SUCC 1st - 5th Grade v Campbelltown.
SUCC Metro v Blacktown.
SUCC PG's v Gordon.
SUCC Green Shield v Gordon.
SUCC Sunday League v ?
SUCC City and Suburban v ?
The "Max Bonnell Golden Pen Award" points tally
1st grade | 2nd grade | 3rd grade | 4th grade | 5th grade | 6th grade | PG's | Green Shield | City and Suburban | Sunday League
The Students arrived bright and early on a sunny Saturday morning at number one oval, eager to bounce back after a lackluster batting performance Vs North Sydney saw the side continue their horrid streak versus teams vying for relegation rather than top six honours. Outsiders have remarked that the Dents seem to switch on and off depending on the paper strength of the opposition, citing complacency and over-confidence as the reasons why the Good Guys haven’t been able to shrug off their bogey a la Tom ‘Adro’ Kierath and his penchant for afternoon teatime. Nonetheless, it was certainly a more humble Uni outfit which took the field ready for the usual Nash-Ball stoush between the industrious batsmen and ever-improving bowling outfit, having had more than one team member told during the week that their usefulness as significant other had expired. Fortunately for team morale, the students were buoyed by news that the change in Dave ‘Dr Hibbert’ Miller’s relationship status during the week would finally see him relinquish the title of ‘second best cricketer in his relationship’. Not surprisingly though, the batting team’s fragile mindset was exposed by the bowlers during Nash, with much-feared enforcers Josh ‘the uncanny offspring of Jim Kazaglis and Adam Theobold’ Toyer and Tom ‘before and after’ Kierath not even asked to inflict physical injury to bring about a victory for the perennial underdogs.
Indeed, it seemed that luck wasn’t to be on the side of the batsmen this day, with Cheese calling correctly out in the middle, and telling an unsurprised Chalk that his McDonalds-sponsored men would bowl the first ball on a wicket which offered up more hidden perils than the training paddock did for Scott ‘Bubble Boy’ Henry during his first season with the Students. Thankfully, Scooter managed to survive this particular innings unscathed, and helped the Students clamber to a more than competitive 171 after the “ghosts seem to have the Students spooked early”, with handy contributions also coming from our sun-kissed English recruit CJ, and ‘Sulieman’ Ben Larkin, who seemingly decided to reconcile his recent run-ins with the picket fences of Sydney’s grade cricket grounds by keeping his distance out in the middle of the ground. The same could not be said for this scribe, who, upon returning to the pickets far earlier than hoped, performed a long and sustained self-administered exorcism which will no doubt be the main topic of agenda during this Thursday’s bible study session. Fortunately, the final overs of the innings were much less macabre, with the Parrot declaring to all and sundry that 150 was more than enough prior to a batting display which was more laissez faire than the demeanor of one wedding guest who donned short-longs, sandals and a double-extra large Hawaiian shirt to the lunchtime ceremony.
As fate would have it, Party Maskal’s prediction seemed spot on, with the lunchtime spectacle followed by the bowler formerly known as John continuing to defy the incessant marching of Father Time to grab an early pole with the first rolling-over of his arthritis-free arm. The work of the wrinkle-free one was then consolidated by impressive spells from ‘the bloke from that new lynx deodorant ad’ and Greg ‘the oldest graduate banker in Sydney’ Mail, leaving the boys in the yellow pads reeling at 5 for 60 at the first break for refreshments. Indeed, little changed after the break with the Good guys finishing off a solid bowling performance to rout the Ghosts for 130, bonus point and all. All the bowlers chipped in, with the quickies incisive at the top, leaving TK to sniff around like a bad smell for two wickets at the bottom. Seven points and an ugly win, but nevertheless a performance which highlights the amount of improvement left in the outfit as we charge headlong into two months of very important cricket.
SUCC 8-222 (S. Sivapalan 83) Def Campbelltown 185 (H. Balusuriya 2-29, J. Kazaglis 2-31, B. Smith 2-34)
The Units arrived at University No. 2 desperate to maintain our post-Christmas winning momentum and equally looking forward to seeing what shape our fearless leader, Daniel “I’ve spent the last 2 weeks in the Greek Islands…..on ‘business’!” Ward, would be in after an overnight flight from Athens.
Nash, as usual, wasn’t even a contest. The old brigade ran up their 23rd consecutive victory against opposition that includes such notables as Hasi ‘Benji’ Balusuriya, AJ ‘if I can’t convert in Perth, no one can’ Grant, and Jack ‘Stop lusting after my missus, BJ’ Hammond.
How on earth we keep winning is anybody’s guess….the subliminal understanding between Mr (Suda) & Mrs (Mark) Hackett probably helps, although their post-game celebrations don’t do much to dispel the notion that they wouldn’t be out of place in a Village People clip
Greeted with a green strip and minus a keeper and skipper, stand-in coin flipper BJ won the toss and elected to bat
As has been the case all season, the top order failed to convert on their starts, with the exception of Suda, who battled through the tough conditions and played himself back into form with a fine 83. Some lower order contributions from AJ, still on a high from making new Facebook friends in Perth, and JK, chuffed that S. Bags batted in front of him at North Sydney, saw our total climb to a very defendable 8-222 off our 50
In other news, and despite a preparation consisting of no sleep and Ouzo at 30,000 ft, D. Ward inexplicably failed to trouble the scorers. Shock me!
Defending 222, the veteran new ball combo of Jimmy ‘Puddles’ Kalzooglis and BJ ‘can I play you into form please’ Smith bowled……and found the middle of the bat regularly! At 0-70 off 16 overs things were looking a trifle shaky. Enter Hasi ‘That’s Doctor Hasi to you’ Balusuriya. Following a lean spell pre-Xmas, the little man decided to add a new trick to his arsenal, the ‘clap while appealing’ appeal. Clearly not having witnessed this before, the ZZ-Top cover band umpire reacted favourably to Hasi’s first 2 LBW appeals and our clapping leggie had brought us back into the contest
A tidy spell from Mark ‘Pheromones’ Hackett, some clean catching, and the re-introduction of the old firm, JK & BJ, saw the Ghosties lose 5 quick wickets. The one recognised (I’m being very kind here) batsman remained their skipper, who mixed numerous plays and misses with the odd one out of the middle, much to the delight of his one fan in the crowd, Ms Shirley Tinker, who erupted into orgasmic screaming each time a ball cleared the pickets
His dismissal, however, brought howls of another kind, when said skipper was out caught during what appeared to be Mark ‘bed time, Suda!’ Hackett’s 11th over.
Clearly our scorer extraordinaire, Mr Sivapalan Snr, distracted by his son’s blossoming bromance, had made an innocent error. But that didn’t stop an angry skipper from re-entering the arena and asking the umpires if it was cool for him to continue his dig. Mistaking himself for an umpire (or perhaps just keen to make a contribution of some kind on an otherwise TFC day), Pegsy let the Campbelltown skip know that his services were no longer required and if he could kindly find his way to the pavilion, we would all get along famously…
With his dismissal went Campbelltown’s chances and the 3rd grade juggernaut marched to their first back-to-back victories of the year…..
Something tells me a three-peat is on the cards against Fairfield next week. Prediction – Students to win in a nail-biter
Sydney Uni 7/247 (J Hill 110*, C Cull 30, J Larkin 27) def Campbelltown 10/200 (D Crawford 4/55, B Joy 3/45, C Cull 2/45)
What with there being a bit of midweek precipitation and a chance of early rain Saturday morning, it was no surprise that one Peter Epsi wasn’t far away on Friday (Note for young players, Mr P. Epsi is the macost for the Pepsi Corporation/all round good guy/the devil himself). This fact coupled with the Rig having the most ever “life bans overturned” at licensed establishments (greater than 50 at the last count) meant that resident bookmaker Dave “make sure you check with me BEFORE you put your hard-earned on my horse so I can let you know whether it’ll actually be trying today” Crawford would have had the odds of a Friday night Pepsi being shorter than usual for your scribe and compatriots, however responsibility won out in the end and Mr Epsi was last seen sniffing dejectedly around the front door of upstairs Cargo with his pal Pat Malone…
Having repaid Theo’s generous provision of a lift with the following incorrect directions:
- Yeah I’ve played there a few times before and I’m pretty sure it’s the second exit;
- this doesn’t look very familiar but I’m confident:
- you’d better look it up on your iphone;
- I’m pretty sure well be ok anyway; and
- we’re cooked.
There was a bit of trepidation felt as your scribe turned up to God’s Country oval No.2 at the Dave Butchart Playing Fields that a case would be in order, but fortunately the late rules are a bit more relaxed in 4’s compared to 2’s, and my tardiness went unpunished (bad luck Theo, I’ll chip in for a share of your case)… Nashball was experience vs ignorance and once again the form book held true, as the whelps were beaten mercilessly by their superiors. I’m not too sure of the final score, but it was somewhere in the order of Cowan 3-2 young nuffs, and the numerous appeals by the young for points against some pretty contentious decisions by the old fell on deaf ears. A period of inspired play was the difference in the end, as one player took it upon himself to take the game by the scruff of the neck and claim victory for his team through sheer class (for further details just ask Ben Joy, as it could have been him if he had a bit more pace and game awareness). This really is becoming monotonously routine, and the youngsters are strongly encouraged to attend Nashball training through the week to work on some serious deficiencies in their ‘game’…
And on to the cricket.
The toss was lost by Captain Bragg and the units were sent in on a fairly under-prepared wicket to post a score. Some injudicious strokeplay saw a couple of wickets fall early and this brought Jack ‘Schoolboy Hero’ Hill and Jum Lerkin to the crease. What followed was a solid period and both picked apart the bowling with relative ease and pushed the score along until Lerkin fell for 27. Josh ‘she looks pretty good from here but when you get up close she’s probably got 2 teeth or something’ Lawrence and Crawford chipped in with a few each and Charlie ‘the sheep are wearing wedding rings so its alright’ Cull batted with aplomb to post 30 (including an all run 5) and he built another quality partnership. The day, however, belonged to Jack’n’Jill who was clearly a class (several classes) above the opposition. The ball was worked and belted to all parts of the field, and it was a joy to watch for those who were left to ponder what might have been whilst dispatching the crossword on the sidelines (big shout out to Braggy’s old man – amanuensis, outrageous form). Jack, despite not acknowledging his 50, went on to post an immaculate 110* and the units could be quite pleased to reach almost 250 when it could have been much less on a pitch that played pretty well in the end.
The ghosts came out with intent and the 2 openers put on a solid stand to have the units behind the 8 ball, however it was an inspired over from the circuiteer Ben Joy which yielded 3 wickets and changed the game back in our favour (including an absolute screamer of a catch one-handed at gully off a ball that was popped up off the bat and travelling at 1km/h. Think someone lobbing the ball from slip to cover and you’ve just about got it, however those catches can look difficult if you (don’t) know what you’re doing, and just like Ian Moran’s wickets, someone’s gotta take ‘em). Despite some partnerships developing through the innings, wickets fell at regular intervals and the Ghosts were always a little bit behind in the chase. Some late order hitting and lacklustre bowling and fielding made the contest much closer than it could have been, and in the end the units took the points by taking the last wicket with the score at 200. Dave ‘the horse whisperer’ Crawford took 4 wickets and Charlie Cull and Braggy also bowled well to pick up the rest. 6 points to the good guys and the song was sung with gusto, however we are probably still a song sheet or 2 short for the young blokes. Maybe they could incorporate singing practice into their Nashball practice through the week…
Cheers,
Smash
Metro Cup match report vs Blacktown
The morning was warm. A perfect excuse for Skins versus Shirts Nash? The Skipper thought so. The game started with some poor skills from Jono “Gew” Momsen and Dave Gatt. This begged the question, were either of them listening when “Do you know the rules?” was asked. The Skins started strongly with a pass through but their lead was short lived. Michael “rowdy” Barwick was instrumental in a kick through to put the shirts into the lead and kept his all-round performance up for the rest of the game with many vital two touches to put his team in a good position. Frustration riddled the Skins team with inexperienced players like Dave Gatt making rookie errors throughout the game. From a change over there was a break that, with a classic draw and pass, lead to a run through for Alex “sticks” Logan of the Shirts. Despite the controversial tactics of the Skins they could not hit back and the score was left at 7-1, a strong victory for the Shirts. The showing off of their pecks and 6 packs proved little help to the cause of the Skins.
The game began with Steve “Green frog” opening the bowling. Some dubious decisions were made by the Blacktown umpire and some thought this game may replicate the pre Christmas Metro Cup game against Penrith but “The Green frog” persisted and picked up two wickets in his tidy spells. Will “hand grenade” Shirvington opened at the other end and managed to tie up the opening batsmen. Will had no luck with his bowling until he tried a long hop in his final spell. In the field he showed brilliance to let a ball roll through his legs travelling at less then a swift pace. Will was replaced by the “red hot” Greg Metcalfe. Metcalf persisted despite some tough decisions and picked up two in two balls to bring former SUCCer Travis “genius?” McKenna to the crease on the hat trick ball. Not even Michael “Rowdy” Barwick could be heard when the boys came back from drinks and Greg “hat trick” Metcalf looked for his second hat trick in as many weeks. The ball flew past the bat, simply too good to be edged by the genius. Greg “I used to average 38 with the bat before I came to Uni” Metcalfe ended up with 3 wickets. Alex “for a second I thought I wasn’t wearing any pants” Logan got the ball in his hand and after a maiden over pulled up with a side injury that prevented him from ripping into the middle order. But Dave “McKenna” Gatt was handed the ball and picked up his “brother’s” wicket, apparently given out as caught/LBW? He went on the claim another wicket with roaring pace that at times was too good for any Blacktown batsmen. Paul “Holmes a court” Bertelle brought himself on for an over and that was enough. He was replaced by Simon “ARGH” Cowan. Simon bowled really tight and was unlucky to not have more than the one wicket he picked up. The Uni boys let it slide a little but kept the Blacktown side to all out for 210.
Alex Logan and Michael Barwick opened the batting. They made a great start to be 33 off 8 overs before Alex “I didn’t move my feet” Logan decided to miss a straight one. Paul Bertelle looked good but edged a ball onto the wicket, which brought Will “high school sweet heart” Shirvington to the crease. Michael “yeerrs” Barwick and Will “argument” Shirvington batted the Uni boys into a good position before Will got a little too confident and was bowled, although he did hit a good horns into the Momsen car before departing for 38. Jarrod “watermelon” Waterlow then departed for quick fire 14. Michael “I want my hundred” Barwick brought up his fifty and realised he needed to get on with the show to reel in another ton. He got a little ambitious and was bowled for 81 but still had steered the innings along and just like in Nash controlled the game from the start. Simon “not out” Cowan and Jono “too easy” Momsen once again finished off the job for the Uni boys, both remaining not out at the end of the day.
A good win for Uni. The team song was well lead by Rowdy Barwick! Our Metro Cup team is on a roll and aiming to continue their good form all the way into the finals.
Alexander Logan