We advise that due to the unavailability of over 25 players for this round, together with some late withdrawals, we will be unable to finalise our team selections until late Friday.
We will both post the selections on our website and send out via email as soon as possible on Friday.
We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sydney Uni young-gun, Lawrence Neil-Smith, has been selected in the preliminary squad of 28 players ahead of the 2018 Under 19 Cricket World Cup, being held in New Zealand from January 13th to February 3rd.
Each of the players selected in the preliminary squad have been identified by the State Talent Managers following impressive performances at previous events and with 15 spots available in the World Cup team, players named in the extended squad are in strong contention. CA Pathways Manager, Graham Manou, says "there's some exceptional talent coming through the Pathway right now, and it really is going to be a tough task to narrow down our Under 19 World Cup squad to just 15 players".
Over the next six weeks, Cricket Australia's Youth Selection Panel will be making some difficult decisions based on performances at the Under 19 National Championships in Hobart and Launceston from December 4th to 15th.
Lawrence has been the leader of attack in our table-topping 2nd Grade team and currently leads all wicket takers at the Club with 17 wickets for the season at 14.
Sydney Uni Cricket wishes Lawrence the best of luck throughout the upcoming selection process.
Sydney University opening bowler Joe Kershaw took his first wickets in Futures League cricket this afternoon, striking twice for AT/Country against Western Australia in Perth.
On a flat pitch at Richardson Park, and in oppressively hot conditions, WA built an imposing first innings of six for 416, with opener Will Bosisto reaching 200. But Kershaw maintained his pace and accuracy impressively, claiming 2-62 from 23 overs, emerging as the most successful, and economical, of the ACT/NSW Country attack. He took his first wicket when he had Clinton Hinchliffe caught by Jay Lenton, and he removed Tim David shortly afterwards.
A short time ago, ACT/NSW Country had reached 2 for 107 in its reply.
After a dominant opening day, the students arrived believing that only the rain could cruel the momentum. Joe Kershaw was withdrawn from the game due to his upcoming Futures League fixture, allowing Tim Ley to come back in to the side.
Hawkesbury started as 3/24 in pursuit of 397. It didn’t take long for Ley to make an impact, demolishing the off stump of the night watchman. He then had Nair nicking to second slip, only for the chance to go begging. A partnership developed between Nair and Gauci, and as the rain continued to fall, conditions for bowling became increasingly challenging. With the once shiny kookaburra resembling a bar of soap, Dugald Holloway entered the attack. Despite the tough conditions, Holloway used his angles intelligently and was able to control his length, eventually drawing loose shots from the Hawks players and breaking the game open.
Joy re-entered the attack, poised on 99 first grade wickets. His celebrated rise from a 6th grade stalwart to one of the best fast bowlers in the first grade competition is the stuff of legends. With Nair approaching a century, Joy wrapped his pads and a strong appeal was rewarded. 100 first grade wickets is a fantastic achievement, particularly for a man who has given so much to the club off the field as well. Malone and Cowan bowled their leggies in tandem as the students sensed a chance to finish off the tail. Cowan surprised even himself with nice flight and control, certainly warranting further overs throughout the season.
Malone showed remarkable skill to be able to spin the ball and largely bowl with control in conditions most wrist spinners would refuse to perform their craft in. He bamboozled the tail with flight and wronguns, claiming three wickets to end the fixture by tea time and ensure the students claimed six points in a round where draws were the order of the day.
Sydney Uni 9-397:
N Larkin 140, B Trevor-Jones 68, D Mortimer 53
Hawkesbury 199:
D Malone 3-44, J Kershaw 2-16, D Holloway 2-28
Another day and another early morning for the 2’s, who hit the motorways of Sydney’s Suburbia at the crack of dawn in search of 10 points. There was a consistent spray of water from the clouds, rain, but not enough to trigger the umpires to postpone the start time. So, as per usual, the pre-game chatter started between young and old. Shoutout to Jono CD playing barefoot as he forgot his trainers. The game was fast paced and again refereed not by strict rules, but by consensus and volume, with the shout of ‘Low’ being verified only on the basis that 3 or more people had shouted it in harmony. It would have made the many hairs on Mao spine stand up. The tremendous energy had usurped structured rules. This was the same for a goal, which, was cheered with multiple ‘yeeeeaaaaahs’ and thus, must’ve been inside the ill-defined parameters of a goal, regardless. The elderly took the game 2-0 but credit must go to the young who seemed to have built on their performance from last week. It will be an exciting matchup next week.
The wicket was rather different to the previous week, after some difficult weather patterns throughout. The strip was hard underneath a light covering of green grass. Of course, this meant that Jono Craig Dobson was salivating violently to go and take some wickets in the first innings, building on from the 3 wickets last week. He and Lawrence ran through the top order and made a very strong impression on the game. Lawrence finished with 4 wickets, Jono 4. To be frank, the bowling conditions were heavily in our favour, but the ball became wet very quickly and swelled to a more rotund object, with a ludicrous sized seam. This did not deter the two quicks from taking their booty from the sinking Hawkesbury ship.
In order to gain the 10 points, we needed our bowlers to recharge their batteries in order to take another 10 wickets in the 20 minute break. Surprise surprise, Neil Smith ran in again and took another wicket early, and quickly they were 2 down, as the rain set in. As is common in the game, we had almost unanimously decided that the rain had come to stay and that we would be sailing on the high seas home to the Nag’s. This was a mistake in hindsight. We managed to fit in a rapid quiz in the break, something that really tests our team as a unit, led by McMahon. We are beginning to develop different subject specialists for the quiz and thus are assumed as unwavering experts. I, unfortunately, have the French language as my specialist subject for which I know nothing about, but I am from Europe and I know that Allemagne is Germany in French and thus that qualified me enough. I haven’t answered another question correctly since. Holloway has taken a more polymathic stance and delves into many subjects albeit with mixed subject. Again, his conviction is enough for the team to assume he is right.
To the credit of TK and Chip, they pushed to get on as soon as possible and continue to knock over the middle order, which was rapidly an actuality. Holloway took another wicket with his first ball, an expertly measured short ball into the shoulders and caught in comfort by Lew McMahon, who bowled with patience as well. To the credit of Hawkesbury, a fortunate partnership between two of their boys helped drag out the overs and although they were both dismissed before the close of play, they had shown a level of confidence rare within the spooked ranks of the Hawks. The game had been dominated by Uni from the very third ball and frankly, the 6 points were well deserved and were unlucky not to get a better go at 10.
Routines are routines, and as the beverages were supplied by the youth, the team song quickly came into voice with a very impressive solo from Lawrence with both confidence and raw aggression, something that must have transferred from his fiery bowling. Uni have been dominant in their last two fixtures and take on Penrith in a home game next Saturday.
Sydney Uni 6-420:
S Hobson 229*, C Litchfield 94
Hawkesbury 91 & 7-179:
J Craig-Dobson 4-36, L Neil-Smith 4-37 & 2-13
Well, well, well. To say that this was the most unbelievable game that I have been involved in would be an understatement. Given that I am not usually guilty of understating things in my published works, allow me to tell you what occurred on Saturday so you can be the judge...
After Day 1 turned out to be a harrowing bye week (which no-one enjoys), Day 2 was shaping up to be much of the same with showers forecast both Friday night and Saturday. Scrambling around on Friday arvo pre-Pepsi, the Uni groundstaff and a few excellent college gentlemen (Galvin, Hughes, Gibson et al) were enlisted to transport the spare (1 metric tonne) cover down to Camperdown to give us every chance of getting on. We arrived at the ground to find a hard, green pitch and there were good prospects to get most of a full day in.
After an initial rain delay, the game was reduced from 120 overs to 112 overs and a game of Nash was hastened to allow the youth to try their wares against the heretofore superior old. Which they did, and I have cause to eat all my words from this year as the youth (no doubt galvanised by my relentless disparaging/harassment) put old to the sword in a masterful display. Kevvy Jacob had one of the best weekends of his life in the blue and gold, scoring a soccer goal (goal-line technology requested for future Nash games as Duffman wasn’t convinced) and leading the boys in Nash, chat and cricket. Something to behold, he even put his back to the post-match covers in a selfless display.
On to the charade that is the toss of the coin, whereby once again I was informed what we were to do rather than being able to choose (0 from 4). This was to bat, and Hilly and Danno put on a solid start on a seaming pitch to have us well placed to accelerate at the end with wickets in hand. After Danno got out, Kevvy picked up where he left off and a further rain delay meant that we were looking at 53 overs to set a total in a gentlemen’s agreement. Evergreen’s Shane Mott took the ball from the top end and bowled all 27 in a row and as always, he made scoring difficult. A few cameos from the lower order meant that we set a defendable total of 209 from the remaining 53 overs.
The Hawks came out firing and were soon racing along well above the required rate. Some tight bowling either side of a rain delay meant that there was now only 40 overs to reach the target and this got us back into the seesawing contest. Excellent aggressive batting from the top 4 meant that the Hawks were still ahead, and at 3/202 with 4 overs to go even the most optimistic would have had to say it was goodnight nurse for the Units.
That is to say all but Jim Ryan, who so far in his testimonial was dismissed for a duck, wicketless at about 6 an over and had lost Nash. He was however still running in hard and rare as the day is long, which enabled him to make the game turn in absurd fashion. The set batsman holed out to Hillsy at long off, and from that point on every other batsman that came in was looking to strike the winning blow and get off the field. The only issue was that the shots were now going to the fielders and we were holding catches, as opposed to earlier in the innings. Tate picked up a wicket (Kevvy an excellent diving catch to cap an all-round display) and then Jim took another 3 next over which gave him a remarkable 4 wickets in 8 balls and Uni had just taken 5/5 in less than 3 overs.
When Tate started the final over it was 3 to win with 2 wickets in hand. Their number 9 swung hard through legside to rapturous applause, only for everyone to realise it wasn’t going to reach the fence as Michael Robbo chased it down and kept it to 2 runs. This meant that scores were now tied and Tate’s next ball was perfect and disturbed the furniture so that the last man came out with 4 balls left and 1 to win, 1 wicket in hand.
Tate bowled straight and fast, the non-striker attempted to steal a bye and Alan Donald forgot to run, causing outrageous scenes as Powys fed Tate who removed the bails at the bowler’s end. The most remarkable finish to a game that I have seen, Hawks lost 7/7 in 17 balls to tie the match and never has anyone celebrated a tie as much as Kieran Tate after the final wicket. Tate it must be said was outstanding, bowling 17 of a possible 20 from the top end for 4 wickets and a run-out to put the icing on the cake. It will be difficult to comprehend the chaos and the result, it really had to be seen to be believed.
With results on our side across the grade we now return to the top 6, and hopefully that is where we remain. On to round 5 where we travel to the foot of the mountains where Chrissy Withers and his cats are lurking.
Sydney Uni 9-209:
J Hill 39, R Danne 36, K Jacob 34
Hawkesbury 209:
J Ryan 4-69, K Tate 4-75
Fourth grade jumped back on the motorway under cloudy skies with 150 left to chase and 10 wickets in hand. They were greeted with a wet wicket and outfield and occasional spurts of rain which often delayed play in the first session. An improved showing from the Julios saw a close 1-0 Nash victory, however this proved to be one of the only high points of the day. Unfortunately for Uni, the level of application we showed in the field last week wasn’t quite replicated, with wickets falling at regular intervals. Against a spirited Hawkesbury attack, 170 proved too many to chase, as Uni we’re bundled out for a tick under 100.
We will go back to the drawing board during the week and work towards a return to form and an improved showing next weekend as we head into a string of matches against the historically strong opposition.
Sydney Uni 88:
L McElduf 28, O Thompson 19, J Crowley 19
Hawkesbury 170:
A Peek 3-33, S Canagasingham 2-15
Sydney Uni 137:
V Umbers 29, R Browne 27, L Hughes 25
Hawkesbury 219:
M Miles 3-34, J Rinka 2-38
The Metro team travelled to Beauchamp again this week to find a ground and conditions that were in stark contrast to last weeks. The outfield was reasonably drenched and the square had a significant mud patch just over the to the side of our match pitch. The pitch itself had varying small wet patches that had no chance of drying on the day.
With fairness in mind, both captains agreed to give things an hour to try and super soak the square and the surrounding field to see if any significant improvement could be achieved. The Gordon players worked hard pushing a super soaker we believe Captain Cook may have used on The Endeavour to soak up spilt rum. In other words, it looked ancient and wasn't very effective at getting the job done.
At the end of the hour, it was agreed that conditions were unlikely to improve over the rest of the day and the match was called. In the famous words of Kenny Rogers' song The Gambler, 'you gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them' and those lyrics rang true today for the Uni boys. We all train hard and make the effort to get to the ground and want to play hard but fair cricket. The main consideration today is the word fair and chasing 337 in those conditions would not have been a fair fight. The season is long and we will get at least one more chance to prove our worth against the current competition leaders.
We now need to reset and recommit our attitude's and efforts, and keep our standards high this week at training so we can hit the ground running for our home match next week against Randwick.
Gordon 8-337:
T Synnott 4-75, P Adikarige 2-31
University of NSW has strengthened its side for Friday's Great Cricket Debate by calling up former Test fast bowler, and UNSW graduate, Geoff Lawson.
Lawson took 180 Test wickets between 1980 and 1989, and represented the UNSW Bees throughout his playing career. He is currently the bowling coach for the NSW Blues. His debating style has been described by knowledgeable observers as "take no prisoners".
Lawson rounds out a UNSW team that also includes Cricket NSW Chief Executive Andrew Jones and ACT Meteors star Katie Mack. Sydney University will be represented by former Test opener (and incumbent Steve Waugh medalist) Ed Cowan, "Grade Cricketer" co-author Ian Higgins and SUCC Chairman and professional arguer Max Bonnell.
The Great Cricket Debate will take place at Sydney University's TAG Grandstand on Friday 10 November, commencing at 12.30pm. Most tickets are sold, but some are still available through this website.
Sydney University captain Nick Larkin has been named in the Cricket Australia XI squad to play two four day, first-class matches against the touring England team in the lead-up to the first Ashes Test in Brisbane this month.
The Cricket Australia XI will play a game at Adeaide Oval starting on 8 November, and a second match at Riverway Stadium, Townsville, from 15 November.
Larkin has earned his place with exceptional early-season form: in the Toyota Futures League for ACT/NSW Country, he hit 189 and 129 not out against NSW Metropolitan, and his first two innings for Sydney University produced 51 and a remarkable 140 from only 138 deliveries against Hawkesbury.
The squad of twelve, which includes five players from New South Wales, is: Jake Carder (WA), Jackson Coleman (Vic), Michael Cormack (SA), Daniel Fallins (NSW), Ryan Gibson (NSW), Nick Larkin (NSW), Simon Milenko (Tas), Tim Paine (Tas), Will Pucovski (Vic), Gurinder Sandhu (NSW), Jason Sangha (NSW) and Matthew Short (Vic).
The coin fell nicely for the students and the captain swiftly elected to bat. Yet again, Darrel and his team of groundsmen prepared a beautiful wicket with great grass coverage and good carry. Enough in it for both batsman and bowler. With Ed Cowan back in the line up, the batting group was brimming with confidence. The first wicket fell when Cowan was caught well at third slip for 15. The in-form Damien Mortimer joined Nick Larkin at the crease and the students pushed into lunch at 1/115.
With another 40 minutes under the blazing sun, the surface post lunch was in favour of the batting side. Larkin made the most of the conditions, savaging the Hawkesbury attack to all parts of the campus before finally being dismissed for 140 off only 147 deliveries. Despite being in shell shock, the Hawks clawed their way back and three quick wickets saw Trevor Jones and Cummins needing to rebuild despite a solid platform. These two put together an intelligent partnership, combining aggressive running with powerful cuts and drives. Cummins eventually fell for a quick 41, as Trevor-Jones pushed on. The lower order came in and played aggressively around Trevor-Jones, with Kershaw and Holloway getting in on the action to clear the ropes a number of times each. With a declaration in sight, Trevor -Jones was dismissed for 67. Ben Joy planted his first ball over mid off for 6, and with that, the captain decided enough was enough, the Hawks would have a bat in fading light. The students declaring 9/397 from 84 overs.
Joe Kershaw proved unplayable with the new ball, swinging it prodigiously at a good pace. In producing the ball of the season he uprooted Josh Clarke’s middle stump. Ben Joy then removed the other Hawks opener, in doing so doubling his wicket tally for the season. Kershaw struck once more to leave the Hawks three wickets down. A couple of dropped chances cost the students the opportunity of being in an unassailable position, but at 3/24 Hawkesbury are a long way behind the game.
Sydney Uni 9-397
N Larkin 140, B Trevor-Jones 68, D Mortimer 53
Hawkesbury 3-24
J Kershaw 2-16, B Joy 1-7
Day 1 at Benson’s Lane saw an extremely clinical performance from the boys, featuring a mammoth double century from Steve Hobson, his second for the club. Hobson, assisted by a well constructed 94 by Charles Litchfield, led the charge to 420, with small contributions from the middle order. In truth, the day belonged to Hobson, who showed he was in his prime, running hard throughout the innings. He finished with a flourish, with some wonderful strokes and aptly came off to a standing ovation. He had set the tone for the day, and when Ben Larkin decided to declare, the bowlers were chomping at the bit to take a couple of wickets and seal the day.
Lawrence Neil Smith had a wicket with the first ball of Hawkesbury’s reply, an LBW that the umpire couldn’t possibly deny. Jubilation turned to comedy as LNS claimed 3 wickets in his 3 overs, his pace and bounce too much for the opposition. Dobson and Holloway bowled with discipline, but Lawrence took home the wickets. The bowling effort has opened up a distinct possibility to go back next week and search for a big win.
All in all, a strong performance for the students, who have a challenge next week to bag some more points and get up the leaderboard!
Sydney Uni 6-420
S Hobson 229*, C Litchfield 94
Hawkesbury 3-11
L Neil-Smith 3-2
The lack of play due to rain really doesn’t impact on my ability to write a match report for the day. Regular followers of my published works will no doubt be interested to hear how the 3rd grade side went about our day and frankly, I am delighted at the prospect of writing a match report that focuses solely on Nash and other off-field events (i.e. meetings with one P Epsi).
The day began in brilliant sunshine and the units arrived at Camperdown to be greeted with a green and moist pitch. This meant several hours of delay and a hope that the sun and wind would do the trick to enable cricket to be played. We then decided to see what was what on the Nash field and whether the youth had learned from their mistakes and could acquire their first victory of the season. Battle lines were well and truly drawn midweek with skipper Danne “declaring” his side and Kevvy also wanting to let his Nash do the talking. Liam Whitaker also chimed in and his taunting of Toyer really was not smart, a long line of injured players could tell you that there is no point in poking the bear, there is only going to be one result.
A hard-fought contest ensued, with your scribe taking pity on the youth and awarding them all 50/50 calls in the attempt of having a contest. Which there was, a very tight contest that ended 3-all and Kieran Tate covered 14ks in midfield according to his GPS. As the youth had the extra man this, of course, was a victory for old, however, it would be presumptuous of me to declare that we deserved it. I will therefore state categorically that we did deserve it, despite Jim Ryan refusing to run. The sadness on Danno’s face really told the story, crestfallen and forlorn are two words that come to mind.
This set the stage for a trip up to No1 for most of the lads, to watch 1s pile on the runs. Regular inspections of the pitch revealed some improvement, but it was becoming increasingly unlikely that cricket would be able to occur. Finally, at 3pm the decision was made by both captains to call it off and come back for 120 overs next week. This meant that the afternoon was to be spent back up at No1, but first came the second leg of double or nothing Nash.
Emboldened by their excellent performance in the morning session young were raring to go – captain Danne led his team onto the field and they must’ve had a chat pre-game because there were new tactics being employed (which didn’t work). A controversial “screen” was carried out from goal kicks, which ultimately didn’t serve to reduce the panic encountered by whoever was taking the kicks. The game however really belonged to Tate, Toyer and Powys, with Jim Ryan and your scribe putting in some pretty average 2-way running efforts. We were thankfully joined in that by Kev and Fullerton, so old wasn't hampered too much by this lack of effort. Michael Robbo was excellent in goals, and he probably saved 8 or 9 attempts on target. Young fought hard, and Kevvy was throwing hookshots from everywhere. Captain Danne’s pre-match instructions definitely didn’t include that, and his face told the story when the 10th hookshot to the back post sailed harmlessly out for a goal kick. In the end old came away with the points in an incredibly satisfying 2-1 win. In simple terms young just lack the heart, desire, and belief that old has in spades. They just don’t know how to win, and when the going gets tough they go missing.
An extended fines session (I’m given to understand that it was fully audible on the livestream) with a case in tow and BTJ hitting crowd catches capped a great day really. A different contest awaits day 2 with 120 overs likely to be enough to force a result, and hopefully, we will be on the right side of it and get back up into the top 6.
After a rainy week, the 4s boys jumped on the motorway unsure of what to expect out west. Shockingly, it was hot. In the warm up the Julios and Nuffies faced off in an energetic encounter with the Nuffies emerging victorious. For reasons unknown, Galvin hid in goals and it showed, the Julios lacking a bit of pace and spark up front.
He may have won Nash but AJ lost the toss and the boys headed out into the field facing the prospect of a tough grind on what was essentially a pretty flat track. Disciplined bowling saw a couple of early wickets, followed by a number of small partnerships which while slow, were annoyingly long. Nevertheless, the boys took 5 wickets into tea and were hopeful of wrapping the innings up soon afterward. Up to this point, the wickets had been shared around, with the first 5 falling to 5 different bowlers. Peeky stepped up after tea to claim the lion’s share of the poles with 3.
The Hawks boys put up a boring display towards the end of the innings, with fewer runs accumulating slower than Jack Lawson’s chop count. Angry skipper AJ looked to get under Hawkesbury skins with a few choice sledges and eventually the tactic proved successful, with the batsmen playing a few more expansive shots as the day drew to a close and as a result giving away their wickets. With 4 overs left to play, Duff man and B Dilley safely steered the boys to stumps at 0-20. The boys will make the trek out to Bensons Lane again next week with the hope of wrapping up the 6 points quickly enough that AJ can get to his engagement party but not so quickly that the Hawks boys don’t have to spend some time in the field sweating as we did.
Sydney Uni 0-20
L McElduff 14*, B Dilley 4*
Hawkesbury 170
A Peek 3-33, S Canagasingham 2-15, J Lawson 2-60
Hawkesbury 219
M Miles 3-34, J Rinka 2-38
The week a new look Student's side with Metro debutants Blayney and Ghumman travelled to picturesque Beauchamp Oval for a top of the table clash with Gordon. With a hot day expected ahead, a positive tone was set early with a competitive game of Nash between and batsmen and bowlers with the batsmen taking the prize in a close one.
Down to business and the toss is lost with the home side choosing to bat (much to the loud cheers of their players) on what can only be described as a road of a pitch and a quickish outfield. Taking the field with a plan in place the Students knew a strong first session was important. Early wickets weren't forthcoming as the Gordon openers played a cautious waiting game and saw off our tight opening bowlers Draca and Kirubanandan. First change Adikarige struck with his second ball, Morrison caught debut Uni skipper Cade.
Unfortunately, this brought quality Pakistani import Amijad to the crease who proceeded to tee off on anything short, full or bowled on the pitch. Lost time due to searching for the ball became the norm until Gibson struck with the batsman on 50(35), Max Shanahan taking an excellent diving outfield catch. From then on spirits and energy remained high as momentum started swinging back to the bowling side with the run rate starting to slow in the session after tea. Leg spinner Tim Synott came on and collected 4/76. Catches to Adikarage and Derrick in the deep, 2 stumpings to Cade.
The rest of the day was a tough slog as tiredness started taking over and that showed with some sloppy misfields costing extra runs. Gordon finishing the day 8/337 which is about par all things considered with their very deep batting depth. With a strong batting lineup the Students are looking forward to a good week at training and the challenge of the chase next weekend!
Gordon 8-337
T Synnott 4-75, P Adikarige 2-31
