Round 11 (Day 2) Match Reports

1ST GRADE

Sydney Uni 238: H Kerr 82, D Mortimer 46, L Robertson 41
Parramatta 313: L Robertson 3-12, T Ley 3-73, B Joy 2-49, J Kershaw 2-68

The SUCC boys arrived week 1 to a nicely grassed surface at Old Kings Oval. Parramatta won the toss and elected to bat. Good early bowling saw Ley pick up 2 early wickets. When Joy was introduced he bowled his fastest spell of the season and Parra quickly slumped to 4/69.

A partnership began as the batting side adjusted to the wicket and at 4/167 the home side had the box seat. Liam Robertson was introduced and found the conditions to his liking, producing an incredible spell that yielded 3/12 and reduced Parra to 8/200. Dropped chances then hurt the students as the Parra tail hunted quick runs and chances their arm. They were eventually dismissed for 313, leaving the good guys with 6 overs before stumps. Trevor-Jones feathered one late in the day and SUCC went into day 2 at 1/12.

Larkin fell early as play got back underway. Parra bowled well with the new ball and a fantastic contest developed between bat and ball. Cowan fell for 17, caught in the deep hooking. At 3/63 victory seemed a long way off. Mortimer and Robertson combined nicely, before Mortimer fell for a well compiled 46. Kerr joined Robertson and began a full scale assault on the tiring Parra bowlers. The two swung the momentum of the game and put SUCC in the box seat before a poor LBW decision cost Robertson his wicket on 41. Kerr continued the assault and at 5/223 with 2 overs until tea, the game was tilted nicely to a victory for the away team.

Sean Abbott then took the ball, found some reverse swing and opened up the University tail. Four wickets fell for zero runs and suddenly the game was all but over. Kerr’s stunning 82 off 65 was as good as any innings played this season.

Loss by 75 runs didn’t reflect the closeness of the fixture. No doubt we will see the Parramatta side again come finals time.

1ST GRADE LIMITED OVERS QF

Sydney Uni 282: D Mortimer 64, L Robertson 56, N Larkin 47, H Kerr 32, S Hobson 30
Sydney 170: D Malone 4-46, T Ley 3-32, B Joey 2-31

Larkin won the toss and elected to bat on a gorgeous looking cricket wicket at Drummoyne Oval. Kerr and Hobson got the visitors off to the best start in living memory, lofting and crunching anything and everything to the fence and over it. 0/61 after six overs made for good reading, but Hobson nicked the first ball of the 7th and Kerr followed soon after leaving Larkin and Mortimer to rebuild.

The spinners slowed the run rate and Larkin fell looking to pick up the pace, bowled for 47. Robertson and Mortimer took the good guys forward, both making crucial half centuries. 

282 was the eventual total, potentially 40 runs short of what was on the cards.

The bowling effort got off to a dream start, Ley taking wickets with the first two balls of the innings. The dangerous Dan Smith was removed by the ball of the season, his off stump demolished. Sydney kept coming hard in pursuit of the large total, and chances were always going to present. By continued his strong form and bowled fast on a surface that gave him plenty on return for his effort.

Malone found his rhythm and got amongst the wickets, finding a breakthrough whenever the visitors needed it most. Robertson’s useful medium pace grabbed a wicket and suddenly the game looked beyond Sydney at 6/128.

Sensing a chance to finish the game, Ley was reintroduced and found the edge through to Cummins. His 7 overs yielded 3/32, and along with Joy’s 2/31 off 10, proved the real difference between the two sides. Malone demolished the tail to take 4/46, bowling skilfully to his field and varying his flight to disrupt the batsmen.

112 was the final margin, a comfortable win against a good side. Bankstown await in the semi final.

2ND GRADE

Sydney Uni 9-361: N Craze 110, J Crowley 75*, S Hobson 70, T Kierath 32
Parramatta 205

 

3RD GRADE

Sydney Uni 261: C Litchfield 70, M Powys 66, A Cowan 46, E Arnott 38
Parramatta 161: R Danne 2-5, S wood 2-37, J Craig-Dobson 2-43

Day 2 and it was same bat time etc and so on, with the Units well poised to take the 6 points after a solid display the week before. Your scribe, after lording it over the tardy members previously was found wanting, and the razor thin margins meant that Clubman’s Merv Danne took delight in informing all and sundry that my arrival time was 11.18 which was equal to a case. As the Army had already planned an event the following day, this timing couldn’t have been better really, however it did sting at the time.

With humidity levels at 99% in blazing sunshine, another high-quality game of Nash was entered into and no quarter was asked or given. Similar to Round 5 v Penrith in the pouring rain, no doubt our opponents were extremely puzzled at the level of intensity being doled out given the atmospheric conditions. Notably this included a controversial piece of play from Galvin, who executed a diving ankle-tap on an unsuspecting Dibbly-Dobson, who then executed an hilarious blow-up on an unsuspecting Galvin. Nude-all a fair if exceptionally underwhelming result, however muscle-meltdown would have started to set in had we continued playing much longer in the hope of someone scoring a point. Old claimed the chocolates once again on the under-manned tie-break system, and your scribe happy with an improved performance after being allowed to play despite being late, mainly on the basis that I brought the ball and pump.

And now on to the actual cricket. After not really thinking things through for the 3 overs late day 1, I had inadvertently shanghai-d the fast bowlers and therefore needed an end-changer in the form of Ryan Danne. Danno, not being deterred by pushing that sizeable chest into the stiff breeze, started in excellent form and was therefore obliged to continue, producing swing and seam to take an early wicket. Dibbly-Dobson also started strongly, and the Parramatta top-order found itself in substantial trouble, with a couple of quick wickets leaving the hosts 3/15 and well behind the 8-ball on a pitch that was hard but offering the quicks a bit of assistance.

A partnership began, aided by some profligacy from the students in the field and at the popping-crease. However, this was soon broken by Leggie and Wood respectively, and at 5/42 we were well on top and looking to push home our advantage. The dangerous Verma and Brown got together, and it took some spectacular fielding from Powys, Danne and Arnott to affect a brilliant run-out which got us into the tail and dreaming of a second innings. Parramatta to their credit refused to give up their wickets easily, and the after-tea session was more of a grind as the last few wickets were hard to come by.

Eventually the good guys took the 10 wickets and the 6 points, and this was a really pleasing if imperfect 2 days of cricket against the previously unbeaten eels. No doubt something to draw on for the remainder of the season, we are hitting our straps at the business end and we will be there when the whips are cracking and (insert laboured cliché here).

A lovely postscript was the delightful Sunday spent watching the 1s boys take care of business at Drummoyne, and testing out the updated Army songsheet. As always I will leave others to judge on the success of the Uni Army vocals and suffice to say that the particulars of the day/night are not suitable for publication. In any forum.

Back to fortress Camperdown next week to take on the bears, and after 4 wins on the bounce we will be looking to continue our climb up the table and take the points.

4TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 79 & 2-52
Parramatta 213: T Fullerton 4-30, J Rinka 2-31, O Thompson 2-51

 

5TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 265: N Mortimer 127, A Wilkinson 37, C Lorenzato 28
Parramatta 213: N Barnet 5-47, A Wilkinson 3-34

 

METRO CUP

Sydney Uni 235: M Veltro 74, Z Islam 64, A Kirubanandan 28
Blacktown 145 & 6-107: M Ghumman 4-30, A Kirubanandan 3-46, P Adikarige 3-62

It's rare that you can leave a ground having claimed 1st Innings points feeling so empty but that was the case today as Metro lost outright to Blacktown at St Pauls.

We are starting to pay the piper with some of the circumstances we are finding ourselves in within the team and around the club. We have used 32 players so far in Metro this year making finding consistancy difficult particularly with our batting lineup / order and each player locking down a role in the team. We are paying for previous games where we have relied on a couple of batsmen to get runs to get us the wins. If those players fail or are out of form on a particular day we are in trouble. The writing has been on the wall for sometime and hopefully this humilliating result will be a wake up call to the team. Our attitude to staying in and valuing our wicket(s) needs to improve. We are not playing T20 matches and need to respect that.

We have the two top teams coming up in successive rounds and the 3 teams below us all won outright today so we are in a very precarious position with only 4 rounds to go. Semi final cricket is not guaranteed at this point and as far as the leadership is concerned, each week is a semi final type match for us, as the 3 previously mentioned teams below us have relatively easy runs home. That's the reality and time will tell how much we really want to be playing in the post season.

The positives for us at the moment are our bowling and fielding. We have had some low scores to defend at home which combined with the 45 metre boundary on one side of St Paul's, has seen our bowlers really have to dig in and work hard to keep the scoring tight and still pick up wickets. The attitude and energy in the field has been pleasing.

Congrats to Greenie's player Bryan Handunneththi who picked up a wicket on debut for the senior club!

We know Metro is a development team and with each match we are learning about the game and ourselves. Long term we will be better players for the experience whether we win, lose or draw...

'Greenie' recognised amongst competition's best

Sydney Uni A.W. Green Shield captain, Jazz Rinka, has today been announced in the NSW Premier Cricket A.W. Green Shield Merit XII for 2017-18.

Jazz was recognised for his consistent performances with the ball for Sydney Uni, claiming a total of 16 wickets at 15.25 runs from his 7 matches during the tournament. He was the 2nd leading wicket-taker in the competition.

Starting the tournament strongly against Campbelltown-Camden with figures of 4-38, Jazz claimed at least one wicket in each of his matches.

Captaining this season, Jazz lead from the front with the new ball with consistent line and length, often angling across the right-handers, making it difficult to score from.

Sydney Uni's Green Shield team finished in 12th spot with three wins and four losses, however with narrow defeats against Hawkesbury, Mosman and eventual champions, Parramatta, could easily have finished in the top four.

With four rounds remaining in the McDonald's NSW Premier Cricket competition, Jazz is also well in the hunt for the Sydney Uni Player of the Year award, as he currently leads the tally on 17 votes. 

Having started his career with Sydney Uni this season in Metro Cup, he claimed 8 wickets at 15.00 in his four appearances before earning a call-up to Fifth Grade, lasting only one appearance (2-38) before receiving a further promotion into Fourth Grade, where he has played seven matches and taken 11 wickets at 12.18 with an economy rate of 1.97 runs per over.

In total, he has taken 37 wickets for the club in 2017-18 at 14.68, with best figures of 5-37.

Congratulations to Jazz on his achievement, and we hope to see plenty more successes for him over the coming seasons.

Read more about the Green Shield Merit XII here.

Five things we learned from Round 11

Jamie Brown has broken through

It's taken longer than expected for this to happen, but Jamie Brown has emerged this season as a genuine force in the First Grade competition.  The Sutherland right-hander was identified as an exciting prospect as long ago as 2008 when, at 13, he played the first of his three seasons in the AW Green Shield side.  By 18, he was in First Grade.  But it took him a while to find his feet.  In 2013-14, he took a break from the game, sitting out the whole season.  After he returned, he hit his maiden century in Firsts, but lost the confidence of the club selectors and spent most of 2015-16 in seconds.  He bounced back strongly in 2016-17, scoring more than 700 runs, but his career average remained below thirty, and he had managed only two hundreds in 61 innings.  There was nothing about his start to this season that suggested anything better; he opened with scores of 4, 4 and 8.  Since Round 8, though, he's been unstoppable.  He hit a rapid 101 in a 50 over match with Penrith, followed that with 109 at North Sydney, and narrowly missed a third successive century when Randwick-Petersham's Adam Semple trapped him lbw for 91.   He made up for that in Round 11, with a patient, matchwinning 126 against Bankstown.  That's a streak, and it's helped to propel Sutherland to the lead on the First Grade table.

Tim Ley is under-rated

Tim Ley turned 30 this season.  His pace isn't quite what it was, and it's unlikely that the representative selectors will be hunting for his phone number any time soon, but he remains a remarkably consistent and dangerous new ball bowler.  Even though he missed a game to nurse a delicate hamstring, he's the most successful fast bowler in the First Grade competition this year (with 27 wickets - 36 in all formats), moving the ball both ways, maintaining an excellent line and length, and putting to work all of his accumulated knowledge about how to get batsmen out.  He had a decent total to defend on Sunday, after Hayden Kerr, Steve Hobson, Nick Larkin, Damien Mortimer and Liam Robertson helped Sydney University to post 282 in their limited overs quarter final against Sydney.  But Sydney has a powerful batting line-up, and Drummoyne Oval was in great condition, so the game remained wide open - until the first two balls of Sydney's innings.  Tristen McDonald edged Ley's first ball through to Tim Cummins behind the stumps, and the second was a gem that flattened Dan Smith's off stump.  Sydney was 2-0 from two balls, and although Harry Dalton fought hard, there was no way back from there.  Ley took his 300th First Grade wicket earlier this season, and is a single good afternoon away from capturing his 500th wicket for the club.  he may fly under the radar, but he's critical to University's chances of retaining its First Grade premiership.

The future looks bright for Liam Scott

It wasn't a great weekend for Sydney, who were upset in First Grade by North Sydney and crashed out of the Limited Overs finals.  But there was a silver lining in Third Grade, where Liam Scott opened the batting and was still there when Craig Di Blasio declared, unbeaten on 201.  Scott, who has a preference for the on-side, faced 223 balls, hitting 26 to the fence as well as five sixes.  It was only Scott's ninth Grade game, as school commitments with Trinity Grammar School have limited his appearances so far, but he was a member of Balmain's premiership-winning Green Shield team last season, when he won two competitions with the Tigers (he hit 78 in the Fourth Grade grand final).  An Australian Under-15 representative, he played for Cricket Australia in the 2016-17 Under-17 championships before turning out for NSW Metro this year, when he scored 57 in the grand final win over Queensland.  At the age of 17, he already has a knack of scoring runs in finals, and (when free from injury), he's also a very handy medium-quick bowler with a high, upright action.  In the Sydney club's long history, no-one had ever scored a double-century in Third Grade before, and Scott is unlikely to linger in Thirds for very much longer.

It's crunch time for Manly

Manly did everything it needed to do last round, with a clinical demolition job on Blacktown.  Michael Visser and Mickey Edwards cut through the Warriors' top order, reducing them to 5 for 28, before Thomas Kaye finished the job with 4-9, his best return in the top grade to date.  Then James Crosthwaite pounded 141 from only 116 balls, adding 167 for the second wicket with his brother, Adam (who hit 69).  But Blacktown (and especially Jake Fawcett, whose unbeaten century soaked up 151 balls and included 11 fours and six sixes) did well to prevent Manly from taking full points, and the result leaves Manly just outside the top six.  Manly's next two matches are against Bankstown (6th) and Parramatta (2nd) - so by the end of Round 13, they could be securely lodged inside the top six, or well adrift of it.

Easts are scary at full strength

 Campbelltown probably thought they had a decent chance of knocking Easts out of the Limited Overs Cup after Phil Wells (97) steered them to a total of 264, and left-armer Luke Webb dismissed Peter Nevill for only 3.  But when Easts are at full strength, getting rid of Nevill just brings Nic Maddinson and Angus Robson together.  Maddinson has had an odd season, struggling for a run in four-day cricket, while often rising to quite spectacular levels in the short game.  On Sunday he went beserk, thrashing 113 (out of 145 runs scored while he was at the crease) from only 56 balls, launching five sixes along with 13 fours.  Robson anchored the rest of the innings with an unbeaten 83.  Easts now meet Parramatta in the semi-final, but that's on 18 February, when the New South Wales team has a Shield game in Adelaide.  Maddinson, Nevill, Will Somerville and Harry Conway might all be chosen for that game, in which case the match will become a test of Easts' depth rather than its horsepower.

NSW Premier Cricket Limited-Overs Quarter Final

This weekend, Sydney Uni's First Grade will face Sydney Cricket Club in the Quarter Final of the NSW Premier Cricket Limited-Overs Cup. The match will be held on Sunday 28th January at Drummoyne Oval from 10am. 

Sydney Uni have been strong throughout their four Limited Overs rounds this season with wins against Gordon, Fairfield-Liverpool and St George with a narrow to Northern District. Strong performances by Nick Larkin, Ed Cowan, Liam Robertson, Hayden Kerr and Tim Ley have given the team the opportunity for their first Limited Overs title since 2013-14. 

A call to arms for all Sydney Uni supporters to join the Uni Army in the trenches at Drummoyne Oval to support the teams tilt at Limited Overs glory. 

Sydney Uni Cricket Limited-Overs team:

N Larkin (c)
H Kerr
D Mortimer
L Robertson
S Hobson
T Cummins +
B Trevor-Jones
J Kershaw
T Ley
D Malone
B Joy

Round 11 (Day 1) Match Reports

1ST GRADE

Sydney Uni 1-12
Parramatta 313: L Robertson 3-12, T Ley 3-73, B Joy 2-49, J Kershaw 2-68

 

2ND GRADE

Sydney Uni 9-361: N Craze 110, J Crowley 75*, S Hobson 70, T Kierath 32
Parramatta: N/A

 

3RD GRADE

Sydney Uni 261: C Litchfield 70, M Powys 66, A Cowan 46, E Arnott 38
Parramatta 0-8

In a return to 2-day cricket the Units travelled out to Merrylands in search of another 6 points against the table topping eels. Various methods and means were used to arrive at the superb complex, and the majority (i.e 7) found ourselves out on the luxurious grounds well in time for Nash. The minority followed afterwards, with Messer’s Wood and Litchfield choosing to do a scenic tour of Parramatta’s CBD of traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and one-way streets to the tune of 40 mins late and a case of premiums. Each.

At any rate 4v3 Nash turned into 5v4, and Dibbly-Dobson (much like his patented medium-pacers) swung both ways. A hard-fought game in steamy conditions and the young were well on-top, fitness and pace being the order of the day. One of the highest-quality games in club history ended up with Powys calmly slotting the ball home under the wall for an old victory, having quite rightly shouldered your scribe off the ball. 8 of the players had an excellent game, however I was absolutely horrific once again, and a further reinvention is required if I am to continue to be allowed to play Nash instead of being made to referee (or instituting a leopardesq lap of the field for warm-ups)…

The best ground in lower-grade cricket™ didn’t disappoint, and the skippers were faced with a very easy decision if the face of the SCA appointed “coin” fell in our selected position (Obverse: SCA logo, Reverse: I dunno, some other insignia). In what is becoming an alarming return to mathematical normalcy (LWLW last 4 games) the SCA was presented to the western Sydney sun and I had no hesitation in electing to bat. Dishonourable mention to Dobson, who audibly cheered at the coin toss result despite the game having not yet commenced.

Openers Powys and Hill strode to the centre and began a circumspect and ruthlessly aggressive start, depending on who was bowling and who was on strike. Powys took a particular liking to the bowlers from the (southern?) end, with Pike copping full treatment as his first 3 overs went for 36. The score after 6 overs though was about 37, as Sullivan continued his excellent form for the season in bowling extremely well from the other end. Skipper Jase Coleman followed, and Powys continued his aggressive stance, with fielders being pushed back to the fence in an attempt to stem the flow of runs. Hillsy batted with patience and it was a solid partnership, however 0/88 became 2/88 and 3/92 as the eels showed why they have been rolling through opponents all season, with 3 quick wickets evening up the match. Powys once again making batting look so easy at the top of the order with a superb 66 to follow up his recent prolific run of form.

This brought Ed Arnott out to the crease and a began period of accumulation and a high standard of cricket, with tight bowling and disciplined batting being the order of the day. Bowlers Sullivan, Drinnan, Coleman and the cagey Anand tightened the screws and the match was evenly poised either side of tea. After an excellently compiled 38 from Arnott was ended by a sharp run-out, and Galvin came and went, your scribe joined Charlie Litchfield in the centre with the game delicately positioned at 5/185. As followers of my cricket can attest to (i.e. anyone that has seen me bat in any format), cagey disciplined bowling is usually met with outlandishly aggressive batting, and this was to be no different. After a couple of close shaves (i.e. dropped catches) the ball started finding the middle and the runs started flowing and the game turned back in our favour. The partnership was eventually broken with Litchfield being unfortunately adjudged caught behind for an excellent 70 in his first game back with us this year. He hit the ball to all areas of the field, batted with intelligence and hard-running which was the backbone of our innings.

Your scribe was dismissed for 46 in a familiarly comical fashion, trying to deposit one too many over the ropes (stumped by 2m, face down facing the stumps and no, that is not the first time that has happened) and with the tail not wagging for the first time this year, we found ourselves slumping from 5/247 to all-out 261, with the offie Talwar picking up 3 wickets late on.

All in all, a very solid day and an excellent total against a good attack, but we probably felt that we had the platform to end on a score starting with 3 rather than 2. Backing us to be up to our best to take the 10 wickets next week on a good surface against a quality opposition.

 

4TH GRADE

Sydney Uni: N/A
Parramatta 213: T Fullerton 4-30, J Rinka 2-31, O Thompson 2-51

 

5TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 9-265: N Mortimer 127, A Wilkinson 37, C Lorenzato 28
Parramatta 1-47

 

METRO CUP

Sydney Uni 235: M Veltro 74, Z Islam 64, A Kirubanandan 28
Blacktown 7-103: M Ghumman 4-12, A Kirubanandan 2-33

Another beautiful day for a game of cricket with the Metro team down at St Pauls playing Blacktown. Opinion amongst the boys is that the deck looks the same as recent weeks and
although we expect some early movement and a few popping deliveries it should be a road later on in the day. The toss is won and therefore there's no hesitation in padding up and heading to the crease with the intent of seeing off the first 10 overs and then building the innings from there.

Unfortunately, we lose both our openers in those first 10 overs and need to regroup but this brings our new number 3 Izzy to the crease. Izzy joins us after playing all previous matches in 5's this season and brings his immense talent and an experienced head to the team. Izzy just played his natural game and runs came freely down the ground in spirited and impressive fashion! 64 runs scored before he falls trying to loft one ball too many over the ropes.

Max Veltro and Ashwin Kirubanandan set sail building a solid 78 run partnership in the middle order that was exactly what was required. Max played another excellent innings that included 11 fours and 2 sixes. While this may look like a swashbuckling innings most of Max's shots were measured and with little risk. Ashwin played his role and is enjoying his batting making 28 this time around. With the intention of having a crack at the opposition later in the day, the tail put in a few little cameos and our total settled on 235 after 50.3 overs.

The Uni Captain with high expectations was demanding a return of 4-5 opposition wickets in the 21 overs before stumps. With an injury while batting to Jon Alyward we are left with only 2 fast bowlers for the day which was not ideal in achieving this goal.

Blacktown pulled a move sometimes seen in Metro of sending a tailender up the order to have
a dash in the hopes of scoring some quick runs and wrecking the new ball. With the crazy short boundary on one side of the field, this was not a bad tactic but in the mind of the Uni skipper also an encouraging sign of a lack of confidence in their top order batsmen to chase our total. The batsman aptly named "Savage" took a particular shining to Prasan's bowling and dispensed the ball to the boundary. Anything not wide was punished.

60 runs are scored before a change in bowling and an immediate breakthrough by our secret weapon Muhammad "6 for 10" Ghumman. It's great to have a reliable guy in the team like Mo, who although perceived as a part timer, the skipper can just give the ball to and tell him to get it done. Getting it done was exactly what he did and with enthusiasm levels in the field reaching fever
pitch we went on to claim 6 for 1 at one point. Mo finishing with 4-12 off 5 overs.

Special mention to the classy Ashwin who had his end knuckled down the entire session
and also took a fabulous diving caught and bowled. 2-33 off 11. Blacktown finishing a shortened day due to the many delays 7-103. Uni 132 ahead with 3 wickets to claim but still a lot of work ahead to guarantee the points.

Overall a day which saw far more positives than negatives and with some tough games coming up before finals we are right where we want to be in terms of our playing standards.

Team Announcements: Round 11

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SECOND GRADE
Syd Uni vs Parramatta
Uni No.1 10:30am

Steve Hobson
Ryan McElduff
Nicky Craze
James Larkin (c)
Jack Holloway
Alex Shaw
James Crowley +
Tom Kierath
Dugald Holloway
Lawrence Neil-Smith
Keiran Tate

THIRD GRADE
Syd Uni vs Parramatta
Merrylands 12:15pm

Matt Powys
Charles Litchfield
Jack Hill
Ryan Danne
Tom Galvin
Ash Cowan (c)
Ed Arnott +
Jono Craig-Dobson
Sam Wood
Liam Whitaker
Jack Lawson

FOURTH GRADE
Syd Uni vs Parramatta
Cahill 12:15pm

Alex Bell
Brayden Dilley
Lewis Bedford
Tom Fullerton (c)
Michael Robinson
Ollie Thompson
Hugh Farrow
Hayden Storey +
Aidan Peek
Murray Miles
Jazz Rinka

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FIFTH GRADE
Syd Uni vs Parramatta
Castlewood 12:15pm

Liam McElduff
Nick Mortimer
Hugh Kermond
Brodie Frost
Julian Dimas
Ned Barnet
Christian Lorenzato +
Andrew Wilkinson (c)
Tom Draca
Jono Phoebus
Max Shanahan

METRO CUP
Syd Uni vs Blacktown
St Paul's 12:15pm

Rakin Rahman
Muhammad Ghumman
Zohirul Islam
Ryan Blayney
Max Veltro
Greg Cade (c) +
Ashwin Kirubanandan
Tom Derrick
Jon Aylward
Prasan Adikarige
Bryan Handunneththi
Tim Synnott

SYDNEY UNI LIONS
Syd Uni vs Reg Bartley
Reg Bartley Oval 1:30pm

TBC

Round 10 Match Reports

1ST GRADE

Sydney Uni 7-413: N Larkin 246, L Robertson 66, B Trevor-Jones 59
Mosman 276: J Kershaw 4-41, T Ley 3-74, B Joy 2-53

The coin fell favourably once more for the good guys and the captain swiftly elected to bat on a grassless surface at Alan Border Oval.

A slow start by the opening pair of Trevor-Jones and Larkin wasn’t assisted by a thick outfield and defensive field set. The scoreboard began to tick over as spin was introduced to the attack, the Students heading to lunch at 0/92. Runs began to flow after the break, only for Trevor-Jones to chop on for a well compiled 59. Mortimer came to the crease and batted nicely for 20 before slipping and treading on his stumps, leaving University in a good but not dominant position at 2/180.

The in-form Liam Robertson strode to the middle to join his captain, and the pair went about erecting an imposing total. Larkin found his stride as he passed 100, milking the spinners with ease and square driving the medium pace bowlers into submission. Robertson began to up the rate, playing some savage strokes on his way to 66, as he combined for a 180 run stand with Larkin. Larkin opened the shoulders as he moved toward and beyond 200. Suddenly a declaration within the day looked on the cards.

Larkin powered on, finding strong support from the middle order as he flayed the Mosman attack to finish on 246 off 276 balls - narrowly missing the club joint record of 253, held by JM Taylor and EJM Cowan. The declaration came at 413, leaving four overs to be bowled prior to stumps. The Mosman openers negotiated the period well and finished 0/11.

Coming back on Sunday, the bowling attack knew it would take a full day of effort to dismantle a strong batting line up on a lifeless surface. Good attacks find a way to create chances when the going is tough, and the University quicks were up to the task. A strong wind meant tough work from one end all day, and no one shied away from the toil that was required. Kershaw and Ley bowled beautifully with the new ball, owning their lengths and forcing the batsmen to play. Ley broke through early, trapping Dassanayake LBW.

Ben Joy, back into the side after a brief period in second grade, delivered real pace and extracted whatever variable bounce the surface offered, both threatening to sneak under the bat and also hitting the stickers and gloves regularly. LBWs to Joy and Kerr kept the Students on top and hopeful that a result could be forced in tough conditions. As the ball began to reverse swing, Kershaw was reintroduced into the wind and began to threaten regularly.

Just as Adlam and Pisel had found their groove and looked to be playing toward a draw, Tim Cummins came up to the stumps to the usually fierce pace of Kershaw. As one tailed down the leg side with the reverse swing, Cummins was able to execute one of the finest stumpings in SUCC history. Pandemonium ensued as Pisel had to leave the crease and the belief was firmly there that victory was possible. Kershaw took four wickets with a spell of reverse swing bowling that changed the game. Clean bowling Adlam for 130, then forcing Day to drag one into his stumps, and finally having Keely strangled down leg side (another good catch by Cummins).

Joy was reintroduced with the wind, continuing to bowl with real pace. Hearn clipped one off his pads and Malone took a hot chance at short mid wicket. At eight wickets down and 174 runs in arrears, it appeared there could only be one winner. Stubborn resistance forced Larkin to take the new ball. Whilst it cost a few runs, the hardness of the new Kookaburra allowed Ley and Joy to hit the wicket hard.

Ley continued to steam in with venom, thumping some fierce bouncers into the pitch to a field packed with catchers around the bat. Kerr took a smart catch running toward leg gully, before Ley again delivered a throat high short ball to the number 11, who could only fend it haplessly to Malone at short mid wicket. It was nothing short of elation as Malone pocketed the final catch and the Students secured six incredibly valuable points and moved to second on the ladder. The hardest and most satisfying win of the season thus far, set up by clinical batting and relentless fast bowling in trying conditions.

2ND GRADE

Sydney Uni 159: D Visser 50, A Shaw 48*
Mosman 2-165

2nd grade took to the University Basin in what loomed as a top of the table clash against a strong Whales side. After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Uni faced a strong bowling attack on a wicket that made run scoring difficult early on. Unfortunately we did not weather the storm well enough, although credit to the Whales' bowling attack. Darius and Shawry came together and batted well, with D making a good 50 on return from injury, and Shawry contributing as well with anohter red stinker just short of his own fifty. 

The tail didn't wag as it has done many times this season, and we were bowled out for around 160, which was not par, but wasn't massively beneath it due to the tricky wicket.

Lawrence and Dugald came out and both bowled well, and were unlucky not to pick up more than 1 each, with Dugald channelling his inner Josh Toyer after each chance letting out a primal unintelligible scream. Mosman batted well and turned over the strike consistently, ending up cruising to the total 2 down, in what can only be described as a comprehensive victory. Uni will look to bounce back next week against Parramatta and further our position in the race for finals.

3RD GRADE

Sydney Uni 7-259: R Danne 108, M Powys 75
Mosman 159: J Toyer 4-31, J Lawson 2-44

Regular followers of my published works will know that on occasion I am prone to wax lyrical when compiling my account of the proceeding Saturday’s play. This would serve to be one of those occasions, so strap yourself in Jack Holloway.

What a day. The Units arrived to take on the 2nd top Whales at Rawson Oval in search of many things, redemption for a tough loss in last year’s semi-final, a chance to cement our spot in the top 6, and that rarest of all things, triple-back-to-back-bonies (something that I understand has never been achieved by any team in the history of the competition [fact check please 5 things]).

Nash was a hard-fought win to the young and after a jittery start to the season, it now appears that the old and young teams are pretty evenly matched, with the extra man being telling in each of the last few rounds. Honourable mentions to Galv, Furby, Powys, Toyer and Tate, dishonourable mention to your scribe who was laughably inept in front of goal to the outrage of old, particularly Furby who occupied his customary position in the aggression chair.

The toss was run and lost, my new year’s resolution, like many January gym memberships and healthy eating plans lasting all of one week. Aadil had no hesitation in sending us in on a soft pitch that promised to do a bit early but then settle down etc and so on.

Openers Hill and Powys got us off to an interesting start, as Hillsy seemed to be facing a nightmare of quality fast bowling whereas Powys seemed to be facing the U/14s, such was his dominance. The run rate ticked along nicely but after Powys departed for an excellent 75, Mosman came back into the contest and the rate dipped to 4 an over which was not expected to be enough on a rapidly improving pitch. Concerns were to prove unfounded however, as firstly Galvin, then your scribe, and Toyer combined with the man of the match Ryan Danne to create a match-winning total of 259 from the allotted 50.

The performance of Danno cannot be understated, his innings was without doubt the finest of his life and after snicking off for a few well-made 30s (both on and off-field) he finally broke through. He was circumspect and did the tough work early which enabled him to flourish and really cash in towards the end of the innings. In a statistic that will no doubt find its way onto his Tinder profile, we scored 113 off the last 14 overs, Danno scored 70 of these with 5 sixes (2 Mail 6s, 3 proper 6s incl 1 “which went to the moon”). It was remarkable ball striking and positive running and the Whales simply had no answer. The unbridled jubilation from the Units after another hard run double to reach 100 is something that I can’t remember seeing before, such is the level of love for the young man amongst the team. Hopefully someone got it on snapchat or something. Shout out to Merv who, after 10 years of toil has finally seen his son make a 100, it’s unclear whether this will impact on his desire to attend future fixtures (hopefully not, he is by far the best clubman in the family).

So, 259 on the board and a shortened lunch break meant that the Units were scrambling to get back from downtown Mosman after tucking into some luxuriously appointed sandwiches. Some extremely positive batting from both Mosman openers and a 30kph southerly meant that bowling changes were made early, and this served to allow Golden Arm Danno a chance to break the partnership and get the Units back on top. The rare twins combined once again in a great partnership (20 overs, 3 wickets, 64 runs, 19.0 rare) and Toyer (rejuvenated no-doubt by switching ends) put the middle order to the sword with some quality fast bowling, including wild, guttural ululations after each wicket which struck fear in the heart of everyone that heard them (i.e. those within 8kms). Tatey was also on-song, and Danno as always went for less than 2 an over. The only blot on the copybook was the last wicket, whereby both batters placed a high value on their wickets to put the boni just out of reach. It took an exceptional piece of fielding from Galvin to grab the last one, and in the end a comfortable 100 run victory was very satisfying.

A trip down to the Buena for a schooner and fines capped off a remarkable day, and I understand a few of the younger brigade ventured out to try and help the hero attain the 3rd C, but unfortunately it was also just out of reach.

Things are tightening up at the top of the table now, with the exception of the runaway eels, which we will be looking to rectify next week.

4TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 2-70: A Bell 33*
Mosman 69: O Thompson 2-1, J Rinka 2-15, S Wood 2-16, A Peek 2-18, AJ Grant 2-19

The students were buoyed to return to the adopted fortress Cahill Park for a round 10 clash with the Whales. Special thanks must go to all those who made the journey out to Wolli Creek the night before to do the covers and ensure play got underway on time the following day.

Nash was a free flowing affair with the Nuffies prevailing to continue an undefeated 2018 record. The Julios will rue failing to capitalise on a clear run through that would have sealed the win, only for Queenslander Browne to claim he wasn’t aware of the scoring rules despite it being January.

Nevertheless we were greeted by a soft green seamer, which had the Meds Cartel salivating at the prospect of ball in hand that morning. However, skipper AJG was momentarily dismayed following the toss of the coin, only for the opposition to hesitantly elect to bat, a strange decision to say the least. Whilst fortune may have handed the Units favourable conditions, ruthless execution was still the order of the day in the first session.

Unperturbed by the lack of an aggression-filled Friday night pump up message from Grant or a strong Pepsi, Wood provided the perfect start, crashing into the surfboards of the opening stick to take a wicket on the first ball of the match. From here, it can be said that the pattern of the game continued in a similar flow, with the students refusing to relinquish momentum, rolling through the opposition batting order. Wickets were shared with all bowlers relentless, 2 poles each for Wood, Rinka, Grant, Peek and Thompson. Even more credit must be extended to the bowling attack, creating 14 chances in 26 overs to bowl the Whales out for 69, a total that could have been even lower had the Units maintained the high standard of catching displayed in the previous 9 rounds.

The small chase was made easier by the aggression and intent of Bell, using his feet fearlessly against the spin and slashing hard against any width provided by the seamers. An 8 wicket, bonus point win was thoroughly deserved with contributions shared throughout the side. The Units will now look to carry this momentum into a round 11 clash with a strong Parramatta outfit. 

5TH GRADE

Sydney Uni 97: H Farrow 50
Mosman: 120: N Barnet 5-22, M Miles 2-10, S Pathak 2-34

METRO CUP

Sydney Uni 6-315: N Mortimer 161*, M Veltro 63, G Cade 32, M Ghumman 26
UNSW Black 243: P Adikarige 4-36, M Shanahan 3-52, J Aylward 2-20

A Metro home game on a surprisingly hot and sticky day against the side one place below us on the ladder, UNSW Black. A test of how we can bounce back after last game. Toss is lost and we are sent in on a green but flat looking deck. As per recent history, movement is expected early and we weren't disappointed. UNSW had a very accurate opener who while not express gave us much trouble with his excellent yorker and sideways control of the ball. 3/30 odd and as a team we needed to decide if we were to have a repeat of last week or regroup and post a competitive total on what would no doubt be a road after the break.

A vital partnership began to develop between mini-Mortimer, Nick, and Max Veltro. Max returns after being out of the side due to our strong depth and has been training hard thus his opportunity in the team. Both guys played really positive cricket and both shared equal amount of strike. A 104 run stand with Max finally departing for a well earned over run a ball 63 including 3 sixes. 

Captain Cade joins Morts and in the context of the match, another partnership is required in the middle overs to assure the tail is not exposed too early. Plenty of singles on offer per over and the loose balls are also put away. The run rate ticks over nicely until the second drinks break. Like a switch had been thrown the break was the worst thing for the batsmen as suddenly the runs started drying up. Many mid pitch discussions and the resolution is to try and fight through it rather than throw it away at this particular road block.

Fortunately things came good in a big way. Morts started freeing up again and scoring freely with boundaries coming at every opportunity. The bowling side were broken as Morts passed his maiden century for the club. Once the milestone was achieved and starting to tire, Morts made the decision to go for broke and unleash the beast, looking to find the construction site at every opportunity. Cade is yorked with a few overs left for a club high 32 and the 135 run fifth wicket stand is broken. Mortimer dispenses the last two balls of the innings for six finishing on 161 not out with 16 fours and 6 sixes. 

The team finishing the 50 overs on 315. Nice! With 315 on the board it's hard not to relax a bit but we decided to go hard early and try to force UNSW to throw up the white flag. Sudden injury to opening bowler Ashwin meant his participation was limited to a few overs at the end so Prasan Adikarige took the new ball. An early breakthrough for Prasan and UNSW are 1 for 0. Tight bowling from Max Shanahan followed, sharing some poles with Jono Alyward. 

At this point being a few down for not many you can either try and shut up shop or simply start swinging at everything and UNSW chose the latter once their Captain came to the crease. Captain Tan played some fantastic 9 iron shots with the ball lofting as high as the nearby cranes on occasion but frustratingly out of range of our fielders. He was joined by young left hander Finklestein who took a shining to Max Veltro's part time offies. 

For a minute or two, it was entertaining to watch but we needed to refocus and not let things get away from us. Ashwin had recovered sufficiently to come on and restrict the runs with Max Shanahan picking up the vital wickets from the City Rd end. Prasan came on to relieve Max and picked up the final 2 wickets in his first over. Prasan finishing up with club best figures of 4-36. Great work from Prasan who has deserved this kind of haul in previous fixtures but has simply been unlucky. 

UNSW finally finishing with 243 off 43 overs. We meet again in a few weeks and I'm sure both teams are looking forward to the rematch after such an enjoyable match. 

We return to Paul's this week looking to put back to back wins together. We line up against Blacktown. The current rivalry with the Warriors goes back to the bitter grand final of 2013/14 where the students took the prize in a rain effected clash away from home.