Lyall’s Preview Round 5 v Sutherland and Metro Cup
We are back to limited over 50-overs a side matches this Saturday for lower grades and Metro Cup teams while 1st Grade will play the full weekend in a two-day Saturday-Sunday match. In Premier Cricket, we play Sutherland while Metro Gold play Warringah with Green up against St George on Sunday.
Two good wins in 1st and 2nd grades last week moved us slightly up the Club Championship ladder from 18th to 17th—just 28 points behind this weekend’s opponent, Sutherland. Unfortunately, we have yet to get a Club Championship contribution from our three lower grades which have lost each of their four matches. It’s the worst start we have had collectively for 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. There have been bad starts in the past before bouncing back. 3rds lost the first four in 2019-20 and 2020-21 yet were minor premiers two years later. 4ths lost the first three and had a draw in the fourth in 2019-20 while 5ths lost the first seven in 2020-21. Clearly, batting is the problem. But this round could be the turnaround as we have a good record against Sutherland. The Sharks are 15th in 1sts (1 win); 17th in 2nds (1 win); 14th in 3rds (1 win); 11th in 4ths (2 wins); 8th in 5th (2 wins).
Both of our Metro sides put up a great fight last weekend. RP Green held on for a draw finishing 8-181 chasing Penrith’s 7-252 while RP Gold, who looked like beating Sutherland at 6-230 chasing 245, went down by just 9 runs. This weekend, Gold will take on Warringah at Marrickville Oval, who after a slow start are once again looking like a formidable opponent this season. Green will return to Petersham to take on St George, and will have their work cut out as the Dragons look to be able to competition front-runners.
Last round our 1st Grade side hit it’s highest-ever score against Western Suburbs of 5d-375 before winning by a record margin of 201 against that club. Having won two of its three matches, the side is well placed in 4th spot on the Belvidere Cup leaderboard. Two wins out of four have 2s motoring along in 9th place and are playing good cricket.
The fast-developing off-spinner, Ben Montedoro, brought up 100 wickets for the club with his 3-55 in 1st Grade last Saturday while Daya Singh is in sight of the 300 1st Grade career wickets milestone after taking his 297th last weekend. He also needs just 4 matches to bring up 250 in 1st Grade and just 75 runs to reach 3,500. And apart from scoring his second 1st Grade ton last round with 121, Austin Waugh passed the 1,000 career 1st Grade runs milestone to currently total 1,036. Skipper Riley Ayre is another who is carving his name into the 1st Grade career milestone records having passed 200 games to now total 205 while he has 4,213 runs and 265 wickets—one of the top all-rounders in the game today. And in 3rd Grade, Ross Elliot brought up 1,500 runs for the club when he scored 22 against Wests last round. He now has 1,502.
This weekend’s matches:
1st Grade: Sat/ Sun 2/3 November @ Sutherland from 10 am. Check the club Facebook page for details of live streaming.
2nd Grade: Sat. @ Coogee from 10 am; 3rd Grade: Sat. @ Tonkin from 10 am; 4th Grade: Sat. @ Petersham from 10 am;
5th Grade: Sat. @ Snape from 10 am.
Metropolitan Cup: RP Gold v Warringah Sat. @ Marrickville from 10 am; RP Green v St George: Sunday @ Petersham from 10 am.
RESULTS: While reports will appear on the club’s facebook page at the end of each playing day, team results may be viewed by clicking on https://matchcentre.premier.cricketnsw.com.au/. If you scroll down and click on a match involving any of our teams, the scorecard will appear.
GO THE RANDY PETES!!!
Lyall Gardner OAM
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