Five things we learned from Round 2 - NSW Premier Cricket 2023-24

Sydney University Cricket Club | October 11, 2023

Daniel Sams still hits a long ball

First Grade newcomer Connor O’Riordan made a huge impact for Randwick-Petersham against Campbelltown on Saturday, capturing 4-38 with the ball and contributing 42 vital runs with the bat. On any other day, we’d be talking more about him. But not this time, because Randwick-Petersham, chasing a target of 247, were dead and buried at 5 for 67 before Daniel Sams played an absolutely ridiculous innings. He no longer has a State contract and may not yet be fit to bowl, but he’s certainly good enough and healthy enough to hit the ball a tremendous distance. Sams hammered his way to fifty in only 45 balls, and then went beserk, carving 76 runs from the last 40 balls he faced. He raised his hundred by pulling a perfectly respectable delivery high over midwicket, one of the six sixes he hit, along with twelve fours. Randwick-Petersham romped home with three overs to spare.

Brendon Piggott plays First Grade now (pictured)

It’s taken Brendon Piggott a few seasons to climb through the ranks at Sutherland, but on the back of a solid effort in Second Grade last season, he earned a First Grade debut in Saturday’s 50-over match against Parramatta. He didn’t waste his opportunity. Batting with the more aggressive Tom Doyle and Ben Dwarshuis, Piggott began in a quiet supporting role, showing a neat defence and a fondness for flicking the ball through the on side. But in the last six overs of Sutherland’s innings, he accelerated, helping Dwarshuis to smash 67 runs. Piggott crunched a short ball from Dylan Stanley through square leg for four, then took the attack to Evan Pitt, slapping a four through cover and steering the next ball through point to the fence. He brought up his fifty in the final over, nonchalantly picking up a good length delivery from Michael Sullivan and hoisting it over midwicket for six. The next ball, the last of the innings, was another length ball on off stump, and Piggott flat-batted it over long on for six more. He remained unbeaten on 59 from 57 balls, and Sutherland’s 4 for 239 was just enough to hold off a strong challenge from Parramatta (and Nick Bertus in particular). No matter how many more innings Piggott plays in Firsts, he’ll not forget this one.

Bankstown 1, Fairfield 1

One unanticipated impact of this season’s frenetic draw was that Bankstown and Fairfield-Liverpool played each other twice last weekend: Bankstown won the 50-over game on Saturday, but were upset by their southwestern neighbours in the T20 “eliminator” on Sunday. The main difference between the two games was that Fairfield managed to dismiss Daniel Solway on the Sunday (although he made 57 first) but not on the Saturday (when he hit 137 not out). On Saturday, Bankstown needed six from the last over, and Solway knocked off the runs with three balls to spare. On Sunday, Bankstown needed 22 runs from the last ten balls, with seven wickets standing, but fell in a heap against Josh Baraba, who removed Ethan Deal, Angus Campbell and Solway in the space of only four deliveries. Luke Ohrynowsky would be perfectly happy playing Bankstown every week: he hit 50 from 71 on Saturday and 87 from 51 on Sunday. This weekend, just for a change, Bankstown and Fairfield each play someone different.

Hayden McLean is good at one-day cricket

University of NSW has endured a tough few years off the field, fighting a long battle against an unsympathetic University administration that appears to have no appreciation of the value of sport in a university community. The fact that they fight on, and continue to punch above their weight, is a testament to the spirit in the club. Which is embodied by Hayden McLean, who continues to help the Bees to win games that appear to be lost. On Sunday, in the T20 elimination final, his 2-6 from three overs helped to restrict Mosman to 8 for 114. Elijah Eales and Jake Turner then reduced the Bees to 7 for 65, at which point 50 runs were needed from 47 balls. But McLean turned the game, whacking 15 runs from the 16th over, bowled by Angus Parsons, and guiding his side to victory with an over to spare. If anything, McLean was even more impressive on Saturday, when he bowled his fast-mediums so accurately that he captured 4-19 against Wests, including the big wickets of Josh Clarke and James Psarakis, a remarkable effort in a losing team.

Old club, new teams

Sydney University Cricket Club celebrates its 160th birthday this season (which is also the 170th anniversary of the first match played by a Sydney University team). But the club broke new ground on Saturday when, for the first time, it fielded four teams in the Women’s Premier Cricket competition. 

There was once a Sydney University team that competed in the old Women’s First Grade competition – Ann Mitchell, the NSW bowler who became President of the International Women’s Cricket Council, was probably its best-known player. But that was a separate club, formed under the auspices of the old Women’s Sports Union, and it folded at the end of the 1978-79 season. Players from Sydney University and University of NSW later combined to form the Universities Women’s Cricket Club, but that club also disbanded last year. All of which has led to four new teams joining Sydney’s oldest club, with Alex Blackwell in charge as coach and Phoebe Litchfield as the star recruit. The new First Grade team went down to a strong Manly side on Sunday, largely due to a bright innings from Saskia Horley and some excellent bowling from Ebony Hoskin, but University’s Frankie Nicklin produced the best cricket of the day, hammering 65 from only 33 balls with 12 fours and a six. Nicklin, who’s still only 18, played once for NSW last season and is clearly a player to watch.