Sydney University got back on track
The battle of the nerds, at David Phillips Field, was pretty much settled inside the first hour, which was how long it took Sydney University’s Ollie Robinson and Kieran Tate to reduce University of NSW to 5 for 27. Robinson, once again, had the ball on a string, nipping it around on a fourth stump line and mixing in an occasional, outrageous off-cutter. Tate keeps bustling in and attacking off stump – already this season he has 37 wickets. The big wicket was Tom Lammonby, who played dutifully for 16 balls before edging one from Robinson that jagged away. Behind the stumps, Tim Cummins held five catches and completed a stumping – the second time this season he’s dismissed six batsmen in an innings. Left-armer Bailey Lidgard strangled the middle order with a nine over spell of 3 for 18, and Sydney was left with a target of just 101. John Rogers and Patrick Xie romped to a ten-wicket victory inside 17 overs, Xie clinching the result by slog-sweeping Ryan Meppem over mid-wicket for six. Sydney University really needed the result after dropping two successive games, and the bonus point they picked up could be very handy with the table becoming tighter and tighter.
Matt Moran. No, not that one.
It should be possible to write a piece about Matt Moran without making a chef joke. Here goes.
Moran’s captain at Eastern Suburbs this season, and on Saturday he lost the toss at Bankstown, which is worth mentioning because it’s just about the only thing he got wrong all day. In the first over, James Moore edged an expansive drive at Brad Simpson into his stumps, and when Moran went in Easts were in trouble at 3 for 55. Moran began sedately, adding 40 for the fourth wicket with Nic Maddinson, who looked in good touch until he missed a sweep at Mitchell Constantinou and was adjudged lbw. The rest of the innings was all Moran. He slashed Constantinou behind point for 4 and hoicked the next ball, a full toss, over midwicket for six. A tall man with long levers, Moran hooked a no-ball from Simpson over fine leg for 6 and launched one of Justin Felsch’s off breaks high over cow corner for 6 more. When he was dismissed on the final ball of the 47th over, he’d hit 106 from 99 balls and, crucially, squeezed 91 runs from Easts’ last three wickets. The key wicket in almost any Bankstown innings is Dan Solway: Moran slipped an off-cutter past his defence and won the lbw verdict. Then he used his captain’s prerogative to knock over the tail, finishing up with 4-29 as Easts prevailed by the deceptively large margin of 93 runs. It was a masterful all-round effort that set up an important win, which pushes the Dolphins up into sixth place.
Northern District likes to keep it interesting
Fresh from a one-wicket defeat at the hands of Gordon in Round 9, Northern District went down by one run in Round 10. Joe Colgan continued his good form with 80, enabling Mosman to reach 6 for 268, which seems about par for Mark Taylor Oval. In truth, the total should have been much smaller – the 21 wides NDs contributed would become highly significant. Corey Miller, with 96, kept the Rangers in touch, but wickets fell often enough to keep Mosman in the contest too. From Cooper Johnston’s final over, NDs needed only seven runs to win. Ryan Swain bunted the first ball to long-on for a scrambled two, then nurdled a single to square leg. The batsmen then convened for their third conference of the over, but whatever was said didn’t work, because Jordan Fullagar promptly sliced the next delivery to cover. Four runs needed from three balls. A leg side wide made it three from three. Charlie Anderson missed a full ball outside off stump, survived a vigorous stumping appeal, and joined Swain for the fourth batters’ conference of the over. A single to cover made the target two from the final ball, at which point Anderson and Swain met for another conference, as did most of the Mosman side. The Mosman committee meeting resulted in Joe Colgan fielding at a very straight mid-off, and Swain’s mis-timed drive went straight to him, Colgan’s direct hit (from about four metres) beating Swain home as he tried for the tying run. Sometimes it’s a game of fine margins. NDs are 11th on the table, but they were just two or three dot balls away from fourth place.
Owen Simonsen is a useful second grader
Owen Simonsen’s left-arm spin is pretty unexciting to watch. He shuffles up to the crease from about four steps – you can hardly call them paces – and generally sends the ball down with a fairly flat trajectory. There’s not much by the way of loopy flight or dramatic turn. But he’s accurate, spins it just enough and varies his flight, pace and spin just enough to keep the batters alert. On Saturday, he tied up Hawkesbury’s Seconds with a spell of 4 for 24, meaning that since Parramatta decided to play him in Second Grade after Round Four, he has taken 20 wickets at an average of around 12, Parramatta has climbed to second place on the Second Grade ladder, and these facts are not unrelated.
PGs is still happening
This Sunday is the last of the preliminary rounds in the Poidevin-Gray competition, with quarter-final places still up for grabs. By our count (which you absolutely should not trust) seven of the teams in Pool A could hypothetically reach the finals, as could seven teams in Pool B. Sutherland has been setting the pace and put itself in a powerful position by thumping Fairfield, helped by Lachlan Ritchie’s 5 for 30. Sutherland faces ninth-placed Penrith on Sunday, and would need an unexpectedly heavy defeat to miss out on a finals spot. Player of the round was Manly’s Axel Karlsson-Lacy, who whacked 129 against Blacktown in only his second PGs game. Karlsson-Lacy is having an odd season: he averages only 25.50 in Third Grade, but 104 everywhere else.