1ST GRADE
Sydney Uni 8-351 (dec): S Hobson 109, T Cummins 73*, B Trevor-Jones 41
Sydney 0-4
2ND GRADE
Sydney Uni 117: J Holloway 37, J Craig-Dobson 24
Sydney 7-142: L Neil-Smith 3-37
3RD GRADE
Sydney Uni 8-319: J Hill 110, J Crowley 53, T Galvin 41
Day 1 of Round 6 and it was back to fortress Camperdown to take on the undefeated Tigers who are sitting one place above us on the ladder. A beautiful warm sunny day coupled with some quality cafes and lush surrounds meant that it was going to be an excellent spectating day, with local talent guaranteed to be out and about. Unfortunately, the only scantily dressed person on display was Liamo, who took it upon himself to have his rig out for most of the first session and his hours of sunbaking may have improved his tan, but certainly not his wallet as he was relieved of bulk $$$ in the post-match circle.
Nash was commenced with a couple of notable omissions from the young side, Danne and Kevvy battling the traffic to the tune of a case of premiums. This was to prove terminal for young, who went behind early and were never able to recover even with the arrival of their leader (and Kevvy). Good work from the underrated Peek and a really impressive piece of play from Galvin weren’t enough and old took the spoils in what would ultimately be a good indicator of the day to come.
“The sun even shines on a dog’s a*se somedays, anyone can win the lottery” and so it was to be as mathematics be damned, I actually won the toss and elected to bat on a hard wicket with a good coverage of grass. The units got off to a solid start, and the first strong partnership began when Dr Chris Brown met the Wombat in the middle and they got into the grind and started to get on top.
A classy 50-odd from Crowls, 40-odd from Galvin and some excellent late order hitting from Peeky on debut and the (now quite well tanned) Liam meant that we ended the day in an excellent position, 8/319 from the allotted 80 overs. Obviously, this was largely due to the excellent knock from Jack Hill. The day (and the weekend really) were his, and from the start he was in command displaying a full 45-degree range of strokeplay (both in front of and behind point for a mainly coloured in wagon wheel). Hillsy was extremely good all day, a chanceless ton which barely had a false shot. He stayed patient and accumulated his runs throughout the day, finally falling for 110 looking for quick runs with the score at 275.
All in all a great day, and with showers forecast for week 2 we are going to need to maximise opportunities to take the 10 wickets against a side that no doubt has a formidable batting line up, being undefeated this year.
4TH GRADE
Sydney Uni 171: A Bell 45, T Fullerton 45
Sydney 1-15: J Rinka 1-1
5TH GRADE
Sydney Uni 205: Z Islam 59, C Lorenzato 51
Sydney 3-117: S Pathak 2-12, A Wilkinson 1-15
METRO CUP
Sydney Uni 140: R Rahman 61, M Ghumman 42
Georges River 8-141 (dec): J Pockey 3-27, J Aylward 2-18, M Shanahan 1-23
Round 7 for Metro saw the team travel to beautiful Bland Oval to play George's River. Unfortunately due to some late unavailabilities, we are left one player short for the clash.
The toss is won and we choose to bat on what looks like a slightly thatchy but otherwise hard pitch.
The new opening pair Rahman and Ghumman have a measured and solid start both seeing off the new ball. After the first 15 overs the boys really found their range, particularly Rahman who began to open the shoulders and find the boundary as his confidence grew. Some glorious shots were played by the little fella who's fluidity some teamates have started likening to the great Tendulkar. An impressive stand of 101 until Mo Ghumman is caught for 42. Rahman is trapped in front soon after well forward of the crease for 61. A fine cricket innings!
Then came a disappointing display of cavallier cowboy cricket where neither the bowlers or the match situation were shown any respect. The batsmen refusing to try and build an innings before attacking all out. 7-18 lost and we're heading out to bowl in shock 40 overs early with only 140 on the board.
We certainly took the field with a positive attitude and were treating the situation as if the match was just starting and we were bowling first. With the turning deck, 45m straight boundaries and the earlier opposition demonstration of left arm orthodox being extremely effective some experimentation was in order and we opened the attack with the accurate pace of Prasan and a couple of overs of spin of from debutant Om Prekesh Sah. A bold but calculated move that would have paid off if a very confident LBW shout had been given in Om's second over.
Back to full pace mode and Max Shanahan joined Prasan in the attack. Max claims a pole in his second over and the score is 1-24 and team confidence is buoyed. Prasan unlucky with a missed slips chance bowls well but wicketless and is replaced by our very own Englishman Jacob Pockey in his first bowling outing for the season. Jacob showed a little understandable rust early but fired up in the second half of his spell taking 3-27 off 8 overs. The game is poised at 5-87 and we don't feel out of the contest.
Time to bring on Wild Thing Jon Alywood who was ferocious and basically unplayable. A wicket with his first and fifth balls and nobody wants to come out and bat against him at this point! Such a shame Jono was limited to 6 overs due to age restrictions. Om returns to bowl his spin and immediately makes an impact claiming 2 wickets in 2 balls in his first over. An opportunistic stumping to Cade and an undeniable LBW.
The score is 8-102. 39 runs to claim victory for George's River and 2 wickets required for the students to claim 1st innings points. The situation was certainly tense and runs were hard to come by as the overs ticked by. We toiled away with Shanahan and the Adikarage at one end and Om continuing from the other but with calm captain Jasper batting with big hitter Panchal our total was achieved with 3 overs left in the day. A surprise declaration sees our openers having to see out the final over of the day finishing 0-0. This leaves us with a massive opportunity to bat properly next week and claim outright points with our bowling heavy attack