Round 3 UTS North Sydney vs Mosman (Week 1)
1st Grade UTS North Sydney vs Mosman at Allan Border Oval
UTS North Sydney 5/385 (B Bryant 101, JN James 91, J Avendano 82, T Jagot 61)
Prior to the start of play, George Lavelle, became 1st grade player no: 671 as he was presented with his cap by Justin Avendano.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Bears batsman dominated on Day 1, with 3 fifties and a century to the top 4. With near on 100 spectators in attendance as well as the Mosman Daily, Ben Bryant (pictured) and Jack James opened the batting for UTS North Sydney at the picturesque Allan Border Oval. Mosman and NSW bowler Greg West bowled with fire and was well backed up at the other end. Bryant and James weathered the early storm and slowly started to dismantle the bowling attack. At drinks it was 0/32 with the Mosman Daily photographer leaving without a money shot of the Whales bowlers taking a pole. By lunch the score had progress to 0/88 with Bryant 47* and James 39*. Bryant brought up his 50 off 105 balls. James soon followed with 50 off the same number of balls. The pair put on 193 runs for the first wicket, with James trying the late cut one too many times and falling for 91 from 163, his highest 1st Grade score in just his second match. It would appear that the 193 runs is the best opening stand for a North Sydney pair since at least 2009 and is currently the highest partnership in first grade to date this season.
Bryant was joined by captain, Justin Avendano. Shortly after tea, Ben Bryant achieved his maiden 1st grade century scoring 101 off 207 balls in 249 minutes with 12 fours. Avendano and Tom Jagot then put together a 134 run partnership of their own at a good rate to give Norths the ascendency. After reaching 50 from 76 balls, Avendano cleared the rope three times and a second century of the day looked within his sights. Unfortunately, he was bowled for 82 with the score on 349. Jagot who got to 50 off 74 balls fell shortly after for 61 from 93, with three of the top 4 making fifties. Tom Jagot has now scored over 2,500 runs for the North Sydney club in 1st Grade.
Tim Reynolds (20* off 18) and Olly Knight (13 off 8) hit a couple of maximums to speed the scoring up. With the fall of Knights wicket the umpires called stumps at 5/385. It was the 3rd highest total of the round, so will be an interesting chase next week – here’s hoping for some variable bounce.
2nd Grade UTS North Sydney vs Mosman at Bon Andrews Oval
UTS North Sydney 293 (M Papworth 73, J Leary 69, AA Shaikh 54*, R Van Kemenade 37) v Mosman 2/31 (J Aitken 1/4, AA Shaikh 1/8)
Captain Glenn Aitken won the toss and had no hesitation batting first on Bon Andrews. The loss of an early wicket in the first over did not deter the boys from batting positively as Broc Hardy (26) wacked 6 fours before being the second man out in the 6th over – 2/30. When a third went down in the 9th it was 3/44 and time for some consolidation. James Leary (69) and Max Papworth (73) delivered in the form of a 133 run 4th wicket partnership, with Papworth hitting 12 fours to shift the momentum in the Bears favor. When Papworth was bowled, Leary fell soon after with the score on 178. The loss of these two quick wickets and then three more saw the momentum swing back to the Whales with Norths losing 5/34 in 14 overs. In a further twist Ali Shaikh (54*) joined Ryan Van Kemenade (37) for a nice 45 run stand. Shaikh then made the most of his opportunity hitting 10 fours to reach a well earned fifty not as the final wicket fell at 293. Ali is more noted for his bowling and this is the first time he has scored fifty in a grade game for North Sydney.
With 16 overs remaining in the day, Van Kemenade and James Aitken were given the new rock. With no success after 8 overs Shaikh was given a crack and came up trumps with a wicket in the first over of his spell shattering the openers stumps. James Aitken toiled away to take the second Whales wicket LBW with the score on 24. Aitken bowled 7 overs, 4 maidens 1 for 4. With a further Whales batsman going off retired hurt the score finished at 2/31.
Some early wickets next week will be the order of the day, with Mosman needing a further 263 for victory.
3rd Grade UTS North Sydney vs Mosman at Rawson Oval
UTS North Sydney 5/301 (C Lloyd 147, J Graham 56*, R Alexander 38 )
With North Sydney captains winning tosses for fun, it was fitting that 3rd grade captain Chris Lloyd also won the toss and chose to bat.
A shaky start 1/0 and both openers gone for 29 was not in the plan. At 3/42 the game was on a knifes edge. However, in what is becoming a regular thing in 3rd grade Ray Alexander (38) was joined by Chris Lloyd (pictured) to get the innings back on track. A brief stint by Ahmer Amir, brought round 2 captain, Jacob Graham (56*) to the cease. From here on there was no stopping the two captains as they piled on 184 unbeaten runs for the 6th wicket, elevating the score to 5/301 after 80 overs and placing UTS North Sydney in a strong position to start Day 2. Lloyd produced his highest ever Grade score of 147*, which appears to be the highest score by a North Sydney 3rd grader since at least 2010. The 184 runs is also the best 6th wicket stand of the season in 3rd grade.
4th Grade UTS North Sydney vs Mosman at Tunks Park
UTS North Sydney 8/245 (B Kumar 59, J Holmes 44, T Robson 31, A Cavenor 26)
The Bears won the toss and batted at Tunks International Sports Park Bernie turned out a beaut of a pitch and it looked a good day for batting.
The red and blacks found themselves in trouble early with the top order faltering at 4/56 and then 5/71. As is often the case with Tunks, the pitch was a new ball wicket and it got easier to score once the ball became older. Pace took almost all of the wickets, but Mosman bowled spin most of the afternoon which helped the tail steady things.
The stand out performances were Jake Holmes 44 and Baran Kumar's undefeated 59. Both played assertively and assuredly against spin and kept the scoreboard ticking along. Skipper Tim Robson also chipped in with 31 to take the score from 7/134 to get us up to 8/195.
Shivam Vohra came and put the icing on the cake with 21* at the end to finish a good comeback day for 4's. The end total of 8/245 was a much needed fillip in the context of the season.
5th Grade UTS North Sydney vs Mosman at Balmoral Oval
Mosman 227 (N Stokes 6/23, P Lindsey 3/80) v UTS North Sydney 2/42 (M Lloyd 28*)
5s arrived at picturesque Balmoral with its expensive parking and outfield punctuated by synthetic wickets. The Bears lost the toss and were asked to field. Early wickets to Chris Savage (1/37) and Nathaniel Stokes (pictured) had the Bears on top. However, a 3rd wicket stand of 141 put the Whales in the ascendancy at 2/173 after 46 overs. The Bears had their chances during this partnership, but couldn’t capitalise, with both Whales batsman batting well with attacking intent.
A wicket to skipper Patrick Lindsay (3/80 off 26), who got through a mountain of work, halted some of the momentum. However, the game had a total change of direction on the back of a double breakthrough from Stokes in the 56th and 58th overs. Stokes knocked over the number 4, who had reached 87 and then the new batsman shortly afterwards. Wickets tumbled from this point with the Whales losing 7/23 in 9 overs to be all out for 227. In only his third game in grade, Stokes was the star of the show with 6/23 off 12 overs including two maidens. His 6/23 was the second best haul of the round in all grades.
The Bears had 12 tricky overs to negotiate before stumps. We lost Stokes and Abdullah Shaikh early, but Michael Lloyd 28* and Izaak Merlehan 12* batted with grit and style putting together 36 valuable runs to have us 2/42 at the close.
All to play for next week - the Bears will need to bat well to win, however the effort to get back into the game was very pleasing.
On a side note, Patrick Lindsay still leads the 5th grade bowling aggregates with 10, but Nathaniel now sits in clear second place with 9 scalps for the season. Keep racking up those poles boys!
Poidevin-Gray Shield UTS North Sydney v Manly at Manly Oval
Manly 239 ( B Knox 2/35, M Jenkins 2/55 B. Hardy 3 catches) def by UTS North Sydney 6/240 (J Hardy 55, J Leary 52*, M Jenkins 26 JN James 25, G Lavelle 25)
The young Bears took the spectators on a rollercoaster ride at Manly oval, coming away with a fantastic win with 9 balls to spare. It was a true team effort with all players making strong contributions with bat, ball and in the field.
Captain George Lavelle called incorrectly at the toss, giving Manly first use of a very flat and fast Manly Oval. The Tahs got away to a flyer and were 0/50 after 6 overs. Someone forgot to tell the batsman it was not a T20 this week. After some front foot troubles debutant Kobe Allison (1/35) got one just right with a sharp catch to Lavelle and it was 1/56 after 7. Enter NSW rookie contracted player Ollie Davies (45) who started with a single and 6 dots before taking full toll of our bowling hitting 44 off the next 13 balls taking Manly to 1/104 off 11. Jack James (1/32) took the next over and on the fifth ball was starring back at Davies, who had caused him some grief at last years U19 Championships. Payback, James tempted Davies to hit over mid-off – straight into the chest of Mac Jenkins, who was knocked backward by the impact, but the star player was gone. James combined with Ben Knox (2/35) and the two spinners started to slow the rate. As the pressure built, the Manly bats decided to take on the Bears fielders to their peril. A sharp single in Knox’s over was swooped on by Jenkins, who fired the ball in to the lightening hands of Lavelle, to do the rest – 3/126 off 17. In the first ball of James’s next over, the ball was cut towards the boundary – the batsman attempted to run two, but a powerful throw from Allison into Lavelle gloves saw the batsman short of his ground – 4/127. Manly bats Lea and Vumbaca set about rebuilding with dots and ones putting together a 60 run partnership, until opening bowler, Nuwan Whyte (1/49), was re-introduced into the attack. He claimed Lea, caught by Broc Hardy, the first of three catches by Hardy. Knox bowled the no 7 in the 41st over before Broc Hardy (1/15) grabbed a wicket with a sharp catch off his own bowling and at 7/212 Norths had the ascendency. Jenkins came back to bowl at the death, claiming a wicket with the first ball of his new spell. Hardy took his third catch after the ball was smashed back at the bowler, Knox, and rebounded straight to him – 9/238. Jenkins (2/55) finished the job in the 49th over with a catch to Knox to dismiss Manly for 239. An amazing recovery after 300+ looked on the cards.
The batting innings was no less exciting with James (25) making a strong contribution at the top of the order and at 1/45 after 10 we looked well on track. Two quick wickets saw the Bears slump to 3/53 off 14. Lavelle then combined with Jake Hardy to put on a valuable 50 run partnership taking us to 4/104 in the 28th. Jake started strongly with 3 fours before knocking the ball around with new partner James Leary. The pair turned up the heat on the opposition turning over the strike regularly and crunching 11 fours to score 70 of 60 odd balls. Jake was eventually dismissed for a well-made 55. The equation was 70 runs from 12 overs. The new batsman Jenkins (26) combined beautifully with Leary to put on 43 off 48. Leary played several scoop shots over the keeper to keep the scoreboard ticking. When Jenkins was out, the Bears needed 26 from 28. Leary kept the singles coming picking up an unbeaten 52 in the process and new batsman, Allison did the rest smashing a four and a straight six to finish with 19 not out off 10. There was some confusion in the scorebox, but the last two runs sealed it and a memorable victory was achieved. Special mention to Adam Cavenor (0/15 off 4) who bowled for the first time in a PG’s game and fielded well as well as Tim Reynolds who toiled hard all day in the field. Well done to Broc Hardy and George Lavelle who both made the best fielding performances of the week.
Pictures courtesy of Tony Johnson, David James, Ethan Joseph and team captains