Five things we learned from Round 10 - NSW Premier Cricket 2023-24

Sydney University Cricket Club | December 27, 2023

There’s a top six starting to form

With this frantic season pausing for two weeks to catch its breath over the new year, the top six in First Grade is slowly taking shape. Anyone taking odds on who’ll be there will have closed the book on St George, who have opened the season with nine straight wins. Five Things usually reckons that, to make the finals, a side needs something between 54 and 60 points, which means that St George (on 56) could lose every game between now and March and still have a pretty good chance (although we do not recommend this approach). Saints are followed by Northern District (41), Mosman (37), Manly (33), Penrith (33) and Parramatta (31). But Penrith and Parramatta play each other in the next round, and Gordon (28), Easts (27), Wests (26), Fairfield (25) and Randwick-Petersham (25) will be looking to make up ground on whoever loses that one.

McElduff got the Students back on track

Sydney University’s recent slide looked like continuing when the Students slumped to 3 for 22 at North Sydney Oval. But the Students have found a way to win from tight corners against North Sydney in recent seasons, and Ryan McElduff (88) and Tim Cummins (69) rebuilt the innings with a partnership of 136. Cummins got off the mark with an effortless cover-drive for 4 off James Campbell, and played with the confident aggression that has marked his batting form this season, which is the most consistent of his career. McElduff survived a few anxious moments early in his innings, but quickly grew In confidence, playing his trademark flick off the pads, and hitting a sweetly timed back foot drive for 4 against Nic Bills. He welcomed Everett Oxenham into the attack by thumping the off-spinner over long-off for 6, and cleared the fence again when he swung a short ball from Campbell over backward square. University’s 9 for 262 proved too steep a target for North Sydney, who lost wickets regularly to the spin combination of Devlin Malone and Andrew Hazard. Harrison May, making his First Grade debut for the Students against his old club, struck with only his second ball, when Tim Reynolds chipped a catch to mid-on. May’s attempt to revive the 1980s-style headband is a bold fashion choice but not, we suspect, one that’s likely to catch on.

Ed Pollock went off - pictured

The interesting thing about St George’s unbeaten run is that every week they have a different matchwinner. This time it was Worcestershire batsman Ed Pollock, who made chasing 251 in 50 overs look like a walk in the park, if that walk included bashing everything that came across your path. Pollock drove his first ball, from Connor McKerr, straight for 4, and barely slowed up after that. His innings included a few uncertain swishes, but plenty of fluent drives and a number of shots that defy orthodox description, like his short-arm slog-pull for 6 from Josh Baraba. He greeted seamer Yuva Nishchay with another 6 over midwicket, missed the next two balls, then picked up a full-length ball outside off stump and somehow swept it for six. The introduction of spin didn’t help: Pollock smashed Cameron Frendo over midwicket, too. In all, he hit nine 6s while scoring 116 from 58 balls. At the other end, Kurtis Patterson batted quite beautifully for a run-a-ball 70. No one noticed.

Andrew Ritchie had a good day

Sutherland’s Andrew Ritchie is the kind of player you think of as a hard working, reliable bowler, rather than the guy who runs through a side. On Saturday, he ran through a side. With the very first ball of the match against Blacktown, Ritchie hit the very top of Gus Small’s off stump. He followed that with a leg-side wide to Eknoor Singh, then nipped the next ball back in to hit the top of leg stump. In his second over, he beat and bowled Kunj Changela, and won an appeal for lbw against Puru Gaur with his next ball. At that point he had the absurd figures of 4-2 from 1.4 overs. He ended with a career-best 6-23, and Sutherland walked away with a bonus-point victory.

Fairfield Fourths missed out on a record

Lower grade records are patchy and kind of a mess, so don’t quote us on this, but Five Things is not aware of any time when a grade team has been bowled out for less than 10. 12, sure. 14, often. But less than 10? Not so far as we know. 

Anyway, so Fairfield’s Fourth Grade side missed a unique opportunity to write a new chapter in Premier Cricket history in their match against St George. Chasing 173, they started well enough, taking three runs from the first two overs. They then managed to lose seven wickets while adding just three more runs. There was a run out, then a wicket to the inevitable Steve Wark, and the William Taylor took 5-1 in the space of twenty balls. At that stage, Fairfield was seven down for six runs, and Taylor had a hand in every wicket to fall, executing the run out and holding a catch, as well as taking his own five wickets. Slightly disappointingly, Ethan Muller then whacked ten runs from an over from Wark, and so Fairfield (who reached 52) merely lost heavily, when the chance to do something truly historic was on offer.