IMPORTANT INFO 2018-19

PLAYER REGISTRATION:

With just over three weeks to go until the start of the 2018-19 season, we are now into the player registration window.

We invite all players to complete the registration process via our 'Join' page on the Club's website.

All new players must also provide photo ID. You can either scan and email to info@sydneyuniversitycricket.com.au or take a photo and text to 0401448810 (please include your name).

All registrations & payments are due by Thursday 20th September.

Any players with outstanding fees will receive a payment reminder following Round 1, and any players still with outstanding fees at the completion of Round 2 (Sat 6th Oct) will be ineligible for selection in Round 3.

If you require a payment plan, please contact Dale to discuss.
 

UNAVAILABILITY NOTICE:

One of the greatest challenges in our selection process is gaining an accurate picture of availability for each round. With this in mind, we have decided to incorporate technology to help us track those who are unavailable for each weekend.

We ask that all players download an app called "Team App" from their relevant App Store.

Click here for a user guide on the setup and use of Team App.

It will be assumed that you are available for all matches unless you have logged otherwise in the Team App. We ask that all players log only their unavailabilities. Please enter any dates that you are unavailable from 8th September to 31st March as soon as you become aware of them.

This will allow the selection panel to complete the selection process more efficiently and for team announcements to be made on Thursday post-training. Please help your captains out by making sure you keep this updated.
 

POIDEVIN-GRAY SHIELD TRIALS:

The Club will be holding PG Shield trials on Thursday evening on 6th Sept from 8 - 9pm at the Indoor Nets. We invite any U21 player interested in playing PGs to attend this session. We will announce a PGs Squad on Monday 24th Sept following completion of the practice matches and Round 1 of the season. The first PGs match is scheduled for Sunday 7th October with the full PGs draw due to be released shortly.
 

PRACTICE MATCHES:

On Saturday 8th Sept:

• 1st Grade will play a Limited Overs match against Campbelltown-Camden at Raby 2
• 4th Grade vs 5th Grade in a T20 match at St Paul's Oval from 9.30am - 12.30pm
• 2nd Grade vs 3rd Grade in a T20 match at St Paul's Oval from 12.30pm - 4.00pm

On Saturday 15th Sept:

• 1st - 4th Grade will play practice matches against UNSW. Venues for each grade to be confirmed.
• 5th Grade and Metro Cup will have an indoor net session from 10.30am - 12pm.

If you are unavailable for either weekend, please log your unavailable dates into the Team App (you will be assumed to be available otherwise).

ICYMI Monday: Pre-season ramps up!

In case you missed it Monday...

COACHING STAFF MAKE IMMEDIATE IMPACT

The 2018-19 season has seen a shake up in our coaching staff and they have launched into the pre-season with a vigor.

Director of Cricket, Cam Borgas, has made an immediate impact bringing a new perspective and high performance approach to sessions. His enthusiasm has rubbed off on the players with sessions becoming highly competitive with a match intensity driving the standards forward.

Grant Lambert has returned as Specialist Coach for 2018-19 and has expanded to cover both the bats and bowlers. Grant made a tremendous impact on the Club last season and has been outstanding in the pre-season so far with his one-on-one sessions.

Cam Borgas and Grant Lambert upskill SUCC 1st Grade Squad Members Ryan Danne and Kieran Tate

NSW Blues and Premier Cricket legend, Grant Lambert, imparting his knowledge on EAP Squad Member, Kieran Tate

Cam Borgas works on Ryan Danne’s pull shot

SPECIAL GUEST COACH

The 1st Grade Squad was also lucky enough last week to spend some time with the current Sri Lankan cricket coach, Chandika Hathurusingha. Chandi was a special guest on Tuesday evening and gave the 1st Grade Squad a glimpse of the top-level.

Fresh off a 2-0 Test Series win over South Africa, Chandi provided plenty of great insights for our players on current trends at the top level as well as some of the common charactersistics he has noticed in all great players.

Chandi was previously the assistant coach (and acting coach for a short period of time) at NSW, overseeing the early development of a terrific era of talent that featured a young Smith, Warner, Khawaja, Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins. he was coach of Sydney Thunder for 2013-14, where DOC Cam Borgas was playing at the time. He then enjoyed a successful 3-year stint as Head Coach of Bangladesh before moving back to coach his native Sri Lanka.

Chandi's son, Cullen, is a promising left hand bat and medium pace bowler, and is currently a member of the Sydney University Elite Athlete Program for 2018-19

PRE-SEASON TOUR 2018-19

The Sydney Uni 1st Grade squad ventured to **sunny** Brisbane over the weekend to contest the annual University Challenge. In its 3rd year, Sydney Uni were scheduled to take on Melbourne Uni, University of Queensland and Adelaide Uni in a mix of Limited Overs and T20 matches across three days.

The opening 50-over match saw Sydney Uni take on old foes/friends Melbourne Uni. Sydney Uni took to the crease for the first time in 2018-19 and were off to a solid start with Nicky Craze and Ben Trevor-Jones pairing for a 106-run 2nd wicket partnership after losing Hayden Kerr for an early duck. Craze topped scored with 63 runs whilst Trevor-Jones compiled 43. A lack of resistance in the middle and lower order saw the side rolled for 189 runs in the 43rd over. Melbourne Uni were never really in the hunt and aside for some lusty lower order hitting, Sydney Uni controlled the innings well with Malone picking up 3 wickets. Melbourne Uni were bundled out for 177 runs and a 12-run victory for Sydney Uni.

Sydney Uni took on home favourites UQ in a 50-over clash on Saturday with former 1st class cricketers Scott Henry and Michael Philipson in early form. Scooter retired on 53 runs with Philipson hitting 46 before Ben Davis (60) and Nick Sale (30) pushed the total to 283 runs. Despite plenty of starts, Craze (28), Mortimer (18), Robertson (28), Trevor-Jones (18)  and Kershaw (21), Sydney Uni couldn't capitalise on any momentum it built until too late with a last wicket partnership of 75 runs between top-scorer Ryan Danne (48) and Devlin Malone (43no). It was too little too late as Sydney Uni were finished off for 237 runs.

A T20 match was scheduled for Sunday against Adelaide Uni but unfortunately the Queensland advertising slogan of "beautiful one day, perfect the next" certainly did not apply as all matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Despite the weather ending the tour prematurely, there were plenty of positives for the Sydney Uni squad as they continue to build towards their Round 1 match against Manly on Saturday 22nd September at University Oval.

A.W. Green Shield Squad 2018-19

Following an exhaustive selection process over the last 2 months, we are proud to announce our A.W. Green Shield squad for 2018-19.

• Haider Ali
• Sanjay Anandarajah
• Tom Armstrong
• Saarangan Arvind
• Ethan Fitzpatrick
• Morris Fredrikkson
• Raphael Giles
• Matthew Johns
• Oscar Kirk
• Curtis Mackinnon
• Gurkeerat Mann
• Tom Phelps
• Ritish Sethi
• Adi Srivatsan
• Eesan Sureshkumar

The squad will be coached by former Sydney Uni all-rounder, Darius Visser, and aim to become the first Sydney Uni 'Greenies' squad to win the A.W. Green Shield title.

We thank all of those players who have trialed for the Club over the last few months, it was a tough process to select a squad with so many talented young cricketers on show.

The Green Shield schedule for 2018-19 is as follows:

Round 1: Sunday 16th December
Round 2: Tuesday 18th December
Round 3: Thursday 20th December
Round 4: Saturday 5th January
Round 5: Sunday 13th January
Round 6: Tuesday 15th January
Round 7: Thursday 17th January

History beckons for Jack Maddocks

If Jack Maddocks takes the field in tomorrow night's Bledisloe Cup match, he will win his first Wallaby cap and carry on a long tradition of Sydney University cricketers turning out in Australian colours.

In recent times, the increased professionalism in sport, and the greater need for specialisation, has made it rare for sportsmen to compete in two sports at a high level.  Jack Maddocks' cricket ended when he signed a professional contract with the Melbourne Rebels, but not before he made his First Grade debut for University as a middle-order batsman.

Now he's about to become the club's first Wallaby since Bob Egerton, the brilliant winger/fullback who won nine caps in 1991, the last of them as a member of the side that won the World Cup final at Twickenham.  Once an ACT Under-19 cricketer, Egerton never played a full season of cricket for University, but often turned out to fill vacancies in the lower grades.  

Before Egerton, Wallaby centre Michael Hawker played for the club in 1979-80, as a wicket-keeper batsman in the lower grades and in the Poidevin-Gray side.  He represented Australia 25 times between 1980 and 1987.

In earlier times, when there was a clear demarcation between seasons and Rugby Union was strictly an amateur game, it was far more common for sportsmen to excel at two games.  Dr Saxon White opened the batting in University's 1956-57 First Grade semi-final team, and played for Australia as a centre seven times between 1956 and 1958, touring the British Isles in 1957-58.  Legendary loose forward (and later Wallaby coach) Dave Brockhoff played as a lower-grade batsman in 1947-48 and 1948-49; Neville Emery, who hit a First Grade century for University in 1948-49, won 10 Wallaby caps as a fly-half; and occasional First Grade wicket-keeper Hugh Taylor played 4 Tests in the 1920s.  Dr Alec Ross, who scored a double-century in First Grade for University, was considered the finest full back of his era and played 20 Rugby Tests between 1925 and 1934.

Only two men have represented Australia in both cricket and Rugby Union Tests, and both were Sydney University players.  Johnny Taylor played 20 cricket Tests between 1920 and 1926, and two Rugby Tests in 1922; Dr Otto Nothling played 19 Rugby Tests between 1921 and 1924 and played a single cricket Test, as an all-rounder, in 1928-29.  Another outstanding University sportsman, Jack Massie, was picked for the 1913 Wallaby tour to New Zealand but withdrew because of exams, and was chosen on the 1914-15 cricket tour to South Africa, which was cancelled due to the outbreak of war - so he was selected for Australia in both games but actually played in neither.

Finally, let's hope that Jack Maddocks avoids the fate of Norman Lamport, the Sydney University middle-order batsman and scrum-half, who was named on the Wallaby bench for Tests against New Zealand in 1929 but never made it onto the field.  

Preseason Program 2018-19

Update: Preseason Program 2018-19

Welcome to all new and continuing Sydney University Cricket Club players,
 
With preseason training now underway, we wish to provide an update on the schedule and structure for the remainder of the preseason, leading in to Round 1 on the 22nd September.
 
With 7 teams and some 100+ playing members, it is impossible to provide a suitable training environment for all club members at one set time with only 3 indoor nets to work with.
 
Therefore, we have made the decision to create 2 training groups to maximise player time, eliminate congestion and allow more skill work during these preseason sessions.
 
The squads are called: “1st Grade Squad” and “Full Club Squad”.
 
We have established a Facebook group titled “Sydney Uni Cricket Players Group 2018-19”- we ask that ALL players please search for this on Facebook and request to be added, as the majority of communication relating to training and matches with be via this group.
 
Congratulations to the following players who have been selected in the preseason 1st Grade Training Squad. This squad will be revised on the 17thSeptember. If anyone feels they should be in this squad but have been left out, please feel free to get in contact with Cam Borgas – 0408 852 892.

Jack Lawson
Matt Powys
Ryan Danne
Tom Galvin
Josh Toyer
Hayden Kerr
Devlin Malone
Nicky Craze
Dugald Holloway
Ryan McElduff
Charlie Cassell
Varun George
Kieran Tate
Liam Whitaker
Charles Litchfield

Nick Larkin
Ed Cowan
Liam Robertson
Damien Mortimer
Tim Cummins
Ben Trevor-Jones
Ben Joy
Tim Ley
Joe Kershaw
Dom O’Shannessy
James Larkin
Jack Holloway
James Crowley
David Miller
Max Hope

Congratulations also to the following players who have been selected in the Elite Athlete Program:

Will Masojada
James Robertson
Hugh Farrow
Cullen Hathurusinghe
Matt Moran
Aidan Peek
Michael Robinson
Max Shanahan
Liam Coelho
Tom Brooks

Hayden Kerr
Devlin Malone
Nicky Craze
Dugald Holloway
Ryan McElduff
Charlie Cassell
Varun George
Kieran Tate
Liam Whitaker
Charles Litchfield

Congratulations to the following 'new' players who are invited to participate in the next phase of the preseason program as part of the "Full Club Squad" (note this is not a guarantee of selection and this group may be reduced at a later date)

Tom D'Arcy
Fraser Noack
Matthew Staples
Lewis Ansell
Jack McLaine
Travis Fleming

Nihir Gandhi
Aaron Crofts
Murray Watts
Vikrant Nehru
Tom Crawford
Pierce Foley

The training program for the 1st Grade Squad will be communicated directly to the squad.

Please click here for the preseason training program for the "Full Club Squad"

We thank you for being patient and understanding as we transition through some of these training improvements. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Club.

Henry William Lawyers partners with Sydney Uni Cricket

Continuing with the great sponsorship news this week, leading commercial law firm, Henry William Lawyers, has agreed to partner with Sydney University Cricket Club for the 2018-19 season.

Henry William Lawyers will become a Gold Partner supporting our 2-day cricket programs and various events, including The Great Cricket Debate and annual Golf Challenge, throughout the season.

Sydney Uni Cricket General Manager, Dale Bryant, said: "We are delighted to welcome Henry William Lawyers to the Club. Having quickly built a reputation for excellence, Henry William Lawyers will be a great fit for the Club moving into a bright future."

Mark Faraday, Executive Lawyer and Director of Henry William Lawyers, said: "Sydney University Cricket Club provides outstanding sporting and developmental opportunities for young cricketers. The firm is very excited to be able to support the Club in helping its cricketers achieve their potential on and off the field."

Henry William Lawyers has become a highly respected force in the Sydney legal market. The firm and a number of its lawyers are recognised as being amongst the best in their areas of expertise by Doyle’s Guide and Best Lawyers, Australia.

The Club looks forward to forging a strong partnership with Henry William Lawyers into the future.

ICYMI: Former SU Cricketer set to become Prime Minister

The final outcome of Pakistan's 2018 general election may not be known for some time yet, and it seems likely that the eventual government will be a coalition - but that coalition will be led by the party with the most seats, Tehreek-e-Insaf, whose leader is Imran Khan.  When Imran is confirmed as Prime Minister, he will become the second man to lead a national government who also played cricket for Sydney University.

The first was Edmund Barton who, as the leader of the Protectionist Party, served as Australia's first Prime Minister, from 1 January 1901 to 24 September 1903.  Barton enrolled at Sydney University in 1867, having been school captain at Sydney Grammar.  Immediately, he joined the Cricket Club,  playing with significant success in the Second Eleven where, in his first season, he averaged 15 with the bat and took 13 wickets at a cost of four runs each.  His efforts in the Firsts - eight runs in four innings - were less eye-catching.  After that first season (when he also took two cheap wickets in the Firsts), he never bowled again, possibly because it involved too much effort.  Barton was famously immobile in the field, although he had safe hands when the ball was hit to him, and he was often hidden away at long-stop, behind the wicket-keeper.

Barton spent two seasons flitting between the Firsts and Seconds, and then settled into a regular First Eleven place.  He seldom scored heavily - matches were generally low-scoring anyway - but he often made useful runs.  The scorecards of his matches are littered with the great names of early Australian cricket: when the Albert Club demolished University for 26 in 1872-73, Barton was one of the two men who escaped dismissal by the great bowler Fred Spofforth, who claimed 9-10.  Two years later, he stood up to Spofforth to score 25, while in the match against the Warwick Club, he played well against Test players Billy Murdoch, Ted Evans and Charles Bannerman.  He was the first University captain to allow the young Tom Garrett to bowl, two years before Garrett opened the bowling in the first of all Test matches.  When University played Bathurst in 1874-75, Dave Gregory joined the team, with the result that man who would become Australia's first Test captain played under the leadership of the man who would become the country's first Prime Minister.  Numerically, Barton's best effort was an innings of 61 against the Caxton Club in 1871-72.

Barton served as club secretary for many years, and the name Barton appears on a First Eleven scoresheet as late as 1885, although with no initial, so we cannot be sure that it was Edmund.  He also umpired, most notoriously in a match between New South Wales and the touring English team in 1878-79, when a run out decision by his fellow official, George Coulthard, resulted in a riot.  On that occasion, Barton was credited with restoring order and calming the crowd who had invaded the field.

Barton's term as Prime Minister was brief; he stepped down from the position to take a seat on the High Court, which he considered to be a more important role.

Imran Khan's career as a Sydney University player was brief, consisting of half a dozen matches in 1984-85.  He had been enticed to New South Wales to become the State's second professional imported from overseas (after West Indian Andy Roberts, seven years earlier).  The NSW Cricket Association assigned Sydney University as his Grade club, and Imran (who had played for Oxford University as an undergraduate in the early 1970s) turned out for the students when he was available.  At first, he did little bowling, as he was recovering from shin splints.  He was a positive presence around the team, though, and his team-mates enjoyed the experience of playing with one of the great all-rounders of the modern game, and marveled at his extraordinarily active social life.  

The last match before Christmas was a Saturday/Sunday game at University, against North Sydney.  University batted for most of the first day, managing only 191 on a slow, grassless pitch.  Opener Greg Bush and Test batsman Trevor Chappell batted stubbornly for North Sydney, and at lunch on the second day, North Sydney needed about ninety runs to win with eight wickets still standing.  The rest of University's team loitered in the changing room or wandered off to the nearby hospital canteen, but Imran had a better offer, from a glamorous young woman who had arrived  at the ground in a red sports car just before the break.  When play resumed, University had only ten players on the field - no Imran.  After a few minutes, a red sports car appeared and Imran took the field.  Chappell and Graham Spring continued to push and nudge North Sydney towards victory when Imran walked up to Mick O'Sullivan and announced, "captain, I will bowl now".  Almost at once, he found life in the pitch that had eluded every other bowler in the game, unsettling Spring with sharply lifting deliveries before firing an inswinging yorker into his stumps.  From 23 overs, he took 4-25, stealing an improbable win for University by only nine runs.  Back to full fitness, he went on to help New South Wales win the Sheffield Shield.

It would be difficult to imagine two cricketers - or, indeed, two men - less similar than Edmund Barton and Imran Khan.  Nonetheless, they share a unique distinction in the history of the Sydney University Cricket Club.