From the Pavilion: Round 14 vs UNSW

3rd and 5th Grade recorded good wins to keep their finals hopes alive, while 1st Grade unluckily had a draw.  Randy Petes now sit in 11th position on the Club Championship ladder.

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3rd and 5th Grade recorded good wins to keep their finals hopes alive, while 1st Grade unluckily had a draw. Randy Petes now sit in 11th position on the Club Championship ladder.

In Metropolitan Cup, both RPC Green and Gold went down, however Gold are still looking good for a home final.

1st Grade: RPC 7-386 (dec) vs UNSW 9-314 @ Village Green – Draw
After winning the toss, skipper Adam Semple had no hesitation in batting first with great deck on offer at Village Green.  It proved to be a smart decision as the top order made the most of the conditions, with Nathan Price (44 from 96), Jake Scicluna (65 from 105) and Daniel Sams (92 from 90) cashing in, but the highlight was Alex Kemp who recorded his first century for RPC, compiling a composed and at time brutal 114 from 159 balls).

The pace of scoring allowed the declaration to come at 7-386 after 90.2 overs, however UNSW were able to get to stumps unscathed.

Day two saw another flat track on offer, and a tough day it proved to be for the bowlers as UNSW moved to 2-143.  However, a great spell from Soumil Chhibber (3-67 from 20 overs) got RPC back in the game as UNSW looked to bat the day out.  The second new ball was taken, with Daniel Sams (3-53 from 20 overs) and Semple (2-49 from 18 overs) trying everything to get the last wicket but unfortunately UNSW were able to hang on, finishing 9-314 after 99 overs.

The draw sees the side in 12th position on The Belvidere Cup ladder on 36 points, still only 6 points from 6th position with one Round remaining.

Link to scorecard: http://www.sydneygrade.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2107201&entityID=4

2nd Grade: RPC 150 vs UNSW 8-200 @ Coogee Oval – Loss
Skipper John McLoughlin lost the toss and RPC were asked to bat first at Coogee Oval.  The moving ball reduced RPC to 3-35, and from there the innings never really got going, with only Jack Preddey (58 not out from 119) putting together an innings.  RPC were bowled out for 150 after 76 overs.

The UNSW run chase was slow and successful, despite the best efforts of Tom McKenzie (2-47 from 14 overs), Sam Wood (3-23 from 16 overs) and Mohammad Emran (2-38 from 16 overs), and stumps were pulled with UNSW 8-200 after 81 overs.

The loss sees the side in 13th position on The Abert Cup ladder.

Link to scorecard: http://www.sydneygrade.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2110412&entityID=4

3rd Grade: RPC 308 vs UNSW 173 @ David Phillips South – Won
Skipper Rod Stafford won the toss and elected to bat first with a flat David Phillips South deck on offer, however at 3-39 some hard work has required.  Kushaal Ram (95 from 117) was able to get the innings going with Ash Burton (29 from 78) and Matty Wallis (20 from 28) contributing, and then skipper Stafford was able to put the icing on the cake with a hard hitting 91 from 82 balls, to see the side dismissed for 308 from 77.3 overs.

Early wickets would be critical on day two with another flat deck on offer, and Nigel Singh (3-44 from 15 overs) and Wallis (3-25 from 11.4 overs) delivered to have USW 5-70.  A middle order fightback was halted with Stafford (2-43 from 13 overs) completing a fine double to see RPC home as UNSW were dismissed for 173 from 62.4 overs.

The wins sees the side move to 7th position on The Mitchell Cup ladder on 43 points.

Link to scorecard: http://www.sydneygrade.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2110861&entityID=4

4th Grade: RPC 71 & 38 vs UNSW 3-234 (dec) @ Petersham Oval – Loss
After being sent in at Petersham Oval, the RPC batting order went missing and slumped to 71 all out after 28.4 overs, with only Rocky Ahmed (20) getting a start.

UNSW found the conditions much easier, posting 3-234 declared after 40 overs, with Andrew Sprowls (2-48 from 8 overs) getting a couple of wickets.

RPC finished the day at 1-19, and day two proved to be worse than day one, with 9 wickets falling for 19 runs, to see the side all out for 38 from 27.3 overs.

The loss sees the side in 17th position on The Reid Cup ladder.

Link to scorecard: http://www.sydneygrade.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2111214&entityID=4

5th Grade: RPC 257 vs UNSW 243 @ David Phillips North – Win
Skipper Luis Siddall won the toss and elected to bat first in a must win game at David Phillips North, and the batting unit responded with Rav De Silva (81) leading the way.  De Silva was well supported by Vish Saini (40), Ed House (38) and Jack Standing (39), as the side posted 257 from 75.2 overs.

RPC were able to grab a pole late in the day, and continued the good work on day two with Glenn Stading (4-67 from 20.1 overs) leading the way.  Wickets to Shohel Khan (2-23 from 9 overs) and Nathan Stares (2-50 from 16 overs) saw RPC on top, but overs were running out and the required runs were also getting lower.  Standing took the ball for the final over with UNSW 9 down, and first ball was able to grab the edge and the catch was taken to see RPC sneak home in the fading light.

The loss sees the side in 6th position on The Reid Cup ladder.

Link to scorecard: http://www.sydneygrade.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?entityid=4&matchid=2111370&gradeid=668_1

Metropolitan Cup: Penrith 232 vs RPC Gold 119 @ Kensington Oval – Loss
Arriving at Kensington on a fine Saturday morning, with pristine weather and immaculate batting conditions, the Gold team were confident of putting up a good show against front-runners Penrith. The team were treated to a pep-talk from club President Mike Whitney, and set for an ideal finals cricket warm up. Unfortunately, the team was to learn a valuable lesson in playing out a day of cricket and staying in the contest. 

Resuming at 0-13, the Gold team started auspiciously as Dale McDonough miscued a full toss without adding to his overnight tally. Jackson Eldridge and Neale Crawford patiently tried to build the innings, before Neale ran himself out with an ambitious second. At 2-47, we were ahead of Penrith at the same stage before Jacko, Mitch Hunt, Damo Sydney and John Stewart were all undone the metro nemesis, Jake Edgecumbe, who did the damage this time with the ball rather than the bat. Once Sam Boyns was bowled, the Golds had slumped to 7-67, and the team was left ruing their inability to see off good bowling and few ill-advised shots. 

It was left to two improving players, Liam O’Loughlin and Hayden Fox, to show the team how it was done. Starting off slowly, the two managed to make it to tea, with the score at 7-87. After tea, the two managed to best stretch of the day for the Gold team, as they managed to dominate a tiring fielding side for 46 valuable runs. Foxy particularly impressed with a bold and focused 27 not out, in what was best innings for the club so far, while Liam (19) also hit a personal best with an typically dogged and improvised knock. But once Liam was bowled off the leggie, the rest was were unable to stay much longer… innings all over for 119. While avoiding clichés of necessity, this loss should give the Gold team a good idea what they need to improve before the finals start in fortnight. 

Fortuitously, Gordon in 3rd played out a draw with UNSW Black in 4th, meaning that Gold are still in 2nd place by 4 points. A win in the final round against Sydney will guarantee that coveted home final. 

Link to scorecard: http://www.smcc.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2214433&entityID=2318

Metropolitan Cup: RPC Green 214 vs Blacktown 7-218 @ Snape Park – Loss
After resisting the youthful bowling attack for the whole of the first day, Green resumed at 8-192 in search for quick runs. Raj Chaudhary went hard at the ball, and Alexis Coovre hit his third six for the club – a majestic shimmy down the wicket that went over cover and into our practice nets. The innings lasted a further 4 overs as Alexis and Raj both fell to Blacktown’s left arm spinner, ‘Chit’, to close the innings at 214, and with impressive figures of 7/42. This left the young Blacktown batters 74 overs to chase 215, something that they couldn’t manage back in Round 7 against Gold at the very same venue. 

It’s not certain what was driving them, but this time around, the Blacktown batsmen oozed more intent and set about chasing the target with much more fervour than their insipid efforts back in December. Their top order set about the tone with aggressive running and calculated shot making, as they passed the 100 mark with only 2 wickets down. A certain Tristan Smith, he of 174 against a 7-man Green team (for an hour at least) in this corresponding fixture last year, looked to repeat the dose by launch a few shots into the Snape Park pavilion. 

Having seen off the pace attack, the Townie bats got into a fascinating duel with Sahil Sekhon, who put behind him a disappointing season so far to bring Green back into the contest. He bowled the next three batsmen to go with his caught and bowled earlier, including Smith for 27 and captain Capeski for a duck. Raj chipped in with a consolation wicket of the top scorer (Polios – 56) but it wasn’t to be enough, as the target was chased with 3 wickets and 11 overs remaining. Sahil can hold his head up high, finishing with exemplary figures of 5/61, while impressing with his willingness to take the game to Blacktown. Unfortunately, Green will be ruing the opportunities that went through their fingers, and possibly their run rate at various stages of the first day. 

Green will be hopeful to finish their season on a high by moving off the bottom of the ladder, and to do their club mates a favour by beating UNSW Black next week. 

Link to scorecard: http://www.smcc.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?entityid=2318&matchid=2214434&gradeid=1532_1