SUCC v Northern District. SUCC Metro v
1st grade | 2nd grade | 3rd grade | 4th grade | 5th grade | 6th grade
1st Grade
SU 5/301 G. Mail 125, I Moran 81, M Faraday 32*
Defeated Northern District 4/300 I moran 2/56
It was always going to be a tough assignment travelling to Sydney’s rain belt to take on the defending OD premiers – the ND Meriton Apartments. The new look Blue and Golds (sic) wanting to avenge their thrashing in the OD semi final and get the ball rolling in the premiership.
Funky Miller showed what a great breeding ground the lower grades are for the big league Nash ball – putting in a Judd/ Kewell/Johns like performance that the great Dion would have been proud of. Mail terrible in the good guys loss, but saving energy for the looming contest.
{Loss toss + flat wicket + fast outfield +(NSW captain – Pinhead)} not a lot of luck = leather chasing – find the derivative of that Mail!! Ian was probing, Mitch containing in parts and huge efforts and intent in the field by Miller, Whispers Hay and Rig meant 300 was a large but not unachievable target. Would require one of the top three to get a big one.
At 40 for none off 6 and the ball was rolling. The plan of bowling on Mail’s pads as futile as trying to make money in the equity markets. Likened to attacking The Don’s back cut, it was like clubbing baby seals for the big man, whose bat at times seemed wider than him. Superbly aided by Hero with a relatively patient 70 – highlighted by stillness at the crease and trademark shots – the two put on 190 to give the good guys a sniff. Mail departed for his 11th 100 for the club. Rig, Funk and Hay provided much needed impetus to a stalling innings, overshadowed however by Alf who smashed the ball to all parts. 40 0ff 4 knocked off with 5 balls to play in some amazing lower order controlled risk taking. One of the best chases I have seen at the club and some premiership muscles flexed – albeit with improvement in the tank.
Sydney Uni 6/189 defeated Northern Districts 7/188
( N Larkin 80, K Desai 55, T Ley 2/28, J Toyer 2/51)
Who would have guessed?, The sun was out, the gods were smiling, round 1 of a fresh season, and only 10 blokes in the nashball coliseum at 8.30am. Oh wait, 3mins later a bloke by the name of ‘hocus pocus’ hale magically appeared with the strut of a gladiator, but the excuse of a princess…it went something like this “sorry wardy my butler took too long to butter my crumpets, and my chauffer’s navmen broke down….” You get the drift, 1 case (premium as well, apparently he’s from Mosman if you don’t already know).
Heads was called, Tails fell, and the Sydney boys were sent out to pasture with the task of knocking off the opposition on a flat deck. Early spells from Tim ‘Lazy’ Ley and
Josh ‘Milkers’ Toyer didn’t wield much luck, but the boys maintained a sustained line and length to keep the opposition from cashing in on the short boundary.
Chris ‘potty mouth’ Withers also bowled well in tandem, however all three quicks were unable to earn the team an initial breakthrough. Entire Usain Bolt, sorry I mean Kevy ‘I have no black twitch fibre in me at all’ Desai who drew the false shot out of the ND’s batsmen to kick start the innings for the blue and gold’s. Kevy bowled with excellent patience, and along with his blood brother Sanjiv ‘left or right?’ Khalko, put a halt to the run scoring of the ND’s batsmen.
With the added pressure from all the bowlers, and the constant reminder from David ‘I am older then Methuselah’ Butchart that you can’t bat like a test match figurine and score runs at this level, we were able to restrict ND’s to a poultry score of 188. The added enthusiasm, energy and purpose in the field was excellent this week from all the boys, which provided us with an excellent platform to chase ND’s total in the afternoon. Ash ‘Beer Mat’ Cowan did an excellent job in the ring soaking everything up, and led the boys well in the field all day. For the greenies, if you seek clarification as to ash’s nickname, please see me after training without your parents and I will happily explain.
The lunch interval then proceeded, with an interesting mix of diets. Kevvy ‘butter chicken is my water’ Desai chose to load up on two chicken burgers, while Nick ‘Hocus Pocus’ Hale choose the supermodel diet of cigarettes, water and 1 pistachio nut. Each to their own I suppose. The resumption of play saw the boys start patiently, until Hocus was unfortunately runout trying to pinch a single on a no-ball. However, Haley must be commended for batting on with a swollen ankle, even though he managed to injure it while we were fielding.
From here, Ben, sorry I mean Nick ‘taco’ Larkin decided to cut the ND’s attack for fun. ND’s could’ve had all 9 blokes in the point region, however Nick would’ve still found a way to thread the fieldsmen. He batted with excellent patience and aggression throughout his innings, and deserved his well made 80. With a few hiccups along the way where Tim ‘Prince’ Harrington was unlucky judged LBW, and Dave ‘youthful’ Butchart was dismissed with a catch worthy of the classic variety, the Sydney boys were able to chase down ND’s total with 1 bonus point. Nick’s excellent innings was also complimented by an excellent 55 by Kevy ‘Usain’ Desai.
Overall, this was an excellent start to the season for the boys in 2’s and an excellent platform going into next week against the red and white.
dward
Uni 6-233 (Crowley 76 n.o, Stanley 50 n.o, B Larkin 38)
beat
Northern Districts 185 (Smith 2-22, Culkoff 1-16)
A great start to the season for the team with Crowley and Benson getting cases in early. The usual game of nash brought about a hammering by the ‘sunnies’ who put together many unanswered points. An inspired call from the new Skip allowed Uni first use of the road they call Asquith.
Jack ‘Red dickstickers’ Benson and Benny ‘shorter of the brothers’ Larkin set a brilliant platform racing to 60 from 11 overs. Larkin decided the best way to test his knee was to run quick singles and smash 4’s and in doing so he lost the ball.
This brought about a mini collapse of 5-17, with the replacement ball suddenly springing to life. The arrival of the super coach and his entourage of 3, brought some stability and from a precarious 5-79, some great batting from James ‘Slinky’ Crowley and Troy “Crofty’ Stanley reach 6-233. The only concern was the obvious ‘red inking’ going on in the last over.
The fielding from Uni was first class this week with 2 run outs and only 1 catch going down (technically it was caught until Jack ‘my ball’ Benson coat-hangered Michael ‘shout louder’ Culkoff).
The pressure was felt all the way through the innings and all bowlers got their first wicket of the season. Helpful hints from Troy “You’re in front of the stumps’ Stanley were overlooked and Brendan ‘look what happens when you bowl straight’ Smith claimed 2. The spinners were awesome with Stu ‘I meant to do that’ Maclean showing some clever thinking with his run out, and Hasi ‘respectable spectacles’ Balasuriya constantly confusing the batsmen.
A nice start to the season, especially getting that bonus point!
Dave
SUCC 7-218 beat ND 9-192
Most of the students had arrived by 830 Saturday morning, of the players missing one had recognised there was not enough room to swing a cat in the sheds at St.Pauls so our most notorious cat planned a late arrival. Of more concern was Nick ‘we don’t have the internet in Parkes’ Burke, who hadn’t been sighted all week and was still in the air come 830. Fortunately he arrived in time for the toss, which fell the way of the home team and we decided to bat first.
Mark ‘Thorpy’ Hackett and the skipper headed out. On a fairly docile track we made a steady start, Thorpy pounding a couple of glorious cover drives but continually attempted the upper cut, offering one chance to the slips cordon. He survived and we put on 55 by drinks, soon after I cue ended one back to the bowler.
AJ ‘just going for a quick sunbake’ Grant batted with purpose and style for a well made and refreshingly relaxed 27 and Dave ‘ Cindy’ Crawford unleashed for a hard hitting 35. All the while Mark ‘I kill mice for a living’ Hackett was still grafting away, falling victim in the 45th over for an awesome 77. Having battled concentration issues from about the 6th over, a dodgy hammy from about the 16th and generally having a body aged beyond his 23 years, to battle through like that was a worthy effort.
Dan ‘steps in dog poo’ Bragg finished off the innings with a quick 14 at the death.
The blokes all enjoyed Geoff’s catering service for lunch. I don’t think we can thank Geoff enough for his efforts already this season.
We then took to the field. Mark ‘Mo will call him silver’ Hackett defied his rapidly ageing body to take the new ball and made the opposition openers look pretty average. Nigel ‘Yellow Zoo York sweatbands are cool’ Cowell bowled well without luck and on another day would have had a couple of calls go his way. Jimmy ‘I sweat less than Thorpy’ Kazaglis bowled two solid spells.
Nolan ‘I bowl like dad’ Matthews bowled well and took a crucial wicket, as did Braggy who turned out a couple of sound overs and jagged 2 wickets at the right time. Cindy and AJ also bowled solid spells as required.
The result was probably closer than both sides realised, NDs were in the game most of the time but our energy and enthusiasm in the field strangled their chances and we kept them at arms length for the entire innings. Without doubt the guys all learned many valuable lessons from Greg ‘ I’m still making headlines’ Matthews about fielding, their role in the field and being alert and aware of the game situation and how to adapt and adjust.
Our fielding was greatly improved, 2 run outs and a number of close calls and very few misfields on a less than perfect surface was pleasing.
Good start to the year.
Skinns.
SUCC 5-216 M.Barwick 63, C.Dan 36 no, E.Freeman 35, J.Momsen 24 no
lost to Nth District 8-217 G.Metcalfe 3-51, J.Rodgers 2-22
in the last over.
We didn't do much wrong in this game...except to lose it!
A few misfields, one dropped catch...all that happens in almost any match. The opposition in this match gave us about 20 runs in the field and dropped 3 catches.
But...here's something to think about...we bowled 20 wides and 3 no balls...almost 4 extra overs and 23 extras presented to Nth Dist in a tight game. Despite this, we should still have won it. We played the better cricket and had the better players. so, we tossed away 6 comp points.
Our batting was responsible and we built momentum through the innings. we had 6 players making their Grade debut for University in this match and 2 of them, Chris Davey and Ed Freeman, looked sound openers, despite their cultured accents. Davey became the first Dutch Sth African to play for us since 1907 when the extravagantly named Jan Willoon van Rinfeld Hoets played a few games in 2nd grade!!! Chris played crisp shots and kept wickets impressively. Freeman batted sensibly and carefully. His navigation skills will improve as he plays more and travels to the far flung regions of Sydney and doesn't rely on Fethers for directions and he'll learn not to ask the captain after 30 overs in the field 'is this a real league match'!!
Michael Barwick hit 9 fours in the best innings of the day. He played with freedom that would not have been possible 2 seasons ago. He's worked hard and is an example to many others in the Club.
Chris Dan…36 from 33 balls...and 15 year old Jono Momsen added 59 in the last 10 overs to set up what should have been a winning target.
NDs were off to a flier...50 in 9 overs before Metro took the first 3 wickets to make them 3-79. Rodgers strangled the middle order and burgled the customary LBW. Fethers bowled a searching spell that deserved even better than 1-33 from 10 and at 8-182 with 7 overs to go, there should have been only one winner. To their credit, their 9th wicket pair batted calmly to finish the game with 3 balls left.