From The Pavilion – Round 13, Day 2 vs St George + Metro
Match Reports
1st to 5th Grade – Round 13 v St. George (2-Day Matches)
Metropolitan Cup vs Eastern Suburbs & Gordon
The Randy Petes headed into Day 2 of Round 13 against St. George with all five Grades in the balance and plenty at stake. Our top four Grades were all in contention to play finals; however all were sitting outside the Top 6 with no room for slip-ups over the remaining three weeks. With three or four victories, as a Club we would be able to climb back into the Top 10 in the Club Championship, from our current 11th spot in a very bunched middle of the Club Championship. Find out below who starred in Round 12 with bat and ball, with the competition entering its final rounds.
1st Grade – St. George v Randwick Petersham @ Hurstville Oval
Team – A. Sams (c+), Everett, Sangha, Chhibber, Bohannon, D. Sams, Ayre, Eaton, Semple, Ram, West
Result – St. George 10/325 – 95.2 Overs (West 3/52-15.2, D. Sams 2/25-13, Semple 2/81-21) Defeated by Randwick Petersham 8/326 (Everett 123, D. Sams 53, Eaton 38, Chhibber 24, Semple 17n/o)
http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2624096
First Grade scored a brilliant two-wicket victory at Hurstville Oval on Saturday to keep their finals’ hopes well and truly alive with two rounds to go. Chasing 325 was always going to prove a difficult target, however the boys stuck to the task all day, eventually scrambling over the line 8 wickets down in the 94th over, as we batted all day under strong pressure from the home side.
At 3/213 things were going along smoothly, however as so often is the case with big run chases, there was a wobble as we slumped to 8/297, with the pressure on both Adam Semple (17n/o) and Kushaal Ram (11n/o). Semple would be the best Number 9 in Sydney Grade Cricket by 100 lengths, and with Ram coming off some runs in Second Grade, the boys put on a great partnership of 30, when Saints had all the momentum, to steer us home.
Earlier in the day, the star was without doubt opening batsman Matt Everett (123) who brought up his maiden First Grade century. Everett played a blinder of an innings, as he showed his usual combination of grit and class to see off a tough first session, before cutting loose after lunch. Everett has now scored over 600 runs for the season, and proved to himself he is up to the task of becoming a very good First Grade opening batsman for a number of years.
Daniel Sams (53) once again blitzed the opposition with the bat, scoring a rapid fire half century from just 34 balls. Sams bludgeoned five 4s and three 6s, as he dominated a 72-run fourth wicket partnership with Everett. The depth in our batting order has been a hallmark of First Grade over the past decade, and it was there for all to see again with specialist batsman Sean Eaton (38) coming in at Number 8 and making a vital contribution when the game was in the balance.
The result was so crucial for both team’s seasons, with Saints virtually knocked out of Top 6 contention, whilst we moved to equal 6th place, sitting in a three-way tie with Manly and Easts, with us relegated to 8th on quotient. The competition is so close that, remarkably, we are only 8 points off first place and 5 points off fourth place, with all to play for over the remaining two rounds. Next weekend it’s a huge 2-day fixture at Coogee Oval against 4th placed Sydney, with a victory almost certainly taking us into the Top 6 with one round remaining.
2nd Grade – Randwick Petersham v St. George @ Coogee Oval
Team – Mahony-Brack, Tector (c), James, Calder, Lyle, Hart, Mullins (+), Hemphrey, Jenkins, Magaan, Dellar
Result – St. George 10/162 – 65.3 Overs (Jenkins 4/38-20.3, Hemphrey 3/56-16) and 2/64 – 33 Overs (Hemphrey 1/12-4) Defeated by Randwick Petersham 10/219 (Hemphrey 67, Calder 60, Mullins 30, Mahony-Brack 17)
http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2627804
Second Grade made it back-to-back victories to maintain their finals’ hopes as we managed to overhaul Saints first innings total early on Day 2, despite an early wobble. Resuming on 5/119 we were soon under pressure with Matt Calder (60) out in the first over, before Jenkins departed with the score at 7/129 and the side still requiring another 33 runs for victory, as Saints sensed a come-from-behind victory.
We need not have worried, as Kel Mullins (30) and Jamie Hemphrey (67) put together a match winning 59-run partnership to steer us to another 6 points. Mullins has been involved in what surely is a record amount of winning partnerships this season, coming in in the middle to latter order. It’s a great achievement for a young player to show that they play better cricket under pressure, and Mullins has lifted both 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade over the line in tense situations at least four or more times this season.
However, it was Hemphrey who was the clear Man of the Match, backing up his 3-wicket haul last week, with a smashing 67 from just 68 balls to demoralise the Saints bowling attack. Hemphrey used his powerful build to dispatch five balls out of the park for 6, as well as three 4s to go with it. Hemphrey targeted the shorter straight boundaries, launching the seamers on the road on a few occasions to the delight of the boys watching from the stands.
The second session proved a bit of a non-event, as Saints shut up shop, preferring to see out the day at 2/64 from 33 overs, before an early stumps was called around tea time. The result jumps us into the Top 10 for the first time in a fair stretch, as we sit in 9th place on 43 points. We currently sit 8 points behind 6th placed Manly, and victory over the remaining two rounds would not only give us four straight wins to finish the season, but an outside chance of sneaking into the finals. Either way, it’s a young side on the rise, and they are playing better and better cricket as the season goes on.
3rd Grade – St. George v Randwick Petersham @ Olds Park
Team – McLoughlin (c), Powell (+), Eldridge, King, De Silva, Burton, N Stares, Budwee Loth, McKenzie
Result – St. George 10/204 – 82 Overs (McKenzie 4/47-23, Loth 3/41-17, N. Stares 1/66-28) Defeated Randwick Petersham 10/194 – 69 Overs (De Silva 67, McLoughlin 51, Budge 25n/o, Powell 20)
http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2624096
Third Grade have been on the wrong end of some close games over the past couple of rounds, and unfortunately that trend continued on Saturday as we went down narrowly by 10 runs at Old Park to St. George. All looked lost early in the run chase at 5/51, however having got to 7/180 we had put the game ever so slightly back in our favour. However, Saints’ bowlers finished the stronger, picking up the final 3 wickets for 14 runs, with Gab Budwee (25n/o) left stranded.
Earlier in the day, Dylan Powell (20) was the only player in the top order to survive a new ball onslaught from the Saints, as our first five wickets went cheaply. However, a fantastic 91-run partnership between Rav De Silva (67 ) and John McLoughlin swung the game back in our favour, as we reached 5/142 before De Silva fell. De Silva managed eight 4s in a composed innings which spanned 125 balls. McLoughlin was also made to work very hard for his half century, with his 51 coming from 129 balls. Old Park is a big ground, with the boys having to do plenty of running between the wickets with boundaries hard to come by. McLoughlin is an expert at working the singles and twos, as he set out his stall to carry the boys home before being dismissed with just 24 runs required for victory. Unfortunately we just didn’t get enough contributions with six batsmen out, before they really got their eye in, for less than 10 runs.
Despite going down, it was a really tough and spirited game of cricket, with both sides enjoying the contest. The loss drops us to 7th spot on 44 points, now 5 points behind 6th placed Sydney University. Third Grade have been involved in so many close games this season and, after winning them all before Christmas, we have been on the other end of results now. The positive to take is this side has been very competitive and very hard to beat nearly every week, and if we can win our final two games of the season we can still crack that Top 6. It starts next weekend with a home game at Petersham Oval against 4th placed Sydney who are on 51 points.
4th Grade – Randwick Petersham v St.George @ Petersham Oval
Team – Gracias Flor, Murdita, Ahmed (+), Frith, Montedoro, Radford, Bourke (c), Stafford, Fox, Sterling, O’Loughlin
Result – St. George 10/128 – 61.2 Overs (Fox 3/23-18, Sterling 3/29-14. Radford 2/38-17) and 10/59 – 28.3 Overs (Stafford 5/18-8.3. Radford 4/17-11) Defeated Outright by Randwick Petersham 9(Dec)/130 – 52 Overs (Stafford 44, Fox 22, Murdita 22, Montedoro 19n/o) and 3/61 – 9.3 Overs (Montedoro 24n/o, Ahmed 16)
http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2629231
Fourth Grade pulled off a dramatic outright victory at Petersham Oval to surge into the Top 4. In a day of wild fluctuations, we managed to scramble over the line 8-wickets down to win on first innings, before skittling Saints for just 59 late in the day, to set up an outright result. Requiring 61 from 11 overs, the boys got the job done with a minimum of fuss at 3/61 in the 10th over, to really ignite our finals’ chances.
Things had not looked so rosy early on Day 2 when, after resuming at 3/35, we slumped to 7/71 after some strong seam bowling from the visitors, and one or two unlucky decisions. However, cometh the hour, cometh the Big Ship Rod Stafford (44), who was calm in a crisis, as always, plundering 44 in a crucial 55-run partnership with Ben Montedoro. Stafford was watchful early, but was typically deadly on anything wide or in his slot as he dispatched seven 4s and a 6 to swing the momentum back our way. When Stafford departed with 3 runs remaining, nerves were frayed, however Mitchell O’Laughlin held his nerve to hit the winning runs.
Ben Montedoro once again came back to haunt his old Club, playing a very responsible innings to remain not out. Montedoro reined in his game to play an anchor role to the likes of Radford and Stafford, and never looked like getting out, showing responsibility in a big run chase which pleased Captain Bourke.
Whilst Saints were hoping for an afternoon off, Captain Bourke had other ideas, declaring and sending them back in to bat. Once we got back out there, we were all over them like a cheap suit, with our two big guns Luke Radford (4/17-11) and Rod Stafford (5/17-8.3) ripping the batting order to pieces, taking 9 wickets between them. Radford bowled with great pace to claim 4 of the top 7 batsmen, before Stafford destroyed the tail who were hapless against his bag of tricks, returning to the bowling crease after a finger injury had prevented him bowling since Christmas. Stafford snared a hat trick in his final over, as the last 3 wickets went down in consecutive balls.
The run chase got off to the perfect start when Jaya Murdita launched a ball for six in the very first over. It was then left to Montedoro (24n/o) to continue where he left off in the first innings, as he, along Kaoser Ahmed (16), steered us home after we lost a couple of early wickets. Monto managed to essentially play two match winning innings in the same day, with the 10 points like striking gold at this time of year. The outright victory sees us surge up to 4th spot on 53 points. However, our finals’ berth is not yet locked in, with Sydney lurking in 7th on 50 points, just 5 points behind. It’s a huge game next weekend with Sydney looking to overtake us on the ladder, as we take them on in a 2-day game at Ryde Oval.
Veteran Rod Stafford with his first career hat-trick
5th Grade – St. George v Randwick Petersham @ Harold Fraser Oval
Team – Papathanisaious, Lopes, House (C), Leeson, Hodges, Crawford, Andonopoulous, Sidney (+), Chowdrey, L.O’Loughlin, Tsalikidis
Result – Randwick Petersham 10/143 – 66.5 Overs (Hodges 58) Defeated by St. George 7/151 -55 Overs (L O’Laughlin 3/37-20, Lopes 1/33-17)
http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2632541
Fifth Grade went down narrowly on Saturday at Harold Fraser Oval after pushing St. George all the way in pursuit of first innings points. After resuming on 0/31, the team put up a great fight, with Saints narrowly inching past our total for the loss of 7 wickets just after tea. It took 55 overs for the home side to triumph, as all our bowlers managed to apply pressure and turn the game into a real arm wrestle after Saints had dominated Day 1.
It was a brilliant start to Day 2 as we picked up 5/20 early, to reduce St. George to 5/51, still requiring another 93 runs for victory. Young AWGS all rounder Luca Lopes (1/33) took on the role of leading the pace attack with aplomb, making an early breakthrough and bowling a long spell, going at only 2 runs per over. Debutant Carly Leeson (1/9-6) also picked up her first wicket in a very tidy 6-over spell which kept the pressure on the hosts.
Spinner L O’Laughlin (3/37-20) then threatened to break the game open for us with a triple strike. O’Laughlin bowled with good variation and control in his marathon 20-over spell, helping the quicks operate from the other end. Unfortunately, St. George had veteran Hamish Solomons back for a game, having retired from the Club many years ago. Solomons is an experienced campaigner, and it was solely his 65 which turned the game back against us as we went down narrowly.
Despite the loss, it was another very competitive performance in what has been a good stretch of cricket from Fifth Grade after Christmas. Next weekend, we take on 15th placed Sydney back at Kensington Oval, still with the chance to move up the ladder in the final two rounds of the season.
Metropolitan Cup – Randwick Petersham Gold v Eastern Suburbs @ Snape Park
Team – Stewart (c), Jastrzab (+), Jedwood, Rushton, Segal, Kashyap, Coombs, J Hookey, Sherriff, Robertson, F Whalebone, R Whalebone
Result – Eastern Suburbs 101 – 39.1 Overs (Kashyap 3-24, Segal 2-10, Robertson 2-28) & 70 – 31.4 Overs (Sherriff 3-20, Segal 2-12) defeated outright by Randwick Petersham Gold 152 – 69.1 Overs (Coombs 33) & 0-24 – 4 Overs
http://www.smcc.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2781889&entityID=2318
Gold arrived at Snape with 6 wickets in hand and a deficit of 37 runs for first innings. Coombs and PK (20) resumed with caution before the latter was caught behind. Coombs (33) was the rock, playing with great timing and attack while the rest of the batters ticked over the score. Jastrzab (11) fell on the stroke of drinks with the score 7/123 having helped pass the first innings score. The star of the tail was Sherriff (13*) who defended well and took to the bowlers with a powerful 6 over cover into the practice wickets. Freddy Whalebone fell on the first ball of the 69th over leaving Gold 51 ahead.
With a small lead the Gold quicks, Sherriff (3/20) and Robertson, recently crowned Cheeqs 2.0, (1/19) put pressure on Easts and at tea they limped into the sheds 2/14. After the break it was a steady procession of wickets with all bowlers contributing and backed up well in the field to have the Dolphins floundering – all out 70 in 31.4 overs. Segal picked up 2/12, failing to realise in the process that he was on a hattrick, which he missed out on by whisker…
The target for an outright was 20 runs in 12 overs and a change in the batting saw Rushton (6*) and Jarrod ‘Itch’ Hookey (17*) grab the win in positive fashion finishing 0/24 in 4 overs. A comprehensive win from the Golds over a much higher team and leaving the lads in high spirits heading into the final 2 rounds.
John Stewart
Metropolitan Cup – Randwick Petersham Green v Gordon @ Kensington
Team – Coovre (c), Geraghty, Ganesh, Genner, O Sachs, Brandy, W Deller (+), C De Silva, R Sachs, Narvel, Mohan, Sapariya
Result – Gordon 5-322 (dec) – 80 Overs (O Sachs 3-55) defeated outright Randwick Petersham Green 83 – 47.5 Overs (C Sapariya 28) & 76 – 46.5 Overs (W Deller 22)
http://www.smcc.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2781888&entityID=2318
The Green team returned to Kensington Oval, four wickets down and 282 runs still behind. The straw-coloured pitch looked and played the same, Chinton Sapariya and Oscar Sachs, settling-in nicely, hitting a succession of ones and twos, to get the momentum rolling. But Gordon are the ladder leaders for a reason, and with their relentless line and length, they gradually worked their way through the rest of the Green order, Sapariya the only one standing-up with an admirable 28.
Unsurprisingly Gordon made the Green team follow-on, but not before an early tea break. The Greens made a few changes to the batting line-up, the main objective being to survive the 50 overs ’til stumps, preventing an outright defeat. Gordon just continued-on where they left-off, getting a wicket first ball, to set the tone for the second innings. Reuben Sachs (13) and Dane Geraghty batted time and played in earnest, but they eventually fell, and in the 22nd over, we were already six wickets down, going at a slavish run a ball. The cracks in the pitch began to open-up, the ball sometimes bouncing high, sometimes low. The youngest person in the team (Will Deller), and the oldest (Alexis Coovre)then batted for an hour together, the former showing technique and application beyond his years, the latter trying to bat positively, spreading the field in the process.
After Coovre was bowled in the 33rd over, Max Brandy and Josh Genner also made partnerships with young Mr. Deller to make the game go long, and scare Gordon somewhat. But in the 45th over Deller was trapped in front for a noteworthy 22, to bring last man in, Bala Mohan, to bat out the five remaining overs with Genner. A betting man would’ve had his money on the pair making it through ’til stumps, but unfortunately one of them, keen for the third, charcoaled his team-mate, giving Gordon outright victory in the closing stages of the match. C’est la vie.
Alexis Coovre
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!