ROUND 3 MATCH REPORTS V SYDNEY UNI & METRO
After a strong weekend against Manly that saw the Randy Petes take home grades 1-3, the lads were back on the field against Sydney Uni despite some ugly weather forecast.
1st Grade backed up their dominant weekend against Manly with a fantastic win away from home, with Jason Ralston starring with four wickets, while 3rd Grade jumped to the top of the ladder with a bonus-point win at St Paul’s while 5s fell agonisgly short by 31 despite a starring 158* from Rehan Anjum.
Lefand Group 1st Grade @ University Oval
Randwick Petersham 173 (47.3 overs) Ayre 37 def. Sydney University 118 (37.2 overs) Ralston 4-27, Semple 3-22
Unfortunately the persistent rain overnight Saturday and through Sunday morning forced the abandonment of the Double Header PGs/T20 matches at Hurstville Oval v St George and both Metro clashes v Warringah and UNSW.
University eventually set us 241 to win on what was a fantastic wicket to bat on, with the side confident heading into the innings break.
The side could not replicate its batting efforts from the previous rounds, being bowled out for 159, with only Lyle (45), Burton (35) and Hussain (25) making scores of note. The manner of the side’s dismissals was the most disappointing aspect with all players better than what they showed on Saturday. A big game awaits again this weekend against last years beaten finalists, St George.
Additionally, congratulations to Jack Lyle on his 100th game for the club.
Our batting started off with a hiccup being reduced to 2-12 inside the first 4 overs, but from there Tom Holland (48 off 56 balls) and Max Robinson (42 off 65 balls) built an 81-run partnership to lay the platform. Under a barrage of chirp from the Uni boys, Max held his composure to get himself in, and used the left-hand/right-hand combination with Tom by turning over the strike regularly, getting us into a solid position at the first drinks break.
Vivek (15 off 20) kept up the pace getting us into a position to launch in the last few overs to get the bonus point. Enter Jaya (27* off 14) who dominated from ball one hitting 4 maximums (including 1 off his first ball) to get us over the line with a bonus point in the 29th over, passing Sydney Uni 5 down.
The win showcased our ability to perform at crucial stages of the match, both with bat and ball, with everyone contributing throughout the day. It has been a pleasing start to the season so far as we’re finding ways to win and building a great culture in doing so. We’ve shown we can match it with 2 of the better clubs in the competition who usually have a mortgage on the top 6 each year, and I look forward to seeing us continue this form going forward.
Roll on next week.
Mellick Wealth Management 4th Grade @ Coogee Oval
Sydney University 5-179 (46.1 overs) Mathews 2-27 def. Randwick Petersham 9-175 (50 overs) Lopes 49 Dodd 42*
In the first home game for 4th Grade of the year, there was plenty of excitement in the room about getting onto Coogee Oval and taking down a rival club in Sydney Uni. Losing the toss and batting first, RPC got off to a hot start through Luca Lopes (49) and Jordan Segal (19) and at 0/73, things were looking really good.
Unfortunately, as is now becoming a pattern, RPC lost four wickets for just five runs and lost all momentum that the openers were able to build, largely due to some poor shot-selection from the top four sticks. Jackson Dodd (42*) was luckily able to steady the ship, before some tail-wagging from Guru Chandar (21) and Nigel Singh (14) helped us climb to a score of 9/175, again batting out the full 50 overs.
Things started nicely with the ball, with a freak run-out from Lopes and some tidy bowling from Alan Mathews (2/27 off 10) doing some damage early. With the visitors 3/37 and plenty of confidence in the RPC group, it looked like things were setting up nicely for six points. Unfortunately, a huge momentum shift occurred after a dropped catch, and the Students were able to put on 119 runs for the fourth wicket, taking the game away from the Randy Petes.
Sydney Uni would pass the RPC total for the loss of five wickets, with just a few overs remaining. If not for the wickets in a clump while batting and some loose fielding and bowling in a short period, the game could have gone a completely different way.
Community Bank Clovelly Bendigo Bank 5th Grade @ Camperdown Park
Sydney University 7-238 (50 overs) Coombs 3-48 def. Randwick Petersham 8-207 (50 overs) Anjum 158*
Congratulations to Samarpreet Singh who made his debut for RPCC in 5th grade.
RPCC won the toss and decided to bowl on a deck which was a bit soft from the overnight rain and looked like it would assist the bowlers all through the day. The outfield looked fast and looked there will be good value for shots hit along the ground.
The RPCC bowlers were advised to pitch the ball up on the off stump or just back of a length and let the wicket do the rest.
Opening bowlers Adam Coombs (3 for 48 of 10) and Samarpreet Singh (2 for 41 of 9) got into gear from their 2nd over and bowled splendidly in their 1st spell using the conditions. Sam struck first getting his debut wicket in his 3rd over enticing the Uni opener into a drive to make him play on.
Scot Stirling (0 for 43 of 10) and Jack Gibbens-Johnson (0 for 40 of 7) also used the conditions well. Scot was extremely unlucky not to get any wickets. He repeatedly had the Uni batsmen in trouble with beating the edge, hitting the edge not carrying and unfortunate not to get atleast 2 LBW’s.
Credit to the Uni batsmen they stuck it out and at times just took their chances swinging at balls they were unsure how to play at and reached 109 for 1 in the 25th over.
Young offie Thanush Gowda (2 for 33 of 10) was brought into the attack and struck in his 3rd and 4th over getting rid of both the settled batsmen in quick succession. Adam Coombs was brought back into the attack and struck immediately. Uni now 4 for 121 in 32 overs.
RPCC were on a roll and fired up and hoping to get couple more quick wickets to get into the Uni’s tail. But, with some unlucky stumping decisions not going RPCC way for the number 6 batsman who then scored a quickfire 51 Uni ended with 7 for 238. Adam and Sam bowling excellently at the death.
It was definitely not a score we expected Uni to get after doing so well upto the 31st over. But, the chat in the RPCC camp was positive as there was good value for runs with a fast outfield. The plan was for to have a left and right batting pair at the crease as this could upset the fielding teams plans.
The batting order would be shuffled based upon the situation.
But unfortunately, we lost both openers Yuvraj Menji (0) and Freddy Whalebone (0) in the 1st and 2nd overs. Enter Rehan Anjum (158 not out. 18 fours and 5 sixers) at 0 for 2. Rehan batted conservatively leaving the balls outside the stumps and patting balls into the gaps when they wer pitched up. Whilst one end was held up by Rehan the other end wickets were tumbling. Krish Patel (11), Damian Sidney (3) and Jack Gibenns-Johnson (1) all quickly back in pavilion. RPCC 5 for 66 in 27 overs.
Skipper Fabian Heaton (18) joined Rehan and the pair decided to bat with little bit of caution to not lose any more wickets until the next drinks break (35 overs).
After the drinks break with 5 wickets in hand it was time to start swinging at everything if we needed to get close to the target. The partnership of 65 runs was broken with Fabian going for a slog hit and playing on. The plan was for Rehan to stay to the end and batsmen play around him. Adam Coombs (10) was next out skying the ball.
Whilst wickets were falling, Rehan with a cool head was punishing the bowling to all parts of the ground late cutting, driving, pulling and lofting the ball in the gaps. It was truly magnificent to watch this batting maestro in full flight and making batting look so simple and uncomplicated. Truly if Rehan was batting at both ends I think we would have won the game in 40 overs. RPCC 7 For 207 in 50 overs.
Rehan’s splendid knock gave us the moral victory of not giving a bonus point to the Syndey Uni team.
Another disappointing loss. Everyone were reminiscent of the 20 extras given when bowling. Even if we halved these extras we could have pulled of a win.
Plenty of work to do at training as a team in all 3 departments – bowling batting and ground fielding. When we get it right wins will come our way. Which is going to happen soon.
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