Preview Round 15 v Easts

It’s the last round of the 2016-17 season this Saturday. We play a one-day 50 overs a side match against neighbours Easts in all grades. Our 5th Grade is in the finals and we still have great chances in 1st and 4th grades. The rain killed us in 1st Grade last Saturday when we were in position to take the points. 1s have narrowly missed a place in the finals the past two seasons finishing equal 6th on points in 2014-15 but relegated to 7th on quotient while last season we were just 7 points out of 6th place after a draw and a one run loss in the second last match. Last round’s loss in 4ths was costly and we need to win with other results going our way. Best of luck to all teams!

It’s the last round of the 2016-17 season this Saturday. We play a one-day 50 overs a side match against neighbours Easts in all grades. Our 5th Grade is in the finals and we still have great chances in 1st and 4th grades. The rain killed us in 1st Grade last Saturday when we were in position to take the points. 1s have narrowly missed a place in the finals the past two seasons finishing equal 6th on points in 2014-15 but relegated to 7th on quotient while last season we were just 7 points out of 6th place after a draw and a one run loss in the second last match. Last round’s loss in 4ths was costly and we need to win with other results going our way. Best of luck to all teams!

In the Club Championship we are 12th and Easts is 9th—110 points ahead of us. We need to win all grades to creep ahead of them.

1st GRADE is at Waverley: Our 14 matches: WWDWWLLWWLWDDD: Those last three “Ds” meaning a draw have been costly with the side needing this win and a couple of results to go our way to make the finals. Very frustrating for a side which has been the leading run-scorer for just about the whole season. The rain was disastrous for us last week after we were in a winning position.
The situation this Saturday is that if two of the three teams ahead of us lose and we win—we are in. This is the scenario: Parramatta (5th on 47 points) plays Mosman (18th on 18); Penrith (6th on 47) plays Sydney (4th on 54) while Manly (7th on 46) plays Hawkesbury 13th on 36). We are 8th on 43 and Easts are 9th on 42 which means they can make it as well so it will be game on for both sides this Saturday!
Daniel Sams needs 4 wickets to get 50 for the season while Adam Semple needs 5 for 250 in 1st Grade. Nathan Price requires just 12 runs to reach 5,000 for the club.

2nd GRADE is at Coogee: Our 14 matches: LLDLWLWWWWLLLD: Four wins in a row then no points from the next four games tells the story of this year’s 2nd Grade line-up. Easts are 10th on 42 while we are 16th on 30. On the win ratio they lead 7:4. They have won the past 2 clashes. James Tyson still has 195 2nd Grade wickets—just 5 short of the magic 200. Can he do it this Saturday??

3rd GRADE plays at Trumper Park: Our 14 matches: WLLLTLWWDLWLLW: An outstanding win last round which has come too late to assist with a finals berth this season. It should also be noted that the great Richard McCord scored his 400th game for RPC last match against Campbelltown according to the great man himself! Congratulations Hubert! Easts have only ever beaten us twice in this grade while we have won 8 including an outright victory last year after being behind on the first innings. In the run chase that day Ben Stares hit 73 off 41 balls to get his side home. This season Easts are 9th on 40 points and we are 12th on 33. Skipper Rod Stafford needs just 19 runs to make 1,000 in 3rd Grade. Can he do it this Saturday???

4th GRADE is at Petersham: Our 14 matches: WWLLLLWWLWWWLL: Despite losing (again) to Campbelltown last round, we are still in the finals race! We are 8th on 44 points and Easts are 7th on 48. Should we win and Penrith (6th on 50) are beaten by Sydney (1st on 74), the final position in the 6 will come down to quotients although if we win with a bonus point and Penrith lose we take the chocolates! Penrith presently lead us on quotient 1.1477 to 1.0421. Our record lately against Easts is not all that good. We won the first 7 clashes but they have won 4 of the last 5 including the past 3. Time to right the ledger.

5th GRADE plays at Snape: Our 14 matches: WWLL (LWO) (LWO) (WLO) WLLLWWW: A brilliant win last week-our third in a row! We are now securely in the final six! We now are on 52 points in 4th place just 4 points from the leader Gordon (56) with St George (55) and Penrith (53) sandwiched in between. Gordon plays Wests (15th-28 pts) this weekend while St George plays Blacktown (6th-48 pts) and Penrith plays Sydney (11th-36 pts). There is a real possibility that should St George get beaten we could have a home ground qualifying final. Taking our prospects to the extreme, it the top 3 are beaten and we win, we will be minor premiers! Easts are 17th on 18 points although we don’t have a good record against them losing our last four clashes. Overall we have the win ratio 7: 5. Go you good things!!

Metropolitan Cup from Jeremy Jastrzab:
Coming into the last round of the regular season, there is still all to play for and one day to do it in. With 5s guaranteed a spot in Premier Cricket finals, and 1s and 4s within shooting distance of a top 6 spot, the Gold team is the fourth team from the club playing this weekend with a shot at title glory. After a couple of rounds of complicated permutations thrown in the air for fitting three teams into two spots, the equation is now simple for the team – win to have a chance of being in it. Lose and that will be all she wrote. Standing in their way is the perennial favourite opponent, Jay Patel and his merry Mosman band at Kensington. The Golds beat Mosman quite comprehensively in Round 4 with a powerful all-round performance, and will have an almost full-strength team that will do everything to make sure they get on that field this Saturday. A bonus point or two wouldn’t go astray either… while the Green team missed out on demoralising potential semi-finalists Eastern Suburbs last round, they have a chance to take a season of near misses out on a high when they travel to Whalan to take on Blacktown. While this will unfortunately be the third visit by a Randwick Petersham team out to the west this season, this team will have fond memories of having thumped Blacktown in Round 11. Regardless of the final results, all the Metropolitan Cup boys can hold their heads high from what has been a challenging but rewarding season.

Lyall Gardner