1st Grade Round 15: UTS North Sydney vs Sutherland at Bon Andrews Oval
UTS North Sydney 1/79 (TA Jagot 41) def Sutherland 75 (J Campbell 5/25, M Jenkins 2/20)
Bon Andrews Oval was the venue for the final game of the 20/21 season. The sun was belting down, but there was some cloud cover and humidity in the air from the overnight storms. The pitch looked in good order, but after winning the toss captain Tom Jagot decided to bowl first to extract any benefit from the conditions.
James Campbell opened the bowling from the Cammeray end, claiming a wicket on ball four with the left handed opening batsman hitting across the line and paddling the ball around the corner into the waiting hands of keeper Aiden Bariol, who took a nice catch above his head. At the end of the first over Sutherland were 1/1. Matt Alexander kept the pressure on from the other end to keep Sutherland 1/2. Campbell completed the set in his second over taking out the other opener lbw with a ball that hit the batsman high on his pad and Sutherland were in early trouble at 2/3. Alexander then got in on the action taking the third Sharks wicket with Tom Jagot taking an excellent catch low down at point to have the opposition 3/17 after six overs.
In the 7th over, Campbell steamed in and had his third wicket with the ball caught at second slip by Jack James. Unfortunately, the umpire’s arm was out and, in a rarity, Campbell was denied the wicket on account of a front foot no ball. Not to be denied, two balls later he pitched the ball up and gained the same result with the batsman edging the ball through to Bariol and the Sharks were 4/20.
The batsmen fought back, hitting a few boundaries and slapping a flat six to progress the score to 37 at the completion of the opening spell by the Bears’ opening pair. However, there was more carnage to come courtesy of Olly Knight and Mac Jenkins.
In Knight’s first over, the batsman clipped the ball to mid wicket and set off for a tight single. His partner hesitated and within a split second Jenkins had picked up the ball and thrown it to Bariol with the non-striker well short of his ground. It was disaster for Sutherland, but joy for the Bears as the Sharks sunk to 5/38 after 12 overs.
Buoyed by his sharp piece of fielding, Jenkins caused further destruction in his first over, with a ball that turned past the batsman as he shuffled forward and was collected by Bariol, who swiftly removed the bails to have Sutherland 6/38. Drinks were called, but upon return to the middle the new man slashed at a ball outside his off stump with the fine edge being caught by Bariol and another wicket falling at 38. Jenkins was on a hat-trick, bowling a tempting ball outside off stump that was left alone. Knight kept the momentum going, grabbing a wicket lbw with a ball that would have hit middle half way up and the Sharks had lost 4/1 and collapsed to be in the dire position of 8/39.
The Sharks rallied putting on 24 runs to move the score to 63, but Campbell undid all their good work, returning for his second spell from the city end. The #9 batsman (one of only three to reach double figures) had no answer as the ball crashed into his stumps. At 9 down the young #7 collected a couple of boundaries but, when he exposed his #11 partner to Campbell in the 24th over of the innings, it was all over. The skied top edge was taken by Olly Knight diving forward from a wide mid on position and Campbell had completed his ninth career five wicket haul in First Grade. It was also Campbell’s 250th First Grade wicket so plenty to celebrate as the players left the field for a 10 minute break.
Jack James and Tom Jagot opened the batting for the Bears who needed 76 runs for victory, while Jagot needed 41 runs to reach 1000 runs for the season. The two men looked solid, with James (19) giving Jagot as much of the strike as possible as they moved the score to 65 before James was dismissed. Jagot had reached 38 runs at this stage. He calmly collected three singles to reach 41 to the loud applause of the Bears’ supporters. New man Brent Atherton then lofted two fours over the infield to secure the game and finish 10 not out.
The bonus point win (completed before we would usually break for lunch!) lifted the Bears to ninth on the ladder, just one win outside the top 6 in a season that could have been very different had results and the weather gone our way. St George grabbed the last spot in the finals. In the game against St George at 7/112 chasing 356 in Round 6, had we managed to take the final three wickets, we would have been playing finals instead of the Saints. A reversal of the final over loss to Easts when they were 9 down in Round 1 would have also earned us a finals berth. We were also denied an opportunity of victory after a strong start against Wests (0/177 off 37) when rain intervened.
Despite falling just short of finals, we can be proud that we defeated both Manly (3rd) and Fairfield (4th) in the regular season and as such we know that this team with a core of talented young players and some highly experienced campaigners has the potential to challenge for the premiership in the future.
A huge congratulation to Tom Jagot who finished with 883 Belvidere Cup runs at 73 and was the second highest run scorer of the competition. When his 117 Kingsgrove Sports T20 runs are added he scored exactly 1000 runs for the season, becoming only the fourth Bear to achieve this milestone.
Aiden Bariol had a breakout year scoring 536 runs and taking 23 wicket-keeping dismissals, while Jack James backed up an outstanding debut season with a solid 451 runs. In the short form game, Brent Atherton was the most productive with 140 runs at 35 in the T20s.
The five-wicket haul moved James Campbell inside the top ten wicket takers of the competition with 29 wickets at 18. Mac Jenkins claimed 17 for the season, significantly taking half of those wickets in his final five matches. James Aitken, Jack James and Matt Alexander all contributed with 14 wickets apiece.
It has been most enjoyable reporting on the trials and tribulations of the season gone – bring on 2021/22.