Bradman Scholar 2018
This week we’re going to start off with something we missed earlier in the year (though we can’t be faulted as he technically hadn’t joined the Club at the time it was announced).
Sydney Uni Cricket fresher, Varun George, joined a long list of Sydney Uni Cricket players to be awarded the Bradman Scholarship which was announced in May this year.
The Bachelor of Commerce student at University of Sydney, demonstrated an outstanding blend of academic, sporting, personal and social skills to be awarded the coveted scholarship for 2018.
Aside from his outstanding cricketing talents, Varun is also a member of the Sydney Uni Hockey Club’s EAP squad, a black belt in karate, and a keen participant in the SU Drama Society. He rounds off his interests by also volunteering with the Anglican Retirement Village in Forestville and with the Smith Family reading program.
Varun joins former & current players Geoff Lovell, Andrew Ridley, Greg Mail, Mark Faraday, Dave Miller and Tom Galvin, as well as Board Member and Australian cricket legend, Alex Blackwell, as a Bradman Scholar.
We felt this a timely ICYMI as we introduce Varun as our new ICYMI columnist for 2018.
Clean Sweep in Round 1
Opening the 2018-19 season against reigning club champions, Manly-Warringah DCC, promised to be a good test of Sydney Uni’s pre-season efforts. Thankfully, the toil of Sydney Uni coaches and players alike came to fruition in the form of a clean sweep across all five premier grades, seeing Sydney Uni patrons wake up to a pleasing sight on Sunday morning.
Wins in all five premier grades, with 1s, 2s, and 4s securing bonus point wins places the Students atop the Club Championship Ladder (the cherry: being a duck egg for last season’s Club Champs). If first impressions last, this bodes well for the season ahead.
1st Grade were clinical in their 144 run victory at University No. 1. Ed Cowan (69 from 57) joined the list of former Test cricketers to top-score for their club and was supported well by Liam Robertson (50 from 51) and Ryan McElduff, who amassed 63 from 64 – his highest score in 1st Grade and a timely performance before he represents Metro Thunder at the NSW Under 19 State Challenge next month. Devlin Malone was the pick of the bowlers with 4-35 from his 9 overs.
Despite an early collapse, 2nd Grade made light work of Manly’s 97. After Dugald Holloway opened the game with 2 wickets in his first 2 overs, Manly were unable to get going and wickets fell at regular intervals. Ben Trevor-Jones and Alex Shaw showed class in securing victory – both finishing 39 not out in a 5-wicket win.
In his debut for Sydney University, Nihir Gandhi took 4-35 to help restrict Manly to 213 – a 52-run victory for 3rd Grade initially set up by Steve Hobson, who posted the first century of the season with 122.
In a strong bowling performance, 4th Grade secured a 5 wicket win with all bowlers claiming a wicket and Canagasingham, Toyer, Anandarajah and Frost finishing with 2 each.
5th Grade were perhaps the standout in their chase of Manly’s formidable 279. Fresh off a successful campaign for Sydney Uni Hockey Club, Club Captain Vince Umbers reached 50 along with Lewis Ansell (65), supported by Cullen Hathurusinghe (30), to secure victory with 3-balls to spare.
Congratulations to all grades on such a strong start to the season!
Uni Army on song early
Fresh (somewhat) off celebrations from their first wins of the season, the committed few of the SUCC Army ventured to North Sydney Oval on Sunday to see NSW take on Victoria in the JLT cup. United in spirit but not in dress, the crew was spotted early by Fox Sports’ Brendon Julian who dubbed the “the prawn” as the groom at the centre of the fun.
Keep an eye out for their next appearance.