SUCC Metro v RP Gold
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1st Grade
Day One – Saturday October 4.
We arrived at Hurstville Oval to take on the defending premiers, the ground in its usual perfect condition. For good measure we had with us three of the successful second grade premiership team from six months earlier, including the stars of the final, Marty “My girlfriend is a speech pathologist, she’s helping me with my chat” Paskal and Theo,bald. Traditional Sydney September weather returned, turning the first two day fixture of the season into the first one-and-a-half day fixture.
To avoid (excessive) gloating, the nashball paragraph will be kept brief. Despite conceding size, speed and youth to the bottom five we prevailed. Theo produced the most passive display of adjudication since Billy Doctrove vanished into thin air while Darrel Hair called off a test match.
I lost the toss, again. If I can ascertain why, I’ll be a force on Anzac Day. In the mean time we’ll have to leave in to the quicks to argue over the probability of five tails in a row. Expect an answer pre-Christmas. We were sent in (predictably) on a hard pitch with a generous green tinge. (When the correspondent is dismissed inside the first twenty minutes, any other description is unlikely to be offered.)
Will “Whispers” Hay and Eddie C played with a great mix of purpose and judgement to compile 70 for the second wicket. In particular, Whispers’ driving was a feature. Moran and Cowan saw us through the gloom to stumps with solid defence and sharp running. Eddie’s tactic of simultaneously appealing against the light and discarding his helmet, in favour of the blue and gold cap, may need to be rethought.
2-132 at stumps. Excellent day’s work. I have us in the box seat.
GM
St George: 9 for 240 (dec) → C. Withers- 3/29, D. Miller- 2/31
Defeated Sydney Uni: 10 for 133 → D. Butchard- 45, D. Miller- 29
Following the hot and humid Thursday and Friday, this weekend was disappointingly wet. Most of Saturday was spent sitting in the sheds or playing extended games of touch/nash, as well as getting the covers on and off. Eventually the day was called and we were set for 120 overs on Monday.
The skies looked threatening again Monday, but with less rain than Saturday we were set for a full day’s play of cricket. Nash was Jennifer Hawkins v Miranda Kerr, with Hawko’s team coming out on top. Ward won the toss and sent the Dragons in to bat. Josh “talks a little too much like his brother” Toyer struggled to find his line and length, giving the batsmen freebies each over, while Chris “pottymouth” Withers bowled with great control to snare two wickets, both bowled. Dave “MILF” Miller bowled well in tandem with Chris, darting the ball around off the wicket and picked up 2 wickets for himself, both from batsmen shouldering arms. However, St George should have been more wickets down, had we held the half chances that kept coming our way. Kevin “07” Desai trapped their skipper in front, Withers bowled their English import, and we were on top at 7 for 119. At this point our intensity dropped as we expected the last 3 wickets to fall without lifting a finger. Their tail-enders dug in, we kept dropping our chances and suddenly 7 for 119 turned into 9 for 240 off 69. The declaration left us 51 overs to get the runs- definitely achievable giving the wicket had flattened out considerably and Uni 2 is a fairly small ground.
The run chase started badly- where St George played and missed, we caught the edge and gave their slips cordon catching practice. At 4 for 24 and reeling, Deef Miller and Dave “Angry Man” Butchard steadied the ship with a solid partnership. Both put away the bad balls and were getting on top of the bowling. Cue bad LBW decision by the umpire, wanting to get himself into the game after 95 overs with little to do. Miller out, Butch danced down the track once too often to their left arm offy, Wardy’s charge-block-miss saw him stumped as well. At 8 for 105 the game was clearly theirs to be won now, but Kevvy “that’s disgusting” Desai battled through a sore groin with JT to put up a last resistance to a St George victory. However, with 10 overs left to play and night falling quickly, Toyer fell to an errant sweep and Kev was trapped in front. Game over, and St George walk away with 6 points not necessarily deserved.
During the game Geoff “everywhere man” de Mesquita decided to attack a knife with his finger and had to go to hospital to get stitches. Of course he made it back to the ground, only to see 2nds be defeated. Maybe better to lose this way now, but more application is needed in all aspects of the game in the following rounds if twos are going to play a part in the finals this season.
JT
Sydney University 7/153 (Huw McKay 55) defeated St George 6/152(dec) Andy Greene 2/33
Saturday saw the students arrive at the picturesque, yet velodrome-less Harold Fraser, but with no groundsman, no Benson or Smash. As Withers and Crowley took interest in the events the TAB had to offer, the covers were being removed. Three centimetres of grass above the surface left people asking questions. A muddy square prevented any chance of play, and we were sent home with the thought of coming back to St George at 8:30, leaving Jack “I don’t waaaanna keep” Benson calculating the time he would need to leave Whale Beach, come Monday morning. AWESOME!
We arrived on Monday to actually have a groundsman, still no Benson or Cowan! The pitch, spotted with damp areas every foot, saw play start at 1pm, with the toss having a strong influence on the result.
Winning and bowling, the students had a tough early session with lofted balls and drives hitting the gaps. Troy “Billy Joel” Stanley had no luck with his hooping inswingers, while Michael “nobody quick enough” Culkoff (1/29) saw one too many edges on either side of gully. Then entered Andy “for F***’s sake” Greene (2/33), who troubled the batsmen from ball one with teasing line and length, perhaps unlucky not to have a few more in his bag.
With the pitch having not as much luck for the quicks as hoped, the skipper called upon the spinners who bowled in good areas, but seemed a fieldsman short, with balls dropping just short or wide, on numerous occasions. Sanjiv “I love getting to know the grass, with some roux in my stew” Khalko ended with 1/19 with many balls beating the bat, and Hasitha “I hate glasses” Balasuriya picked up 1/28.
With the visitors ending up on 6/152 dec., the students had a minimum of 38 overs to get the runs. The pitch was now very St Pauls-esque, with bowlers only to be rewarded with good line and length. From the start, the openers didn’t seem too keen on waiting for another shower to disrupt play, or in Benson’s case, his first shower in days! The top order were not as felicitous (thank you Senior Analyst McKay) as the opposition, with Ben “the shorter one” Larkin being the standout. Playing strongly through the off side, he ended up with 19 (1x 4), which would have been a lot more with a less mulched outfield.
It was the middle order who decided to step up and take control, with Huw “well... to be honest, the innings is a blur” McKay smoking horns to the square leg region on six occasions in quick succession. After multiple in the first over, I think the bowler was too surprised that he had another chance! However, Huw didn’t seem to agree, finishing with 55 (6 x 6s, 2 x 4s) and putting the students in a commanding position, before being dismissed to a freakish outfield catch. A mention must go out to Troy “just block the short ones and the full toss and wait for the... you know what? You seem to be going ok Huw, so play your own game. Yeah” Stanley, who played a remarkable innings at the non-strikers end, with glorious drives and solid defensive strokes, (before facing a ball,) for his shadow to enjoy. A further add to the score was instigated by an unnamed, yet shamed St George quick, helping the students with a 22 run over, consisting of approximately 18 balls!
Culkoff (19, 1 x 4) and Khalko (18, 3 x 4) were left to finish off the runs with 3 wickets in hand. They played calm, sensible cricket, while their running between the wickets was questionable at times! Bringing the winning runs with solid drive into the gap, the team celebrated their victory, now with two wins going into round 3.
Well done lads!
Hasi