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1st Grade
Sydney University 2/143 (Will Hay 60*, Ed Cowan 60*) defeated North Sydney 140 (Mark Cameron 5-14, Ian Moran 2/19) with 1bonus point.
A Saturday morning that signalled to many grade cricketers in Sydney an end to all faith whatsoever in the weather and the attempted pepsi challenge as the temperature proceeded to climb steadily on a morning of blistering sunshine after a few days of rain. The panic button would have been red hot around the grounds for those challenge takers, except for those playing at Waitara in which it is still raining.
The morning nash session saw the not so inspirational return of Ed “shit tactics” Cowan to the top 6, after some dismal performances from the bats in the past few weeks no amount of chat or tactics was going to make up for lack of skill and poise around the nash circuit.
A tightly contested game ensued with the reputation of the top 6’s finishing ability being demolished with sum lacklustre movements. The bowlers toiled hard and it was with solid defence that the game was set up with safe to say one of the greatest nash movements ever seen at number 1 with Spud Carroll barrelling through the sticks after a speculator from junior snuff found the mark.
The bowlers have asserted their recent dominance and have no plans to let up in the coming weeks.
The stickiness of the day was evident with both the stench of Nick “Pepi” Dunford and the profuse sweating of Sydney Uni’s own Will “puddle maker” Hay. Liam Gerg decided to finally win a toss after refusing to do so in previous months and asked the bears to hit them on a wicket made of blu –tack. The glods were sporting a formidable attack with the helmet rattler doing good work early in which he did cost I.T.S. “guys getting a good old mixed grill is funny” Morgan another dollar for what was thought to be mandatory banter after another helmet crash.
Cameron Mark and John Cowell Moran worked hard to have norths a couple down for not alot going into the drinks break. Scotty finished with the figures of 2/19 in his masterclass of off spin bowling at the death and there was good support from Nick “No ball” Dunford and Sherb “massive house lurker” Ley. The two “west Indian nudie bowlers” Mitch “oversize armguard” Cook and TK slowed the scoring rate which led to some reckless strokeplay and important wickets. The poles were being shared around before an inspired spell from Mark “genuine medos” Cameron cleaned up the tail as the bottom order proceeded to miss straight ones to finish with the reasonable figures of 5/14 and the North Sydney Beers were towelled up for 140 within the 46th over.
A longer than usual half time break was very noticeable with the opening pair of Mathematician Gerg and Albions new marquee signing very keen to stride to the crease and to hopefully complete a successful run chase which would see the dents take the points and maybe a bonie or two. The chase didn’t start with the greatest of ease with Scotty and Maily being dismissed with the score below 20. Enter Thunder Thighs Hay and Edwardo who reserructed the scoring with attacking flair and good running between the wickets. With the target approaching the scoring rate was lifted and the dents are more than happy to take home the points +1 with the two lads unbeaten on 60 respectively.
A good all around performance that was shown on the field was mirrored in the fines meeting with possibly a season record haul of cash saw the wallets of Ian” poorly kept female legs” Moran empty and the regular suspects whose weekly wages are surely not sufficient to cover such costs.
A well earned win.
Sydney Uni 3-137 Defeated Nth Sydney 133 all out with 2 bonus points
A.Theobald 39 Not out, M. Faraday 39, N.Larkin 30
M.Culkoff 3/17 (8overs), M.Paskal 2/36 (10overs), K.Desai 2/39 (10overs) N.Cowell 2/39 (8overs) and J.Toyer 1/12 (10overs)
With the good guys losing their last 2 games by the narrowest of margins, the Ward boys were keen to get back to their winning ways and cement a spot in the top 6 by performing strongly in the 2 rounds before xmas break…..We’ve achieved first goal and knocked over the Bears with Maximum points to the ‘good guys’ – It was “high quality cricket” all round and a good team performance.
The day began with the scribe misjudging his ETA from Tama to Bon Andrew’s, and as such, missed a little nash! All good, as I am sure the case will go down well this Saturday after the game and on Sunday for the SUCC Xmas party.
With a delayed start at 1030am, the Lebanese bus driver won the toss and elected to bowl first on an overcast and humid morning. The good guys started strongly with Hector and JT both grabbing a wicket each in their first over and our ‘twin’s combo’ continued to bowl good areas for the rest of their opening spell without much luck. ‘junior-beampoll’ aka Nigel (really needs a nickname asap) Cowell bowled in good areas with his first spell while the other good guy, with a tail growing from the back of his head snared a cheeky 3, ‘for fun’ in his opening spell which left the bears struggling at 5/60 odd around the halfway mark. The ‘mango/butterchicken’ aka Kevin Desai bowled 10 straight and was good enough to collect 2 poles for his troubles. Hector came back for a short burst to claim his second wicket, followed by JT who finished his quota of 10 over’s for only 12 runs and bowled well without much luck, his twin followed suit and finished well with his 3 over’s that were left. ‘Junior beam-poll’ finished the bears off with 2 well disguised off-break slower balls, which had both batsmen well deceived with flight and turn. Wardy collected 3 catches and made some solid tackles to a few dying deliveries throughout the Innings…
With a solid lunch for all courtesy of captain cranky and the little one they call ALF and the sun arriving on schedule as the openers Larko and Rig walked out to bat. The pair batted well early on and both looked solid at 0/50 until Rig “this is what you look like after 32km on the bike and 22km running a week’ bbq’d himself, by running himself out for 19…a big score is just around the corner for the guy with 2 first names, hopefully at the Parramatta bowling attacks expense. Alf was promoted to number 3 to get the score moving along quickly towards the bears total within 25 over’s and subsequently told Nick Larkin to get him on strike, larko looking good on 30 and happy to obliged, he pushed the ball to mid on, looking for a quick one, only to be sent back by the little man who must have been thinking about his next marlin….
Enter T Bone, who combined with ALF and smoked the bears attack to all parts of the ground with some ‘top quality’ cricket shots. T-bones cover drives were exquisite to watch and Alf’s horn over mid-off was one of the better shots of the day…ALF was stumped looking for 1 more boundary to take us to a win in the 22nd over, which left butch to finish the job with a regulation clip off the pads for 4 when the scores were tied after smoking a cover drive for 3 on the previous over.
All in all, it was a solid performance by the ‘Good guys’ who are now in outright 5th place, hopefully we can take this momentum into Parramatta on Saturday and cement our spot in the top 6 before the xmas break….. As we all know ‘chicks love it’!
Culks
Sydney University, 6 for 127. Win on first innings with 1 bonus point
North Sydney, 7 for 126. Loss on first innings
Outstanding Performances:
Sydney University (1st inn) S Sivapalan 24 J Crowley 23no J Walsh 23
North Sydney T Stanley 2-18 M Hackett 2-25
They say ‘a team’s character is demonstrated by the things they do off the field, rather than on it… Well Saturday really did typify that ideology. With No. 2 looking more like the Lakes than a cricket field, the boys had a bit of work to do.
Upon arrival at the ground, the North Sydney skipper (and a handful of teenagers who claimed to be his team mates) was adamant that we would be wasting our time to stick around and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
However, the Director of all things important was as determined to get a game underway and subsequently set his loyal followers into action to dry up the Lakes. This started with him proving just how keen he was on 6-points (or better), by sucking on a hose to extract the still water on the back 9. If you have ever smelt a carcass that has been dead for more than a week, that was the stench from that puddle (small lake). With that lead the anti was stepped up by 9 of the 11, with the two team members that are more accustomed to working on the grounds, assuming their usual positions in the shed! After about an hour of sweat and toil, we had something that represented a cricket field. A tribute to the efforts of the team, and a huge rap for Ray and his men!
At 1.30pm, the toss was won by North Sydney who elected to bat, again a tribute to Ray’s expertise and to the cricketing nous of our opposition. And did we get off to a great start with a wicket of the 4th ball, which was a No-ball, from experienced veteran Stanley (Idiot)! The first breakthrough came from the Hack Attack, who soon after followed up with his second. Stanley’s second over went for 11 which included a ball into the only puddle of water left near the boundary, and subsequently there was little swing from there on. Quality cricketer that one!
Much of the remaining of the North Sydney innings reflected a Test Match rather than a 32 over slog fest. However, credit to the bowlers, notably Big Guns MacLean who made many a batsmen look stupid with the drop he was getting on the ball and Luetenant Daen who made a fitting debut in 3rd grade, still pondering his exploits from his second stint at schoolies, flying in that morning.
Mention must also go to “Two Touch” Walsh who stopped everything in the mud at short cover, yet failed to pick up a ball cleanly all day, a thought that will linger in “Big Guns” memory, for years to come (well, at least until the Christmas party). He did however look the part and ready for any sponsor requiring endorsement. Trust me this kid is very marketable!
In the end, the Bears ended with 126, which gave us 16 overs to get 2 bonus point or 24 overs for one.
The innings started well with two batsmen way too good for 3rd grade, in the return of Sooda the missile and the Scot, Richy Branson, who both played the conditions straight out of a Wisden Almanac (?), playing straight, punishing the short ball and running well through excellent placement of the ball. Both were dismissed attempting to up the run rate. With the platform laid, the next objective was two bonus points, requiring about 8 an over. This however brought a run of cheap wickets and at 5 down, and running short on overs the likelihood of even one bonus point was looking slim.
Two Touch Walsh and Slinky (those stairs are hard to walk down) Crowley steadied the ship, with the later taking on a Mick Hussey-esque innings in turning over the strike and pumping the crap, and TT steadily becoming more aggressive as the innings went on pounding a couple of big horns in the process.
With 4 balls remaining to get 5 runs for the bonus point, TT was dismissed attempting to do it in one. Enter Hack Attack who swung big for the first ball, for no result, then again for the 2nd, this time getting a tickle and receiving four for his efforts.
Slinky then casually notched up the remaining run to get us the bonus point and a clear 10-point lead from Easts who did not get on.
Oh yeah,… the old blokes won Nash…. Again!
Let’s get ready to party!
Plucka
Sydney University 205 ( Matt Skinner 67 Josh Lawrence 40) lost to North Sydney 7/208 (Josh Lawrence 2/29 Dave Crawford 2//45)
An astonished group of students arrived at a good looking Tunks, surprised at how rapidly the weather had turned around overnight. With play scheduled for 11am, a brief trip for brekkie was in order. Highlight of the season so far (food-wise) was the bacon & egg rolls and caramel slice at Cammeray. Good Cricketing Food!
Nash- As is customary the more experienced batsmen were given the extra man, but were found wanting. A low scoring affair until brilliant play by Swollen “Closet Bogan” Matthewsand Dougal, capped off with a 5-pointer sealed it for the good guys. However Nolan’s good play was heavily overshadowed by a horrific new hairstyle. Honourable mention to Hickey in a losing effort, who in his own words “makes this team look hot”. Appropriate dollars were noted for later payment.
Game- Toss was lost and we field first. Good deck with a bit in it early; would have to make the most early before the heat and humidity take their toll. With the Barometer heading north, Carbs challenged Jimmy for the battle of World’s Sweatiest man, and in a rare turn of events, Peaks overthrew the favourite for the win. Solid start by Jimmy Kazag who got it to nip both ways early, and Joshy who bowled tidy areas. First wicket fell to Hickey, another followed quickly to the Brazilian. Nolan bowled a tidy ten picking up 1-30. Uni boys well on top heading into the business end of the innings, with Norths 3-80 after 30. Joshy kept the pressure on grabbing a couple in the process, but expensive overs from 30-40, and a good finish saw Norths reach 7-208 from their time, leaving a much needed six points in sight. Commendations to Ash for excellent fielding; Keep on trucking young man! By this stage the deck is rock solid and the outfield and quickened a bit, high chances of a good chase to follow.
Decent start from the Human Sightscreen and Rare-man Jordan, but a feather sees Jordan done with the score at 20-odd. Surly Duff continued to play attractive shots, and decided to admire them, as running between wickets was no longer desirable or necessary (whether or not the ball reached the fence). According to Skins, the attack was ‘just too predictable’, as he and Eddie cruised at run-a-ball. Looking more than good for at halfway, couple of quick wickets slowed things down. Skins caught in the deep, while Eddie got his dancing shoes on to give their leggie his second, dismissed for 67 and 32 respectively. Smash belts a couple then departs, and Jimmy gets a good one early to leave the Students 5-145 at second drinks. Still looking good for it, but another wicket slows proceedings. Excellent batting from Junior Lawrence and Dougal “Doesn’t everyone own a horse?” Robinson saw the Uni Boys back on track and once again looking at six points. A freak wide ball and the wind not in his favour, Dougal was caught in the most unlucky manner at deep backward point.
7 down with 20 required; tight finish to ensue. Craw nicks one with ten required, then Nolan out with 5 from 16 required with one in hand. Enter B.Peacock who will require a clean pair of jocks after this is all done. 4 from 9 to win; ball hit to the field, misfield, YES is the call, ball whipped in, bails removed, one head hung very low; Uni all out 205. Devastating loss, where we really shot ourselves in the foot several times, with the ending rubbing salt in the wound. Many good things to take away, the highlight being Josh Lawrence scoring an exceptional 40 in the death without scoring a boundary (this to accompany his 2 poles in a miserly bowling effort). We’ll be looking to make amends for this one next week.
Benny Peacock
Fun Fact; an average six pack of beer contains as many carbs as half a loaf of bread….