Randwick Petersham Cricket Round 11 vs Hawkesbury

NSW Premier Cricket Round 11 vs Hawkesbury

Round 11 produced some great results across the board for the Randy Petes, with four out of the five grades coming away with victories against Hawkesbury.

Jackson Gwynne and Blake Weymouth both played their part in their 1st Grade debuts in an outright win, while three players across the club took five-wicket hauls.

3rd Grade cemented their spot inside the competition’s top-four, while 4th Grade and 5th Grade also kept themselves in the hunt for finals. Metro Gold completed their 5th win in a row to entrench themselves within the top 6 of the Metro Cup.

Lefand 1st Grade: RPC 176 (Singh 64 Sams 51) & 7/148 (Ayre 55* Weymouth 40) def. Hawkesbury 145 (Gwynne 3/16 Pathak 3/19 Ayre 3/36) & 178 (Ayre 3/55)

 

Randwick Petersham took home maximum points with an outright win by 3 wickets in the 1st Grade match against Hawkesbury at Coogee Oval. The scores were RPC 176 and 7-148 to Hawkesbury 145 and 178. And while it was a bit of a struggle last week losing 8 wickets before taking first innings points, it was again not for the faint-hearted in the second dig, with 7 wickets lost to get the side home.
It was a real arm-wrestle at Coogee on the first day of play, with RPC eventually taking a first innings lead. The scores at stumps were Randwick Petersham 8-167 (43 overs) to Hawkesbury, all out 145 (50.4). Skipper Daya Singh called correctly at the toss and after a couple of days rain, it was no surprise the Hawks were asked to bat first. And they made a real fist of it against the new ball getting to 42 before Singh, returning to the bowling crease after nursing an injury, trapped Tom Sargeant lbw with his first ball. Debutant Jackson Gwynne, 21, was introduced into the attack and celebrated by bowling top-scorer Patrick Moore for 31. And he had another next ball to put him on a hat-trick! And while that didn’t eventuate, the young pace bowler claimed his third shortly after, for figures of 3-11 in a total of 5-100. A brief rally took the score to 5-135, but when 21-year-old leg-spinner Shivansh Pathak enticed a catch to Ash Burton, it triggered a collapse which saw the final 5 wickets fall for 10 runs including the last 4 for 4 to be all out for 145. Pathak ended with 3-19; Gwynne 3-16; and Riley Ayre 3-36.
In the run chase, it was a big welcome back to Jason Sangha, returning after breaking a collarbone in an early Big Bash match with Sydney Thunder. Unfortunately, he could only make 4 and was soon joined in the pavilion by 19-year-old debutant Blake Weymouth who was run-out after hitting a boundary. Worse was to follow, with Riley Ayre, who last week passed 3,000 runs for the club, bowled for 9 and a 3-17 scoreline. But the team batting star of the season, Anthony Sams, got together with Daya Singh and the pair took the score to 96 when Sams was caught for 51 off 70 balls with 8 fours. Ben Mitchell joined Singh and they took the score to 124 when Mitchell was caught for 23 off 39. Then it got interesting. Over the following 3 overs, 17 runs were scored with 3 more wickets lost for an 8-141 scoreline. No 9 Pathak joined Singh and soon the score was 8-144—2 to take first innings points. Daya then played out a maiden, leaving Shivansh to face the next over. He too, played out a maiden. It was edge-of-the-seat stuff! But the first ball of the 41st over was dispatched by Singh and Randwick Petersham had the lead. Sighs of relief all round! Daya then took 15 off the second last over to end the day with 59* off 102 balls hitting 8 fours and a six. And if supporters and followers found that exciting, well, the big finish will happen next Saturday! Strap yourselves in.
From 8-167 at stumps after the first week, another 9 runs were added with Daya Singh top-scoring with 64, giving the side a lead of 31 runs. The Hawks were quick to dispose of that advantage with a 40 runs opening partnership. But when Riley Ayre (3-55 off 24 overs) broke through, 4 wickets fell in quick succession for a 4-61 scoreline. Ash Burton (2-18 off 6) was called into the attack and achieved a double breakthrough. It was a steady downhill slide after that and while the 9th wicket put on 32, the spin of Shivansh Pathak (2-28 off 7.3) brought a quick finish to the innings of 178. Anthony Sams, who brought up his 450th wicket-keeping dismissal last week, added another catch and 2 stumpings to give him a good start on his way to 500.
In the run chase of 148 to win outright, debutant Blake Weymouth (who also took a brilliant outfield catch) put together an impressive 40 off 66 balls with 5 fours after losing fellow opener Camden Hawkins for just 5. And although Anthony Sams fell for a rare low score of 8 at 3-95, the target didn’t look a real problem. That’s when the hiccups started. Within a few overs we were 6-117 and with it all to do. Riley Ayre, however, was still there and the rock of the innings. Ash Burton didn’t think it was a problem when he joined Riley as he belted 25 off 26 balls with 4 boundaries of the 30 runs they put on to level the scores. But needing to just push a single for victory, Ash was bowled! What an anti-climax. Riley had no trouble in scoring the winning run to complete a fine double with an undefeated 55* off 92 balls with 6 fours.
It was the club’s 14th win from 22 matches against Hawkesbury. Only 2 of those wins have been outrights and have been achieved in the past 3 matches. The 10 points were much needed after 3 successive defeats leading up to Christmas, moving the team into 7th place and a real chance of making the final 6.

Suttons 2nd Grade: Hawkesbury 8/115 (O’Loughlin 5/23) def. RPC 98

Randwick Petersham lost the toss on a tacky wicket and very slow outfield and were sent in to bat. RPC lost wickets regularly with only Basit Ali and Adam Docos able to pass 20 runs. A combination of bad batting and disciplined bowling on a tricky wicket saw Randwick bowled out for 98, about 50-60 short of a competitive total. Hawkesbury passed the score five wickets down and would lose three more before the captains shook hands to call time.
Mitch O’Loughlin (5/23 off 10) was the pick of the bowlers with a five-wicket haul in his return to second grade. Ben Montedoro and Tim Tector bowled well to pick up a wicket each, as did Connor O’Riordan. Whilst Hawkesbury no doubt got the best of the conditions bowling first with the benefit of a softer wicket in the morning, the team need to learn how to grind their way through challenging periods to get themselves into the game.

Petersham RSL 3rd Grade: RPC 187 (Mellick 50) def. Hawkesbury 107 (Apostolakis 4/3 Hussain 4/23) & 8/118 (Apostolakis 3/11 Hussain 3/15)

RPC 3s arrived at Petersham Oval on Day 1 and after losing the toss (again) were surprisingly asked to bowl on a deck that seemed to have plenty of life. That prediction turned out to be correct after having Hawkesbury 5-16 courtesy of some excellent bowling from James Apostolakis (4-3 off 7), including a team hatrick in the 4th over: James picked up 2 in a row and some smart fielding from Josh Segal saw the batsmen run-out after wondering out of his crease after surviving the hatrick ball. The Hawkes steadied the ship until Akther Hussain (4-23 off 10) was able to capitalise on the pressure built up from Ben Tracey (1-35 off 12.1) and some great fielding, and we rolled through the Hawkes lower order picking up the last 3 wickets for 8 runs to have the Hawkes bowled out for 107. Josh Mellick (50) and Ross Elliot (32) put on 68 for the first wicket in reply with Josh dismantling the Hawkes opening bowlers to all ends of the park. From there a few quick wickets fell whilst chasing the runs quickly in order to secure 6 points, which was achieved as we finished 6-113 at the end of Day 1.
Arriving to a much flatter deck on Day 2, we batted on with the goal to put on a quickfire lead before declaring and rolling them in the afternoon. We did just that as Huss (42*) worked with the lower order to combine clever running with big hitting and get us up to 187 all out and a lead of 80 in 13 overs. With 64 overs left in the day, James Apostalkis (3-11 off 14) picked up where he left off last week beating the bat an infurating amount of times and Dane Coombs was unlucky not to have a couple poles himself. Huss (3-15 off 13) also continued his form from the previous week picking up a wicket in his first over and, combined with Ben Tracey (1-33 off 15), applied the pressure by bowling consistent maidens in tandem leading to a runout from Josh Mellick and reducing the Hawkes to 6-71. A few half chances went begging at short-leg, but from there the Hawkes shut up shop. James picked up two late wickets to give us a slim chance, but they were able to hold off as we ran out of overs, the Hawkes finishing 8-118.
In what was a dominant bowling and fielding display from us, two bowlers picked up 7 wickets for the game in James Apostolakis and Akther Hussain and we gave it the best crack at hunting for the outright. Regardless, we walk away with another 6 points and continue with our hunt to play finals. Roll on next week!

Mellick Wealth 4th Grade: RPC 9/169d. (Sachs 52 Lopes 51) def. Hawkesbury 121 (Ramakanth 5/21 Singh 4/28)

4s lost the toss and were sent into bat on a wicket that looked like it was going to give the bowlers a bit of assistance. Solid batting from Luca Lopes (51) and Reuben Sachs (52) got the team into the strong position of 1 for 97 before Hawkesbury got back into the game via some tight bowling, a slow outfield, and heat starting to take effect. The team limped to a total of 170 – about 50 short of where the side were hoping at the first drinks break.

With the ball, we took some early wickets to have them in all sorts at 4-34, before a good partnership had Hawkesbury back into the game. Enter Arthav Ramakanth. The Green Shield bowler bowled 15.3 overs straight with control and presence to finish the game with 5/21. An excellent fielding effort given the oppressive conditions.

Clovelly Community Bank 5th Grade: RPC 60 & 8/205d. (Lynch 59) def. Hawkesbury 85 (Tape 5/52) & 111 (Tape 4/38)

 

Round 11 saw us come against the hawks and us in pursuit of finals cricket, we were looking to get a dominant win. The hawks skipper won the toss and chose to bowl first which proved to be a master stroke, as a combination of a bouncy and stick wicket with some questionable shot selection and Hawkesbury fronting a second grade quick, we were dismissed for a total of 59. However the boys weren’t defeated and we took the attitude of, well if they can do it so can we.

It took a few overs before we made our first breakthrough, but from then on we were taking wickets at regular intervals, managing to dismiss the opposition for 85, with Mark Tape taking his first five-wicket haul for the club finishing with figures of 5/52 off 13.5, with the other wickets going to Adam Coombs (2/21) and Jake Myers (3/8). We then were sent in to bat again, and finished the day at 2/41, keeping us well within the game.

To complete the reverse outright in week 2, it was simple, put enough runs on the board, declare with enough overs and back ourselves to take 10 wickets. Ryan Lynch (59) and Angus Beaumont (45), along with some other contributions, saw us reach a total of 8/205, giving Hawkesbury 180 to chase in 39 overs. The wickets weren’t coming as frequently this week, however we slowly made inroads through their top order. However their second grader continued to bat through and we didn’t help by dropping him on a couple of occasions. We had the Hawks five down with 10 overs to go, not sure how the game would finish. What followed was one of the most outrageous barbecues ever seen on a cricket field, with the striker hitting straight to mid on and calling yes, with Chris Parthenis throwing the stumps down with the batter in another post code.

Mark Tape returned for his second spell and managed to dismiss the set second grader with a cracking Yorker. With the hawks 8 down and with there being 4 overs left, Chris was introduced into the attack and bowled an unplayable ball to dismiss their number 9. It came down to Mark Tape with the last over, dismissing the 10th wicket with 3 balls to spare and handing us victory. Mark ended up with 9 wickets for the match and bowled superbly. We continue our climb up the ladder in search of finals cricket.

Mr Taxman Metro Gold: RPC Gold 6/220 (A Gilmore 61, R Goyal 54, L Takacs) def. UNSW (S Suresh 4/21, R Goyal 2/18)

 

RP Gold finally won a toss on week 1, and elected to bowl under grey skies and on wicket that had a bit of water on it during the week. The decision was vindicated in manic first half hour, as the bumblebees were reduced to 2/13 – with a wicket each to Rishabh Goyal and Ryan Di Blasio – which could have been worse if not for some contentious umpiring. From there, two young bees rode their luck and valiantly fought their way out of trouble, as the wicket eased out. Fortunately for Gold, the bees’ half centurion BBQ’d his partner just before tea to leave the score at an even 3/90. After tea, the spinners really tightened the screws – Sriram Suresh leading the way – as Gold wrested control of the match back to take 6 wickets in the session. We weren’t quite able to crack the last scalp, but 9/174 at the end of the day was a good recovery considering the wicket held up much better than expected.

3 overs into day 2, and Sriram took the last wicket to finish with a well-deserved 4-fer, leaving Gold with a chase of 178 for first innings points. Rishabh Goyal held firm at one end, ensuring that Angus Gilmore had a set partner when he walked in at a slightly precarious 3/68. Any nerves were well settled after Angus took after the bowling after tea, racing from 3/78 at the break to 3/152 in 15 overs, while icing a half century on the way. After Angus fell for 61, Rishabh brought up his second half century in a mature knock, though couldn’t quite get the target over the line. At 6/167, Luke Takacs (34*) rode his luck early in his returning knock while Archie Robinson (22*) got some valuable time in the middle. Stumps were called at 6/220 with six points, good centre practice and an improved quotient to boot.

Cartwright Insurances Metro Green: RPC Green 170 (K Van Keulen 43, R Steinberg 34) drew North West Sydney Gold (S Singh 2/13, T Gowda 1/13)

Green lost the toss and were put in on a sweltering day out in the Hills. They weren’t able to make use of the heat though, as they collapsed to 9/112. Rory Steinberg made the most of recent good form and spent most of his time holding together the innings with a skilful 34. From there, a resolute 10th wicket stand with the maverick Keegan Van Keulen and evergreen Jay Patel put on 58 to keep the Hurricanes out in the heat and putting forward a formidable total – Keegan falling short of a well-deserved half-century, making 43. The Hurricanes were only left with 45 overs to chase 171 and charged through the gates like a bull in a china shop, taking 20 from the first two overs. However, Samarpreet Singh (2/13) and Thanush Gowda (1/13) stuck to their line and had the Hurricanes reeling at 3/28 before rain set in and they couldn’t leave fast enough. While a draw was a dent to Green’s finals chances, they can take heart from a spirited effort in the heat that will at least help the Gold team with their finals tilt.

/0 Comments/by
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.