We apologise for the tardiness of this news item, but our AUG-winning side has just finished celebrating...
Led by 1st Grade keeper-batsman, Ben Trevor-Jones, the Sydney Uni team came into the final of the Redbull Campus Cricket tournament last Friday full of confidence having dominated all week and taking the mental edge over opponents UNSW with a victory on the Wednesday.
'BTJ' continued his toss domination, again winning, and again batting first. For the first time all week though, some butterflies emerged and tight bowling coupled with some poor shot selection saw Sydney Uni limp to 5-42 from 10 overs.
The depth of talent in the roster was needed, and up stepped the unheralded Hayden Kerr. Brimming with energy and mixing power with finesse, Kerr guided the team to a respectable total of 117 from the 20 overs.
Confidence still high with a bowling attack that would be the envy of any grade club, let alone University side, Joe Kershaw started proceedings with two quick wickets, reducing UNSW to 2-5 from 3 overs. Kerr backed up his batting efforts with a miserly bowling performance to see the required run rate climb.
Needing just over a run a ball with four overs remaining, the match was up for grabs, but with the talent of Kershaw and Dugald Holloway closing the innings, made it difficult for the UNSW to get off strike or hit the long ball.
With a dot ball on the penultimate delivery from Kershaw, victory was secured with UNSW needing 11 from the final delivery. Concentrating on delivering a fair delivery, Kershaw served up a juicy ball in the slot that was dispatched over deep square for six but it didn't matter as the team leapt for joy at claiming the title and securing a berth at the World Campus Cricket Games in Sri Lanka in October 2016.