Major Milestones for Avendano and Jenkins

Justin Avendano

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In the first game of the season, the T20 vs Sydney University, Justin Avendano became the ninth player in our history to score 6,000 First Grade runs for the club. By the time our part in the T20 competition was wrapped up the following weekend, Justin had moved himself up to seventh place in the all-time list. It was just two years ago that Justin made his 5,000th run - and the fact he spent a lot of last season on injury layoff highlights what a season he had in 2021-22 - 836 runs at an astonishing average of 76!

A destructive batsman, Justin has a habit of “going large” once he gets in. He’s scored 14 First Grade hundreds, with four scores in excess of 160 and three more between 140 and 160. His 176 against Manly-Warringah in in 2016-17 was part of a club-record 303-run third wicket partnership with Anjan Oberai, and formed the backbone of a record-shattering chase of 444. His top score of 190 also came in a mammoth run chase as his side fell just short of Penrith’s total of 362. Against the same opposition in the 2018/19 rain-affected semi-final, Justin smashed an undefeated 143 to give his side a chance in a shortened game.

In total since joining the Bears from Gordon in 2012-13, Justin has scored 6,155 First Grade runs in 167 appearances, at an average of 39.70, was a member of our Premiership winning one-day cup side, captained the Bears for five seasons and was a member of the First Grade Merit XII in 2021-22. He has played 19 BBL matches including the 2022 Grand Final, as well as a host of ACT/NSW Country Second XI appearances.

A huge asset to the Bears, a fighting fit Justin Avendano will be striking fear into opposition bowlers across the competition, and we look forward to many more places climbed on the all-time list!

Justin has been proudly sponsored by Howzat Building since the inception of our player sponsorship program.

Mac Jenkins

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Mac joined the Bears in 2019-20 from Randwick Petersham, and took his 100th wicket for the club in all competitions in the third match of this year's T20 campaign.

Mac was a crucial member of the Bears’ Poidevin-Gray Shield side in his first season with the club, and captained the side in the Grand Final aged just 18. He finished that PGs season with a batting average north of 28, 10 wickets with his canny left-arm spin, and an economy rate under 4 – a remarkable statistic in a competition solely consisting of one-dayers and T20s. He topped that season off with four wickets in the final round of First Grade against Blacktown.

A natural leader, Mac took on the full-time PGs captaincy in 2021-22 and led the side to the Sixers Conference Final last season. In that campaign, he finished second on both our runs and wickets aggregates and being named the club's PGs player of the season.

Mac's 4/35 against Blacktown in 2019-20 remained his best bowling figures for the club until an astonishing performance in 2022-23 saw him engineer a victory single-handedly. After his maiden First Grade hundred in the first innings, Mac took 6/115 in 23.5 overs including the last three for 14 runs, to see the Bears home by seven runs against Gordon in a match with over 800 runs scored.

Of his 105 wickets for the club to date at an average of 29.20, Mac has taken 67 at 31.67 in 66 First Grade appearances. A genuine all-rounder who bats in the top order for First Grade, Mac has also racked up 1,591 runs for the Bears in all competitions and 1,066 at the top grade.

Still aged only 22, Mac has a huge career ahead of him, and we're excited to see all of his tallies increase and records fall.

Mac is proudly sponsored by NextGen, with the partnership now in its fourth successive season.