SUCC 1st - 5th Grade v Manly Warringah.
SUCC Metro v UNSW Black.
PG's v UNSW.
SUCC City and Suburban v Beavers.
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
Day 1
Another easy victory for the batters in Nash. It really is getting boring, although taking a beer off Tim “I’m goalkeeper and still score all of my team’s points” Ley provides solace for what only can be described as a monotonous 15 minutes at the start of the day.
The Corso’s went into lunch in a commanding position at 1-120 odd. It was tough conditions to bowl in prior to lunch as the wicket was not offering a great deal, but the boys bowled relatively tidily and were happy with the mornings work. After lunch turned into the Greg “I can’t believe Hector has more O’Reilly points than me” Mail show. He bowled a superb spell of reverse swing bowling, ending up with the remarkable figures of 5-16 from ten overs. The nerds knocked the Beachies overs for an underwhelming (sorry Milf) score of 198. At stumps we were 0-47. The last ball of the day caused some commotion with Mail being hit on the pads seemingly in front of middle but it’s amazing what happens when you wear your state helmet out to bat….
Day 2
With Scott “Libra Fleur” Henry out for another 3 weeks due to a sore pinkie or little toe, or something, Nash was a 5 on 5 affair. Different day same result. Moran takes a beer off Ley (Despite him impersonating big Screech and trying to say the canteen did not sell beer. Cheers Tim. Keep them coming). Will “My thighs are too big to pull my jeans up to a respectable height over my bucket” Hay and Mail set about the run chase very quickly. Billy hit one out of the ground second over. It was a sign of things to come. Horns were aplenty, even from the man who is mistaken for one of the stumps on a regular basis. We passed the total without the loss of a wicket to rapturous applause from the rest of the team…Mail was first to hit his ton. Only his 27th in first grade as he edges towards 10,000 first grade runs. The Troll Doll made slightly harder work of the task. He has some demons to fight, not only ones that come out in cab rides to the Columbian with Morgs on Mardi Gras night, but he got through them and managed to lift another one over the fence to take him to three figures. The boys broke the all time record for an opening partnership, and their stand finally came to an end on 324 when Mail chipped one up in the air off the hapless Voldemort. It was a magnificent spectacle to watch and one that has given the side some good momentum leading into the coming rounds. The rest of us battlers are looking forward to a hit in the coming weeks….
Ian Moran
Day 1
Syd Uni 5/163 (A. Theobald 49, N. Larkin 36, C. Jones 30). Manly 156 (T. Kierath 3/28, J. Toyer 3/43)
The Uni boys arrived at Sydney’s premier 2nd grade ground a.k.a Uni No. 2 eager to make it 3 wins on the trot, although this time in much more definitive fashion. Nick ‘The Seagull’ Larkin greeted yours truly with a typical attempted marlin pertaining to the fact I owed a case, claiming it was a 9am meet rather than 9.30am. The pathetic attempt was dismissed appropriately with contempt and the ‘Man with the Monoab’ retreated to his shallows.
The day’s proceedings began with the customary game of Nash with the very young, handsome youngsters taking on the elderly, time-ravaged faces of the oldies. The Captain of the Young Pups, your scribe, assumed the post as gatekeeper with a damaged hindquarter. A rare occurrence it was to see the ball in these deserted plains of the Nash-ball arena, with the young pups dominating possession, carving up the old has-beens with dynamic ball play through the guts of the defence. Chris ‘I’ll win the game for you gain boys’ Withers was simply breathtaking in attack, with admiral support from Larko, despite poor anatomical knowledge of the whereabouts of his waist. The demolition was complete with TK saying ‘lets have a stretch’ and the Young Pups gladly outlaying the $3 fine to the old boys. It is poignant to note that the old boys lack of cheating and foul play in this edition of Nash coincided with a heavy defeat. Last weeks tantrum by myself was not in vain. Cheers. Special mention goes to Nick ‘Outswinging Bean’ Dunford for being worst on ground for the old boys but rivalling Trent for best on ground for the Young Pups.
Well there was a game of cricket to be played and it began with Adam ‘I was only going to pay $400 for my bat but then I doubled it’ Theobald losing the toss and Manly opting to handle the willow. And did they what. From ball one it was evident they were still in one day mode or the surf was pumping at Manly Beach, for they proceeded to tee up and have a dash at anything near, on or outside the stumps. Josh ‘The Tourist’ Toyer (3/43) and Nick ‘Saturday Afternoon BBQ’ Dunford (2/45) bowled with great pace and control with the latter picking up 2 wickets in 2 balls to put the uni boys on top early. ‘The Dairy Farmer’ joined the party with a leg before dismissal to leave Manly reeling at 3/30. From here Manly forged a handy partnership to take themselves to 3/85 before Tom ‘The Biggest Loser’ Kierath (3/28) marathoned into the bowling crease to break the partnership seemingly without trying as the no. 4 batsmen proceeded to charge recklessly down the wicket only to have his off stump disturbed. Shashi ‘The Nepalese Perm’ Keshar (2/11) made a worthy contribution, claiming his first wicket with a mully-grubber, deliberately pitched into a Himalayan crevice and rolling along the contours of his own handy-work to reach the wooden sticks. The Rock Climber toiled hard up the steep incline of the bowling crease of Uni No. 2, closely resembling the Nepalese terrain to which he is so accustomed. ‘Adro’ continued his disciplined lines at the other end to ensure the uni boys took Manly scalps at regular intervals. ‘Milkers’ returned to dismiss their No. 7 batsmen, if you could call him a batsmen, in an entertaining over which saw 2 boundaries from genuine slogs before the colour of the sky was all too inviting and he lost his middle stump. TK finished the Beach Bums off for 156 with 2 wickets in consecutive balls to leave himself on a hat-trick going into the 2nd innings.
Lunch came and went with ‘Punchy’ tuning into the Caufield races before Mark ‘The Second best Novocastrian in the team’ Faraday and Nick ‘I’m in love’ Larkin strolled to the crease. ‘Alf’ nicked off early to a good delivery before Larko and Adam ‘I want a Groodle’ Theobald steadied the ship (pun intended) with strike rotation and punishment of the loose ball to take us to the tea interval one down.
Following a spectacular spread, the uni boys set about claiming first innings points. Having sold himself short for a decent feed at tea, Larko (36) guided a half volley to second slip to retreat back to the Uni No. 1 canteen for a second dip at tea, like the Seagull that he is. Adam ‘Dollars’ Theobald maintained the run flow before Josh ‘Shaven Haven’ Ryan (24) came and went trying to lift a bowler he claims was one of the top 5 worst bowlers to claim his wicket, over mid on. Cheers. Your scribe and Trent ventured into HK to watch our tips run 2nd and 4th respectively in the Caufield Cup before ‘The Big Ship’ fell for a well made 49. Chris ‘Pamela’ Jones (30) entered the stage and played some exquisite pull shots only to fall in the late afternoon sun after grabbing first innings points for the good guys with good support from ‘The Shadow’ (20 n.o.).
A solid foundation has been made and a platform set to push for the maximum points come day 2.
Day 2
Syd Uni 214 (A. Theobald 49, N. Larkin 36, T. Kierath 34, C. Jones 30) & 1/68 (N. Larkin 46 n.o.) df. Manly 156 (T. Kierath 3/28, J. Toyer 3/43) & 125 (J. Toyer 6/18, N. Dunford 2/53)
The sand-ridden plains of Uni No. 2 was again the venue for the second instalment of the battle of the Brains and the Beach Bums, with the uni boys vying to clinch the maximum points with possibly enough time to lurk into Wentworth Park for a couple of cheeky ones before the first rabbit was let loose.
This weeks edition of Nash was something for the purists. Fuming after last weeks butt-smacking at the hands of the model-esque Young Pups (with the exception of Toyer), the facially-challenged Old Boys entered the Nash-ball arena with a point to prove. What transpired was simply a Nash masterclass. Both sides played with great skill and aptitude, as early points were traded. Chris ‘Punchy’ Withers was again MVP, with arguably one of the greatest individual performances in Nash-ball history, that saw even Tom ‘The Harshest Critique’ Kierath coming close to creaming his pants. Chris was just that good! His speed, agility and fingertip control had to be seen to be believed, leaving the defence of the Old Boys in tatters. To their credit, the has-beens rallied, to snare a late winner through the self-proclaimed cool headed Josh ‘The Bathurst Boar’ Ryan, not without a valiant swoop from the Seagull (pun intended). The Rig went on to claim even some of the great left-footed strikers have missed similar shots. Thus the Old Boys snared a hard-fought and most importantly, FAIR victory in one of Rig’s ‘Top 5 Nash-ball wins’.
The attention now turns to the cricket. The lads were reminded for the umpteenth time by Adam ‘$26 worth of fines to come re: wedding (cheers Butch)’ Theobald of the plan of attack. This entailed batting positively for the first hour then re-assessing and looking to build a lead of about 150. Well I guess we needed another friendly reminder, as Josh ‘Full Cream’ Toyer nicked off in the first over which set the trend for the rest of the innings. Wickets fell at regular intervals to our disappointment, with only TK’s dig worthy of mention. ‘Smeagol’, having been 20 n.o from the previous week, guided a couple of elegant square drives to the fence before being trapped in front for 34. The uni boys were eventually dismissed for 214, a small yet handy lead of 58.
The Beach Bums, clearly not frightened of conceding 10 points, again adopted the same approach to batting i.e swing and swing harder. Josh ‘The Professional Circuiter’ Toyer (6/18) carried his box-hitting prowess from Wednesday’s training (unlucky Nicko) into the first over of Manly’s second innings. His victim was their red-headed left handed opening bat, closely resembling our own Jack Benson according to TK, Victoria’s Andrew McDonald according to Theo and some other bloke whose name eludes me momentarily but I think Rig knows him as ‘Maileeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’. The redhead voluntarily retreated to the shade almost simultaneously, chipping a comfortable catch to Larko at square leg. ‘Toyboy’ and Nick ‘The Stink Bug’ Dunford (2/53) traded early wickets, grabbing 2 each before JT took his third to leave Manly in dire straits at 5/30 at lunch.
A dozen chicken burgers later, the students returned to the only desert in Sydney’s CBD with the intention of wrapping up the second 5 wickets in a timely manner. JT answered the memo, removing the two batsmen not out at lunch shortly after the interval and in doing so, moving the junk off his front passenger seat for Michelle. Well played sir. Now 7 down for not many, Tom ‘The 25 second Bread Burglar’ Kierath lurked onto the bowling crease to rip one from the apple crumbling surface to grab a glove and nestle in the safe, warm and oh so inviting hands of ‘The Big Ship’. From here, Manly forged their only significant partnership of the innings, with their no. 10 batsmen joining the No. 9; the latter having batted at No. 3 in the first innings only to be demoted after nicking off to ‘Stinky Bumford’ first ball. Cheers. Josh ‘Dead Ball’ Ryan was thrown the ball for reasons still undetermined. I have assumed for purely comedic purposes. ‘The Rig’ sent his first delivery past the No. 9 at a snails pace, before he proceeded to warmly greet the batsmen to the crease, referring to him as ‘an f*^*^*^ bum’. The batsmen lipped up and it was on for young and old with the passionate aged Manly supporter, closely resembling an overgrown toad, chiming into the battle. Clearly perturbed by the three successive bouncers ‘the Boar’ bowled to the No. 9, the toad suggested the batsmen to take his helmet off and give him a kiss to which TK replied, ‘It’s 8/100 ya nuffie’, leaving your scribe in stitches.
From here, Chris ‘The Professional Nash-baller’ Withers was thrown the ball for the first time in the match. ‘Trent’ bowled tight, diligent lines without an ounce of luck, most likely due to the black socks concealed beneath his creams or perhaps the 7 black cats he ran over during the 2 day hike from Penrith to Sydney Uni. ‘The Dairy Farmer’ returned to the crease to grab a fine edge behind before Shashi ‘The new Kev Desai’ Keshar grabbed the final pole to leave 68 runs for double digit points.
Mark ‘Tuity Fruity Pink Shirt and Short shorts’ Faraday and Nick ‘Beer can on the bean’ Larkin strode purposely to the middle. The pair made light work of the chase, sending the new ball to all parts of No. 2 before ‘Alph’ was trapped in front. ‘The Seagull’ (46 n.o.) continued the onslaught, smoking successive cover drives to the fence, racing to the total required in quick time. The motivation behind the innings has been marked as two-fold. The first element being he was in such a hurry to return to swoop upon the left-overs from tea he had again missed for the second time in two weeks. The second element pertains to the presence of his better half, clearly providing admiral support from beyond the fence. Isn’t young love beautiful?
In summary, the uni boys sent the Beach Bums back to the golden grains of the Manly shore pointless having gladly milked them for 10. This result now sees us aloft the summit of the steep peak that is the second grade ladder, a position that requires the aid of a Sherpa. Thankfully we are adept in that regard.
Until next time,
Crowls
Manly 209 (J Lawrence 3/29, S Mclean 3/38, BJ and AJ 1 wicket a piece, 2 run outs).
Sydney Uni 4/28.
The fixture against Manly was a welcome for the 3rd Grade Units for a few main reasons. Not only was it our first home game of the season it was our longest sleep in on a Saturday morning in well over a month due to the combination of rain, one-dayers and day light saving. This allowed those members who graduated from uni a little extra time to sleep off the Pepsi challenge which Tim Bailey definitely would not have recommended. Arriving well before start of proceedings I wondered down to No. 2 to see the boys take some crucial early wickets but also to see the ‘Mathousila’ twins aka Dan Ward and BJ leaving the St Johns Nets after they spent the morning ridding their fingers of arthritis in readiness for the days play (little did I know this throw down of BJ’s would be crucial to the proceedings of our match).
For the purists, lovers, students and historians of Nash, for the spectators and kids dreaming of a green and gold Nash jersey and for those that have gone before us in this great tradition – the game that transpired on St Paul’s oval on the 17/10/09 this game was not for you. I sat it uni today (Monetary Economics 3010), not only wondering who that chick in the black dress was but also wondering how I could miss-interpret the truth and construe what occurred...blatant lying was a serious option. However to the pack of withered old men whom us young cubs went up against, I would be giving them no justice. The young ones where shown how to play Nash (mainly by Ash ‘Professor’ Cowan with the BOG). A (+) 7 to 1 was result was inflicted on the cubs. Two early Cowan soccer goals where then followed by the ultimate insult of a BJ ‘Responsible?’ Smith back-heal that found its way between the posts – the straw that broke the camel’s back. Our only point (which ruined Matt ‘Leopard off his leash’ Skinner’s month long clean sheet record) was recorded in the 8th minute of extra time as the oldies felt compassionate to our ways and would not stop the game till we scored.
After a warm up of much higher quality then Nash occurred with the boys seemed on song and ready to take on the boys from Manly. With Daniel ‘Ward is a also a first name that meaning guardian (it days explain the God Father nickname but it will still be $1)’ Ward loosing the toss, the Manly boys elected to bat first. The opening batsmen seemed to not realise that the later start meant a two day game was upon us and combined with some loosish early bowling and lacklustre fielding, Manly started in blaze of runs. It was not until we reached about half a dozen overs it was realised the deck required tight, line and length bowling with little movement being offered on a flatish deck. This course of action led us to our breakthrough by BJ ‘how did you catch that? It seemed straight forward’ Smith, caught by Ken ‘Pork Knuckle’ Huckle. Josh ‘I’m still Joshy from the Block’ Lawrence then bowled their number 3 and with this wicket brought in their captain who was the best bat all day, playing nice and straight, waiting for the bad ball and pouncing. Unfortunately for us all bowlers we were guilty of this four ball which made building pressure difficult. From here on wickets started to occur more regularly with AJ ‘Rig has nothing on me’ Grant building good pressure from the pavilion end in a long spell in the heat ( a spell that significantly reduced is skinnies) whilst Stu ‘61 km’s an hour’ McLean lurked a few poles at the other end. Mentioned previously was our lacklustre fielding early on, however this was turned on its head with 2 superb run outs that helped restrict Manly’s quick start to 7/137 at tea. Of special mention was Mark ‘Dementia’ Hacket’s fielding performance which kept all entertained through the first session.
Tea – what a spread. Thanks must go to Geoff and if this is the standard of teas to come i will surely be putting on those extra kg’s I have been trying to put on for the last 8 years. After tea we hoped for two things – restrict Manly to 150 and that ‘thorpedo’ Hacket would put his head out of the pool and onto the cricket field. Unfortunately neither occurred with Hack being dubbed ‘the most lost man at Sydney Uni’. With a pole first ball back after tea restricting the beach boys to 150 looked possible however we were unable to break the 9th wicket partnership. Hasi ‘the Pencil’ B. bowled well without luck with the only chance of the partnership was off his bowling and it went down. Then in what seemed no time at all (and with a confusion of how did they get that many runs) Manly had reached 187 before Josh ‘I’m Real’ Lawrence got the break through. This brought Wardy’s favourite batsmen to the crease – the guy who in the 3rd grade semi-final last year asked if the second graders would like to come to bowl at him on his way to the crease. Ward and Rig politely let him know they just bowled Manly 2nd grade out for 150,which was 300 short of the target. Fortunately he did not stick around and AJ ‘protein shake at tea’ Grant wrapped up the innings, with Manly finishing on 207. 40 more than we should have been chasing.
With a difficult 17 over session awaiting the boys the middle order sat down ready to watch the Unit’s start in a positive way and lay a good platform for the run chase. However with the loss of Suda ‘Captain Jack’ in the first over then Hackets departure due to some brilliant fielding by their keeper and followed by the depature of man who got his cricket education from the one and only Martin Paskal (Ken Huckle) we where realling at 3/15. The Leopard and The Beer Mat (Ash Cowan) then proceeded to steady the ship with 10 overs still to play. Unfortunately the Leopard retreated to the shade which brought in the night watchmen BJ ‘59 km’s per hour’ Smith to the crease who batted with what must be the new maturity found with fatherhood. Ash and BJ held strong in the last 4 hours to see us to the end of play at 4/28.
With plenty of work to do it will be imperative that all the boys get a good hit out. Phelpsy said at the start of the year that to be Club Champions we need to really grind out some results with the bat – this will be just that opportunity to do so and show the strength of SUCC.
Congratulations to all the other grades on their performances over the weekend and good luck next week.
Day 2.
Sydney University 102 B Smith 25 and 178 M Hackett 57 K Huckle 42 S Sivapalan 37 def by Manly-Warringah 208 J Lawrence 3/31 S McLean 3/38 and 2/75(dec) S McLean 2/20. (i.e. Uni lost outright by 4 runs).
Nash.
The day started under strange circumstances with the good looking youngsters finally putting in a long overdue performance of note on the Nash field. After some early pre-game Nash chat from Hasi ‘The leopard’s weakness in goal will be above his knee and below hip – aim there for your points’ Balysuria the youngsters got their tactics synchronised from kick off. The new look formation of Ken ‘PORK KNUCKLE’ Huckle at the back with Josh ‘J to the Lo’ Lawrence performing a Javier Macherano style of play in the midfield chopping down any attack from the withered old men and with AJ ‘Pure Sport’ Grant (BOG), Hasi ‘Coach’ Baly and Stu ‘Leuuuun’ Mclean working solidly around the ground we where a unit hard to penetrate. After taking an early lead the caterpillars did not look like losing, however this is not to say that the moths did not have their opportunities with Mark ‘Hologram’ Hackett having a solid game upfront with his aggressive style of play supporting Ash ‘I ripped my new creams and got blood on them in their first use’ Cowan however the olds did not manage to get on the scoreboard till well after the youngsters had established a lead – too little too late and with a desolate Daniel ‘Run faster’ Ward stating ‘That’s Game, lets have a catch’ there where handshakes all round and a smile on the young pups faces.
Cricket.
What transpired between the first and last ball of the day was disappointing for the Units. Resuming at 4/28 chasing 208 for victory we did not get off to a great start and all morning we lost regular wickets just as someone was finding their feet out in the middle of St Paul’s oval. BJ ‘I have not felt this good with the bat in 4 years’ Smith looked the best, showing some good resistance in the middle and driving extremely well. In contrast to what was talked about at training many of our wickets that fell where soft dismissals, thus we did not give ourselves the best of chance of chasing down the required runs. After being bungled all out for 100 the Boys from the Beach gave us a slither of hope of victory through opting to go into bat to set us a target rather than stick us back into bat again.
So after the Tea Break (cheers Geoff) there were 52 overs left in the days play with the Units trailing by 108 and as Wardy said this was a new game that if we fought hard enough we would come out with a win - and fight hard we did for the next 52 overs. The Manly openers (one in particular) teed up from the start hitting anything that was remotely in his zone even if the ball was a genuinely good rock. To the other opener BJ quickly learnt that he could not hit a ball down leg side – in need of crucial dot, the old leg side yorker never fails does it BJ! We knew that getting the crucial wicket of the big hitting Bonner would change our fortune and after he was taken out of the game by Stu, Sydney Uni where back in it with the scoring rate of the Manly team falling. After 11 overs of hitting from Manly they declared at 2/75 giving us a meagre total of 182 from 37 overs to win. This was our chance to salvage some pride and walk away with some much needed points.
After a steady start from Suda and Hacket the run rate climbed from a little from needing around 5.5 an over to floating around the 7 however we had 10 wickets in hand. After a message was run out from Wardy using a ‘glove change’ as decoy for the message Hackett once again proved to us his current state of dementia for wanting to take and use Kenny Huckles gloves that where the decoy. With BJ ‘RUN FASTER’ Smith yelling encouragement/abuse from the sideline the 2nd graders wondered up to St Pauls to similarly give their share of encouragement/abuse which allowed Rig to get re-acquainted with some old friends. In the chase we lost 3 quick wickets to be approximately 3/100 after Hackets superb innings of 57 which set us up well. So we needed 80 off around 11 overs with around 7 wickets in hand. Ken Huckle, motivated by his 2nd grade cheer squad began smoking the ball all around the ground hitting boundaries at will combined with hard running between the wickets (which cheered up BJ). When Huckle finally was dismissed for a rapid 42 (with a red face that looked like the old Pork Knuckle had been left in the oven for about 30 mins to long) and a few more wickets AJ took to one of their leggies. With AJ’s sponser rep. Dave Butchart looking on, AJ wielded his Pure Sport to the excitement of the crowd as well as his sponsors representative who came to check up on his player. A few more wickets fell in the good of the chase and in the name of the team, the selfless batting saw us needing just 13 runs off 12 balls and 3 wickets in hand and it eventually came down to the thrilling finish needing 4 runs off 1 ball and 1 wicket in hand. Despite the efforts of Stu in the gym in the off season and his dedication to the protein shake, maybe he was just one protein shake away from being the hero. With five men back on the leg side boundary the aerial option was chosen but held out on the boundary – a tantalizing 4 runs short of an unlikely outright victory after losing the first innings by 80 odd runs.
In what was a highly disappointing result for the uni boys after Manly gave us more than a sniff of victory - many lessons can and should be learnt from the experiences over the last two weekends. Congrats to 1st, 2nd and 4th grade on their victories.
Cheers, Stu McLean.
Manly Warringah 92ao (J-Kags 6-28, C Cull 2-30, B Joy 2-27) & 0/8 – Sydney Uni 6/146 declared (M Culkoff 46 D Crawford 30)
Sydney Uni 1st innings win
We arrived at Graham reserve to an outfield that had obviously enjoyed a full season of soccer with less ‘tufts’ then Mo Matthew’s head before the launch of advanced hair studios. Excitement grew as we gathered not over the cricket ahead but the eagerness over what kings cross nightclub stamp Ben ‘ Lindsay Lohan’ Joy would be sporting on his wrist this week….
City vs Country was the decided format for the ever important nash with a very underserved victory for the slickers. The farmer boys put together endless attacking moves with a stylish flair that would unlock even the sturdiest of nash defences whilst the city boys held on with their negative and uninspiring approach. Only poor finishing kept city in the game as they opted to soak up the waves of attack and look to bundle in a few goals on the counter attack. Unfortunately the plan worked and whilst country provided crowd pleasing silky nash skills the uncultured ways of the city boys came through with a 2-0 victory. Disappointing for the neutral and heavily aided by the country boys goal tender Pete ‘concrete feet’ Jordan who flapped around in the goal mouth in a way not seen since Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Groblar’s match fixing back in ’94…..
Once in the dress sheds it was clear we were a man short. Initial fears that Ben ‘keep your eye on the ball...literally’ Peacock had crawled into a weather balloon flying over Sydney were quickly quashed as our skipper realised he had forgotten to make the all important phone call, a trend that would continue at the toss of the coin. As the Manly captain spun the 20 cents into the air he was greeted with complete silence….a clever ploy by Dan ‘Amnesia’ Bragg to wait until the coin had landed before making his decision. After winning the toss on the 2nd attempt Manly opted to bat on an extremely flat deck leaving our bowlers ready for a long hard slog on a lifeless pitch…
Enter superhero’s Jimmy ‘the sex pest’ Kazaglis and Charlie ‘big bird’ Cull who took it upon themselves to rip through Manly’s top order leaving the opposition 5 down for not many. An excellent display of bowling as both hit great areas consistently making the most of the conditions heavily suited for the batters.
This was then backed up by our second pair of bowlers as Sanjiv ‘I have trouble grasping simple things’ Khalko spun his magic to tie up an end allowing Ben ‘almost sober’ Joy to send stumps cartwheeling at the other. A very battered and bemused Manly limped in to tea 7 wickets down with the nerds massively on top.
With tea out of the way it was only sensible to bring back our opening attack who did not disappoint as they made light work of the tail….star of the day Jimmy ‘I’m not a sex pest I’m just a player’ Kazaglis bagging 6 wickets after removing the last two in consecutive balls. Manly all out for 92.
After a quick joke about avoiding a consecutive first ball of the innings duck Pete ‘jinx myself’ Jordan decided to guide the first ball straight to second slips hands. Luckily for PJ the fieldsman was half asleep probably distracted by the plane Charlie ‘put my savings to good use’ Cull had hired to educate us about Jesus with smoke writing in the sky…
Yours truly departed early after edging my pad with Nick ‘fines master’ Burke nicking to slip not long after. Once again Michael ‘You can’t fine me for Jewellery’ Culkoff looked solid at the crease knocking the ball to all parts of the ground eventually just missing out on a half century and after a steady knock of 24 PJ departed bringing David ‘who won race 9?’ Crawford to the crease. After a very solid knock of 64 last week it was clear Crawf’s head had grown with his average making him look like a Ralph Lauren billboard model, again however he chipped in with a very handy 30.
After cruising past Manlys 1st innings total we went about upping the run rate to give us some late over’s against the Manly top order. Sanjiv ‘Horns’ Khalko smashing the last over to all parts to give us a lead of 54 runs. Unfortunately our bowlers couldn’t inflict any damage with the final 4 over’s of the day but a demoralised Manly will do well to avoid an outright defeat next week.
Day 2
Manly-Warringah 92 J Kazaglis 6/28 B Joy 2/27 C Cull 2/30
and 123 J Kazaglis 5/45 B Joy 3/25
Sydney University6/146(dec) M Culkoff 46 D Crawford 30
and 4/73 E Freeman 45*
There was certainly nothing ‘Manly’ about our opposition last week as they crumbled to a heavy 1st innings defeat, however talk from across the Spit Bridge was that they would be putting up a better fight this week…..
The nerds ready for battle were equally prepared after showing some admirable commitment to gaining maximum points. Ben ‘stint in rehab’ Joy was in bed by 9pm the night before, Michael ‘Beckham’ Culkoff sported a more streamlined haircut and even Ben ‘eye-eye’ Peacock resisted the urge to visit the ever dangerous squash court.
Even less behaved players understood the importance of team morale as Nick ‘turn the music down’ Burke evaded some nifty detective work from Dan ‘Sherlock’ Bragg….a dead pan “No” enough to throw the skipper off the scent when probed about being out the night before.
The only thing that could dampen preparations would be a repeat of last weeks nash…surely the city boys couldn’t disrespect the famous game further by adopting the same lacklustre approach as last week? Unfortunately this is exactly how the game panned out, even ‘Jenny from the block’ would quickly forget her city roots to avoid an embarrassing affiliation if she lived in Australia…
Again the country lads were robbed of victory with 0-0 being the score line at the final whistle. Again entertaining play from the Country lads although there was the odd whinge about certain English players turning the game into a soccer match...its a shame that insecurities about Australians inability to have any coordination with their feet should dampen natural talent on the Nash field.
After a heated, and rather random, dress sheds argument about real estate from certain individuals (you know who you are) we took the field to address more important matters. Again the bowling was top draw but this week we saw more resistance from Manlys opening pair as they looked solid in defence. However we stuck to our guns and showed more patience then what Dave ‘Director’ Jessop will have waiting for the report to be sent in.
At a time when even mothers on train platforms can lose focus we maintained our tight grip, our 10 points would not be falling onto the tracks on this occasion.
Stand out bowlers again this week were Ben ‘drain pipes’ Joy and the Kags with excellent back up from Charlie, Braggy and Sanjiv. The wickets steadily fell as Manly once again crumbled for a low total.
I must however add at this point that the bowling was heavily backed up by myself Ed ‘Jonty Rhodes’ Freeman. With me at cover point the ring field saw less penetration then British ‘x-factor’ winner Susan Boyle...
A dedicated paragraph must also go to Jimmy ‘this nickname better not stick’ Kazaglis for his 11 wickets in the match. For 2 weeks he pestered and pestered with a nagging length, raw persistence paid off as he looked to snare victims at any opportunity….always lurking no-one was safe, young, old, fat, skinny it didn’t matter, they all fell eventually. Never before have batsman come to the crease with capsicum spray in their pocket....Well done jimmy!
After rolling the opposition for 123 we set about chasing down the 70 runs for an epic outright win.
Things didn’t start well as we lost 3 quick wickets. Pete ‘tell us another joke’ Jordan received an excellent ball to remove his off stump, Nick ‘this umpire is tops’ Burke smashing one on to his pad to be given out LBW and Michael ‘WTF’ Culkoff receiving a ball that shot along the floor after pitching half way down the wicket. After looking less convincing then PJ’s silk cricket pants at the start we were able to steady the ship. Eddie ‘I now have a massive headache’ Freeman battled on with non stop support from David ‘motor mouth’ Crawford. After managing to upset 2 umpires, 11 Manly players and his batting partner with non-stop chat Crawf departed with only 1 required to win. In a fitting twist out strode Jimmy ‘the man’ kazaglis to hit the winning run for a very deserved 10 points for the nerds! An excellent display all round and more importantly proof that pre-season plans and ideas were being put firmly in place to create results.
Marvellous effort that and a great unbeaten record for new skipper Dan ‘top of the table’ Bragg.
Over and Out,
Bambi Freeman
Day 1
A last minute decision to get a pre-game lunch in order to avoid the previous weeks ‘Servo-Gate’ shenanigans and my driver’s somewhat questionable decision to entrust the navigation to a country bloke more accustomed to following fence lines than freeways meant that we were slightly late for our clash with Manly. Lucky for us, on arrival we were greeted with the news of an hour delayed start due to rain and the sight of the Manly boys super-soaking water from the top of the covers (what purpose that served I have no idea).
It appears customary for match reporters to pay significant attention to the most important contest of the day- nashball. Though far more athletic, downright confusion cost the youngsters numerous points to a very experienced and skilful senior (elderly) side who won 7-2. Nash rules lessons would certainly aid the cause of the youngsters, but then again so would some young legs for our opposition. In the other game James came up with the right call, and we batted on a deck that looked quite flat after play the day before.
Opening the bowling, the opposition skipper certainly demonstrated his experience watching cricket, if not participating, by putting on one of the more comical Brett Lee impersonations seen in recent years. Tearing in of a short run, he mixed genuine mediums with hurling blocked balls back past the batsmen to the wicketkeeper and some interesting chat. Nick Fitzgerald and Michael ‘No relation to me’ Barwick dealt with his offerings calmly, and dispatching the occasional loose delivery to the boundary. The legspinner who opened from the other end was more threatening, and both openers played sensibly to see us through the first hour without loss.
Nick was out soon after drinks for a classy 30, bringing your reporter to the crease. The pitch certainly favoured spin, offering nothing but dead bounce to the pacemen but I managed an edge to first slip after second drinks. Paul O’Halloran went soon after, unlucky to be caught down the leg side, while Ed Quoyle and Jack ‘Thanks for the lift again mate’ Lawson chipped in with cameos. Jackal was particularly impressive, lifting the scoring rate with some astute placement and aggressive running between the wickets. Mike’s dismissal ended a patient innings for something in the region of 60-80 (the scorebook was probably not the most accurate record I’ve seen), and brought Chris ‘Reverse-sweep’ Davey to the crease. By this stage we were pushing for runs in the hope of exploiting a tired attack. Chris did just that, sweeping and cutting the spinners cleverly for runs on both sides of the wicket. Kerrod ‘K-Rod/Unit/HSC’ McPherson was unable to repeat his heroics from the week previously, while Andy ‘I went to bed at 6am and woke up at 9am with my clothes still on’ Greene had one keep a bit low and played on. Another inspiring knock from our skipper held up one end with Chrisco, the pair seeing us safely past the 200 mark and to the close of play, much to the relief of a battling Greenie.
The clear highlight of the day was the superb concentration of Michael Barwick in a personal innings that lasted well over seventy overs. The contributions of Nick Fitzgerald, Jack Lawson and Chris Davey were all also valuable in a final total of 9/201. All in all a patient days cricket from the uni boys, but in the sheds we couldn’t help but feel we probably left thirty to forty runs out there through some lazy running, given the good batting wicket and slow outfield. Also, Aaron Khongwar and Jack Lawson should be congratulated on making their grade cricket debuts.
Alex Bawick
Before I start, let me talk about the ground, quiet and picturesque one, with proper change rooms, which has room for all 11 players plus few shower rooms and toilet. To the disappointment of your scribe it was half flooded by last night’s rain, meaning a pair of wet keeping inners.
In addition to this, it was a hell of a task to find it especially to an inner west man like myself(never heard of DACEYVILLE), definitely a brain BoiLer. Luckily I had my GPS handy, but still struggled to get there on time taking, about 25 right and left turns before reaching the ground.
Coming to the point and forgetting about the ground, change rooms and the place itself, the day was blue and blushing with sunlight and calling out to us the syd uni boys “are you ready for cricket”. The day started with the usual conversations about yesterday’s grade games and the fantasy league triumphs (especially Paul Bertelle “my team was the best for round 3”) and also not forgetting the amazing run of T & T in the CHAMPION’S LEAGUE. After a good chat, and the arrival of most members of the team ( with our captain slightly delayed), we decided to play a game of Nash.
Nash needs two teams , problem was we couldn’t think of a way to divide the team. Greg “metro” called out “ why don’t we have young vs old” silly him didn’t realise that ,this way it would be him vs the rest of us. Luckily yours truly came to the rescue, and it was decided “singlets tanks, that includes me” vs “ didn’t have a singlet so no name” others. The actual game wasn’t that great, a loss to us technically but some one called out “last goal wins” and we, the singlet tanks scored it.
The time was around 12 I think, and it was toss time. Paul and the Captain of UNSW( who coincidently tried out for syd uni last year) flicked the coin and it landed favourably to the opposition, and they decided to have a bat.
So we stormed out of the change rooms, with colourful chatter about the bowling plans and game strategies, which made your scribe walk out to the field with no keeping pads. MR.G, (GUS GLYNNE) that’s what I called him for the day, pointed this out to me “oops!!”. The new ball was shared between Metro and MR.G. and they bowled exceptionally well. They bowled economically with strict lines and swung the ball both ways resulting in 2 wickets for Metro. After a good spell of 8 overs metro had a break, mighty GATT was introduced in to the attack by the captain. Gatt again started where metro left off and maintained the tight bowling, and with our boys fielding sharply, a wicket was produced, a run out because of a swift throw by virosh to paul to get the batsmen out who was in good nick. Soon after the first drinks break of the day, we resumed to play. The opposition had a partnership building, much to the efforts of the umpire, giving unforgivable decisions and from some good batting. Nevertheless Syd uni boys worked really hard both in the bowling department and in the field. Unfortunately the opposition had the luck on their side, with lots of play and misses, not finding the stumps or the edge of the willow, continuing pretty much to the lunch break.
With lot of work ahead of us, we got ourselves to the field fully recharged, ready to get wickets. Gus started with good line and length, this time with extra vigour, helping syd uni to get the breakthrough, “knocking the stumps out”. Intensity in the field was also maintained and credit to that, a run out was produced again. By this time the UNSW boys were 5 down with 140 runs, enter captain Paul Bertelle. Paul with this super slow but stump to stump bowling much like stuart clark, started to trouble the low order batsmen , especially his slow short ball getting one batsmen to jump( pretty pathetic given he bowls 40 km balls), picking up 3/37. Virosh who had a run out to his name, bowled on the other end with paul, with good lines and perfect Yorkers (which surely will make a batsmen, a jolly good Johnnie walker) helped syd uni to wrap the 1st innings of UNSW for a tricky 172. With time remaining in the day,<day light saving> meant that, we had to bat for 14 overs.
So Srin and Ashley walked out to bat, while the rest of the team ,relaxing after a full day of fielding. The first few overs of the match went quietly, with the boys leaving most of the balls through to the keeper and playing quite intelligently. At the end of 8th over, a leggie was brought into the attack, and his very 2nd ball was smashed quite nicely by srin to the boundary. Soon after this Srin who looked good for his 12, was bowled by the spinner, when he tried to play him through the covers. He then was replaced by Paul Bertelle, who along with Ashley promptly played the rest of the overs. At stumps uni boys are on 1- 25, chasing a very gettable 172.
Surya Narayanan Sriram
There was something in the air on the first Sunday morning of the year for Poidevin-Grey…overcast skies, a distinct absence of amateurish chat that dominated the previous year (so far anyway)…with new coach Phelps and a new twenty-20 format to adjust to, the “underage” uni boys were pumped up and ready start off the new “campaign” and teach the Kensington boys a lesson or two about playing cricket. After getting rid of the covers (some of us will be cheering for the first game away from no.2) and setting up the marquees, we warmed up with the customary game of…a jog around the oval, the caterpillar drill and passing the cricket ball around to teammates. While it didn’t quite have the same ring as ‘the game played in heaven’, time was not on our side and we needed to conserve our energy for the game (also possibly to save the ankles of the victims of Josh “I play legally” Toyer’s challenges).
A relatively spongy and green deck awaited the fast bowlers for the units, as the UNSW team were set to bat first. JTourist somehow lurked two wickets from the first two balls, both the Kensington batsmen deciding that spooning the ball to mid-wicket was the better option than to take advantage of the multitude of runs which were (potentially) on offer on this small, fast field. The number 3 and 4 clearly saw this opportunity, hitting the ball to all parts of the field to keep their score running along quite quickly. Enter Chris “I’m racist and proud of it” Withers, who bowled with great control, hitting good lengths and was just patient enough to outdo the batsmen, picking up 3 well earned wickets for his troubles. Cooky nerdled a wicket, Hasi bowled well with a ball increasingly resembling Nick “I wear child sized boxes” Larkin’s misshapen testes, and Tharrogrant picked up 2 runouts. Worthy of mention was the fact that it was clearly not enough to show off his guns by simply knocking off the bails, so he knocked all 3 stumps out of the ground instead. At 8 for 60 odd, it was looking as though the innings would be wrapped up quickly, however the tailenders thwarted this eventuality, knocking the ball around the field and pushing their score to 110. At this point, the heavens which had been gradually leaking more and more decided to open up completely, and it was clear there would be no more cricket played today. Covers were pulled on, and then off again in the pouring rain, and while Morgs went for a dive on the covers, the rest of the uni boys took the opportunity to sample the burgers and sangas on offer in the outdoor canteen, of which the parents did an admirable job in less than ideal weather conditions. Thanks a lot guys.
The dents made their way through the knee high water to the sheds at no.1 for fines, earning a hot shower for their efforts. Memorable fines include Cooky and Morgs fining each other for giving the other a hickey, Morgs now sporting the worst rig in PG’s, Nick Larkin’s marlin on Deef, and any of Trent’s numerous blow-ups. While we didn’t walk away with any points today, today was a good set-up for the rest of the season, and a good indicator of the standard and intensity required for the 2 twenty-20’s we have left.
The Milkman
The "Max Bonnell golden pen award" results.
Points and comments
1st Grade 3 points Lively. Vigorous. But too short. There must have been more to say about how Manly collapsed from 1-126 to be slaughtered.
2nd Grade 4 points. Entertaining, informative and scurrilous. But what is "admiral support"?
3rd Grade 3.9 points. Good report. Bad result. Worse spelling.
4th Grade 3.9 points. No-one spared, and a rich frame of reference encompassing everything from Bruce Grobelaar to Susan Boyle.
5th Grade 2.5 points - nothing for Day 2.
6th Grade 2.5 points - nothing for Day 2.
This week's winner, Crowls in Seconds.
Max Bonnell