‘my man’ Tracey convinced he was chilling with Bob Marley and Snoop Dog, and the Wesley boys throwing stones at every opportunity.
The units continued to work well, as AJ rolled up his sleeves to show off ‘Law’ & ‘ ‘Order’ and took himself another pole for good measure. Swollen Nolan finished his ten in tidy fashion, having bowled good areas in arguably the toughest part of the innings. The game was starting to get away from the whales, requiring upwards of 7 an over, but the units continued to apply pressure and look for an early trip back to number one. Dave Crawford got off the phone to his bookie for just long enough to bowl a few overs and, eventually burgle himself a wicket. Nigel Cowell bowled very well in his seconds spell to open his account for the season, which will be surprising to anyone who has seen him bowl thus far. The turning point in the match however came in the 30th, when the man with the always extendable jaw, Stu ‘Leunig’ McLean entered the attack. Excellent one-day bowling; good line, length and a little bit of turn and bounce for good measure puzzled the batsmen into false strokes. After almost taking the keepers head with a vicious ball, Stu decided to open his account for the day, and continued adding to it until the innings would close. After some good catching in front of the wicket, and some interesting wicket-keeping, Stu had bagged the first haul in 4’s for the season.
Special mention must be made of the Mosman number 11, who batted in much pain and with limited mobility in attempt to deny the units a bonus point. This old mate had a massive amount of ticker, and as AJ would say, he’d had his concrete for the day and hardened up. In the end the whales were denied, all for-170 and the students would take home the extra point. A good team performance, where most chipped to assist the result. Solid intensity in the field throughout, and a good effort to stick at it when things weren’t going how we’d have liked. With two from two the Nerds are in good stead heading back home next week hosting Wests. Up the Students!
Benny Peacock
Sydney University 9/241 defeated Mosman 155 with 1 bonus point.
Liam Robertson 96, Dan Bragg 45, Charlie Cull 3/34, Chris Dan 2/28.
The 5ths rolled up to St Paul’s for its first home game of the season, a little battered and bruised from a disappointing Round 2 loss, but with the confidence of a hairier and more experienced outfit than that of a week earlier. Following a gentle warm-up, James won the toss and elected to bat on a Paul’s wicket with less time to live than John McCain.
We started at a reasonable pace, but wickets fell regularly with Chris “definitely punching above my weight division” Davey, Michael Barwick and Gringo Burke all in the sheds by drinks. This scribe managed to hack, edge, squeeze and miss hit his way to 45 before top edging a full, gentle, nude off-spinner to square leg. For the second week in a row. Sweet. However, the batting honours went to Liam Robertson, who looked the goods in his innings of 96. His timing and placement on an increasingly slow and uneven deck was pretty impressive, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing him in the higher grades when he returns from school cricket duties.
Our score was boosted by some ordinary Mosman fielding, and the bowling of what could only be the product of several visits from an overweight, untalented milkman to the home of one great Australian cricket captain while he was on tour some 30 years ago. Chris “never trust a man with two first names” Dan also chipped in with a handy 20-odd towards the end, to get us to a solid total of 241.
We bowled pretty well, conceding far fewer sundries than the Whales, and stringing together more good balls. Charlie Cull impersonated Sterling Mortlock all day and bowled good areas without luck in his first spell, but returned to take three well deserved poles at the end. Chris Dan and youngster Josh Lawrence also did a good job on the slow deck. For me, the pick of the bowlers was Metro, who bowled tight lines for 10 overs to take the game away from them, and snagged a couple too. James Rogers was unlucky not to grab a few, but a couple of missed chances left him with just one scalp in a characteristically miserly spell of nudeballs.
In the end, with the best of the Whales’ top order beached as and needing a bucket or a hose asap, we got home with a bonus point. While this looks like a convincing win on paper, our fielding left a bit to be desired once again, and everyone could lift their intensity a notch to support our bowlers. Improvements in these aspects will be crucial against a stronger opposition in the coming rounds.
Cheers,
Dan Bragg.
Sydney University 4-125 (J Momsen 40; P Bertelle 27) def Sydney 122 (P Bertelle 5-8; A Rhodes 4-33)
The boys rocked up at St Andrew’s on Saturday to a pitch that looked great for batting. After an intense warm up of touch footy and kicking the ball, Paul went out for the toss. Unfortunately we lost the toss and were fielding first.
Ben Joy and Ben Fessey got us off to a good start. The Sydney team managed to edge the ball past the fielders consistently, until Fessey had one edged straight to the keeper. Andrew Rhodes and Luke Trausheim were brought on to bowl after about 10 overs. With Luke tying them down at one end and Rhodes bowled well and was able to grab 4 wickets.
After drinks, with Luke having no luck despite great bowling, Paul Bertelle decided it was time for a change. To the joy of the entire team, Paul decided he had earned a few overs. Bowling with great pace, deceiving movement and extraordinary accuracy, Paul had the batsmen in all sorts. The extreme rate at which Paul was taking his wickets meant this unbelievable display of bowling was over far too quickly, with Paul managing to get his 5-8 off just 6 overs.
After a quick change of innings, Jono Momsen and Ed Freeman took to the field to begin chasing down the 122 set for victory. After looking good early, Freeman was bowled for 11 by a great ball, bringing McPherson to the crease. McPherson also managed to get a start, but was also bowled for 11. Next in was the man of the moment Paul Bertelle. Jono and Paul batted well together taking Uni to 87 before Paul was dismissed for 27. Jono continued to play his shots well, scoring all over the park. His solid 40 came to an end, however, with just 15 left to get. Will Shirvington batted well to carry the team past the total with a good 16 n.o.
All in all, the Uni boys thoroughly out played the Sydney team and got a good win on the board.
Jack Lerade.