Men's 2nd Grade
Callum Hill
The Second Grade Bears emerged from hibernation to take on a travelling Blacktown at the picturesque Tunks Park, determined to start the season with authority.
Things looked to get off to an optimal start when skipper Justin Rodgie won the toss and saw enough in the wicket to send Blacktown into bat on a hot and sweaty morning in Cammeray.
A couple of early scalps from James Campbell gave the Bears the advantage before Blacktown opener Srimaan Narain Malladi was joined by Shrey Parsania, who strode to the wicket at 2-12. The pair slowly broke down the Bears' attack, adding 172 for the third wicket and Parsania bringing up three figures (107). Brief cameos from the Blacktown middle order saw the Bears needing 273 to take the spoils.
English import Ollie Sykes had a challenging introduction to cricket Down Under, failing to trouble the scorers on debut. There was some impressive seam bowling from Blacktown, seeing the Bears on the back foot early. Brent Atherton and James Moore solidified the rocky start by adding 51 for the second wicket before Atherton was run out for 22. Harri Lee-Young took his pads off shortly after Atherton for 4.
James Aitken joined Moore at the crease; the paired chipped away at the Blacktown total, briefly staring victory in the face at 132-3 before Aitken was caught for 35. Moore fell shortly after for a crafty 62. Brief cameos from Fletcher May (29), Jamieson Hedges (15) and James Campbell (22) were not enough for the Bears to start singing the team song in the Tunks Park sheds, Blacktown winning by 53 runs.
The second round saw the evergreen Manly Warringah side travel to Bon Andrews on a sunny Saturday in North Sydney. The Bears worked hard through the week at training, and all 11 men made sure they got their eight hours of sleep on Friday night in an attempt to right some wrongs from the opening round.
Manly won the toss and sent the Bears in to have first use of the facilities. Atherton again showed his class, batting through most of the innings for 81. There were valuable contributions from James Aitken (26), Harri Lee-Young (26), Robbie Aitken (35) and Jamieson Hedges (29*).
The Bears began to have some flashbacks to the previous week when Manly got to 89 without loss before the off-spin of Robbie Aitken made the crucial breakthrough, taking a neat catch off his own bowling. Partnerships continued to build, but the Bears never let the game get away from them before suddenly, wickets began to tumble. Wickets were shared around, and to cut a long story short, Manly fell six runs short in what was a fantastic day for the top three grades.
The Bears remained at Bon Andrews for the arrival of Campbelltown Camden, who were arriving in North Sydney, also sporting one win and one loss.
Rodgie lost the toss – a great result – and Campbelltown elected to have a bat. It was one-way traffic from the outset, with the newly called-up Hamish Reynolds going, as the kids say, "berserko". Completely dismantling the Campbelltown top and middle order, claiming an electric 6-37. Left-arm spinner Sam Alexander was crafty, continually following up the slow straight one with the slow straight one to keep the lower order guessing; his 2-16 included a sensational piece of fielding from the Bears leader…
Campbelltown's No.9 Hayden Tipping decided to take Alexander on, hitting him back over his head on a flat trajectory. Enter the frame Rodgie, who took off from mid-off, looking not too dissimilar to Radike Samo peeling off the back of a scrum. He quickly morphed from Samo into Superman when he leapt out of his boots to become fully horizontal and approximately six feet off the ground, plucking the ball out of the sky at full stretch like it was somebody else's meal at Percys. Incredible.
The sense of pure euphoria disappeared when he dropped arguably the most straightforward catch ever seen at the North Sydney Oval complex, but anyway, Campbelltown were all out for 102. Reynolds 6-37, Alexander 2-16.
The in-form Atherton and newcomer Callum Hill strode out to the middle and made reasonably light work of the chase, reaching the Campbelltown total without loss in the 18th over, Hill 51*, Atherton 38*.
After back-to-back wins at home, the Bears hit the road and ventured to Hawkesbury.
Rodgie lost the toss, and the Bears were out in the field along with half of the world's population of flies.
Reynolds got into his work early yet again, picking up more early scalps via the hands of the slip cordon (Sykes and Hill).
The lads found themselves in a lull, and who to create a spark out of nothing but the skipper, a ball is hit through mid-off, and Rodgie sets chase, Rodgie's pursuit of the ball displayed an uncanny resemblance to Mr Larson chasing Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, you know the "I believe that's Mr Gilmore's jacket," guy, anyway, the fearless leader dives head first into the steel picket fence, going straight through it, the Bears captain quite literally ran through a fence for his troops, and then proceeded to hand his cap to the umpire and bowl the next over while he was still pulling metal splinters out of his whites. Inspired by this dedication, a murmur of "Here we go, Rodgie, here we go" began to echo around the inner ring, and it travelled; for a second, it sounded like the opposition fans were getting involved.
Rodgie, still fired up from his demolition job of the fence, proceeds to find the outside edge of the Hawkes' best batter, and Lachlan Stewart pouched a brilliant catch behind the stumps. Sam Alexander was the pick of the bowlers, bowling 18 overs and claiming 4/40. He also mentally disintegrated a young Hawks batsman by relentlessly asking him to “COME HERE” at the top of his mark, a textbook veteran manoeuvre. Hawkesbury were all out in the 70th over for 204.
Reynolds, 3/45, Hedges, 2/45 and Rodgie, 1/12 were the other notable figures.
Atherton and Hill managed to get through until stumps at 49 without loss, firmly in the box seat heading into the following week.
There was a bit in the pitch on day 2, too much for Hill (14), who was out LBW not offering a shot in the second over of the day; Sykes wasn't far behind. Netto (20) and Atherton (44) worked hard on a tricky wicket before both falling to false shots, but they got through the challenging period, and the pitch began to harden underfoot.
Lee-Young came out to bat at No.5 and batted positively. He was joined by the in-form Reynolds. The pair eased into their work before cashing in on some tired bowling, passing the Hawkes' total half an hour before tea – Lee-Young on 64. Rodgie sent out a message, "You have until tea to get 100." Lee-Young proceeded to hit his next ball to the Blue Mountains, and it became glaringly apparent that he may only need 10 minutes. He distributed balls all over Owen Earle and got to his maiden century for the club with a six, an elegant knock by a terrific young player. Reynolds’ innings snuck under the radar, finishing 52 red.
It was an early trip home for the lads, with another win in the back pocket, and as they made their way down Bensons Lane, the handyman was arriving to fix the fence.