From the Vault: 2020 PG Shield Preliminary Final vs Gordon
UTS North Sydney District Cricket Club | November 27, 2024
The baby Bears turned up to Chatswood Oval full of energy and keen to get on the field, while it appeared that their opposition were hoping for more rain.
The ground looked wet and the covers had accumulated plenty of water from overnight showers. This led to a delay in the start of proceedings. With the covers finally removed, the pitch looked hard and dry, but light rain threatened to derail our campaign and the covers were returned. Once the rain finally stopped (again), the umpires reduced the game to 44 overs per side and scheduled the start of play for 12:15. Gordon won the toss and elected to bat.
Chris Savage opened the bowling from the housing commission end with five dots before being hit for six from the final ball of his over by Jamie Bekis. Fletcher May was given the new ball from the city end. Bekis was also looking for a boundary from the final ball of May’s over, hitting the ball hard over the head of mid-wicket. Enter Ben Knox who leaped full stretch and plucked a one handed specky out of the sky to send Bekis on his way for 7 and Gordon were 1/9 off two. It was an outstanding catch and was luckily captured on camera and video for all to enjoy over and over again. It also set the tone for the rest of the lads in the field.
If the field wasn’t buzzing before, it was now, with every half chance for a run being cut off by committed fielding. Knox, Leerdam, James and even Reynolds threw themselves around, sliding and diving to cut off runs. It was the most switched on the PGs team had been all season in the field and it put significant pressure on the batting side. The first six overs went for 18 runs, and although overs 7 and 8 went for 14 runs, the newly appointed captain, Mac Jenkins, stuck strong with his opening quicks and kept them going unchanged. This led to the second wicket for Fletcher May (2/24) in the 12th over of the game, with a nice catch to new keeper James Leary and Gordon were 2/39.
The quicks had done their job and it was now time to turn the screws with our quality spin attack. Jack James bowled in tandem with Mac Jenkins (2/39). Five overs into their respective spells, James had 1/9, taking out the dangerous Barnsley (31) and Jenkins 1/14, knocking over another ex Randy Pete in Josh Claridge thanks to a sharp stumping from Leary. Gordon had slumped to 4/66 from 23 overs. James bowled out, finishing with two maidens 1/24 from his 9 overs, while Jenkins had 1/20 from 7 overs.
Ben Knox and Nuwan Whyte were then introduced into the attack. Knox kept it tight as usual and in his third over claimed the wicket of Nathan Doyle (34), who had played the anchor role of the innings. Although Nuwan (1/18) was hit for a couple of fours, he had the last laugh, claiming a wicket in his fourth over. Knox (2/19) picked up a second wicket with the new batsman holing out to deep mid off and a safe catch by Jack James.
Jenkins returned to take his second wicket in the 41st over with the catch taken by Jordan Vilensky and at 8/133 it looked like the Bears would keep their opposition under 150. However, a misfield and two consecutive sixes promoted the Stags’ score to 8/160 at the close of their innings.
The batting innings started positively with a four in the first over to James Leary. The bowling by the opposition was accurate and kept the scoring to a minimum at times. However, there was no panic as iceman Jack James and his partner in crime James Leary blocked the good balls and punished the bad balls to move the total to 0/38 after 13 overs. After hitting the first six of the innings in the 11th over, in the 16th, Leary (28) took Ryan Meppem for a two and then a four before being stumped, having a crack at another boundary. With the score on 1/47, James was joined by Daniel Leerdam, who had answered the SOS to come up to Sydney to help out with both George Lavelle and Broc Hardy absent for the preliminary final. Leerdam (15) took a few balls to get going, but, when he did, he launched two fours off opposition captain Nathan Doyle to pick up the run rate. James also contributed to the rate increase, launching a bomb onto the roof of the stand and effectively taking Meppem out of the attack, much to the delight of the vocal crowd of supporters.
Leerdam was eventually caught on the fence in the 23rd over and the Bears were 2/76. Jake Hardy was next man in and he immediately got to work knocking the ball around for ones and twos. The pair upped the ante reaching an unbeaten fifty run partnership off 53 balls. James moved into the forties with a second six (that almost took out the Gordon scorer) and a four off Doyle, while Hardy hit fours off all bowlers. Jack’s 50 came up in the 31st over with a delicate dab through the vacant slips. The team 150 came up after 212 balls and with 10 overs left the Bears needed a further 16 runs. It took just 5 more legitimate balls (the bowler bowled 5 no balls and a wide) to win the game with 9 overs to spare with Jake (51*) reaching fifty off just 44 balls in the process thanks an unbeaten 86 run partnership achieved for the 3rd wicket.
The camaraderie and dedication to the team was evident throughout with every player playing their role. The team were well supported by Kobe Allison and Dhruva Thorat – 12th and 13th man respectively. The effort in the field was legendary with every player hunting in or chasing hard to cut off runs. The victory was comprehensive. The bowlers bowled good balls and the batsman executed. The club is extremely excited to see this fine group of young men progress to the final and we wish them every success as they take on a highly credentialed Fairfield Liverpool side in the Grand Final at North Sydney Oval this coming Sunday.
It would be remiss not to give a shout out to the strong contingent of UTS North Sydney supporters who showed up to cheer on the boys. The banter and encouragement of the team throughout the match was amazing and inspired the boys to work even harder for one another. We hope to see you all again next week to support the boys.
Gordon 8/160 (B Knox 2/19, F May 2/24, M Jenkins 2/39) def by UTS North Sydney 2/162 (JN James 52*, J Hardy 51*, J Leary 28)
