RD 13 MATCH REPORTS V UNSW

& METRO CUP v GORDON & SYD UNI GOLD

Randwick Petersham have cemented their spot in the 1st Grade top four, claiming a hard-fought victory over local rivals UNSW in a two-day fixture.

2nd Grade kept their slim finals hopes alive with a nail-biting win, highlighted by a big-hitting display from James Widerstrom, who finished 70* off just 27 deliveries.

All three lower grade sides fell to UNSW, but both 3rd Grade and 5th Grade remain on the edge of the top six.

Lefand Group 1st Grade @ Petersham Oval

Randwick Petersham 5-137 (63.4 overs) Hawkins 72* W Affelck 32 def. UNSW 133 (76.4 overs) Semple 3-18 Singh 3-27

Scorecard link 

Camden Hawkins

Randwick Petersham defeated University of NSW in the 1st Grade cricket match at Petersham Oval last weekend. The scores were 5-137 to 133. And while those figures indicate a comfortable victory, that was far from the case. Low scores quite often produce interesting cricket matches and this was one of the hard-fought ones.
It began well enough for the home side on the first day of the Saturday-Sunday fixture, with Adam Semple claiming early wickets to have the students reeling at 2-0. By lunch they were 5-56 and it looked like they would struggle to make three figures. However, rain set in and while a few overs were possible late in the day, players trudged off at 5-64 ready for a 9.30 am start today.
Skipper Daya Singh began the day well, taking a wicket without addition to the score. But after that, the students dug in and it wasn’t until lunch that they were all out for 133. The last four wickets had put on 69 in an innings which lasted almost 77 overs. It was hard yakka for both batters and bowlers although the bowling figures were impressive, with Semple returning 3-18 off 16 overs, Singh 3-27 from 13.4 and Ben Mitchell, 2-16 off 10.
In the run chase, the Randy Petes openers, Will Affleck and Camden Hawkins, took every opportunity to score and were looking good at 0-78, before Will was first to go for 32 off 59 balls. But from then on, the run-scoring dried as the bowlers tightened up. In the following 22 overs, Puru Gaur, Mitchell and Riley Ayre all departed, leaving the score a shaky 4-93 and giving the students a sniff. Hawkins however, was the rock, just as he was last Sunday in the T20 Grand Final, bringing up a valuable 50. New man Anthony Sams took the attack to Uni. by belting a much-needed 13 off 9 balls, including a signature 6, before he joined his team-mates in the pavilion at 5-106.
Daya Singh was the man for the occasion however, giving plenty of support to Hawkins. Normally a bit of a cruncher, Singh played the sheet anchor, taking 28 balls to get off the mark. At 5-118, just 40 runs had been scored in 37 overs. But Hawkins sensed it was time, and hit three fours in three overs to cement the win to the relief of all Randy Pete players and supporters. Singh finished with 11* off 51 balls but it was Hawkins with an unconquered 72 off a massive 194 balls, hitting just 6 fours in his 243 minutes stay at the crease, who deserved all the accolades. There was no doubt who was Man of the Match—just like he was last Sunday.
In a clash where 270 runs were scored off 140.2 overs, the win was Randwick Petersham’s ninth in succession. With its T20 successes, the side has won its last 12 games and is comfortably holding down third place on the Belvidere Cup points ladder. The team meets Gordon in a Limited Overs round next Saturday.

Suttons City 2nd Grade @ DP South

Randwick Petersham 8-275 (50 overs) Docos 76 Widerstrom 70* def. UNSW 8-265 (50 overs) M O’Loughlin 2-50

Scorecard link 

James Widerstrom

With the boys keen to continue the momentum from their win against Bankstown last week, 2’s finally won a toss and decided to bat first. The UNSW bowlers bowled very smartly in the first 10 overs with JMB and skipper Docos, struggling to find any real continuity in their innings going at under 3 an over for the first 10 overs. With some positivity and aggression shown, the boys chipped away increasing the run rate with JMB falling at 1-50. This brought Ashley Burton in, and oh my. Absolute champagne batting, playing some remarkable shots all around the ground. Docos and Burton got the score to 131, to then Ashley falling on 36. The remaining boys batted with plenty of intent with Docos notching up his 50 and then pushing through the gears to fall for 76 after trying to go one too many over the boundary. With the score at 7-190 the game was in the balance, but UNSW didn’t know we had James Widerstrom (aka Melbourne Storm) up our sleeves. His innings was one in a million, bringing spectators in from everywhere. His hitting was something of excellence, 6 after 6 with ease. James’ innings was the turning point for the team, finishing with a remarkable 70  not out off 27 leaving the boys with a very defendable 275.
The boys started strongly in the field with regular wickets falling, leaving the bees 4 for 73. With regular rain intervals, a wet ball, some smart cricket and some not so great fielding the bees clawed themselves back into the game. The boys kept pushing hard, and displaying some true grit to notch up another win. Akhter Hussain bowled positively – not flustered by the bees going at him hard finding wickets in crucial moments. Ashley and JMB bowled smartly at the death leaving the bees needing 17 off the last over. Fortunately, Ashley like he started the day, finished the day with a cracker last over giving the boys consecutive wins. With the boys getting the chocolates against another top 8 team, this definitely has brought some positivity and increased confidence amongst the boys.

Petersham RSL 3rd Grade @ Coogee Oval

Randwick Petersham 186 (45.3 overs) Chaplin 49 def. by UNSW 9-299 (50 overs) D Coombs 3-46

Scorecard link 

Ben Chaplin

3s won the toss and bowled first on a deck that had a few wet spots, however inconsistent bowling and not making use of the deck allowed the bees to get off to a flying start, and they were 1-75 at the first drinks break. Some better bowling in the middle session, notably by Guru (1-21 off 10), pegged them back a bit from a much larger total, with Dane (3-46 off 10) picking up a couple late wickets and narrowly missing out on a hatrick, the bees finished 9/229 after 50 overs.
Our batting started quick with both openers scoring quickly before the loss of the first wicket. plenty of starts from the top 6 but no one was able to go on and get a big score. Jaya (34) and Ben Chaplin (49) combined in the middle and looked to be doing it comfortably, but then everyone decided to throw their wicket away as the pressure mounted. Chappo batted fantastically again, showing class and temperament throughout an innings we desperately needed, 3s all out for 186.
A disappointing result against a team we definitely could have beaten, but our poor bowling early in the day hurt us the most, along with guys unable to capitalise on their starts with the bat. Roll on next week.

Mellick Wealth Management 4th Grade @ DP North

Randwick Petersham 163 (44.2 overs) Weymouth 46 Elliot 33 def. by UNSW 3-164 (41.2 overs) L O’Loughlin 1-29

Scorecard link

Blake Weymouth

4th Grade had an ‘away trip’ last Saturday against the Bees, playing on one of the smaller grounds in grade cricket at DP North.

Batting first, RPC got off to a decent start with a few lads getting starts. Ross Elliot (33) batted patiently at the top of the order, while Damian Sidney (22) played an aggressive innings up top. Blake Weymouth (47) looked in fantastic touch but copped a rough LBW decision, which unfortunately saw RPC collapse and lose 8/49 and finish our innings all out for 164.

The bowlers tried hard, but with a small field, below-par total and a wicket that wasn’t giving us much, UNSW were able to pass the score for the loss of just three wickets in the 42nd over.

Community Bank Clovelly Bendigo Bank 5th Grade @ Kensington Oval

Randwick Petersham 5-119 (50 overs) Gibbens-Johnson 34* def. by UNSW 3-124 (29 overs) Whalebone 2-36

Scorecard link 

Freddy Whalebone

RPCC won the toss and decided to bat on a wicket which looked flat but a bit soft underneath and looked like it would dry out. The outfield looked slow as the grass cover was quite thick. Balls hit along the ground would struggle to reach the fence.

It was a slow cautious start by the RPCC batsmen with some tight lines being bowled by the experienced UNSW bowlers. At 1st drinks RPCC were 1 for 32 off overs with Freddy Whalebone (2) back in the sheds and Jack Myers (14) and Chaik Hathurusinghe (16) the not out batsmen. The RPCC batsmen were asked to try and rotate the strike and lots of running would be required as the balls hit along the ground and even lofted balls were not reaching the fence due to the slow outfield. If we get to about 80+ by next drinks with 5 or more wickets in hand, we could push for a score of 150+ which would be very competitive.

However, all the UNSW bowlers continued bowling tight lines and although our RPCC batsmen were playing some powerful shots they were repeatedly hit straight to the fielders in the ring building up the pressure as overs were getting consumed with the scoreboard not ticking over. At next drinks RPCC were 4 for 64 in 35 overs with Jake Myers run out, Chaik unfortunately adjudged LBW and Cotter Litchfield (2) caught and bowled followed in quick succession. The not out batsmen at drinks Jack Gibbens-Johnson (34 not out) and Marley Whitcombe (15) were asked to bat with intent and up the ante with taking quick 1’s and run the 2’s and 3’s as we had plenty of wickets in the sheds now.

Jack and Marley tried their best to lift the score with some quick and risky running between wickets and tried to hit out, but the UNSW bowlers seemed too good for us by bowling one side of the and to their field. Marley was out when the score was 85 in the 42nd over and Harry Schultz (18 not out) was promoted up the order to lift the run rate. 31 runs were added to the RPCC total in the remaining 8 overs without any further loss of wickets. We would have liked to have at least another 20+ runs especially since with 5 more wickets still in the sheds. RPCC finished with 5 – 119 off 50 overs.

But, with a slow outfield and the wicket beginning to keep low at one end RPCC players were all fired up to defend this low total. The RPCC bowlers were asked to bowl back of a length and one side of the wicket. Bowling dots, building pressure, catching well and good fielding in the ring was important to defend 119. We might be able to get some quick wickets as UNSW would probably try to attack our bowling to try and get a bonus point.

As expected, the UNSW openers batted aggressively and reached 30 runs in 9 overs in spite of Harry Shultz (0 for 24 off 6) and Samarpreet Singh (1 for 32 off 7) bowling good opening spells. Sam struck first cramping their dangerous UNSW left-handed opener who tried to pull as ball to be caught down the leg side by Keeper Fabian Heaton. UNSW 1 for 31 off 10 overs.

A double bowling change was made and Freddy Whalebone (2 for 18 off 7) and Cotter Litchfield (0 for 38 off 7) immediately put pressure on USNW batters by bowling back of a length on the offside resulting in plenty of dots. Freddy struck just before drinks to a brilliant catch by Harry at short extra cover running forward and then diving full length in front to take a two-handed catch inches off the turf. Immediately after drinks the UNSW opener was caught and bowled by Freddy when he tried to slog a ball over mid-off but only skied it for Freddy to take a finely judged high catch. UNSW 3 for 47 off 17 overs.

Unfortunately, with the experienced UNSW number 4 left hand batsman at the crease and rain continuing to fall and the ball hard to grip our RPCC bowlers began to stray in their line and length. This resulted in 73 runs being scored in the next 13 overs without UNSW losing any further wickets and getting the bonus point as well. UNSW 124 for 3 off 29 overs. Besides it being a disappointing loss for us really gutted to have given away the bonus point.

On a positive note for us our middle order is getting confident to bat out the 50 overs and only a total of 5 wides and 2 no balls were bowled which means our bowlers are getting their line quite good. Big difference to when we started the season where by now we have been 20 odd extras especially wides.

Big big thank you to Ben Montedoro for coming to our game and helping set things up and also with the fielding drills and a pep talk to our 5th grade team. You are awesome mate and a top team man and club man. Also, thanks to all the parents who helped us with the covers and also collecting the cones from the boundary (Jake’s dad) after our game.  Much appreciated!!

Before the next game we have a bit of work to do on our batting to try and place the ball in the gaps and bowlers sticking to line and length.

Cartwright Insurance Brokers Metro Green v Gordon @ Killara

Randwick Petersham Green drew Gordon

Scorecard link 

No play possible at Killara but Metro Green’s thanks are extended to the Gordon captain, players and groundsman who put in a monumental effort to try and get play underway before a torrential downpour put an end to the day.

Mr Taxman Metro Gold v Mosman @ Coogee

Randwick Petersham Gold 118 (46.1 overs) Brar 32  def. by Syd Uni Gold 7-119 (39.4 overs) Diblasio 2-12 Padavala 2-19

Scorecard link 

Aakash Padavala

A couple of changes in the Gold side almost reaped rewards with a much improved performance across the board. Batting first Azaan Syed (37) played a mature innings at the top of the order while Daman Brar (32) anchored the middle of the innings. Both were unlucky not to go on to higher scores.

In defence of 118 the young quicks, including debutant Zac Narayan (2-26) sent shivers through the Students batting order with wickets falling at regular intervals. At one stage they were staring down the barrel at 4-30 and then 5-49, with Ryan Diblasio (2-12) and Aakash Padavala (2-19) joining the wicket taking party. But determined batting from the 8th wicket partnership saw them home in the 39th over.

Overall, a strong performance from the Golds led by the youngsters.

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