Preview Round 5 v St George

This round we are up against St George who have started well and are running 2nd in the Club Championship. Last round in 1st Grade they produced an all-time record partnership for the 4th wicket of 370 with May 203* and Bourke 170*. But despite this history-making partnership they lost the game! Such is the glorious uncertainty of cricket. Needless to say we will need to play to our best to peg back the 111 points lead they have over us in the Club Championship.

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This round we are up against St George who have started well and are running 2nd in the Club Championship. Last round in 1st Grade they produced an all-time record partnership for the 4th wicket of 370 with May 203* and Bourke 170*. But despite this history-making partnership they lost the game! Such is the glorious uncertainty of cricket. Needless to say we will need to play to our best to peg back the 111 points lead they have over us in the Club Championship.

Last round it was 60 Club Championship points to both Gordon and us yet we slipped a place to 13th from 12th. It’s pretty tight this season and it won’t take much to get into the top bracket very quickly.

1st GRADE is at Coogee: An amazing round last weekend with 5 teams posting 300 plus being beaten. And while we were surprised to go down with 345 on the board St George lost with 391 up! That was their first loss to be in 3rd place while we are 11th with two wins. It’s “Even Stevens” with Saints over the years with 8 wins each plus a tie and two draws from 19 games. A two-day match against Saints at Coogee brings back memories of our great clash in 2010-11 when we scored 9-427 declared with Adam Coyte hitting a record 223*. At the end of day 2 St George were 9-397—a drawn game with 824 runs scored! It will seem like “old home town week” this match as the Saints line-up includes a number of former Randwick Petersham players in Nathan Ellis, Nicholas Stapleton and Rory Burns who played with us two years ago and plays his first match this season having just arrived from the UK.

2nd GRADE is at Hurstville: What a fabulous record score last round hitting 422! Henry Thornton’s 185* included 10 sixes which may be a club record for 2nd Grade. Need to keep it up this weekend as Saints are always tough. Like 1st Grade it’s all even historically with each team having 6 wins from 12 clashes. Both teams have also had two wins each this season with us 8th and them 11th on quotient.

3rd GRADE plays at Petersham: You wouldn’t send skipper Rod Stafford to the Sydney Casino with Monopoly money as he’s lost 4 tosses from 4! However, the word is David Bourke has given him a few tips so there could be a turnaround this match. And there needs to be as we have won only 3 to Saints 8 with our last win coming in 2008-09. They only made 153 going down to Sydney last round and we’re about due to hit some form. Congrats to Bart Lynch who passed 1,000 runs in 3rd Grade last round.

4th GRADE is at Harold Fraser: We have an excellent record against St George in 4s winning 7 to their 2 over the years. However, they are undefeated this season with 4 from 4 and leading the comp. We are 8th with 2 wins.

5th GRADE plays at Kensington: Like 4th Grade we have won 7 to Saints 3 in this grade so have had the wood on them. This season they have won 3 and are 6th while we have won 2 and are 10th. Nothing in this match but it was a good win last Saturday and hopefully we can get on a roll.

Metropolitan Cup from Jeremy Jastrzab: In what has been a rather strange and truncated start to the season, both Metro teams enter round 5 still looking for their first win of the season. Gold continue with a road trip to the distant Snape Park to take on the team that Green couldn’t defend against, Gordon. Gold skipper and Randwick Petersham all-to-do man, John Stewart, brings up his 150th Metro match for the club, which will hopefully bring a memorable result. He’s still a bit behind the enduring George Frazakis, who might just hit 1,000 matches by the end of his career if his fitness holds up. Green have been hit by a scheduling quirk and will be playing 120 overs next Sunday (15th) at David Phillips South against UNSW Black. The batting line-up found form in the last match, and is further bolstered by our imported Irish duo. Hopefully the bowlers can follow suit, despite the reputation of DP being a batsman’s paradise.

Dicky’s Cricket Quiz: Don’t forget to check out Dicky McCord’s latest brain-teasers for the clash against St George. Go to Facebook and key in Randwick Petersham Cricket.

Lyall Gardner