SOCIAL GAME CCNSW C&S XI v MASTERS XI AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER 2025: REPORT BY ANDREW BACHELARD

 All great traditions have a beginning. Sometimes the initial event burns so bright and so hot that it is inextricably linked to all future iterations. Sometimes the spark is more muted and is felt through the years more as a flavour or a tint.

So it is with the CCNSW President’s Cup. Some say that it was started with some friendly banter as players moved between the ranks of the Masters and C&S. Some say that it was started when a young C&S player disrespected an elder. Some say that Ian Allmey and Tom Robertson took their personal rivalry when they were captaining the Masters and C&S respectively to the pitch. No-one really seems to know.

Regardless, the flavour of the President’s Cup fixture is distinct. A great sense of intra-club camaraderie, players eligible for both teams, good natured banter, an astonishingly good tea. And a steely resolve to crush the opposition and take the prize. There is also a tint of old buck vs young buck, as if you can faintly hear the echoes of large egos and hard heads crashing into each other down the years.

The thirteenth th edition of the President’s Cup was welcomed by a glorious Sydney spring day. As six of the previous twelve fixtures had been either abandoned or cancelled due to rain, this was a win in itself. Of the 6 completed editions C&S had won four, but Masters had triumphed the previous two years. Jamie Murtha was desperate to regain the Cup for C&S.

Masters skipper Tim Croft, in his first year in the job, won the toss and elected to bat. The rugby boys seemed to have done slightly less than the usual damage to the square and the ground staff had managed to produce a lightly greened and blameless looking surface. Runs were expected from the makeshift Masters team, comprising a mixture of Vintage, Classics and Masters cricketers.

Gerry O’Shea and Joe Scarcella opened up. Unfortunately, neither lasted long. Joe spooning a simple chance to Roman Hughes off Classics cricketer Jason Keane in the 3rd over for 3 and Gerry falling to a sharp caught and bowled by Ezekiel Hughes in the 4th for a duck. 2 – 10 after 4.

This brought Dan Turner and Scott Wells to the crease. With enviable records and a wealth of experience on Camperdown between them, spirits were still high. Some excellent bowling from C&S debutant Tom Barrett and old hand Adam Khamis tightened the screws and then brought the dismissal of Turner, bowled by Khamis for 6; 3 – 23 after 9.

The middle order struggled to right the ship, with continued good bowling and excellent fielding. Layton Gould (2) tried to hit Masters out of trouble but fell to Roman Hughes’ safe hands to give Barrett his second. Bram Tulloch (1) was comfortably run out, after forgetting that some young people still have throwing arms that work. Tim Croft (8) also spooned a simple chance to mid on to give C&S’ second debutant Nathan Austen his first wicket for CCNSW.

At drinks Wells and Craig were not out and the Masters were 6 – 55 and in real trouble.

After drinks Wells continued to his retirement with some glorious cover drives, looking completely at ease – in stark contrast to his team mates.

This brought Andrew “Bach” Bachelard to the crease, who looked anything but at ease, before spooning a slow full toss straight back to Jason Keane in an act that will surely reverberate throughout the season. Bachelard gone for 0, Masters 7 – 79 after 26.

Craig and Luke Holman then batted well to get to 95 before Holman smoked a glance to backward square, set off for a single because he deserved it, and left Craig 3 metres short of his ground. Run ought for 19 – apart from Wells the only “Master” to make it to double figures.

Holman, Sherville “Wes” Hall and Clint Palmer did little additional damage and the final score was Masters 10-100 after 36.2 overs.

On a good Camperdown deck, on a sunny spring day, against an opposition that could run and a fielding team that mostly couldn’t throw, this seemed at least 80 short of par. But it’s a funny old game cricket, you can never tell about a pitch until both teams have batted. Runs on the board are worth their weight in gold. Scoreboard pressure does funny things and it takes two to tango. So, you know, hope springs eternal.

Before then, however, there was a gargantuan tea to contend with. With two home teams and no instructions, there was more food than any of us could eat. We had Crofty’s daughter’s home made sausage rolls, Jas Keane’s trademarked chicken and salad rolls (with a hint of paprika in the mayo). The Hughes clan brought 3 whole roast chickens, 2 of which went home with them. There were enough different types of choc chip cookies that Stu Ridge was opening packets to conduct taste tests. The only thing missing was Andy Davis and his home made sushi.

After tea, the hope in the hearts of the Masters quickly crashed into the reality of some very good shot selection and one bad ball an over. Stuart Ridge and Bach opened up, and sprinkled between some good balls were enough bad ones that the C&S opening pair of Roman Hughes and  Max Sardelic were rattling along at 5 an over and looking very good. Ridge then got one to duck back in to remove Hughes’ off stump, breaking the bail in the process and in the next over Bachelard got one to slide away to catch the outside edge of Sardelic and C&S looked slightly less secure at 2-35 from 7 overs.

It was at this point that Jamie Murtha asked your correspondent whether I thought that Masters would allow C&S to keep batting to 40 overs once they had gone past the total. Whilst the question was a little out of order, it is fair to say that there was a sense that there were simply too few runs on the board to defend.

With the removal of Hughes, R and Sardelic, Karthick Subramaniam and Sam Millar came to the crease. Karthick batted sensibly in keeping the excellent Clinton Palmer out, whilst Millar showed his trademark aggression and straight hitting power.

Karthick couldn’t hold Palmer out indefinitely though and fell caught behind by Scott Wells for 7 (3 – 54 after 11 overs). This was just reward for some excellent bowling from Clinton Palmer, who at that stage was 1 – 4 from his 3 overs. Millar finally fell for 34, after batting beautifully with 6 boundaries (4-69 after 15 overs), lbw to Sherville “Wes” Hall’s in his first over. Tom Barrett went for 7 (5 – 76 in the 17th) with a very sharp catch behind from Crofty’s fast ball. Despite the regular fall of wickets, there was a certain inevitably about proceedings at this point.

When Soren Hughes (7) holed out to Scarcella on the deep mid-wicket boundary off Hall on the stroke of drinks it was 6 – 87 after 20 and there was a tiny spark of hope in the more optimistic Master’s chests.

Immediately after the break, Nathan Austen extinguished all of those hopes by ruthlessly crashing Dave Craig for 9 off the 21st, including a massive six into the fig tree. The next over Bram Tulloch regained some control, giving up only one single. But in the next over Austen rounded out a very successful C&S debut by launching Dave into the fig tree again to take the win.

In the end a very comprehensive victory for C&S. Set up by good early bowling and excellent fielding they restricted Masters to a well below par 100. Despite some good patches of bowling, particularly from Palmer (4-2-4-1) and Hall (3-0-10-2) and a steady fall of wickets, Masters were never really in the hunt.

So the young bucks have regained the President’s Cup. But at the presentation, Crofty’s eyes gleamed with the burning desire to retake it. Bring on next year

The C&S Team regain the President’s Cup for the first time since the 2017-2018 season

The C&S Team was (playing 12) – Roman Hughes 15, Max Sardelic 11, Karthick Subramaniam 7, Sam Millar 34, Nathan Austen 21*, Thomas Barrett 7, Soren Hughes 7, Ezekiel Hughes 0*, Jamie Murtha (c) dnb, Declan Thomas (w) dnb,  Adam Khamis dnb, Jason Keane dnb,

The Masters Team was (playing 13): – Gerard O’Shea 0, Joseph Scarcella (Snr) 3,Dan Turner 6, Scott Wells (w) 40*, Layton Gould 2, Bram Tulloch 1, Tim Croft  (c) 8, Andrew Bachelard 0, David Craig 19, Luke Holman 8 , Sherville Hall 2, Stuart Ridge dnb and Clinton Palmer dnb

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W. Masters XIII: 10- 100 (36.2 Overs) (S. Wells 40*)

Lost to

C.C.N.S.W. C&S XII: 6-103 (22.1 Overs) (S. Millar 34)

By 4 wickets.

C&S FoW: – 1-26 (Roman Hughes); 2-26 (M. Sardelic); 3-54 (K. Subramaniam); 4-64 (S. Millar); 5-76 (T. Barrett); 6-87 (Soren Hughes).

Masters FoW: – 1-4 (J. Scarcella Snr.); 2-6 (G. O’Shea); 3-23 (D. Turner); 4-26 (L. Gould); 5-29 (B. Tulloch); 6-45 (T. Croft); 7-79 (A. Bachelard); 8-95 (D. Craig); 9-100 (L. Holman); 10-100 (S. Hall).

The C&S Bowling was: – J. Keane 7-1-15-2; Ezekiel Hughes 6.2-2-15-2; T. Barrett 7-1-13-2; A. Khamis 7-2-14-1; N. Austen 5-0-12-1; Roman Hughes 1-0-6-0 ; Soren Hughes 3-1-15-0

The C&S Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – Two to both Roman Hughes and J. Keane;one to both Ezekiel Hughes and M. Sardelic

Run outs: Two: – One to Roman Hughes and one to N. Austen

The Masters Bowling was: – S. Ridge 4-0-20-1; A. Bachelard 3-0-15-1; J. Scarcella (Snr) 2-0-15-0; C. Palmer 4-2-4-1; T. Croft 4-0-23-1; S. Hall 3-0-10-2; B. Tulloch 1-0-1-0; D. Craig 1.1-0-15-0

The Masters Fielding was:-

Stumpings: – None

Catches: Four – Three to S. Wells (w); one to J. Scarcella (Sr)

Run outs: – None