Round 7 Day 1 v Gordon, KST20, Metro

MATCH REPORTS 

1st to 5th Grades – Round 7 v Gordon  (Day 1)  

1st Grade T20 – UNSW v Randwick Petersham @ Village Green 

Metropolitan Cup v Georges River & Blacktown

The Randy Petes were up against Gordon in Round 7 as the Club looked to finish the year on a high with just two rounds remaining before the Christmas break. We were still in a really strong position in the Club Championship, sitting in fourth place on 463 points, with Sydney University a clear first on 648. Our opponents Gordon were tenth on 383 points having experienced mixed fortunes across the Grades. Their lower grades were looking particularly strong, sitting in 3rd, 7th and 7th respectively from Third to Fifth Grade.  It was also the crucial final round for First Grade in the T20 competition as we took on local rivals UNSW looking to cement a finals spot, plus there was all the action from Metropolitan Cup in another jam packed weekend of cricket.

MILESTONES – Ben Stares, John Stewart and Jeremy Jastrab 

Before we go around the grounds a huge congratulations to popular clubman Ben Stares, John Stewart and Jeremy Jastrzab who brought up significant personal milestones on the weekend. John celebrated 200 games, whilst Ben and Jeremy celebrated 100 games for the Club. . Ben Stares has proved a very popular Club man and really stepped up to the plate the past couple of years with his leadership. His ability to create a great atmosphere in his side that plays hard cricket has gone nicely with his aggressive opening batting, always trying to assert the momentum in games. John has been a stalwart since Day 1 playing Metropolitan Cup through the highs and lows. However perhaps his biggest contributions has been off the field, now the Club’s CEO, whilst Jeremy has also formed a large part of the Metropolitan Cup Leadership group over the years Well done to all three players from everyone at RPC!  

Jeremy Jastrzab and John Stewart – 100 and 200 matches respectively

Jackson Eldridge presenting Ben Stares with 100 cap

1st Grade – Gordon v Randwick Petersham @ Chatswood Oval 

Team – Warner, Everett A. Sams (c+), Bell-Drummond, Ayre, Eaton, Semple, Ralston, Hemphrey, D. Singh

Result – Gordon 10/154 – 43.2 Overs (Ayre 4/50.14.2, Semple 3/27/13, D. Singh 2/34-9) v Randwick Petersham 7/249 – 50 Overs (Bell-Drummond 88n/o, Warner 73, D. Singh 23 n/o) 

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First Grade headed to the picturesque Chatswood Oval to take on 12th placed Gordon as we looked to get back into the winner’s circle after a draw against the Hawks last week. With Alex Kemp having retired, and Jason Sangha and Daniel Sams unavailable, seamer Jamie Hemphrey was rewarded for some outstanding performances in Second Grade with a call up to the side.  

The Randy Petes completely dominated Day 1 finishing at 7/249, already holding a first inning lead of 95 runs, having run through the Stags for 154 earlier in the day. Chatswood can be a difficult ground to defend at the best of times, so it was a great effort by our bowlers to bowl out the hosts in just over 43 overs, with all-rounder Riley Ayre (4/50-14.3) continuing his sensational form. Ayre took the key wicket of Crawford and Captain Colley and was typically miserly on his way to taking four wickets and really allowing us to attack both ends with his control. 

Adam Semple (3/27-13) ripped through the Stags’ middle order with 2 of his 3 wickets being expertly caught by captain Anthony Sams behind the stumps. Daya Singh (2/34-9) as usual provided the platform for us, picking up dangerous opening pair Cahlin and Eccles. 

In reply, the Randy Petes did not muck around, with Warner (73) and Bell-Drummond (88) showing their class again with dominant half centuries. Warner crashed 11 fours in his 72, whilst Bell-Drummond managed his 88 from just 92 balls before an unfortunate run out saw him miss out on what looked like a certain century. Daya Singh (23n/o) provided some lusty hitting late in the day as we stretched our lead further. 

Captain Anthony Sams was delighted with the days play noting we controlled the game with good bowling throughout particularly after lunch where we took 6/30. Sams was happy with the batsmen’s patience to get the job done, chasing a small total, and is excited about the opportunit press for outright points next week. 

1st Grade T20 – UNSW v Randwick Petersham @ Village Green 

Team – Warner, Bell-Drummond, A. Sams (c+), D.Sams, Sangha, Ayre, Eaton, Semple, D. Singh, Jenkins, Ralston

Result – UNSW 10/151 – 20 overs (Semple 4/20-4) Defeated by Randwick Petersham (Bell-Drummond 77*, Warner 76*)

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Randy Petes’ First Grade T20 side were looking to cement their spot in the finals as they clashed with local rivals UNSW at Village Green on Sunday. The Village Green has been out of action for a couple of years so it was great to see it back in use for this marquee fixture. 

First Grade showed their prowess in this form of the game once more with a dominant 10-wicket victory as we set up a chance to win a fourth title in this format by booking a place in the quarter finals. UNSW compiled a respectable score of 151 from their 20 overs, however RPC blazed it down for the loss of no wickets in just the 16th over. 

Adam Semple (4/20-4) has been a cornerstone of three of our title winning seasons and he put in a masterclass here with the ball taking 4 wickets and going at just 5 runs per over. David Warner (76 from 41 balls) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (77 from 41 balls), not satisfied with Saturday’s work, continued on their fine form as they took apart the students’ attack. The pair combined for 17 fours and 7 sixes as balls were dispatched to all parts of Village Green. 

Captain Anthony Sams was delighted with the clinical victory, and pleased with the execution with the ball. Sams also praised Warner and Bell-Drummond describing it as batting from “another level” that showed not only their class and improvisation, but their determination to win games for RPCC whilst here. 

The victory sets up a huge clash at Hurstville Oval next Sunday afternoon as we take on Saints in front of what is sure to be a big crowd. Whilst Saints have not been playing the best 2-day cricket, they went 4 from 4 in the Sydney Sixes conference and will be a great challenge on home turf. 

DBD has had a cracking start since arriving from the UK

 

David Warner with the reverse sweep

2nd Grade – Randwick Petersham v Gordon @ Petersham Oval 

Team – Mahony-Brack, James, Tector, Matt Calder, Hunter, Lyle, Mitch Calder, Ram, Wood, Mckenzie, Jenkins

Result – Randwick Petersham 10/175 – 53 Overs (Matt Calder 52, Ram 43n/o) v Gordon 2/137 – 43 Overs 

http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2927995

Second Grade were a side on a mission this year having won five of their opening six games and sitting pretty in third position. However, the chance to go to potentially the top of the table was there as we played our first home game of the year at Petersham Oval against 17th placed Gordon. Pace bowler Tom Mckenzie was back from a hamstring injury with star batsman Matt Calder only available for the first week of the game.  

Whilst we have had plenty of great days in season 2018/19 in twos, yesterday was not one of them as we were bowled out for 175 before the visitors replied strongly, sitting at 2/137 at stumps. 

Second Grade lost the toss and were sent in on a wicket that had a little in it and some tennis ball bounce. We were always going to have to survive a testing first hour, and with the Stags making regular breakthroughs soon found themselves in a bit of trouble, and on the back foot, despite Tector and Mahony-Brack getting starts. 

Matt Calder (52) continued his amazing run of form with a quicker than run a ball 52, and a towering six over cover off the off Matt spinner to bring up his half century. He looked well on track for his fourth century of the season before he was caught behind seemingly out of the blue. Jack Lyle was solid for 20, but we kept losing wickets and failed to build a decent partnership. Kush Ram (43n/o) batted very well and made his mark at the end, in one of his final games for the Club, with some great ball striking. Ram has been a very popular Clubman for many years and it’s been great to see him come through the Grades and show what a good all round cricketer he is. We wish him luck with his move to Queensland.

We started well with an early pole, but it was a tough day after that initial breakthrough. A couple of half chances went astray and the dice didn’t roll our way, when a few balls popped into gaps or inside edges missed the stumps.  Doug Loth bowled really well without luck, whilst Jenkins took the second wicket with a good catch from Harry Tector, but as a team we consistently bowled a four ball an over which they put away. 

On a sour note, skipper Mitch Calder dislocated a thumb whilst fielding and will have to wait and see the results of scans before we can see how long he will be out for. Mitch has done a great job melding together a talented young side this year, and hopefully he won’t be out too long. 

Despite good energy early in the field, Gordon remained solid to be just 38 runs behind us at the end of play with 8 wickets in hand. Whilst the six points looks unlikely, there is still 90 overs of cricket to try and turn things around and play some better cricket in Week 2. 

3rd Grade – Gordon v Randwick Petersham @ Blacktown Number 2 Oval 

Team – De Silva, Montedoro, Eldridge, Powell (+), Burton, Murdita, Radford, Loth, Graham, B. Stares (c), Dellar, Kenzie, Stirling

Result – Gordon 10/142 – 53.2 Overs (Montedoro 4/47-18, Radford 2/23-14, Dellar 2/17-6.2) v Randwick Petersham 5/99 – 23 Overs (Burton 33, Powell 32) 

http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchid=2931269&gradeid=63_1&locx=MATCH

Third Grade faced the daunting task of taking on third placed Gordon looking to get back towards a Top 6 spot after dropping to 9th with a loss to the Hawks. The side was looking a bit different this week with talismanic captain Ben Stares back to take the reins and damaging all-rounder Luke Radford called up to the side after dominating in Fourth Grade. Jaya Murdita was also rewarded for his good form with a call up after his 76 against the Hawks. 

In a really entertaining day of cricket 3’s ended up in a strong position at 5/99 chasing Gordon’s modest score of 142. With Gordon suffering from a lack of available grounds at this point, this game was moved to Blacktown International Sports Park, a fair way away from Chatswood Oval. 

The wicket had a thick green coverage and still had moisture underneath at the time of the toss whilst the outfield was like carpet. Early wickets were crucial before the sun baked the deck, however unfortunately  we dropped 3 catches (Flashbacks of Round 2 last year against Mosman) before Stirling got us the breakthrough. We looked to be in for a long day in the field when the Stags won the toss and were cruising along at 0/77, before a stunning turnaround saw us take 10/65 to wrap up their innings in just over 53 overs. 

All-rounder Ben Montedoro (4/47-18) was the star of the day, bowling with outstanding control and his usual bundle of energy. Monte has gone under the radar a bit with his bowling, and has bowled outstandingly when given the opportunity in both PG’s and 3s/4s this season, with his ability to pin batsmen to the crease and change the angles. He bowled unchanged here and dominated, removing Gordon’s key Number 3, 4 and 5 batsmen and settling into a great rhythm. 

Luke Radford (2/23-14) has been the man this year since returning from injury, and he came back with a great second spell here, whilst youngster Alex Dellar (2/17-6.2) also picked up a couple of wickets. Radford took a wicket with both the fastest and slowest balls of the day and proved far too hot to handle for some of the Stags’ batsmen. Last ball before tea Dylan took a stumping/run out which at the end had both keeper and bat facing each other with chests on the floor, not pretty for Gordon fans!!

With the bat Montedoro and Powell (32) once again got the side off to a solid start with an opening stand of 32 before we started to wobble a bit in reply. Powell has made six scores this season between 23 and 33, showing his real value to the team. The key will be turning two or three of these to half centuries and big scores as he goes up the Grades in the future. Ashley Burton (32) has been in sensational form this year, and he carried that on again here as wickets started to tumble around him. Unfortunately he was dismissed just before stumps on the second last ball of the day, leaving us with still a bit of work to do.

With 43 runs required for victory and still 5 wickets in hand, Captain Stares is confident of claiming first innings points in a game that is already at an advanced stage. Whatever the case, this game will be played for outright points with both sides looking to advance up the table. 

 

4th Grade – Randwick Petersham v Gordon @ Coogee Oval 

Team – Crawford, Kashyap, King, R. Sachs, Sultan, Ahmed (c+), Striling, Boyns, Coombs, Lopes, L. O’Loughlin, Jedwood

Result – Gordon 10/275 – 74.2 Overs (Kashyap 6 wickets, LJ 3 wickets) V Randwick Petersham 1/8-3 Overs  

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Fourth Grade were going in search of back-to-back victories as they played their first home game of the season against seventh placed Gordon at Coogee Oval. Rocky Ahmed was once again in charge having done a great job last week, with the side once again forced into some changes. 

It was a long day of toil in the field for his side, with the visitors racking up 275 before claiming a late wicket to leave u at 1/8 at stumps. The Randy Petes won the toss and decided to bowl with the pitch looking a little soft underneath at Coogee. Early on the pitch was offering enough for pacemen, but we could not get early wickets since we dropped many chances and we failed to grasp our opportunities. Pratoolya Kashyap was the star of the day.  “PK” gave us the first breakthrough, before taking an amazing 6-wicket haul. Kashyap has had to toil away in Metro Cup and 5th grade for the past couple of seasons, however he certainly took his opportunities with both hands here. 

Gordon were 2/143 at tea, however, we fought back strong after tea with our robust spin attack. We started taking wickets consistently after tea and there was no more dropped chances, with a much better display in the field. We restricted them to 275 runs in 75 overs with a brilliant effort from the spinners, especially PK and Liam O’Loughlin. Liam has been consistent this year and was rewarded with 3 wickets here as the spinners bowled from both ends. Captain Ahmed described their performance as outstanding, and together they combined for 9 wickets between them on a day dominated by their off spin.

While we had to survive a testing three overs, the Stags took an early wicket to leave us at 1/8 at the end of the day. The in-form Luca Lopes and Neal Crawford are at the crease as we need a further 268 runs next week hopefully in good batting conditions at sunny Coogee. 

5th Grade – Gordon v Randwick Petersham @ Beauchamp Oval 

Team – Segal, Ganesh, Sapariya, Heaton (c+), Jedwood, Tsalikidis, Gibson, Iosifidis, Lee, Hutchinson, Apostolakis, C. Singh

Result – Gordon 8 (dec)/300 – 73 Overs (Tsalikidis 4 wickets, Apostolakis 2 wickets) v Randwick Petersham 1/8-5 

http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=2940461

Fifth Grade were batting at 50% this year, winning 3 from their opening 6 games, and are looking a far most consistent and imposing outfit under new captain Fabian Heaton. After last week’s convincing win against the Hawks, we were looking to make it two in a row against seventh placed Gordon at Killara Oval. The day marked a return for Club legend Chris Singh who has a huge history with the Club from Second to Fifth Grade as an outstanding seam bowler and opening batsman later in his career. 

RPC lost the toss and Gordon decided to make first use of the surface on what looked like an absolute belter of a batting deck with a very fast outfield. The plan from Captain Heaton was to bowl tight lines, especially the medium pacers, and let the batsmen make mistakes through building pressure. However, on this flat deck the Gordon batsmen were ready for the challenge and batted sensibly by putting away the bad balls to all parts of the fence.

The pick of the bowlers were the returning leg spinner Kiri Tsalikisis (4/102-23) and James Apostolakis (2/24-8). Once Kiri got his line and length he was almost unplayable and beat the bat numerous times. James, in his first Grade game at only 14 years of age, was really fantastic to watch. With his bowling and the maturity he showed he is a great prospect for Randy Pete’s.

With 300 on the board, Gordon declared and unfortunately we lost 1 wicket before the end of the day’s play. Captain Heaton noted the score is gettable if one batsman gets to 3 figures, and a couple of 50’s. Big thanks to Chris Singh who filled in for this game. Singhy was fantastic talking to the young medium pacers and the channels they had to bowl. We’ll be looking forward to a good knock from him next week.

Metropolitan Cup – Randwick Petersham Green v Georges River Sharks @ Snape Park 

Team – Jastrzab (C+), Rushton, Grills, Besgrove, Hussain, Mohan, Richardson, Partol, Awati, Sherriff, Brennan, Thomas

Result – Randwick Petersham Green 124 – 57.5 Overs (E Partol 29*, R Awati 22) v Georges River Sharks 2-28 – 19 Overs 

http://www.smcc.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=2963712&entityID=2318

Congratulations to Green skipper Jeremy Jastrzab on the honour of reaching the 100 match milestone for Randwick Petersham Cricket. Over a career of 11 years it took Jez 10 years and a record 83 Metropolitan Cup matches before making his Premier debut in 5th Grade’s Round 6 clash with Penrith at Rance. Well played Jez!! 

Snape Park was back to its unpredictable best for the first day of Green’s clash with Georges River Sharks  – with a crumbling surface still exuding some moisture. Continuing the form of losing the toss, the visiting captain had no hesitation with having a bowl. The Greens started positively enough, before Sean Rushton was confounded by a change of angle and was bowled, while William Grills was the first to fall to the slowness of the wicket. Marley Besgrove (19) continued his obdurate form with Akther Hussain, before falling while trying to lift the pace. Hussain was then bowled and the score read 4-46. 

Bala Mohan showed that there were runs to be made with an enterprising 18, before falling on the stroke of tea to Snape Park’s new trick – a ball rising off a length to take the shoulder of the bat. At 7-70, youngsters Ekkam Partol (29*) and Rohan Awati (22) played patiently and put away the bad balls to take the score to a respectable 117 before Awati got one that, as usual, kept a bit low. Partol looked on course to take the score towards 150 before Sherriff was unfortunately run out and Ben Thomas was unable to stick around. 

Even with the over rate being the only thing slower than the run rate, Georges River went in very confident to the last 20 overs of the day… but as the old adage goes, never judge a pitch until both teams have batted on it. The Green bowlers steamed in and made the batsmen sweat on every ball, not knowing whether it would be at the armpit or the ankles. Partol backed up his batting effort with a plumb LBW, and just as Georges River were about to survive, Hussain bagged a wicket in the second last over to leave the match tantalisingly poised for another battle of attrition next week.

Note: Gold’s match v Blacktown at Kensington was postponed till December 8 and will now be played as a 120 over fixture.

John Stewart