October Reports: UTS North Sydney Grades 3-5
UTS North Sydney District Cricket Club | November 10, 2024
UTS North Sydney had a mixed start across the lower grades to kick off 2024/25. Here are the match reports from the opening month of the season.
Third Grade
Round 1 vs Bankstown
James Edwards
First game of the year for the Bears, looking to kickstart our season with a win playing away at Kelso against a reasonably strong Bankstown side. After winning the toss and electing to field, the boys were fired up to start the year strong, well supported by 3rd-grade debutant Angus Miller and North Sydney debutant Lachlan Spencer. After a slow start in the opening overs, Lachlan Spencer (2-53) and Vrushab Kumar (3-46) broke open the important opening and middle-order partnerships. Yet, a few excellent innings and some clean hitting at the death took Bankstown to a formidable total of 300, a score well above par but not out of sight for some bears looking to score their first runs of the season.
Unfortunately, after losing 4 quick wickets for a measly 23 runs, our situation seemed hopeful. Despite this, our captain Robin Broom's sublime and much-needed innings reignited some optimism in the dugout, smashing an incredible 102 off 79 balls, including 10x4s and 5x6s, keeping our hopes of 6 points in the picture. However, the task was too big to tackle, needing more than 8 runs per over for 25 overs, resulting in losing our inspiring skipper and, ultimately, the game. A cautious but futile partnership by Henry Lester and James Edwards at the end prevented Bankstown from taking home a bonus point, scoring 24* to take us marginally over 200 runs in a frustrating loss.
Definitely not the start to the season that we dreamed of, but certainly some genuine positives to take away from it going into our second game against Gordon.
Round 2 vs Gordon
Nuwan Whyte
The Bears approached round 2 with a few personnel changes and everything to prove against our local rivals.
Skipper Robin Broom won the toss and batted on a flat and dry wicket. Despite losing Naman Batish and Aidan Thomas early, Dilraj Singh powered through, consolidating on a brisk start to reach his 50. Dylan Johnson was ably supported with some proactive batting through the middle. The Bears were unfortunate to lose both of these set batters. However, despite some handy hitting from Vrushabh Kumar, we could not stop a collapse. Hope was still retained with a fair score of 193 to defend; however, it would require a sizeable effort.
Jaden Sequeira and Sol Balbi made a strong start with the ball, challenging the batsmen and proving unlucky not to squeeze an early wicket. Besides some half chances and thick edges over the slips, there wasn't too much to give the North Sydney faithful something to cheer about. Gordon batted aggressively and passed our total after 40 overs with 6 wickets in hand.
Plenty of lessons learnt in a tough day at the office for 3rd Grade - some encouraging signs will give the bears something to build on for the season ahead.
Robin Broom scored a century for 3s in RD 1.
Fourth Grade
Shiv Vohra
Round 1 vs Bankstown
The young Bears won the toss and elected to bowl, and while taking early wickets up top, the Bankstown tail wagged, getting them to 8-237. Vohra was the pick of the bowlers with 3-42, and the rest shared one wicket each. In reply, the Bears struggled to maintain long partnerships with starts from Austin, Sharma, and Weerakoon. However, frequent wickets throughout the innings made the chase difficult, losing 9 to the Bankstown spinners. The Bears came up 90 runs short, being bowled out for 147 against a better side on the day.
Round 2 vs Gordon
The Bears were sent in to bat first and got the ball rolling nicely with handy partnerships at the top of the order. Ben Champion made a mature 50, with Jack Mannix going alongside him to make 46. Some other contributions around them earned the Bears a competitive total of 232. With the ball in hand, the Bears struggled to break the opening partnership, but when they did, the wickets came constantly. Barber was the pick of the bowlers, with 3-47, and Lester, Miller, and Austin were all picking up 2 each. Gordon could only muster up 178 before being bowled out, handing the Bears their first win of the season by 54 runs.
Round 4 vs Easts
The Bears came into this round 4 clash against Easts after devastatingly falling short in the run chase the previous round. Because of this, skipper Shiv was determined to bat on what looked to be another fine Tunks wicket. However, this was not the case, as the clouds brought rain and some problematic batting conditions with them, with the Bears finding themselves at 3/31 following debutant Adam Thomas being strangled down the leg side. Nonetheless, the boys dug in and fought, with several batters getting started, including Liam, Ben, and Ravi, all in their 20s.
The tail contributed their fair share to get us to a respectable 180. With the rain looming and 10 overs still left to be bowled on day 1, the boys were keen to take a couple with them. And that is precisely what happened with Ravi taking 2 wickets in 2 balls to leave Easts at 2/12 off 10 overs. Coming into day 2, the boys were very optimistic, and that continued well into the first session after tearing through the opposition, leaving them at 4/19 early in the day. However, it wasn't meant to be, as the East's middle order stood up, and the wicket flattened, resulting in a first-innings loss.
Fifth Grade
Alex MacGill
RD1 v Bankstown (Grahame Thomas)
5th Grade commenced their season at Grahame Thomas with a new skipper in MacGill and six players making their Grade Debuts for the club (Geyer, Hasan, Longworth, Malhotra, McCarthy, Nizamuddin). Having elected to field first, Malhotra and MacGill set the tone early before Ravi Adabala delivered a masterclass in limited-over spin bowling. A class above his opponents, he finished his spell with 2/12. Sakkarwal and Chari chipped in with crucial breakthroughs, while the fielding effort was sharp, claiming two run outs. Despite letting Bankstown recover from 8/82 to 9/156, the team was happy with their efforts on a batting-friendly wicket.
Opener Liam McCarthy showed glimpses of his high ceiling, scoring a brisk and assured 27 before being dismissed. Longworth came and went quickly, departing for 19 before Chris Lloyd joined the other opener, MacGill, at the crease, seeking to get the job done themselves. Whilst this wasn't the case, when Lloyd departed for 24, the UTS total was 3/121. Unfortunately, MacGill's departure for 47 was followed by more late wickets, passing the target of 157 with four wickets to spare, making the result seem much closer than it was.
RD2 v Gordon (Beauchamp Park)
Electing to bowl first again, 5th Grade had a mixed day with the ball. There was little forgiveness for wayward bowling on a small ground with a great batting deck. Savage, Sahni, and Sharma kept things relatively tight early. However, wickets were missing. Nizamuddin proved the key and got us back into the game with two crucial wickets, holding his nerve despite a costly first two overs. Again, Adabala showed great control and threat, recording 1/30 off his 10 overs. Some poor fielding and tired bowling allowed Gordon to reach 248 off their 50.
In response, MacGill departed early for 16. McCarthy (56) looked to push on with Geyer, bringing the score to 2-92. However, both departed with Sharma, leaving us 5/131, needing 118 off 123. Ravi Adabala (48) and Shanaq Hasan (46) then sought to demonstrate their prowess, exploiting gaps and using the crease exceptionally against the spinners, putting together a run-a-ball 85-run partnership. Unfortunately, they fell in quick succession as part of a 4/5 collapse. A late Savage boundary allowed us to dream; however, the last wicket fell - Malhotra ran out, but there were still 14 runs adrift.
RD3 v Penrith (Rance Oval)
The skipper, MacGill, elected to bat first on a hard surface that looked like a chance of crumbling later. After a circumspect start, MacGill looked to get things going in the tenth over, hitting two boundaries; however, they retired hurt. McCarthy continued his excellent form, digging in alongside the middle order, scoring 53, to ensure a 200+ total was on the cards. Longworth and Sakkarwal both batted well, scoring 34 and 29, respectively, helping to push our final score up to 201.
On debut, Vivek Jain put us on top early, capturing two wickets in two balls, leaving Penrith 2/18. After a near 100-run partnership, MacGill brought himself on and immediately took the breakthrough wicket, trapping their opener LBW. This was the first 5/25 collapse, led by Nizamuddin's 4/41 off his ten overs. With Penrith teetering at 7/136, it was our game to lose before the 8th, falling for 156, which looked like the beginning of the end. Despite this, Penrith did not go down without a fight; on 8/188, it was game on. Karan Sharma took a crucial wicket to break the partnership before nerves set in when the opposition cracked 190. Fortunately, Eesa Omar took the final wicket, caught behind, to seal a tight and exhilarating win.
RD4 v Eastern Suburbs (Snape Park)
Losing the toss on a docile-looking pitch, wickets were hard to come by. Apart from a couple of 50/50 run-out calls and a shot that cleared backward square by less than a metre, their openers gave us very little. The captain brought himself on to snag the breakthrough for the second game running. MacGill picked up three more before Nizamuddin chipped in with one for himself to leave Easts 5/119 at the break. Whilst some light rain forced the conclusion of wrist-spin bowling for the day, wickets continued to fall regularly, leaving us with a target of 168 runs to win.
A wicket late on day one left UTS 1/16 overnight before night watchman Aksh Patel and regular number three Tom Geyer demonstrated great application, batting for over 100 balls each. When they had both been dismissed, the score was 3/62. We were firm favourites with a powerful middle-to-lower order to follow and time on our side. Unfortunately, frenetic energy arrived; two poor run-outs and a loose shot flipped the game upside down. Despite more fantastic rear guard action from Hasan and Sharma and stumps approaching, the final result was a 25-run loss.
