Round 13 Match Reports v Bankstown + Metro (Day 2)
MATCH REPORTS (Liam ‘LJ’ O’Loughlin)
1st to 5th Grades – Round 13 v Bankstown (2-Day Matches) Day 2
1st Grade Limited-Overs Final v Sydney University
Metropolitan Cup – RPC Gold v Gordon & RPC Green v North West Sydney
Lefand Group 1st Grade @ Coogee Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham 239 (S Eaton 44, M Everett 43) defeated Bankstown 119 (C Maladay 5/15, A Semple 3/27)
It was a jam-packed weekend for 1st Grade with a crucial clash against Bankstown on Saturday prior to a 50-over grand final on Sunday. The big dance might not have gone our way, but Saturday’s result gave us something to smile about.
After posting a solid total of 239 on day one, the Randy Petes returned to Coogee on day two in the hope of cementing their spot at the top of the table with a big bowling display. And that is exactly what the lads did, taking two early wickets – the second being the prized scalp of Dan Solway – before consistently ruining any chance of a partnership through the middle-order.
The star performance of the day was young quick Caelan Maladay (5/15 off 7) who tore through the Bulldogs middle and lower order with express pace. His five-wicket haul was the youngest by a RPC player in First Grade, coming at 17 years and 294 days.
1st Grade Limited-Overs Cup Final v Sydney University @ University Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham 113 (R Ayre 21, M Everett 20) defeated by Sydney University 194 (D Singh 6/31)
From Lyall Gardner
In a disappointing performance, Randwick Petersham Cricket’s hopes of a second 1st Grade Limited Overs Cup came crashing down when defeated by Sydney University at University Oval in the Grand Final on Sunday. The final scores were 194 to 113. The result is better understood by a dissection of the scores.
In their innings, Randy Petes lost their first 5 wickets for 68 and their last 5 for 45. University, who batted first after winning the toss (it was Randwick Petersham’s seventh toss loss in the seven matches of the competition), lost their first 5 for 49 and their last 5 for 26! Sandwiched between Uni’s 5th and 6th wickets however, was a match-winning partnership of 119 between Uni. skipper Liam Robertson (68) and David Miller (51). Randy Petes best scorers were Riley Ayre with 20 and Matt Everett who made 20. Nine of Randy Petes wickets were caught with Uni. ‘keeper Tim Cummins (Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins brother) snaffling 5.
But the star performance of the day notwithstanding the result, was the sensational effort of Randy Petes skipper Daya Singh who took 6-31 off a full 10 overs. An amazing result in a 50 overs-a-side match and his best for the club. He now has 42 wickets for the season. Next best was Riley Ayre who tied the students up early with 2-14 off 7 overs before finishing with 2-34 off 9.
It was the fourth Grand Final between the two teams since 2010-11 with the students winning three and Randwick Petersham one (T20 in 2015-16).
Sutton City 2nd Grade @ Kelso Park North
Result: Randwick Petersham 77 & 6/170 (dec) (T Affleck 81*) defeated by Bankstown 5/93 (dec) (T McKenzie 4/27) & 4-38 (T McKenzie 3/18)
2nd grade faced an uphill task after Bankstown claimed 1st innings bragging rights on day 1 with a 16-run lead. Deciding to make the day an interesting one, Bankstown opted to declare before play began.
Slipping to 2-15 early and still trailing by 1 we looked in a bit of trouble, but Tim Affleck (81*) and Rav De Silva (26) dug in with a solid partnership to see us through to lunch. Looking to up the tempo after lunch and work towards a declaration, Rav and skipper Jack Lyle (27) supported the mainstay Affleck well. A downpour just before tea forced us to dec, setting 155 to win off 37 overs – Affleck finishing with a gritty red ink.
With the pitch juiced up from the showers, Tom McKenzie (3-18 off 15) carried on where he left off the week before getting their opener to nick a sharp chance to Jackson Eldridge at slip. The rampaging T-Mac then added another 2, Mitch O’Loughlin (1/12 off 6) adding one for himself to see the Bulldogs fall to 4-17. This was about where the drama ended for us. The Dogs ground out a few close shouts, catches falling short, and another rain break – effectively ending our chance of a reverse outright and any finals hopes. It was a huge turnaround from from the lads compared to the previous week where we effectively gave the points away in 1 session.
Shout outs to Stan, Paul, and the Calypso Cavalier for hanging around to lend a hand on what turned out to be a long 2 days of cricket at Kelso. The boys now hit Coogee for 3 consecutive Saturdays with nothing to lose but plenty of pride to play for.
Petersham RSL 3rd Grade @ Kensington Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham 136 (T Holland 55, R Sachs 32) defeated by Bankstown 8/257 (dec)
3s had a lot of work to do heading into day 2 against Bankstown, with the target set at 258 for victory. However, the boys were confident if we could string together a few big partnerships, we’d be able to get the six points.
We got off to a poor start with three quick wickets falling at the top of the order, however hope came in the wake of a strong partnership from Tom Holland (55) and Rueben Sachs (32).
The Kenso deck eventually started to play havoc as the Dogs spinners ripped through our top order, rolling us for a disappointing 136.
Mellick Wealth Management 4th Grade @ Grahame Thomas Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham 158 (J Murdita 82) defeated Bankstown 135 (R Miskella 4-21, D Coombs 3-25)
The Randy Petes turned up to Grahame Thomas Oval on day one and were dealt a cruel blow straight away, with the world’s smallest changerooms on offer. We quickly recovered however and on a green deck, won the toss and sent the 3rd-placed Bulldogs in to bat.
Ryan Miskella (4/21 off 17) and Dane Coombs (3/25 off 10) tore through the hosts top order with relative ease, and at 4/7 we were well and truly in charge. Giggsy toiled hard and put in his best performance for the club to date with a brilliant first spell, while DC showed the same form that had him winning awards last season. A 58-run partnership for Bankstown’s ninth wicket hurt us quite a bit, but in the end 135 looked a very gettable score with some quality bats in our lineup.
Two early wickets had a few boys nervous, but Jaya Murdita (82) strolled out to the crease and started smoking them all around the ground. At 2/60 overnight and Giggsy (13) at the crease, anything looked possible.
It was much of the same early on day two, with both lads knuckling down and batting patiently before the big Pommy was given out LBW… despite the fact it hit his bat, not his pad. Sayem Sultan (16) came out and hit a few boundaries before getting out to an ugly shot but the Randy Petes were cruising to victory at that stage.
Unfortunately, Jaya fell 18 runs short of his first century for the club – but it was a masterful innings and Mal has found some good form late in the season after a disrupted first half. His dig was the catalyst for a great victory after some quality bowling the week prior, and it showed there is still plenty of fight in the Randy Petes side despite a disappointing campaign.
We’ll have to continue our ‘giant killers’ mentality into next round as we take on the 2nd-placed Hawkesbury, before closing the season against St George.
Bendigo Clovelly Community Bank 5th Grade @ Marrickville Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham 8/146 (A Shahid 35, W Deller 31) defeated Bankstown 143 (H Ali 4/39, P Kashyap 3/27)
Randwick Petersham won the toss and elected to bowl. Mitch Winslade (0/11 off 7) and Ben (0/26 off 6) bowled tight lines but were unable to get a break. Will Deller (2/15 off 5) was brought on 1st change and immediately hit great lengths and was rewarded with 2 wickets in quick succession. Swing king Adam Lee (0/20 off 8) immediately posed problems for the Bankstown batsmen with his deep in-swing and balls that left the bat. Adam was unlucky not to get couple of wickets.
With 23 overs gone and the wicket slowing up, spin twins Pratulya Kahsyap (3/27 off 19) and Haider Ali (4/39 off 15.5) were brought into the attack. PK and Haider immediately got into the act and consistently troubled the batmen with their flight, variation and turn and bounce from the wicket. Although the Bankstown batsmen were pouncing on the short and overpitched balls to try and keep their scoreboard ticking the Randy Petes players were quietly confident that it was only a matter of time that wickets would start coming. With Haider and PK bowling consistent dot balls and tight deliveries had the Bankstown all out 143 in 61 overs. Great bowling effort from our spinners.
With 17 overs to see off in the day, the top 4 batsmen were asked to be cautious and with the outfield being slow to not take the unnecessary risk of hitting over the top, but instead to look for the gaps and run hard when hit to the boundary as most the ball would not likely carry to the fence. Ahsan Shahid (32 not out) and left-hand bat Freddy Whalebone (1) were cautious until Freddy was out caught at slip of a fine delivery. Another left hander in the form of Haider Ali (1) was sent in to play out the day and just when he was looking set was bowled by a fine yorker. Debutant Luke Takacs (5 not out) took to the crease as regular number 4 batsman Angus Beaumont had his left thumb injured whilst fielding. Ahsan and Luke batted batted with lots of grit and commitment and it was with great relief Randy Petes finished the day on 44 for 2.
Overnight rain before day 2 left the wicket a bit damp and the although the grass was cut the outfield still looked sluggish. With exactly 100 runs to get in 80 overs the chat in the camp was for the overnight batsmen to take their time to settle in and watch the running between wickets as the ball would not be travelling fast when hit along the ground. It was expected that the Bankstown players would come hard at us early and we needed to stand up to the occasion and defend and leave as many balls initially. If we were no wickets down by 1st drinks then we should be well on our way. Rightly so the Bankstown opening bowlers were fiery in attacking the top of off, kept the ball up to the bat and there was plenty of chat from their players.
Luke Takacs (6) was first to be dismissed when caught behind off a good delivery that left him from the middle stump. RPCC 46 for 3. Ashan Shahid (35) was next out adjudged LBW to a ball that he nicked onto his pads. RPCC 50 for 4. With the Bankstown team all fired up, Will Deller (31) and Fabian Heaton (20) dug deep and concentrated hard to put on a valuable partnership of 40 runs. Fabian was next out 90 for 5. Then Will was next to go with an unfortunate run out to a direct hit when he was returning for a second run. RPCC 111 for 6.
Angus Beaumont (26 with 5 fours) put away anything short from the spinners to the fence in fine fashion and threw the Bankstown team into a frenzy. With the score on 124 PK was run out in a complete mix up. Mitch Winslade (7 not out) joined Angus and we thought this would be the last wicket to fall. But, Angus was out LBW trying to pull a ball that came through a bit quicker of the wicket. RPCC 135 for 8. Ben Thomas (4 not out) joined Mitch and with 9 runs to go ensured they got the runs without losing anymore wickets to the relief of Adam Lee who was last in.
A very satisfying victory and so pleased with the teamwork and grit shown by everyone. Thanks to Freddy Whalebone for taking the team through the warm ups on both days and scoring all afternoon on Day 2. Big thanks to all the parents who supported us. Roger Whalebone helping to keep the drinks and food cool, Maria Takacs and Peter Beaumont with afternoon tea set up. Mike Deller for helping with the scoring when we were fielding.
Looking forward to a couple more wins to close off the season.
Metropolitan Cup: Cartwright Insurance Green v North West Sydney @ Castlewood Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham Green 132 (J Gill 62) defeated by North West Sydney 5/137 (A Ramakanth 2/30)
With the first week lost to rain, the Green team headed up the M2 towards to Hills to take on North West Sydney at the quaint and secluded Castlewood Oval. Overnight rain and early morning drizzle didn’t help the dreary start, and even with a delayed toss, it was still a bowl first pitch. So of course, in a must win game, the toss fell unfavourably and the Greens were sent into bat on a sticky deck. The going was hard, as the bowlers got the ball to pop off a length and the wet outfield provided no value for shots. The Greens hung in their grimly, but the North West bowlers kept pegging away with regular wickets.
The unsung Jaspreet Gill stood tall in the middle of the wreckage, and owed the team some runs after running out the in-form Jack Braithwaite. With a style that would be generously described as unusual and making Steve Smith look like a meditative monk, Jaspreet punctuated what resembled defence with powerful strokes and ‘thrilling’ running. In E-Young Khoo, he found an able ally and together they almost doubled the score to 100. After Pingu was dismissed, youngsters Thanush Gowda and Atharv Ramakanth hung around long enough for Jaspreet to pass 50, before he finally holed out for 62 and with the final score reading 132. While the total wasn’t the biggest, the 69 overs faced were a testament to some guts and courage from the team.
North West required 133 off 48 overs, and the Green team 10 wickets. Charith De Silva got an early breakthrough as Alan Xu chest-marked one at midwicket. Anis Bugti bowled with fire and guile but no luck, while Braithwaite put in his most fiery spell of the season, and took a wicket with a peach of a delivery that cut in through the gate. As the North West batsmen consolidated and crept to the score, the leg spin of Atharv took two breakthroughs in two overs to have the game finely poised. Alas, the lower middle order lurkers (including their club’s President with a 2″12 bat) chanced their arms and strong armed their way to a comprehensive win. While the game was lost, there were excellent gains for team morale and toughness in difficult conditions.
Metropolitan Cup: Titan Fitness Gold v Gordon @ Marrickville Oval
Result: Randwick Petersham Gold defeated by forfeit Gordon
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