Marcus Atallah kept Easts on top
Four rounds in to the First Grade competition, Eastern Suburbs sits on top of the table with four straight wins. The Dolphins were made to work hard by Parramatta, who reached two for 96 in pursuit of a total of 307 (built on Daniel Hughes’ 92 from 92). The decisive contribution came from sturdy off-spinner Marcus Atallah, who worked his way through the Parramatta middle order on his way to figures of five for 42. After all these years, Nic Bertus remains the key Parramatta wicket, and Atallah undid him on 61 with a ball he held back just a touch to induce a miscued return catch. There’s no great mystery to Atallah’s bowling, but he maintained an immaculate length, varied his pace nicely, turned the ball just enough and experimented with several different celebration rituals. Nine of Parramatta’s batters reached double figures, without anyone producing the big innings that might have clinched the chase.
The Mosman roller-coaster is heading up just now
Also unbeaten with four wins are the Mosman Whales, who have bounced back from two rather underwhelming seasons with a very strong start to this one. They didn’t look like beating Bankstown when Sam Grant started the match by picking up the first three wickets with only one run on the board. Angus Tesoriero poked hopefully at an outswinger; Joe Colgan nicked off to second slip; and Will Adlam, playing around a straight one, was trapped in front. But Brock Fitton ground out a patient 75 and late in the innings, there was some adventurous batting from Fergus Fergusson (who we really want to call Ferguss Fergusson, but won’t, because that would be childish). A total of 233 doesn’t win all that many games at Bankstown, but Elijah Eales produced a perfect delivery to Riley Kingsell in his first over, angling the ball in, straightening it up, and clipping the shoulder of the bat. The inevitable Daniel Solway dug in for 59, but left-armer Jake Turner ran through the middle order, finishing with six for 53 and Mosman won comfortably. There was also a wicket for the returning Archie Vaughan who, unlike last season, hasn’t been asked to work his way up from seconds.
Rosedale is flat
There was a game of Bat at Rosedale Oval, where over the two days, 754 runs were scored and only eleven wickets fell. Western Suburbs piled up five for 408, batting on into the second day after realising that, on this pitch, the 335 they scored on the shortened first day wouldn’t be anywhere near enough. The innings was built upon an excellent 160 from left-hander Ethan Jamieson, back in the side after two rounds in Seconds. Jamieson’s scores this season suggest that unless the bowlers get him out before he’s made ten, they’re in for a long day: 6, 6, 7, 0, 0, 184, 168. Joshua Clarke does not miss out on days like this: he made a brisk 159. There was a moment when, at two for 292, Fairfield seemed capable of hauling in its target, but Clarke broke the stand between Brent Williams (118) and Dhanvi Vemulapalli (129) and bowled his left arm tweakers artfully enough to take five for 67 to strangle the chase. Imagine that: 159 and 5 for 67, and still you don’t win. It’s a silly game, sometimes.
Finley Hill looks handy
Finley Hill is from Devon, in England, and is a batsman, not a geographical feature. He’s on the books at Somerset, where he broke into the team for a few List A games last season, before his twentieth birthday. Now he’s with St George, for whom he played his first game last weekend. Hill went in to bat at two for 58, which was as close as the game ever got. He likes to hit through cover, and got off the mark by driving Jamieson Hedges in that direction for four. If you’re a batsman starting out in Sydney and there are other teams playing at Rosedale, Bon Andrews is a pretty good place to do it, and Hill relished the short boundaries, plundering 15 fours in his 109. He looks neat, positive and well-organised. With Reiley Mark also posting a century, Saints posted 414. The game was over as a contest when North Sydney’s first seven wickets fell for 30 runs, most of them to Connor O’Riordan, who collected six for 22.
Weird things happen in Fifth Grade
Mosman’s Fifths trekked out to Kelso Park on Saturday, won the toss and elected to bat. Opener Rohan Chang went nuts, cracking 58 from 35 balls, including four 4s in the tenth over of the innings. Bankstown’s bowlers tried to put the ball where Chang couldn’t reach it, and ended up donating 26 wides to their opponents’ score. After ten overs, Mosman was 93 without loss, which is about as dominant as it gets in a 50 over game. But Bankstown fought back, and somehow Mosman was dismissed for just 177. No problem, though: Alex Burkhart took three for 16 in his ten overs, and when the ninth Bankstown wicket fell, the score was 127: 51 needed from 12 overs. The last batsman was Vikramjeet Kaleer, playing his first game for Bankstown. He hit the fourth ball he faced over the fence. And the eighth. Eventually Bankstown needed five to win from the final over, and Kaleer settled it by hitting another boundary with four deliveries to spare. Which ended an absurd game of cricket or, in Fifth Grade, just a day with a ‘y’ in it.