Preseason Program 2018-19

Update: Preseason Program 2018-19

Welcome to all new and continuing Sydney University Cricket Club players,
 
With preseason training now underway, we wish to provide an update on the schedule and structure for the remainder of the preseason, leading in to Round 1 on the 22nd September.
 
With 7 teams and some 100+ playing members, it is impossible to provide a suitable training environment for all club members at one set time with only 3 indoor nets to work with.
 
Therefore, we have made the decision to create 2 training groups to maximise player time, eliminate congestion and allow more skill work during these preseason sessions.
 
The squads are called: “1st Grade Squad” and “Full Club Squad”.
 
We have established a Facebook group titled “Sydney Uni Cricket Players Group 2018-19”- we ask that ALL players please search for this on Facebook and request to be added, as the majority of communication relating to training and matches with be via this group.
 
Congratulations to the following players who have been selected in the preseason 1st Grade Training Squad. This squad will be revised on the 17thSeptember. If anyone feels they should be in this squad but have been left out, please feel free to get in contact with Cam Borgas – 0408 852 892.

Jack Lawson
Matt Powys
Ryan Danne
Tom Galvin
Josh Toyer
Hayden Kerr
Devlin Malone
Nicky Craze
Dugald Holloway
Ryan McElduff
Charlie Cassell
Varun George
Kieran Tate
Liam Whitaker
Charles Litchfield

Nick Larkin
Ed Cowan
Liam Robertson
Damien Mortimer
Tim Cummins
Ben Trevor-Jones
Ben Joy
Tim Ley
Joe Kershaw
Dom O’Shannessy
James Larkin
Jack Holloway
James Crowley
David Miller
Max Hope

Congratulations also to the following players who have been selected in the Elite Athlete Program:

Will Masojada
James Robertson
Hugh Farrow
Cullen Hathurusinghe
Matt Moran
Aidan Peek
Michael Robinson
Max Shanahan
Liam Coelho
Tom Brooks

Hayden Kerr
Devlin Malone
Nicky Craze
Dugald Holloway
Ryan McElduff
Charlie Cassell
Varun George
Kieran Tate
Liam Whitaker
Charles Litchfield

Congratulations to the following 'new' players who are invited to participate in the next phase of the preseason program as part of the "Full Club Squad" (note this is not a guarantee of selection and this group may be reduced at a later date)

Tom D'Arcy
Fraser Noack
Matthew Staples
Lewis Ansell
Jack McLaine
Travis Fleming

Nihir Gandhi
Aaron Crofts
Murray Watts
Vikrant Nehru
Tom Crawford
Pierce Foley

The training program for the 1st Grade Squad will be communicated directly to the squad.

Please click here for the preseason training program for the "Full Club Squad"

We thank you for being patient and understanding as we transition through some of these training improvements. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Club.

Henry William Lawyers partners with Sydney Uni Cricket

Continuing with the great sponsorship news this week, leading commercial law firm, Henry William Lawyers, has agreed to partner with Sydney University Cricket Club for the 2018-19 season.

Henry William Lawyers will become a Gold Partner supporting our 2-day cricket programs and various events, including The Great Cricket Debate and annual Golf Challenge, throughout the season.

Sydney Uni Cricket General Manager, Dale Bryant, said: "We are delighted to welcome Henry William Lawyers to the Club. Having quickly built a reputation for excellence, Henry William Lawyers will be a great fit for the Club moving into a bright future."

Mark Faraday, Executive Lawyer and Director of Henry William Lawyers, said: "Sydney University Cricket Club provides outstanding sporting and developmental opportunities for young cricketers. The firm is very excited to be able to support the Club in helping its cricketers achieve their potential on and off the field."

Henry William Lawyers has become a highly respected force in the Sydney legal market. The firm and a number of its lawyers are recognised as being amongst the best in their areas of expertise by Doyle’s Guide and Best Lawyers, Australia.

The Club looks forward to forging a strong partnership with Henry William Lawyers into the future.

ICYMI: Former SU Cricketer set to become Prime Minister

The final outcome of Pakistan's 2018 general election may not be known for some time yet, and it seems likely that the eventual government will be a coalition - but that coalition will be led by the party with the most seats, Tehreek-e-Insaf, whose leader is Imran Khan.  When Imran is confirmed as Prime Minister, he will become the second man to lead a national government who also played cricket for Sydney University.

The first was Edmund Barton who, as the leader of the Protectionist Party, served as Australia's first Prime Minister, from 1 January 1901 to 24 September 1903.  Barton enrolled at Sydney University in 1867, having been school captain at Sydney Grammar.  Immediately, he joined the Cricket Club,  playing with significant success in the Second Eleven where, in his first season, he averaged 15 with the bat and took 13 wickets at a cost of four runs each.  His efforts in the Firsts - eight runs in four innings - were less eye-catching.  After that first season (when he also took two cheap wickets in the Firsts), he never bowled again, possibly because it involved too much effort.  Barton was famously immobile in the field, although he had safe hands when the ball was hit to him, and he was often hidden away at long-stop, behind the wicket-keeper.

Barton spent two seasons flitting between the Firsts and Seconds, and then settled into a regular First Eleven place.  He seldom scored heavily - matches were generally low-scoring anyway - but he often made useful runs.  The scorecards of his matches are littered with the great names of early Australian cricket: when the Albert Club demolished University for 26 in 1872-73, Barton was one of the two men who escaped dismissal by the great bowler Fred Spofforth, who claimed 9-10.  Two years later, he stood up to Spofforth to score 25, while in the match against the Warwick Club, he played well against Test players Billy Murdoch, Ted Evans and Charles Bannerman.  He was the first University captain to allow the young Tom Garrett to bowl, two years before Garrett opened the bowling in the first of all Test matches.  When University played Bathurst in 1874-75, Dave Gregory joined the team, with the result that man who would become Australia's first Test captain played under the leadership of the man who would become the country's first Prime Minister.  Numerically, Barton's best effort was an innings of 61 against the Caxton Club in 1871-72.

Barton served as club secretary for many years, and the name Barton appears on a First Eleven scoresheet as late as 1885, although with no initial, so we cannot be sure that it was Edmund.  He also umpired, most notoriously in a match between New South Wales and the touring English team in 1878-79, when a run out decision by his fellow official, George Coulthard, resulted in a riot.  On that occasion, Barton was credited with restoring order and calming the crowd who had invaded the field.

Barton's term as Prime Minister was brief; he stepped down from the position to take a seat on the High Court, which he considered to be a more important role.

Imran Khan's career as a Sydney University player was brief, consisting of half a dozen matches in 1984-85.  He had been enticed to New South Wales to become the State's second professional imported from overseas (after West Indian Andy Roberts, seven years earlier).  The NSW Cricket Association assigned Sydney University as his Grade club, and Imran (who had played for Oxford University as an undergraduate in the early 1970s) turned out for the students when he was available.  At first, he did little bowling, as he was recovering from shin splints.  He was a positive presence around the team, though, and his team-mates enjoyed the experience of playing with one of the great all-rounders of the modern game, and marveled at his extraordinarily active social life.  

The last match before Christmas was a Saturday/Sunday game at University, against North Sydney.  University batted for most of the first day, managing only 191 on a slow, grassless pitch.  Opener Greg Bush and Test batsman Trevor Chappell batted stubbornly for North Sydney, and at lunch on the second day, North Sydney needed about ninety runs to win with eight wickets still standing.  The rest of University's team loitered in the changing room or wandered off to the nearby hospital canteen, but Imran had a better offer, from a glamorous young woman who had arrived  at the ground in a red sports car just before the break.  When play resumed, University had only ten players on the field - no Imran.  After a few minutes, a red sports car appeared and Imran took the field.  Chappell and Graham Spring continued to push and nudge North Sydney towards victory when Imran walked up to Mick O'Sullivan and announced, "captain, I will bowl now".  Almost at once, he found life in the pitch that had eluded every other bowler in the game, unsettling Spring with sharply lifting deliveries before firing an inswinging yorker into his stumps.  From 23 overs, he took 4-25, stealing an improbable win for University by only nine runs.  Back to full fitness, he went on to help New South Wales win the Sheffield Shield.

It would be difficult to imagine two cricketers - or, indeed, two men - less similar than Edmund Barton and Imran Khan.  Nonetheless, they share a unique distinction in the history of the Sydney University Cricket Club.
 

ISC joins the Sydney Uni Cricket family

Sydney University Cricket Club is very proud to announce that it will partner with leading Australian apparel supplier, ISC Teamwear, for the next three seasons.

As the leading force in Premier Cricket in Australia, Sydney Uni is excited to collaborate with ISC Teamwear to provide our players with cutting edge new ranges of apparel both on-the-field and off.

Sydney Uni Cricket General Manager, Dale Bryant, said: "We pride ourselves on striving for the best on-the-field, and this partnership with ISC Teamwear will ensure we provide our players with the best quality apparel to help achieve personal and team success in 2018-19 and beyond."

ISC Teamwear Managing Director, Jason Schulman, said : "We are delighted to be partnering with one of the oldest and most prestigious cricket clubs in Australia and look forward to being a part of the exciting developments Sydney Uni Cricket have  planned over the next three years and beyond"

ISC Teamwear have been designing and manufacturing the highest quality apparel for elite Cricket, Rugby League, AFL, Rugby Union, Netball, Football and Basketball teams for over 20 years and Sydney Uni Cricket Club is excited about joining ISC on the next phase of that journey.

Green Shield Train-on Squad 2018-19

We are proud to announce the Green Shield train-on squad for 2018-19. The squad is:

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Eesan Sureshkumar

Matthew Johns

Ben Crawford

Nathan Gibbons

Jack Bekkar

Fitzgerald Bowman

Louis Madison-Hanlon

Gurket Mann

Rex Quail

Miles Ward

Tom Thorpe

Tom Armstrong

Raphael Giles

Adi Srivastan

Anish Joseph

Haider Ali

Tom Phelps

Ethan Fitzpatrick

Morris Fredrikkson

Oscar Kirk

Sanjay Anandarajah

Ritish Sethi

Curtis Mackinnon

Saarangan Arvind

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The squad will have a training session on Sunday 12th August 2018 from 9.00am to 11.00am at the Martin Lambert Indoor Nets.

Congratulations to those who have been chosen in the squad.

Congratulations...

Club favourite, Adam Theobald, has answered the call to take on the role of Chairman of Sydney University Cricket Club for 2018-19 after Max Bonnell chose to not seek re-election at last night's AGM.

Bonnell, a stalwart of the club awarded a University Gold in 2017, had flagged his intention during the last season, after a successful three years in the role. The Club thanks Max for his tenure and looks forward to reading many more Milestone Mondays in 2018-19!

Joining the Club in 1999, Theobald boasts an impressive record on the field, sitting 5th in the Club's all-time runscorers list with 8,191 runs. Runs aside, 'Theo' has been a key driver on the Board for many years and has been vital in developing a professional portfolio of sponsors and events. Well liked and respected, 'Theo' will bring a fresh outlook to the operation of the Board in 2018-19 and we wish him the best in the role.

Also new to the Board for 2018-19 include Tom Kierath, who steps into the vacant Vice President (Marketing & Memberships) portfolio; 1st Grade all-rounder, Hayden Kerr, as Honorary Treasurer; and Vince Umbers who takes on the Club Captain role.

Returning to the Board are Mark Faraday, Ben Joy, Phil Logan, Dale Bryant and Josh Toyer, whilst we expect a number of co-opted Board roles to be confirmed at the next Board meeting.

Club Patron, Alan Crompton OAM, and Club President, Bruce Collins QC, were again invited to accept their respective roles in 2018-19.

2nd Grade premiers from 2014-15, Adam Theobald, Tom Kierath, Ben Joy and Josh Toyer form a key part of the Board in 2018-19

The meeting welcomed Cricket NSW's new Chairman, John Knox, as well as Sydney Cricket Association Chairman, Andrew Falk, both of whom presented updates on their respective organisations.

The Club's 155th Annual General Meeting was the most well-supported in recent memory with many current players, past players and parents in attendance (perhaps most attending for the wonderful meal provided by Surjits Indian Restaurant afterwards).

Anyone interested in receiving a copy of the Club's Annual Report should contact Dale Bryant at dale@sydneyuniversitycricket.com.au

We look forward to what is shaping up as a huge season both on and off the field in 2018-19.

Big pre-season news!!!

Big news as we launch our pre-season

Welcome one and all to Sydney Uni Cricket Club for the 2018-19 season. We have been working hard during the off-season to ensure we are able to provide an environment for our members to grow and be successful.

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New Director of Cricket: Cameron Borgas

We are very proud to announce that Cameron Borgas has joined the Club as our new Director of Cricket for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Bringing a wealth of experience, both playing and coaching, Cameron will be a wonderful addition to the Club as we aim to raise the standards that have seen us earn the reputation as the most successful club of the last 15 years.

With plenty of knowledge gained from 13 years of professional cricket with South Australia, Adelaide Strikers, Sydney Thunder, Scotland and the Netherlands (fun fact of the day: Cameron has represented three countries including Australia at the Hong Kong Sixes), Cam will be able to provide plenty of insights from a high performance perspective.

Cameron has also held the position of Director of Cricket and Head Coach with Adelaide Uni Cricket Club for the past three seasons, which culminated with the club claiming the prestigious Cricket Australia Premier Club of the Year in 2017-18.

Join us in welcoming Cameron on board, and we wish him every success as we seek glory in 2018-19.

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Pre-season 2018-19

Our pre-season is scheduled to commence on Tuesday 24th July.

Returning players are invited to attend sessions on Tuesday 24th July and 31st July at the Martin-Lambert Indoor Nets from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. 

New Players are invited to attend 'New Player Trials' on Thursday 26th July and 2nd August at the Martin-Lambert Indoor Nets from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

To help us prepare the best possible program and training sessions, we'd like to hear whether you intend on playing for Sydney Uni Cricket Club for 2018-19. If you intend to play for the Club, please click the relevant link below and submit a response.