Recap: Round 4, Day 1

1st Grade:

Hawkesbury 8/404 (Clarke 162, Jamal 73 & McKay 56, Malone 4/130, May 2/42)

With Nick Larkin being called into the NSW Blues side for the Matador Cup Final against Queensland on Sunday, Greg Mail stepped up to lead Uni in the round four clash with Hawkesbury at Owen Earle Oval. 

Winning the toss and asking Hawkesbury to bat turned out to be a less than successful strategy, with early cloud cover quickly disappearing and the pitch flattening out rapidly. In form batsman Josh Clarke made the students rue missed chances, scoring his third successive century, his highest first grade score of 162, before Ashton May claimed him in final over of the day.

It was a tough day at the office for the Uni bowlers, with Devlin Malone again the standout, taking 4/130 off his 28 overs.  Ben Joy and May were the only other bowlers to make inroads into the Hawkesbury batting line up, taking 2/45 and 2/42 respectfully. 

The Uni boys will be hoping to wrap up the tail quickly before beginning the difficult chase of 400+. 

2nd Grade: 

Sydney Uni 273 (Miller 143, Crowley 56, Ridgewell 4/51, Brown 3/40) Hawkesbury 2/29 (J Holloway 1/0, Craig-Dobson 1/7)

After a relatively slow start to the year, 2nd grade returned home hoping to emulate 1st grades efforts last round.  Dave Miller wasted no time in winning the toss and batting on what looked like an absolute belter. 

After losing an early wicket, the Skipper and housemate James Crowley set about rebuilding the Uni innings with a 113-run second wicket stand. Crowley looked in sublime touch, working his way to a solid 56.  After losing Crowley, and what became a commonly occurring event throughout the innings, we lost our third soon after, before Ben Larkin joined Miller at the crease.

In typical fashion, Ben (17 off 78) was circumspect throughout his dig, allowing Miller to be the aggressor. These two enjoyed an 80-run partnership before Larkin departed with the score at 4- 233. 

When Miller followed soon after for an outstanding 143 off 174, our lower order capitulated, losing 6/21including a hat-trick to Harrison Ridgewell.

Despite the strong start, the Uni boys concluded their innings disappointed knowing they had left runs out in the middle.  With 14 overs left in the days play, a few wickets could win the day for Uni and a disciplined spell of bowling from all made it a difficult task for the Hawkesbury top order. Holloway and Craig-Dobson the lucky two who collected a wicket each to have Hawkesbury 2/29 at the close of play.

3rd Grade:

Sydney Uni: 200 (Kerr 62, Arnott 52, Litchfield 25, S Mott 7/61) Hawkesbury 2/49 (L McMahon 1/10, X Frawley 1/15)

Similar to 2nd grade, 3s have had a slow start to the year and headed out west determined to correct this.  Ash Cowan once again lost the toss and was sent into bat. 

Losing both openers for 2 and 0 wasn’t the ideal start, Litchfield and Kerr were tasked with rebuilding the innings against experienced first grade bowler Shane Mott.  Litchfield continued his reasonable start to the year looking solid for 25 before playing around a good delivery from Mott.  Ed Arnott joined Kerr at the crease and these two put on a much needed 100-run partnership, with Kerr (62) continuing his hot form.  Arnott eventually chipped one to short cover for 52, soon followed by Kerr, which began another mass exodus, before Gibson (27) and McMahon pushed the score up to 200.

With 29 overs still to play, a huge bowling effort was needed.  Again similar to second grade, all bowlers toiled hard and applied enormous pressure to the Hawkesbury batsman.  Tom Kierath bowled frugally going for only 5 runs off his 9 overs, before Lewis McMahon and Xavier Frawley took a wicket each to have Hawkesbury 2/47 at the end of the day.

4th Grade:

Hawkesbury 204 (Fogg 64, Myers 39, AJ Grant 4/27)

After missing the last two matches, skipper AJ Grant was a welcome inclusion for the round 4 clash.  Again looking to correct a slow start, fourth grade were determined to come out strongly, AJ lost the toss and was asked to bowl on a rock hard St Pauls wicket. 

A fairly consistent and relentless bowling effort had Hawkesbury at 7/122 before the tail wagged with a 50-run 8th wicket stand pushed the total up around 200 before Grant grant claimed the final wicket. 

Grant was the stand out on his return taking 4/27 from ten overs, well supported by Aiden Peek and Ryan Danne, 2/27 and 2/28 respectively. 

5th Grade:

Hawkesbury 38 (R Holcroft 4/14, A Wilkinson 2/6) Sydney Uni 7/203 (A Bell 30, J Morley 53)

Uni’s 5th grade had an outstanding day at Benson’s Lane. Similarly to 4s, they welcomed back regular skipper Mike Harris after he missed the first three rounds on wedding duties (Congratulations Mike). 

Uni’s bowlers decided to give Mike the best wedding present of all, dismissing Hawkesbury for 38. Ryan Holcroft was the chief destroyer, taking 4/14 off 10 and was ably supported by Andrew Wilkinson (2/6) and Natesh Yoganand (1/7). 

Despite losing an early wicket, the Uni boys passed the Hawkesbury total and proceeded to post a commanding 7/203 leading into day two.  Alex Bell (30) and Jarrod Morley (53) were the stand outs with the bat.

With a massive 165-run leading into day 2, the boys will be pushing hard for the ten points.

Metro Cup: Sydney University 334 (Gillespie 79, Frost 67 & Hughes 61, J Coutts 4/42)

After a tough few weeks, Metro similarly welcomed back regular skip, Andrew Wilkinson, and the boys responded well. 

Debutant Liam Hughes (61) made the most of his chance at the top of the order, combining with James Gillespie (79) in a 143-run opening stand.  The middle order saw a few starts without any notable performances until Brodie Frost walked to the crease.  Brodie, unable to bowl due to injury took his frustration out on the ball smoking 67 from 46 balls to help move the students total past 300 at the close of the day. 

The boys will be looking to continue this dominance next week and get back into the winners circle

Milestones Monday

During his 66 against Western Australia in the Matador BBQs Cup, Ed Cowan passed 1000 runs for New South Wales in List A matches.

Nick Larkin became the first player ever deployed as a concussion substitute under Cricket Australia’s new concussion rules.  Nick replaced Daniel Hughes, who retired hurt after being struck on the helmet by a delivery from Peter Siddle in the Elimination Final of the Matador BBQs Cup at Drummoyne Oval.  It was Nick’s first List A match for New South Wales, but not his List A debut: he played two matches for Ireland against Sri Lanka A in 2014.

Playing in only his 18th match (14 for Sutherland and four for Sydney University), Devlin Malone took his 50th wicket in First Grade when he dismissed Hawkesbury’s Ryan Mizzi.

David Miller’s captain’s innings of 143 against Hawkesbury was his first Second Grade century and his highest score for the Club.  His innings took him past Peter Gannon and Rob Crittenden on the Club’s list of all-time run-scorers, where he is now in 42nd place.

James Crowley’s 56 against Hawkesbury was his highest score in Second Grade.

Hayden Kerr, with 64 against Hawkesbury, hit his highest score in Third Grade.

Ed Arnott hit his fourth half-century in Third Grade.

AJ Grant, with 4-27 against Hawkesbury, claimed his best bowling figures in Fourth Grade.

Aidan Peek made his debut in Fourth Grade and took his first wickets in that grade.

Ryan Holcroft played a key role in demolishing Hawkesbury’s Fifth Grade for 38, returning his best figures for the Club (4-14).

Jarrod Morley scored his first half-century for the Club, reaching 53 in Fifth Grade against Hawkesbury.

For the second match in succession, James Gillespie improved his highest score for the Club, hitting 79 in Metropolitan Cup against Eastern Suburbs.

Liam Hughes made his debut for the Club, scoring 61, in Metropolitan Cup against Eastern Suburbs.

Three Students help NSW into the Final

Three Sydney University players - Ed Cowan, Ryan Carters and Nick Larkin - helped New South Wales to a conclusive victory over Victoria in the Elimination Final of the Matador BBQs Cup at Drummoyne Oval last night.

University captain Nick Larkin entered the match in highly unusual circumstances.  When opener Daniel Hughes was struck on the helmet by a short-pitched delivery from Peter Siddle, he was ruled out of the match on medical advice after taking a concussion test.  Under Cricket Australia's new concussion rules, a concussed player may be replaced by another player of the same type, who has the right to take a full part in the game.   Larkin became the first player to substitute into a game under these rules when he was named to replace Hughes.

Hughes had shared an opening partnership of 41 with Ed Cowan before he was injured in the ninth over of the innings, with the Blues chasing Victoria's total of 242.  Cowan went on to add 104 for the second wicket with Nick Maddinson, putting NSW on track for victory.  By the time he gloved a ball from Scott Boland through to Matthew wade, he had hit 64 from 87 deliveries, with eight boundaries.  It was his fourth half-century of another highly successful Matador Cup campaign.

Larkin was able to bat under the new regulations, but rain ended play as he walked to the crease, with the Blues a long way ahead of their Duckworth?lewis target.

 New South Wales will now play Queensland in the final on Sunday.  Larkin remains with the Blues squad - his place in First Grade for today's match with Hawkesbury is taken by his brother James.

In The Sheds... With the EAP

Bzzz-bzzz-bzzz!!! The 6:00am alarm sounds.

It is May, and the EAP pre-season has begun, denoting 3 months of hard work and commitment to hopefully develop as a player, but more importantly, sort out this off-season rig before beach season.

Under the guidance of our newly appointed S&C guru, Dave Dwyer, the boys are put through their paces with two strength, and two cardio sessions each week, with an increasing number of skill sessions thrown into the mix.

This season sees the adoption of the “Fit in or F$*# off” mantra, a locked door and 3 strike policy applies to those who fail to arrive on time. One Nicky Craze may have failed to receive this memo - currently sitting on 15 strikes.

As bland as this routine may appear, our gym sessions definitely aren’t without antics and quirks which all contribute to what is a rewarding, yet entertaining “off-season”.

Morning sessions often begin with Dave hawk-eyeing the clock as the Holloway brothers somehow manage to rock up with 30 seconds to spare before the lock out at 6:59am.

Shortly following a quick warm up, the nominated DJ will step up to the plate and throw-down 1-hour of their best material. Mr Worldwide, Charles Litchfield, lived up to the nickname to take the crown early in the year. The 'Big dog’s' in Milf, Crowls, and BTJ battle it out for the title of 'Alpha' as they take each other on set for set at the squat rack, whilst Tatey and Jono Craig-Dobson dispute the title of “club strongman"* *note this is purely self-proclaimed. Top gun, Dugald, puts in the hard yards as he comes to the halfway point of his #5yearplan, and the “Pauls/Wesley/Drews cliques” do their best to keep the aftermath of a big Wednesday night under the radar. With the session wrapping up, the boys drag Litchfield off the bench press, with a follow-up big stint at Ralph’s awaiting, this also happens to be Joe Kershaw’s sole motivation for turning up.

Despite the morning antics, the EAP program has been completely rewarding for everyone in the squad, with every member seeing increases in strength and cardiovascular endurance. The results speak for themselves and are a testament to the hard work and dedication put in by Dave, Gary, and the rest of the staff involved.

 Onwards and upwards and here’s to a big year ahead.

 #upthestudents

Player of the Round... Round 3

Voting has been completed for the Sydney Uni Cricket Player of the Round following Round 3 of the McDonald's NSW Premier Cricket competition.

Unsurprisingly, this week's awards head to the First Grade side after their comprehensive victory over Manly-Warringah at the Sydney Uni Cricket Ground.

Surjits' Player of the Round goes to Nick Larkin for his composed and measured 206no.

The Nags Head Performance of the Round goes to opening partner, Greg Mail, for his dominant and sublime 179 runs.

The two combining for a record Sydney Uni opening partnership of 337 runs in the team's total of 1-424 (dec).

Nick receives the Surjits Indian voucher for two people, whilst Greg claims a $20 voucher at the Nags Head Hotel.

An honourable mention must go to Devlin Malone, who on any other day may have figured in the awards for his 5-53 to bamboozle the middle and lower order of the Manly-Warringah side.

The leaderboard for the Player of the Year Award currently has Larkin leading following his two best on ground performances against St George and Manly-Warringah.

Cowan's runs help Blues reach the finals

Another half-century by Ed Cowan helped NSW to a comfortable, eight-wicket victory over Western Australia at North Sydney Oval, the result sealing the Blues' place in this year's Matador BBQs Cup finals.

NSW's win was set up by outstanding work by fast bowlers Doug Bollinger, Josh Hazlewood and Trent Copeland, who dismissed WA for only 207 inside 44 overs,  Cowan and Daniel Hughes then made light work of the target, sharing an opening stand of 172 in 34.2 overs.  Hughes was the first batsman dismissed, for 96, with Cowan (66) following soon afterwards.  Cowan faced 107 deliveries, hitting eight fours and carving a six from Mitchell Marsh's bowling.

It was the University left-hander's third innings above fifty in this season's 50-over competition.

NSW recovered from a slow start to the tournament to end in second place, and now plays Victoria on Friday for the right to meet Queensland in Sunday's final.

Five Things We Learned... Round 3

1.   Larkin and Mail are a formidable opening pair

Quite some time has passed since Nick Larkin and Greg Mail opened the innings together for Sydney University – over the last couple of seasons, Larkin has often batted at three, and Mail has frequently dropped down to the middle order.  But they took on the new ball together against Manly, and their reunion at the top of the order was an unqualified success.  Larkin hit his first double-hundred in First Grade, an unbeaten 206 that included 27 boundaries.  Mail actually outpaced his partner, manipulating the bowling around the ground almost at will, and hitting 22 fours in his 179.  This might suggest that the pitch was dead, but in fact it was well-grassed and Mickey Edwards extracted plenty of lift from it with the new ball.  Luck didn’t really go Manly’s way: its best bowler, Edwards, was returning from injury and was allowed to send down only 12 overs, while Ahillen Beadle, whose slow bowling would certainly have been useful, left the field during the first session feeling unwell.  The other bowers stuck to their task with plenty of discipline and application, except perhaps for two overs of presumably tactical filth sent down by captain Adam Crosthwaite, apparently in the hope that one of the batsmen might self-destruct.  Crosthwaite could not be blamed if he was frustrated: he was also the Manly captain in 2009-10, when Mail and Will Hay shared an opening stand of 324.  That record was wiped from the books by Mail and Larkin, whose partnership of 337 was not only a first-wicket record for University, but also the second-highest in the history of the competition, behind the 423 by Victor Trumper and Dan Gee for Paddington against Redfern back in 1902-03.

2.   Joshua Clarke is in good nick

Batting at Owen Earle Oval appears to agree with Joshua Clarke, who won’t be regretting his move to Hawkesbury from Campbelltown-Camden in the off-season.  After exchanging the south-west for the north-west, he's opened the season with scores of 95 not out against North Sydney, 109 against Parramatta and 118 against Blacktown – 322 runs at an average of 161.  With his fellow Campbelltown exile, Jordan Gauci, also in good touch, Hawkesbury won’t be short of runs this season.  Bowling might be another matter, though: in its three games, Hawkesbury has taken only 18 wickets, and each one has cost over 42 runs.

3.   Playing against Campbelltown won’t ever be boring

Imagine you’re a left-arm bowler.  You have immense talent.  Over the course of your career, you’ve had trouble harnessing that ability.  You’ve played for lots of different teams, trying to find the environment that brings the best out of you.  You’ve achieved a lot, but you’re left with a frustrating sense that you might have done more.  If you’re Australian, you’re called Danny McLauchlan.  If you’re English - hello, Monty Panesar.  So it’s fitting that both of these gifted, idiosyncratic characters have now turned up together in the Campbelltown-Camden side. 

McLauchlan’s resumé now extends to five Sydney Grade clubs – he’s also played for Sutherland, Wests, St George and Bankstown – apart from his time in Western Australia, where he played well in Shield cricket.  Panesar, since losing his place in the England Test side, has drifted from Northamptonshire to Sussex to Essex and back to Northamptonshire, trying to rediscover his touch.  He’s been open about the problems that have contributed to his loss of form, but he remains the most successful English left-arm spinner of the last thirty years.  Both men bowled neatly on their return to Sydney Grade cricket, and they picked up a wicket apiece, although they couldn’t prevent Sutherland’s Chris Williams and Jamie Brown from sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 234.  Still, McLauchlan and Panesar bring some much-needed experience to Campbelltown, and no game in which they both play will ever be dull.

4.   Mark Morley won’t forget his debut any time soon

Mark Morley first appeared in Grade cricket eight years ago, when he was a student at St Gregory’s, Campbelltown.  He played for Bankstown in those days, and stayed with the Bulldogs for six seasons without ever rising above Second Grade.  Inconsistency was his problem.  In 2012-13, for example, the solidly-built left-hander hammered 203 not out and 154 in Third Grade, but was also dismissed in single figures nine times.  Then he moved on – first, to Lindfield in the Shires, and then to Easts, where he spent last season in Seconds.  His debut in First Grade, in Round Three, was his 148th grade game.  But it was worth the wait.  Against his former club, Morley went to the crease with the score at five for 228, chasing Bankstown’s total of 411.  Soon, he lost his captain, Greg Clarence, bowled by Nathan McAndrew.  Morley played like a man with nothing to lose, facing 96 deliveries and hitting 20 of them to the fence.  He dominated a seventh-wicket stand of 121, to which Will Somerville contributed only 28 runs.  With Daniel Magin, he carried the score to 409 until Magin was run out – which left Morley on strike for the final over of the match, with three runs needed for victory.  The highly-experienced Jarrad Burke made things interesting by removing Morley, caught by keeper Michael Stretton: but with three deliveries remaining, last batsman, Tim Skelly, edged the ball through the infield and scampered the three runs Easts needed for their first win of the season.

5.   Bowling is for idiots

We’ve mentioned this before, but if Sydney cricketers were subjected to IQ testing, it’s highly likely that those players who offer themselves for selection as bowlers before Christmas would not feature at the higher end of the scale.  A rational person would work on his batting, or complain of some unspecified muscular complaint, at least until a few blades of grass appear on the pitches.  In the ten First Grade matches in Round Three, there were eight totals over 400 – and it may well have been nine if Hawkesbury hadn’t declared at 9 for 390.  Sydney University hit 1 for 424; Sutherland ran up four for 407 against Campbelltown; Parramatta hit five for 422 against Wests; Randwick-Petersham hit six for 431 and would have lost if Northern District (seven for 427) had batted for one more over.  In winning its three matches so far this season, Sydney University has lost only eight wickets, and its opponents have paid 106 runs for each of them.  The unforgiving pitches and the flat-seamed ball offer almost no encouragement to the faster bowlers in particular.  In these circumstances, Nic Bills – who took eleven wickets (5-43 and 6-77) in Sydney’s win over Fairfield – deserves some kind of medal.  To put that performance in context, Bills took only four fewer wickets than the entire Eastern Suburbs attack has managed in the season so far.