A match of records…but no points awarded
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | March 17, 2025
In its first 15 years, Randwick Petersham’s highest score in 1st Grade was 6d-428 made against Mosman at Petersham Oval, in round 2 of 2002-03. It was a memorable match as Simon Katich, who had made a duck in his first game with the club the previous Saturday against University of NSW, smashed 177 which included 17 fours and nine sixes. Skipper Paul Toole also made 73 while Daryl Parmenter remained 66 not out. Mosman made 339.
The highest score against the club in 1st Grade, occurred in round 8 of 2009-10 when Sydney amassed 399 at Coogee with opening bat, Anthony Brooks hitting 194 from 257 balls with 28 fours and two sixes. However, despite that huge total, it was a win by just four runs for Randwick Petersham, who had tallied 7d-403 the previous weekend. At 6-363, Sydney was on track to win, but when Brooks fell, the tail could only add 36 of the 41 needed. Randwick Petersham skipper, Scott Coyte was the star for the locals, being run out for 95 off 142 balls with 13 fours, before taking 5-96 off 23 overs. Brett Jackson also made 75 and Matthew Frith, 73. Interestingly, champion all-rounder Adam Semple made a rare golden duck in that innings.
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Both of those “for” and “against” records, were both broken in 2016-17—amazingly, in the same match!
It was round 3 of the 2016-17 season, with Northern District hosting Randwick Petersham at Mark Taylor Oval, in a two-day fixture. Alex Kemp, the Randwick Petersham skipper, won the toss and elected to bat. And bat they did, knocking up a huge 6d-431 off 91 overs, surpassing the record by three runs. Northern District responded with a monumental tally of 7-427 when stumps were drawn after 99 overs. They were just five runs short of a classic win. It was also 28 runs more than the previous “against” record of 399. A total of 858 runs had been scored from 190 overs with no points awarded for the drawn result.
For Randwick Petersham, Anthony Sams (79 off 104 balls) and Kemp (63 off 119) opened the batting and put on 146. Nathan Price belted 40 off 36 and Daniel Sams 21 off 27. Jake Scicluna (73 off 105) and James Psarakis then put on 112 for the 5th wicket. Andrew Balbirnie, who would later become the Test and ODI captain for Ireland, made his 1st Grade debut that match with the 25-year-old run out for 23 off 27. When the declaration was made at the end of 91 overs, Psarakis was still there having hit a maiden 1st Grade century of 110* off 123 balls with 15 fours. Taylor Scott with 2-75 off 15 overs and Chris Green with 2-137 off 29, were the main wicket-takers.
Northern District showed little fear in chasing the mammoth target with both openers, Neil Kimberley (106 off 183 with 17 fours) and Andrew Harriott (138 off 197 with 18 fours and two sixes) both scoring centuries and putting on 196 for the first wicket. Henry Hunt, now with South Australia, made 24 off 33 while Aaron Flaherty hit 45 off 55 before being bowled by Adam Semple for a scoreline of 6-400. He and Daniel Anderson, who remained 63 not out off 69 with a strike rate of 91 when stumps were drawn, put on 107 for the 6th wicket. Matthew Phillips was the not out batsman on 2 off 4 balls. Gregory West with 2-90 off 18 and Daniel Sams with 2-124 from 26, did best with the ball.
Despite the huge number of runs scored, both days of the 8th and 15th October 2016 were dry and a comfortable 22-24 degrees. But this was not the only match with big scores as the following results of the round, indicate.
Sutherland scored 4d-407 (Chris Williams 183*; Jamie Brown 114) to defeat Campbelltown-Camden 258
Gordon scored 9-407 (Elliot Richtor 130) to defeat University of NSW 157
Hawkesbury made 9d-390 (Joshua Clarke 118) to draw with Blacktown Mounties 8-280
Sydney University scored 1-424 (Greg Mail 179; Nick Larkin 206*) to defeat Manly-Warringah 147
Mosman made 6d-291 in defeating St George 156 & 4-158
Parramatta scored 5d-422 (Nick Bertus 215; Will Affleck 121) to defeat Western Suburbs 283 & 0-52
Eastern Suburbs hit 9-412 (Mark Morley 117) to chase down Bankstown’s 6d-411(Philip Wells 170)
Penrith scored 362 (Jonathon Sammut 123; Giovanni Di Bartolo 119) to defeat UTS North Sydney 345 (Justin Avendano 190)
Sydney 273 defeated Fairfield-Liverpool 176 & 8-166
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