Will Salzmann made a breakthrough
In his handful of Marsh Cup games for NSW so far, Will Salzmann has played as a bowler who can bat a bit. That could be about to change. In the match between Sydney University and St George, which featured five batsmen with first-class experience, he played the standout innings, doubling his previous best score in First Grade to post a highly impressive maiden century. Salzmann went in with University deep in trouble at 2-15, chasing 307, to face Peter Francis with his tail up. He got off the mark with an uppish cover drive for 2, then middled the next ball to the cover fence. He welcomed Luke Bartier into the attack with two successive boundaries, and a couple of overs later cracked the same bowler high over wide mid off for a ridiculously effortless 6. His driving was a feature of his innings, but he showed deft touch in glancing Francis for two fours in succession, and launched leg-spinner Joshua Moors for a massive 6 over long-on. While Salzmann was batting with Tim Cummins, University looked on track to reach its target, but the stand was broken by a run out, after which the consistently excellent Francis settled the issue. The hard-fought win gave St George its sixth victory from as many games, and they remain on top of the competition table.
Alex Lee-Young has started well
Mosman has had a patchy season so far, but was too strong for University of NSW last weekend and will take great encouragement from the form of 16 year-old debutant, Alex Lee-Young. Picked to keep wicket, Lee-Young found himself going into bat earlier than expected after a spectacular collapse. Openers Nick Browne and Stirling McEvoy had added 52 runs when Sanjit Selverajoo knocked back Browne’s off stump, and then everything fell to pieces. Hayden McLean bowled Tom Colgan with the last ball before lunch; then, in the first over after the break, Shehan Sinnetamby played a ball to square leg, both batsmen ran, both batsmen stopped, and Peter Forrest was run out without facing a ball. 5 for 68. But Lee-Young drove the third ball he faced down the ground for 4 and settled in to play a highly mature innings, reaching 64 from 160 balls. A harsh critic might complain that, at the moment, his game is a bit block-or-four, but he has plenty of time to figure out how to nurdle the ball around for ones and twos. He certainly dealt impressively with anything loose, finding the boundary ten times. To cap off a memorable debut, he snared four victims behind the stumps as the Whales recovered to win comfortably.
They still bowl leg spin in England, a bit
Here's something you don’t see every day – a low-scoring game at Benson Lane, decided by an English leg-spinner. Easts batted first and struggled to reach 166 after Will Simpson worked hard for his 50. Hawkesbury was easing towards victory at 1 for 41 when Cameron Steel, an all-rounder from Surrey, came on. Jarod Brett offered no stroke to Steel’s first delivery, apparently expecting it to turn, and that was a mistake. Jack James tried to pull a short ball away, and mistimed an easy catch to Daniel Hughes. Steel had 3-5 shortly afterwards, when he removed Connor Mizzi, and Hawkesbury never really recovered. Steel hurries to the crease, usually pushes the ball through quickly, and doesn’t seem to generate a lot of sidespin, but he was immensely accurate and, every now and then, allowed the ball a little more air. It was that slower ball that accounted for Ryan Mizzi, who aimed a wild swipe in the direction of midwicket and only succeeded in skying it to cover. Steel ended up with 5-28, and Easts ran out winners by 35 runs.
Every run counts
Some days you get sent in to bat on a lively pitch at Cook Park, and things don’t go your way. But do you give up? No. Because even if you just scrape together a few more runs, it could make a difference. Usually, actually, it doesn't. But on Saturday, Penrith Third Grade was 9 for 71 in the 21st over when Cooper McLean joined Lachlan Cash, and the two of them dragged out the innings for another 14 overs – and 47 runs. Cash finished not out on 52, while Cooper nudged his way to 12. Still, 118 wasn’t much of a total, and Campbelltown looked well placed at 5 for 80, only for William Hicks (6-21) to bowl his side to victory by 11 runs. So the lesson is, don’t give up. But maybe the lesson is, don’t throw runs away. The two sides managed 225 runs between them in two innings, but there were no fewer than 47 sundries in there, including a truly absurd 32 wides. Either side could have won the game easily just by refusing to donate unearned runs to the other.
Sydney University Women had a breakthrough
It’s been a frustrating few weeks for the Sydney University Women’s Firsts, who are playing their first season in Women’s Premier Cricket (although many of the players turned out for the defunct Universities club). They pushed St George-Sutherland down to the wire, only to lose by one wicket after a last-wicket partnership knocked off the last 12 runs. Then they lost to Bankstown, who passed their target on the last possible ball of a T20 game. After those near misses, they finally notched their first win of the season, against Parramatta – and by the comfortable margin of 60 runs. The highly consistent Jess Davidson hit 54 in rapid time, Carly Leeson played brightly for 40, and there were handy contributions form Sarah Brine and Chaye Hartwell. Vaishnavi Deobhankar, Sarah Brine and Frankie Nicklin (celebrating her selection in the NSW Metropolitan Under 19s) finished the job with the ball. Perhaps the match of the round, though, was the clash between Manly and Sydney – batting first, Manly reached 5-238, but Sydney fell just ten runs short, with Jodie Hicks hitting an excellent 98.