SUCC 1st - 5th Grade v Norths.
SUCC Metro v Georges River.
SUCC Green Shield v ?.
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
Day 1.
The students arrived at the picturesque North Sydney Oval for our first fixture of 2010 hoping to pick up where we had left off against Bankstown. The presence of Mark “first half of the Johnson & Johnson cotton wool twins” Cameron for the warm up had the hosts very nervous, but alas a 6/10 performance at Nashball would be his only contribution for the day. This fixture also marked the return of Scott “second half of the Johnson & Johnson cotton wool twins” Henry. Alas, his Nashball contribution was closer to 3/10 and the bowlers took the beers.
Your scribe lost the toss (hardly worth reporting) and we set about the task of dismissing Norths on a flat, slow pitch. Disciplined bowling, good pressure in the field and a distinct lack of intent from the North Sydney top order saw us head to lunch at 1-70 off 35 overs. We nearly had to start the second session with seven fielders as the lack of a canteen had a few of the boys (led by “two plates” Keirath) walking to circular quay for lunch. Sustained effort in the field saw us steadily work our way through the Bears line up for 233 with Martin “Stuart Broad wears Adidas” Paskal the star with 5-25 off 18. Students 0-20 at the close and looking good.
Day 2.
Looks can be deceiving. After a promising start, the students were unable to deal with the reverse swing and spin bowling of Norths on a wearing wicket. We collapsed from 2-159 to be all out for 222. An extremely disappointing performance after we had worked so hard in the heat the previous day. So far this season we have bounced back well from our two defeats. We will need to do the same against a good Campbelltown team next week to stay near the top of the table.
GM
Match Report – 2nd Grade – Round 9 v North Sydney
Day 1
Syd Uni 268 (N. Larkin 94, J. Ryan 54, M. Culkoff 31, A. Theobald 26) def.. North Sydney 254 (M. Culkoff 4/80, T. Ley 2/49, J. Ryan 2/62)
With the calendar year that was 2009 now behind us, Sydney Uni’s second grade boys dawned on the beginning of a new decade with 2010 now upon us. The traditions of New Year’s resolutions are evident among our ranks with Theo endeavouring to learn to surf this year and your scribe to survive a 3rd year of study-related pain while others made somewhat different goals. Take Rig for example who aims to chop at least one real good 9/10.
For the first game post the holiday break, the good guys aimed to continue some strong batting performances of late whilst producing some more diligent lines with ball in hand in addition to hanging onto our grabs. Aside from the cricket, the world’s most promising Nash Ball team, The Young Pups, also vowed to maintain a string of dominating performances over the Old Boys for which 2009 was a year to forget. Clearly the New Year has done nothing to change the outcome of pre-game Nash with the handsome youngsters kicking off the second half of the season with yet another win.
For the Old Boys sake lets move onto the cricket shall we….. As expected, the green tinge to the recently renovated Uni No. 1 facilities lured North’s captain ‘Burto’, the behemoth of Sydney Grade Cricket, to hand the willow over to the good guys. Nick ‘Seagull’ Larkin and Mark ‘Alf’ Faraday obliged gratefully with the latter dispatching the big guy’s first ‘5km/h full toss outside off’ delivery to the cover boundary. Faras fell not long after, trapped in front for 17 which brought Adam ‘Maldives’ Theobald to the middle. The Big Ship showed no signs of a honeymoon hangover as he bunted his first delivery just wide of mid-on allowing him to elegantly trot through to the other end. Meanwhile the man known as ‘Lerkin’ in our western capital maintained a steady run flow from the other end, punishing many a cover drive to the pickets with the odd pull thrown in. The pair steered us through the luncheon interval with just the one wicket in the shed but soon after the break that changed with Leo departing for 26. Enter the grunting boar, Josh ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Bean’ Ryan who firmly declared his arrival at the crease with his first ball as he monstered down the deck for one almighty swing only to see it continue its path through to the keeper untouched. This from the same bloke who said he wouldn’t charge a delivery this innings and also the same bloke who within minutes of the boys arriving that morning was parading the new anatomical feature of his nether regions. The Rig did however play a handy dig for his troopers as he and Nicko )or Nicky s he is more affectionately known) forged a handy partnership to propel the uni boys towards the 200 mark before Chris Griffin fell agonisingly short of a century for 94 thanks to a questionable decision from Laurie. Liam ‘Look at me I’m tanned’ Robertson took some time out from sunbaking to knock a few around before skying one to midwicket. Readers, please be sure to continue the myth started from Liam himself that he’s naturally tanned despite the fact it’s simply his freckles joining together. It is with melancholy thoughts I mention the delusion of such a young kid as he also claims he has a good rig. Additionally he has red hair but he thinks its black so keep that one under wraps too ay.
Anyway, Rigby played some exquisite pull shots including one that saw Faras declare that he’s never seen Rig hit one harder. He passed the half century with disdain, failing to salute any onlookers, before edging one behind for 54. He returned to the sheds in anger claiming the bowler was, lets just say, ‘not the best’ and he should have just charged that ball and smacked it over cover or nicked it over slips, either way it’s the same result…….
From here the uni boys lost wickets at regular intervals to leave us with a total of 268, disappointingly short of the illustrious 300. Michael ‘Suck my’ Culkoff played a handy knock for us before running out of partners to finish with 31.
We were left with 16 overs at the Bears before the sun set on Day 1. Tim ‘Wizz Fizz’ Ley steamed in from the grandstand end to grab a glove behind for our first pole of the New Year. The Sun Bear took the new ball from the opposite end, sending the shiny red thing every which way to allow your scribe to poo his sheet. Disco Robo busted a move on the sandy Uni No. 1 d-floor in search of a catch that was always going to elude him despite the outspoken claims from the bowler (guess who…..yep Rig). For the most part the lads were a little flat towards the close of play as Norths ended the day at 1/41, leaving the game in the balance heading into Sunday Day 2……
Day 2
Another sweltering summer morning greeted the lads for a day where we were striving to restrict North Sydney’s run chase. Rig’s unusual presence at the ground before 9.25am drew great attention from the boys. The reasoning was immediately explained by the man himself in a tale involving a Swedish lass and the bonnet of his car, meaning he was now 3 from 2 at Scruffy’s.
For the umpteenth time the Young Pups dominated the Old has-beens from the outset in Day 2’s edition of Nash. From the first minute the teams were seemingly 6 on 5 in favour of the youngens as one of the old boys Michael ‘Here you go James’ Culkoff, handed your scribe a handy offload to lead to first points. Thus the result was all too familiar as this second grade season has seen with the $3 fine again coming out of the now surely barren pockets of Theo and his old timers.
Our attention now turns to the game at hand where Chris ‘Playboy Boxers’ Withers and Tim ‘I Love Stu McLean’ Ley (2/49) opened up the attack. The pair bowled tight, diligent lines without success which saw Norths progress to 1/80 at first drinks. The man with the broken bean (2/62) took the leather and removed the two batsmen in quick time to put the uni boys ahead. Michael ‘Outswinging bean’ Culkoff ambled to the bowling crease to grab an edge behind removing Gunn and Moore’s ‘most promising, up and coming, young superstar who’s sure to reach further honours’ batsmen or so he would describe himself anyway. With wickets falling in quick succession, the Sherpa joined the party to grab a classic leg spinner’s dismissal as Pegs stomached an edge at first slip.
At the lunch break Norths were reeling at 6/140 still needing another 130 to grab first innings points. Following the chicken burgers, including a new tandoori version, Norths rallied to forge a strong partnership which yielded over 60 runs taking them over the 200 mark with still 4 wickets in hand. Trent sadly re-injured his back with suspected stress fractures, leaving us with only 4 frontline bowlers to do the job. The quad toiled hard in steamy conditions before the ‘Culkoff Express’ stopped at Station ‘Burto’s Glove’ only to be disregarded by Laurie. This sparked some off-field entertainment as Denis ‘The Menace’ Crowley told the blue-shirted nuffie who’d been into Leysy and Rig all day, where to go. Leysy’s old boy joined the kafuffle along with Geoff but Colin Robertson was a notable absentee to Liam’s disgust. With the cat fight simmering, Culky again grabbed a glove behind which was this time given and hence produced the much needed breakthrough. Another snick behind saw Culky grab his third wicket ahead of the tea break with the bears now 8 down with 30 to get.
Following the fruit platter and a few cheeky mini muffins, the lads returned to the scene of the crime to finish the job. A comical run out, not dissimilar to the semi-final of the 1999 World Cup, unfolded with your scribe under arming a boundary throw from Robo to Culky at the bowlers end who all but snapped the stumps in half to remove their number 10 batsmen. The final wicket was taken with Culky fittingly nicking off their jack to Pegs at second slip to end the game and cap off a great 15 run victory. ‘The Incredible Culk’ did justice to his nickname finishing with a superb 4/80 to win the game for the scholars.
One almighty team song was bellowed out immediately after retreating to the sheds. In the team chat during the week the point of winning the tight contests was raised and so it is very pleasing to come away with the 6 points this week. A promising start to 2010 indeed.
Until next time…….
Yours in match reporting,
Crowls
North Sydney 9-331(dec) defeated Sydney Uni 128
D. Jessup 4-75 E. Freeman 42
C. McKeith 4-74 D. Jessup 32
Day 1
The students arrived at a fresh and green Tunks park eager to kick start the New Year with a bang. Nick “my body hair provides a natural SPF 50” Burke was early and wide eyed, which is always a welcome surprise. Nash began in usual fashion with Young Pups vs. Geriatrics, and the Director whining about something then trying to stitch up his more mobile counterparts. As far as Nash goes, this was one for the ages. MVP was without a doubt Angus ‘Hogs Breath’ Glynn, involved in all the young ones scoring. The elder statesmen claimed a dubious header late in the game, but the win was sealed for the young with a Glynn-Peacock run through combination. FYI Jimmy, if you’re going to cheat and shrink one on the goals, make sure it’s not at the end you’re running towards. Great for the youngsters to get their first win of the season!
Cricket: James “I played with most of these blokes’ Dad’s” Rogers lost the toss and the students would bowl first on a mild green top, knowing we’d have to make use of the new rock or face an afternoon of leather chasing. Piggy Glynn and Ed “surly” Quoyle opened up, with Gus producing a great spell on new ball bowling, mostly with too much movement for the batsmen to get within a foot of the ball. The Norths openers were controlled though, and went into the first drinks with all ten still in the sheds. The change after drinks saw Charlie “How easy is grade cricket” McKeith introduced, and grab his first, second and third grade wickets inside four overs. Good catching from Nick “Wookie” Burke
From here it was tough going, as two Norths batsmen were patient in waiting for the bad ball, which we all gladly served up at regular intervals, mostly in the form of short and wide. 3-130 at tea and the game was in the balance, with two set batsmen at the crease, the half hour after the break would be crucial. On another note, I’d advise never having Nick “I’d give that 1 out of 10” Burke over to your house for dinner, as he is a very harsh food critic, especially when it comes to the afternoon tea spread; apparently donuts and salt & vinegar don’t make the cut.
The return to the cricket saw much of the same, with the Norths batsmen continuing to punish the lose stuff. The breakthrough finally came again through Charlie, breaking the 150+ run stand and removing their ‘Exec Estate’ opener for 103 (one run scored through cover/mid-off). The remainder of the afternoon continued in much the same way, with runs easy to come by despite some tight(er) bowling. Dave ‘wicket burglar’ Jessup grabbed four poles as a long day drew to a close, and Swine Glynn grabbed one for his troubles. At the end of a long and sweat filled day, Norths had 9-331 on the board, and we had a big chase ahead. At times we bowled really well, but overall too short and too wide.
Good batting line up + good deck + quick outfield = Runs gettable
Day 2
Excitement and anticipation were thick in the air as the press and massive crowd returned to Tunks Park for the run chase on day two of this enthralling match. Nash was again played, however in a much more lack luster fashion, with long kicks and touch finders the feature. The young struggled to back up their sparkling form from day 1, and were made to look average. The game was put to death with a two pointer to Eddie Quoyle and another NBRI (Nash ball related injury) to your scribe.
The chase began with The Man Formerly Known as Justin Younis and Ed ‘Cup of tea in the tea break’ Freeman. Not a great start for the pair or the students as Prince was removed in the first over to a good rock that bounced more than expected. Rowdy Barwick strode to the crease to join Bambi, and the pair began settling things down and chipping away at the total. The score moved along to 28 before Russell was clean bowled. Enter the Warrior from Kirribilli, Nick ‘Gringo’ Burke. Burke and Bambi looked the goods before both were removed with the score at 55 and 66 respectively. Dave ‘DOC’ Jessup thought attack was the best defense, and certainly wasn’t going to turn down rank half trackers, taking the Uni Boys to 4-86 at tea. No review of the afternoon-tea spread from Critic Burke on day 2.
Considering the poor first session, we were far from out of the game and some tough post-tea batting would see us in with a chance. However these chances quickly took a nose dive after tea, as EQ and Jarred were dismissed in quick succession. Although kudos must go to Jarred and his Dad for regularly providing a better spread than the opposition; the chocolate cookies are outstanding, but some mango and pineapple wouldn’t go astray…
Back to the cricket and the Uni boys are struggling, the glimmer of hope of chasing the runs has all but been extinguished. The last six wickets fell in the hour or so after tea, completing an all-round poor performance in our first game of the new decade. Jess batted patiently and put away the bad balls for his 32, but in the end had no real support. Chalk this one up as a game you’d rather forget. With the possible exception of one or two wickets, our batsmen didn’t give their wickets away or play unnecessary shots, Norths just bowled fuller and straighter than us, forcing us to nick the ball. Back to the happy hunting ground of St Paul’s will hopefully put us back in the winners circle.
Cheers,
Benny Peacock