I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. And Ollie Davies.
It makes no real sense that the first day of round 12 was cancelled because of extreme heat, while the second was all but wiped out by a massive southerly and soaking rain. But that’s the climate the current generation of cricketers has inherited. It’s not only the housing market we messed up for you. You’re welcome.
The trouble with rounds like this one is that there’s always someone who manages to get a result when no one else does, and that distorts the competition table. That’s no criticism of Manly, who did exactly what you’d expect them to do, and took full advantage of the fact that there was time to jam in 40-odd overs at Joe McAleer. Set a DLS target of 170 in 20 overs, Manly cruised home thanks to a brutal 96 from 39 from Ollie Davies, who cleared the fence seven times. The Blacktown innings, incidentally, had an unusual ending: Julian Osbourne wrapped it up by taking three wickets in three legal deliveries, but unfortunately interrupted what would have been his own hat-trick with a wide.
Anyway, perhaps fortunately, the result doesn’t alter the composition of the top six, but it does change its order, with Manly now on top, three points clear of Easts and St George.
Joe Colgan’s average went up again
For a batter who was in Second Grade about twelve months ago, Joe Colgan has made an impressive impact at Mosman this season. If you take out his six T20 matches (in which he scored a perfectly presentable 147 runs at 24.50), Colgan hasn’t been dismissed for less than fifty all season. In his first nine innings in the Belvidere Cup competition, he tallied 741 runs at an average of 105.85, and before the rain hit Allan Border Oval, he had time to add 63 more runs to his total. He now has 931 runs at an average north of 70 (or 804 at 114 if you exclude the T20s).
Mosman didn’t have an easy time of it against Wests: in overcast, windy conditions, Michael Dawson picked up three early wickets, including the big wicket of Ryan Hicks, bowled attempting a rather loose drive. After ducking two bouncers from Dawson, Colgan got underway with a neat clip off his pads – he’s especially strong through the on side, and rocks onto the back foot when the ball’s even the slightest bit short in a way that triggers memories of that other Mosman left-hander, Allan Border. He allowed Tom Brooks no margin for error, pulling a couple of meaty boundaries, and needed only 52 balls to reach his fifty. In the last over before the rain came, he hoisted Jack Bermingham over square leg for four and six. His off side play doesn’t have quite the same conviction – his weight sometimes seems to fall away in the opposite direction to his stroke – but when someone’s averaging 114, it’s a bit difficult to call that a weakness. Anyway, some free advice to the bowlers from Campbelltown, University of NSW and Sydney who play him in the next few weeks: stay off his pads, and no half-trackers.
The Students are in the One Day semis
Play was possible in only one of the quarter-finals of the First Grade Limited Overs competition, and Sydney University pulled off something of an upset at Hurstville Oval. Full credit to St George for getting the ground in shape for play when a washout would have carried them through to the semi-finals; St George finished on top of the ladder after winning five of their six games, while the Students squeaked into eighth place. The game was reduced to 40 overs a side, and University posted a respectable 9 for 219, thanks largely to Yuvraj Sharma’s 58 from 79 balls. That didn’t look like an obvious winning total against the formidable Saints batting lineup, especially when Blake Nikitaras and Kurtis Patterson took 27 runs from the first 26 balls of the innings. Crucially, Patterson then hammered Kieran Tate straight to cover, where Patrick Xie held on. The game was decided between the 12th and 17th overs, when St George lost five wickets for only 12 runs. Nikitaras pulled Darcy Mooney to Sharma; Cameron Frendo spun one past Jack Haynes’ outside edge to take off stump and lured Luke Bartier into a loose drive to extra cover; Harry Scowen chipped Mooney to cover, and Mooney then put the icing on the collapse by jagging one back to clip the top of Peter Francis’ off stump. The St George lower order fought hard but the eventual margin of 81 runs was conclusive. Sydney University is joined in the semi finals by Fairfield, Easts and Manly, who all advanced after washouts.
Frankie Nicklin is in form
The most improved team in this season’s women’s competition is Sydney University, who owes its position at the top of the table in the Ruth Preddey Cup largely (though certainly not only) to the exceptional form of Frankie Nicklin. After four rounds, Nicklin had the third-highest batting aggregate in the entre competition, and stood fourth on the list of leading wicket-takers. Nicklin’s 100 (from only 112 balls) against Campbelltown-Camden was her second First Grade hundred, and included several well-timed thumps through the on side. Her third-wicket partnership of 124 with Grace Keating was the backbone of University’s innings, and she later picked up a wicket in her second over. Nicklin isn’t, perhaps, the most extravagant spinner of the ball, but she’s remarkably accurate. She has spent most of this season hovering on the fringes of representative cricket for the Breakers and Sixers, she was in the NSW squad of thirteen for this week’s WNCL match, and on current form she must be due for a decent opportunity soon.
It’s finals time in Green Shield
Northern District romped into the finals of the AW Green Shield competition by winning all seven of its matches. Alish Hirani has been outstanding for the Rangers, passing fifty in four of his seven innings, for a total of 296 runs at 74, besides taking 7-25 against Western Suburbs with his leg-breaks. The leading run-scorer in the competition so far is Mosman’s Jagbir Singh Malhi, whose 431 runs have been boosted by 160 from only 105 balls against Randwick-Petersham. Eastern Suburbs’ highly consistent 14 year old leg-spinner, Tyson Jansz, leads the bowlers with 18 wickets.
The quarter-finals, you’ll be shocked to learn, were disrupted by rain. In the two where play was possible, Campbelltown outplayed Sutherland and Mosman defeated Penrith. Northern District and Parramatta also proceed to the semi-finals on Thursday.