Five Things We Learned from Round 15

1   Sydney University are the minor premiers

Unusually, there were three clubs in contention for the First Grade minor premiership on Saturday: Sydney University needed to beat Bankstown, and Bankstown needed to win while Gordon lost.  Bankstown Oval has been one of Sydney’s best and most reliable grounds for years, so it was a surprise on Saturday morning to discover a pitch that was badly affected by rain that for much of the day it seemed likely that there would be no play at all.  Eventually, the match was reduced to 21 overs a side – not the ideal way to decide who finished first in the competition but, as it happened, the setting for a gripping contest.  Bankstown’s seven for 115 seemed a little under par, with seamers Tim Ley, Tom Rogers and Liam Robertson bowling tightly and Devlin Malone (3-27) doing plenty of damage with his leg-breaks.  It took some late hitting from Brendan Smith and Jarrad Burke to make Bankstown’s total competitive.  The wonderfully consistent Nick Larkin (49) and Liam Robertson put University in control with an opening stand of 58, but then another young leg-spinner, Tom Sowden, grabbed 4-16 in a spell of four overs.  When left-armer Burke took the ball for the last over, University was seven down and needed 14 improbable runs to win.  Burke, at that point, was close to being the player of the match, having contributed 17 not out from 16 balls, four catches, and the key wicket of Robertson.  Tom Rogers worked the first ball away for a single, which gave the strike to Tim Ley (who had walked out to bat to the encouraging shout of a Bankstown spectator, “No pressure, mate!”).  No run came from Burke’s second ball: 13 needed from four.  Ley deposited the third over deep mid-wicket for six, then lashed the next straight down the ground, where it was cut off just inside the boundary.  Two runs were scored: five from two.  The nerveless Ley then smashed the fifth ball high over mid-wicket for another six to complete yet another agonizingly close game between these two sides.  It wasn’t the ideal way to decide the minor premiership, but it was certainly memorable.

2   Gordon finds ways to win

Good sides win games that they seem likely to lose, and Gordon seems to have discovered that knack this season.  When Wests’ James Shepherd grabbed two wickets inside his first two overs, Gordon was 2-3, and missing both its strongest performer of the season, Mason Crane (on duty for NSW) and last season’s O’Reilly Medallist, Charlie Stobo.  But Elliot Richtor (56) and Tym Crawford (67) lifted the total to respectability and Richtor (4-42) and Matt Junk (3-29) strangled Wests’ reply.  The eventual winning margin – 75 runs – belied how close the game was at critical stages, but Gordon has become used to winning, and knew how to apply pressure at the crucial moments.  Its reward is a home qualifying final against Sydney this weekend.

3   Whatever happens now, Parramatta has had a great season

It was a memorable weekend for Parramatta, who clinched a First Grade semi-final place for the first time in decades, and followed up on Sunday with only the second Poidevin-Gray title in its history. 

Needing to win in First Grade to clinch a semi-final place, Parramatta suffered an early setback when Brenton Cherry fell to the second ball of the game.  But two familiar Parramatta names, Will Affleck (64) and Adam Turrell (55) – whose fathers both played for the club – pushed the total to seven for 242.  Turrell was ferocious, scoring his runs from only 25 deliveries, with five sixes.  Scott Copperfield bowled Anthony Adlam with the first ball of Mosman’s innings, and Mosman never really recovered, losing eight wickets for 50 runs and limping to a sorry total of 101.  The highly consistent Ben Martin was again the pick of the bowlers.  Only Tim Ward and Owen Simonsen backed up for the Poidevin-Gray final the following day, when Ward’s 95 was the backbone of Parramatta’s innings.  Parramatta’s attack included three Third Graders (Michael Sullivan, Matthew Giumelli and Liam Lofts), a Green Shield player (Jacob Workman) and a Fourth Grader (Gabriel D’Angelo) but the enduring appeal of Poidevin-Gray is the way it enables exactly those sorts of players to take on opponents with more exalted reputations.  The game was probably decided when D’Angelo (who went wicketless in his previous Fourth Grade game) removed St George captain Jonathan Rose, a First Grade century-maker this season.  The only real disappointment of Parramatta’s weekend was a loss in Seconds, which cost the side a semi-final place. 

4   Monty remembered where he put it

Monty Panesar hasn’t had the most spectacular of seasons for Campbelltown-Camden.  He’s maintained his enthusiasm and his effort, and has done a lot of valuable work coaching.  There just haven’t been all that many wickets – only 15 in his first 16 matches, at a cost of 39 runs each.  But on Saturday, he gave a reminder of how he became the most successful English left-arm spinner in recent years, capturing 6-24 from 9.3 beautifully-controlled overs against Northern District.  Pansear’s effort limited Northern District to a modest total of 222, despite a sparkling innings from Andrew Harriott, whose 91 from 96 balls included no fewer than seven sixes.  Northern District was out of the running for the finals, but needed the win to claim the club championship (after starting Round 15 in fourth position).  Campbelltown batted solidly, but was always behind the rate it needed, especially when Chris Green, back from his Pakistani T20 stint with the Qalanders, had the ball.  In the end, Campbelltown ran out of overs with 13 runs still needed, and the club championship heads back to Waitara for the first time this century.

5   This could be the collapse of the season

At least in theory, Fairfield-Liverpool might have reached the Second Grade finals if it won its match with University of NSW on Saturday, and a few other results went its way.  Chasing 220, Fairfield reached 4-72 in 19 overs – a couple more wickets down than they might have liked, but certainly in touch with the required run rate, and one good partnership away from a positive result.  But then Tom Atallah removed Nicholas Johns, and everything came crashing down in a heap.  Medium pacer Ben Chaplin, who had been wicketless in his last three matches, plucked out four batsmen in an over – he trapped Russell Wilcoxon in front, had Jeremy Maher caught by keeper Sam McCormick, and completed his hat-trick with another lbw decision, against Nathan Smith even though, as Atallah admits, “the batsman absolutely smashed the ball into his pads.”.  Vishal Vuppalapati survived his first ball, but not the second.  Viraj Kadam, who made 30, watched all this from the other end, but then hit Brandon McLean’s first delivery straight back to him.  The last six wickets crashed without adding a single run to the total.  After taking his second wicket, Chaplin announced “I’m back!” and when asked how long it had been since he last took a wicket, replied “between 57 and 61 balls”!  Bowling full and straight, he ended the day with four for five from three overs, the kind of figures not usually seen outside the under-12s.  University of NSW finished Round 15 in second place: for Fairfield, it’s back to the drawing board.

From the Chairman

In a perfect world, the First Grade minor premiership (and, potentially, the club championship) wouldn't be determined by a 21-over thrash.  As it turned out, a great effort by University's bowlers, Nick Larkin leading from the front, and Tim Ley's nerveless finishing all added up to create an indelibly memorable victory over Bankstown that clinched a well-deserved minor premiership for the most consistent side in the competition.

So, congratulations to Nick Larkin and his side for a wonderfully sustained performance since September.  But now the business end of the season begins.

Most of my strongest memories of grade cricket come from playing in finals: the intensity of the competition is unrelenting, fortunes ebb and flow, and the pressure reveals both talent and character.  It's an outstanding effort for Sydney University to have four sides in the finals: Firsts, the Third Grade juggernaut, Fourths and Metropolitan Cup.  Before the hard work of preparing for the finals begins, it's worth pausing for a moment to reflect on that achievement.  It's worth pausing, too, to congratulate Seconds on a wonderful run towards the finals, which left the side equal on points in sixth place, and eliminated only on quotient.

We finished second in the Club Championship, by merely 19 points.  We entered the last round needing to sweep Bankstown, which almost never happens, and it proved to be just beyond our grasp.  But, of course, we could have picked up those points at any other time during the season.  If the Coogee groundstaff could have given us just 25 balls more play in Round 14...

In the next three weeks, we'll see some gripping cricket and some outstanding performances.  For those of us who aren't fortunate enough to be playing, can I please ask that every Club member and supporter makes a particular effort to get to the games to lend support and help out with the dozens of little jobs that need to be done.  It isn't only how we fare on the field that defines what kind of club we are - it's also how we support each other off the field.  I look forward to detachments of the Uni Army forming at grounds all over Sydney in the next few weeks.

Max Bonnell, Chairman SUCC

Milestones Monday

University's extraordinary victory in First Grade on Saturday clinched the Minor Premiership for only the second time since the introduction of semi-finals to the competition in 1952-53 (the previous occasion was 2013-14).

In Second Grade, Jono Craig-Dobson improved on his career-best figures by taking a decisive 4-29 against Bankstown. 

Leading from the front with an unbeaten 67, Dave Miller passed no fewer than three milestones: 500 runs for the season, 500 Second Grade runs for the season; and 4000 career runs for the Club.

Will Hay's 82 in Second Grade carried him past 6500 career runs for the Club. 

Third Grade confirmed the Minor Premiership by blasting past Bankstown.  This is the sixth time Sydney University has ended the regular rounds as Minor Premiers in Thirds.

Kevin Jacob's excellent 68 not out in Thirds took him past 500 runs for the season and 500 runs for the Club.

Fourth Grade confirmed its place in the semi-finals, the 17th time Sydney University has reached the finals in this grade.

Vince Umbers' 73 against Bankstown in Fifth Grade was his highest score for the Club.

Ethan Clout (4-17) returned his best bowling figures for the Club as Metropolitan Cup routed George's River for only 36.  Zohirul Islam's remarkable 4-1 from ten balls wasn't, statistically, his best effort for the Club, but it's impossible not to mention. 

Cowan. Again.

Ed Cowan produced his second dominant innings of the game to lead New South Wales to an eight-wicket victory over South Australia in the Sheffield Shield match at the SCG today.

South Australia was dismissed for 304 in its second innings this morning, leaving NSW with a target of 100 for full points.  There was a momentary hiccup when Daniel Hughes was bowled by the first ball of the innings, and Nic Maddinson fell soon afterwards, but Cowan and Kurtis Patterson then added 67 runs in nine overs to clinch the result.  Relishing the opportunity to bat with freedom, Cowan hit an unbeaten 48 from only 39 deliveries.  He hit his fourth and fifth deliveries, from Daniel Worrall, to the fence and was equally harsh on the spinners, Tim Head and Adam Zampa, reaching the boundary nine times in his short stay at the crease.

Cowan's double of 125 and 48 not out has helped to keep the Blues in contention for the Shield final: they're now in second place but may still need to defeat Western Australia in Perth next week.  Cowan's superb run of form has made him the leading run-scorer in this season's competition: he now has 810 runs at an average of 73.63, moving ahead of his former Tasmanian team-mate, George Bailey, who has 790 at 65.83.  It's a shame that Cowan doesn't have 172 runs at 15.63, or he might be in the frame to bat at six for Australia.

Cowan shines in the gloom

Sydney University left-hander Ed Cowan continued his exceptional Sheffield Shield form at the SCG today, hitting his third century in first-class cricket this season.

With New South Wales chasing South Australia's 229 under gloomy skies in Sydney, Cowan joined Nic Maddinson in the 13th over of the innings after Dan Hughes was dismissed for 26.  Cowan and Maddinson added 44 in the next ten overs before Maddinson edged a delivery from Dan Worrall through the wicket-keeper Alex Carey.  Cowan timed the ball beautifully from the start, driving cleanly and pulling ferociously whenever Worrall or Kane Richardson tested out the middle of the pitch.  At drinks in the second session, he was unbeaten on 60 from 83 balls, including nine boundaries.  New South Wales then needed only another 61 runs for a first innings lead.

After drinks, Cowan passed 700 first-class runs for the season and, on 72, he reached 9500 runs in his first-class career.  He registered his 25th first-class century just after 5pm, when he pulled a short delivery from Daniel Worrall to the midwicket fence, bringing up his hundred from 165 deliveries.  When the new ball was taken, he pulled Chadd Sayers for four and six from successive balls, and when rain ended play for the day, he remained unbeaten on 125.  New South Wales leads by 104 runs with six wickets still in hand.

Five things we learned from Round 14

1   March is the wettest month

Mostly what we learned was that March is the wettest month in Sydney, with average rainfall of 164mm.  The rain wiped out any hope of a result anywhere in First Grade, disappointing noboldy more than Sutherland, who had reduced Blacktown to seven for 42 after Tom Doyle hit his maiden First Grade century.  The fact that no-one scored any points, anywhere, means that the top four (Sydney University, Gordon, Bankstown, Sydney) are all assured of playing in the finals.  University goes into the last round still holding on to first place, but having played only sixty overs of cricket in the last month and with a challenging away game against Bankstown.  If Bankstown were to win, and Gordon beats Wests, University could drop as low as third.  There are still six teams are playing for the last two spots.  Here’s how it works:

• Parramatta (5th, 47 points) needs to beat Mosman, but even if it does it can still miss out if Penrith beats Sydney and Manly beats Hawkesbury with a bonus point.  If that were to happen, Manly would sneak past Parramatta on quotient.  Alternatively, if Parramatta loses to Mosman, it would need all but one of Penrith, Manly, Randwick-Petersham, Eastern Suburbs and University of NSW to lose.  Or, if you want to explore every possible situation, Parramatta would get through if all but one of Penrith, Manly and University of NSW lose and Easts and Randwick-Petersham tie.

• Penrith (5th, 47 points) is in an identical position to Parramatta.  A win over Sydney gets the Panthers in.  If they lose, they need the cards to fall their way in the same as Parramatta.

• Manly (7th, 46 points) needs to beat Hawkesbury.  If either Penrith or Parramatta trips up, that gets them through.  If Penrith and Parramatta both win, Manly will need a bonus point.  Manly has a better quotient than either Parramatta or Penrith, so finishing equal on points will be enough.

• The next three sides could theoretically sneak in, but need big wins and a whole lot of luck.  Randwick-Petersham (8th, 43 points) needs to beat Eastern Suburbs and then needs a whole heap of results to go its way: it needs Parramatta, Penrith and Manly to lose and University of NSW to lose or win without a bonus point.  Essentially the same position applies to its opponent, Eastern Suburbs (9th, 42 points).  And University of NSW (10th, 42 points) needs to beat Fairfield.  Even if they can pick up a bonus point, the Bees will still need only one team out of Parramatta, Penrith, Manly, Randwick-Petersham and Easts to win (unless, of course, Randwick-Petersham and Easts play out that tie).

We’re assuming (in line with the long-range forecast) that there’s no further interference from the weather.  On the other hand, March is the wettest month in Sydney.

2   Sydney leads the pack in Seconds

In the least surprising news anywhere in Premier Cricket, Sydney could forget to turn up this Saturday and still be minor premiers in Second Grade (they’re twelve points clear of second place).  University of NSW also has second place sewn up, courtesy of a smash-and-grab win in Round 14, one of the few victories achieved in any grade.  John Venianakis (6-50) claimed career-best figures in Seconds to dismiss Bankstown cheaply, after which Connor Jackson clinched the result with his maiden century for the club.  Northern District and Manly can’t miss the finals.  But then there’s the log jam.  Mosman (48) and Parramatta (44) play off for a finals place, although if Mosman were to lose, it could still cling to sixth place if Penrith, Gordon, Sydney University, Eastern Suburbs and Fairfield-Liverpool all lose as well.  It’s a simple equation for Penrith (7th, 44 points): it needs to upset Sydney, and then its strong quotient should earn it a place in the finals no matter how anyone else goes.  Gordon (8th, 43 points) needs to beat Wests to go past the loser out of Penrith and Mosman; then it needs Penrith to lose as well.  Sydney University (9th, 43 points) is in the same position as Gordon, but with an inferior quotient, so it needs Penrith and Gordon to lose, or to sneak ahead of Gordon with a bonus point.  Eastern Suburbs (10th, 42) and Fairfield-Liverpool (11th, 42) are real long shots, but it’s mathematically possible for them to reach the finals if Penrith, Gordon and Sydney University all lose.

3   The Mitchell Cup holders are minor premiers again

The only result in Thirds in Round 14 had no important bearing on the table: Randwick-Petersham’s demolition of Campbelltown wasn’t enough to haul it into finals contention.  And Third Grade is the most straightforward of the finals races.  Sydney University, the current Mitchell Cup holder, is guaranteed to win the minor premiership regardless of results on Saturday.  Only two points separate the next four teams (Mosman, Wests, Penrith and St George) but all of them will play in the finals.  Sixth-placed Northern District is six points clear of seventh-placed Manly and eighth-placed North Sydney, so Northern District will miss out only if it can find a way to lose to 18th-placed Campbelltown and either Manly or Norths snare a bonus point.

4   The current premiers will be back in the Fourth Grade finals

Sydney University clinched a place in the finals with its first-day victory over Fairfield-Liverpool.  Ryan Holcroft (4-32), captain AJ Grant (2-20) and Angus Cusack (2-14) did the damage with the ball before University chased down its target of 88 within 34 overs.  Even so, Sydney is certain to finish first here, and no-one can beat Northern District into second spot.  St George (56) and Sydney University (56) can’t miss out.  Gordon (5th, 54) is fairly safe, but if Wests spring an upset, Gordon can be overtaken if Easts (7th, 48) beat Randwick-Petersham with a bonus point.  Penrith (6th, 50) is vulnerable if it can’t beat Sydney – in that case, the winner of Randwick-Petersham and Easts could take sixth spot, although a low quotient means that Randwick-Petersham (another Round 14 winner) would probably need a bonus point.  It’s also possible, if Penrith and Easts both lose, that Manly (9th, 43) could slip past Randwick-Petersham into sixth if it can beat Hawkesbury with a bonus point.  That would leave Penrith, Randwick-Petersham and Manly all on 50, and if Penrith loses heavily and Manly wins massively, Manly might just be able to lift its quotient above Penrith’s.  These aren’t the kind of odds you’d back when sober.

5   The minor premiership is up for grabs in Fifths

Penrith and Randwick-Petersham both advanced their positions on the Fifth Grade table by winning in Round 14.  There’s a real fight for the minor premiership– any one of the top four teams could still finish first.  It would be unwise to beat against the leader, Gordon (56) who has a great quotient and faces 15th-placed Wests in the final round.  But St George (55), Penrith (53) and Randwick-Petersham (52) are all within striking distance and will all play in the finals.  Northern District (50) looks pretty safe, too: even if it were to lose to Campbelltown (18th), it can’t be passed by Hawkesbury (7th, 43) and has a much better quotient.  So the only top-six side that’s really at risk of missing out is Blacktown, which has to beat second-placed St George.  If Blacktown loses, it can be passed by Hawkesbury (43), Mosman (8th, 42) or Sutherland (9th, 42), although Sutherland’s poor quotient means that it would need a bonus point.

Milestones Monday

Ed Cowan's 115 for New South Wales against Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield match on Saturday was the 24th century of his first-class career.  During his innings (which was the first first-class century ever to be scored in Wollongong) he passed 500 first-class runs for the season and 2000 first-class runs for New South Wales.

Playing for ACT against Tasmania at Manuka Oval last week, Tom Rogers hit 89 (from 149 balls, with 11 fours and two 6s) to record his highest score in the Futures League.

Ed Arnott's valuable 41 against Fairfield-Liverpool equalled his highest score in Second Grade.

Ryan Holcroft (with 4-32) helped to dismiss Fairfield-Liverpool for only 88, helping his side to first innings points on day one, and earning his best Fourth Grade figures in the process.