Category Archives: Match Reports

C&S

WEEK TWENTY FIVE: SATURDAY 25 MARCH 2023

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C&S ROUND 18 v BEAVERS AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SATURDAY 25 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY JAMES MURTHA

Back Row: – Gerald O’Shea, Jonathan Shaw, Mike Weaver (w), Adam Durant, James Murtha (c), Matt Edge
Bottom row: – Adam Khamis, Matt Leong, Soren Hughes, Tom Robertson, Ed Robertson, Ian Robertson.

The season’s final C&S game on lively Camperdown pitch unfortunately cut short by rain.

We turned up to Camperdown oval with grey skies overhead, some players inspected the rather soft wicket, others practiced on the outfield and a few groups chatted amongst themselves. Beavers won the toss and elected to bat, a good toss to lose Jamie  Murtha thought.

Ian Robertson took the new ball from the Australia Street end, and ‘Jonno’ Shaw from the Rotunda end. Line and length was a slight issue early on as Beavers pounced on anything wide and started strong with 20 runs off the first 4 overs. Ian and Jonno took control and tightened the run rate up in the second halves of their spell, both bowled well in the end without any luck going their way.

Soren Hughes(“Sooz”) replaced Ian and struck in his second over, with their best batter misjudging the slower bounce off the pitch and chipping one to Ian at mid-off. Soon after the teams took drinks with Beavers at 1-78.

Jonno completed his spell and was replaced by Matt Edge who despite a couple of loose balls made good use of the conditions and nabbed two important wickets, the first wicket produced by a yorker, bowled. And the second to remove ‘Mr. GoPro’ which was a long hop down leg side hit straight to Jamie at short square leg who took the catch on the second attempt, no doubt that footage will be erased!

Jamie Murtha replaced Sooz and bowled his spell of 7 overs straight, using cutters to good effect. He had the ball rise sharply off a length, unplayable for the batters who at this point were really struggling to score. During this spell Ed Robertson contributed with an excellent direct hit run-out from mid-wicket that began a Beavers collapse!

With a queue of bowlers eager to make sure of the conditions, the ball was thrown to Adam Khamis, his leggies troubled the batters considerably. Adam took two in two and found himself bowling an excellent hat-trick ball which was fortuitously negotiated by the tail-ender. No matter, Adam struck again soon after ripping a leggie that passed the opposition captain and Weaves was quick to whip the bails off.

Matt Leong bowled  2 overs at the death and was unlucky not to get a wicket with a ball that sliced away from Jamie Murtha clipping his fingertips behind point. The innings was wrapped up off the last ball, the batters tried to take two runs with a shot through cover and Ed Robertson  fired a great throw into the keepers gloves, Mike Weaver made it look easy as he whipped the bails off.

With Beavers all out for 138 in 35 overs, the teams retired to the sheds for a quick drink and changeover. 

Requiring 139 to win, once again, the Tom (Robertson) and Gerry (O’Shea) show got underway. Batting conditions were extremely challenging as the light deteriorated and rain appeared imminent.  Both batters were forced to concentrate against one particularly decent bowler from the Australia Street end, Tom and Gerry were struck on the pads multiple times but the ball was doing far too much and fading light made it difficult to judge for everyone.

At the 14 over mark the rain started to come down and Tom’s luck ran out, hit on the pads one too many times. Matt Edge who was umpiring, decided and up went the finger. At that moment the skippers decided the rain was too heavy to continue and players departed from the field.

There would be no more play that day, after 30 minutes the teams agreed to shake hands and call it a draw, (despite Duckworth-Lewis having CCNSW ahead by 9 runs).(Ed note: There are no provisions in C&S social games to use any method of determining a commenced but subsequently  rained off match. In Jack Pace Shield games they use average run rate))

After a solid hour’s work returning the kit and covers beneath the Rotunda (NB: Careful to anyone who opens our gate!! It’s jammed in there) the guys went down the road to the Lady Hampshire for a few pints and to reflect on some highlights and enjoyable moments from the season.

Great work and thank you to each of the 50 C&S players this season, there were plenty of positives to take away and I am looking forward to seeing you next season where we will no doubt improve on some of this year’s JPS matches!

The Team was (playing 12): – Tom Robertson 36 (50 balls), Gerald O’Shea 13* (35 balls), Edward Robertson dnb, Mike Weaver dnb, Adam Khamis dnb, James Murtha dnb, Soren Hughes dnb, Adam Durant, dnb, Matt Edge dnb, Matt Leong dnb, Jonathan Shaw dnb,  Ian Robertson dnb

The Result was: –

Beavers CC: – 10-138 (35 overs) (A. Khamis 3-18) (NB Beavers only had 10 players)

Drew with

C.C.N.S.W.: – 1-50 (14.4 overs) (T. Robertson 36)

Because of rain

FoW: – 1- 50 (T. Robertson)

The Bowling was: – Ian Robertson 4-0-15-0; J. Shaw 7-1-34-0; S. Hughes 5-0-18-1; J. Murtha 7-0-15-1, M. Leong 2-0-15-0; M. Edge 5-0-19-2; A Khamis 5-0-16-3

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – One to M. Weaver

Catches: – Two to A, Khamis; one each to M. Edge, J. Murtha and Ian Robertson

Run outs: -Two: – one to Ian Robertson; one to Ed Robertson (asst. M Weaver (w))

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to A. Khamis; 2 points to M. Edge; one point to M. Weaver

C&S, Social

WEEK TWENTY FOUR: WEDNESDAY 15-SATURDAY 18 MARCH 2023

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SOCIAL GAME  v XXIX CLUB AT THE ALBERT GROUND, ST KILDA, MELBOURNE ON WEDNESDAY 1 5 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY GREG BROOKS

Back row: Soren Hughes, Joe Scarcella, Greg Brooks (c), Stuart Ridge, Garry James, Bill Blair.
Front row: Mark Henwood, Jim Hadley, Stuart Stockdale, Tom Robertson, Jake Rothnie (w).

One of the highlight fixtures of the season resumed Wednesday 15th March in Melbourne after a 2 year Covid induced hiatus.

What was most pleasing was the appetite of club members to get to Melbourne and enjoy all that the XXIX Club provide. With Victorian CCNSW  member Bill Blair moving his work schedule to play for the club,  Victorian CCNSW member Stuart Stockdale putting up his hand to play  and Victorian CCNSW  member Steve Kish arranging a young wicket keeper, the other 8 club members all made the trip from Sydney.Indeed your President along with Stu Ridge, Joe Scarcella and Garry James drove to Melbourne including a 2 night farm stay outside of Cootamundra along the way to  further build team spirit! 

On to the game.

As there was only one scorer I have asked for the details of the book to be shared but it has not arrived yet so some of the details are missing…yes I should have taken a photo!

The  Albert Ground in St Kilda is the first grade oval for the Melbourne Cricket Club. The MCC play in the Premier Cricket competition which is the highest level grade cricket in the city.

The oval is in magnificent condition with a carpet like out field and a well grassed square even this late in the season.Along with perfect autumn weather the day was well set up. The XXIX club kindly provided two grade umpires, a scorer and large electronic scorebook showing  the good, the bad and the ugly. We lost the toss and were sent in with young wicket keeper/ batter Jake Rothnie paired with Tom Robertson.Tom clipped the first ball off his pads for 4 and then was plumb LBW the second ball ! Not the start we were looking for! Jim and Soren came and went quickly leaving Bill Blair and Jake to rebuild.And rebuild they did with a fine partnership at a good clip. We reached 3/70 from 11 overs before Bill fell for a well made 20 odd.Jake is a fine young player and produced a solid innings of 74 with three sixes and several boundaries as the total moved past 120.From here on we failed to kick on and were eventually all out for 152.

Following a short break we opened our attack with Stu Ridge and Bill Blair who both bowled accurately against quality opening bats. With the score past 50 Soren Hughes gained the breakthrough and followed it up with another shortly after. Garry James bowled a good spell from the tennis court end and was rewarded with a wicket as the XXIXs approached our total.

While it was a tough ask to defend a small total against a strong side on a good batting deck and fast outfield, we stuck at our task and everyone fielded really well.

After the presentations and short speeches we enjoyed good food, cold beer and quality courtesy of the wine writer Jeremy Oliver with our hosts and plenty of stories from both sides.

While not the result we had hoped for all players agreed it was a terrific day out in Melbourne.We look forward to hosting the XXIX club next season in Sydney and returning the hospitality shown to us.

Greg Brooks

President.

The Team was (in batting order): – T.Robertson, J.Rothnie, S.Hughes, J.Hadley, B.Blair, S.Stockdale, G.Brooks, J.Scarcella, G.James, M.Henwood, S.Ridge.

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W.: –  10/152 ( overs) 

Lost to 

MCC XXIX club:- 3/157 (overs)

by 7 wickets.

FoW: – 1- (); 2- (); 3- (); 4- (). 5- (); 6- (); 7- (); 8- (); 9-  (); 10- ().

The Bowling was: – 

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – 

Catches: –

Run outs: – 

C&S ROUND 17 v THE PRIMARY CLUB OF AUSTRALIA AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SATURDAY 1 8 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY JAMES MURTHA

There was a real buzz of excitement around the ground for the CCNSW vs PCA grudge match, it’s always competitive! It was a warm day reaching approx. 32 degrees. PCA skipper Damien  Langley (former CCNSW member) won the toss and elected to bat on a rather flat looking wicket.

Soren Hughes and ‘Jonno’ Shaw bowled extremely well early, PCA were 10 overs in for as many runs when the first wicket fell: ‘C .Brown out lbw to J. Shaw’. There was a collective groan and a loud call from Tom Robertson:“Why’d you get him out, knucklehead!?” followed by a few laughs.

Our bowlers continued to threaten in the first session without much luck as the PCA batters were happy to deal in dots and singles. We were on top at drinks with the score around 1-50, on a pitch that wasn’t offering a lot for our seamers.

After drinks, Aaditya Mahata was brought on from the Rotunda End and had an immediate impact. The pitch complemented his left arm finger spin as he took 3 wickets in his tidy spell. Jamie Murtha building good pressure at the other end and bowling full at the stumps was hard to get away early on.

PCA knew they had to get a move on and started playing some risky shots, balls were flying around the park and falling everywhere except the fielders’ hands for a while!

Paul Nash and Jim Hadley grabbed three important wickets and looked good, but one over of slogging and good fortune for the batters boosted their total significantly in the last 10 overs. Adam Khamis chipped in with an important wicket too which likely saved a couple of runs.

The catches that were taken on the day were particularly challenging with a lot of power behind them, but regular boundaries and naked aggression saw the PCA batters score a very competitive 8-184 off their 35 overs.

The team gathered in the shed for a 10 minute change over and much needed drink!

The Tom (Robertson) and Gerry (O’Shea) show got underway and threatened to provide us with another solid start. Gerry took on a risky single which required a direct hit, unfortunately for him there was a direct hit! Tom was clearly rattled after the loss of his opening partner and was bowled for 15 trying to hit a yorker out of the park. Nash copped a good ball and ended up on the wrong side of a 50/50 lbw decision, not a good start to the chase with CCNSW 3-37 after 9.

Jamie Murtha and Harry Bridge dug in for a while trying to ensure there were no further wickets lost, both played some nice shots as the afternoon sun started to bite, they made it to drinks with the team score on 3-71.

After drinks the pair came out positively and moved the score onto 94 before both losing concentration and getting out caught in consecutive balls.

Soren Hughes fell soon after to a ball that slowed off the pitch while Aaditya  Mahata in his second game for the club was at the other end and took on the bowling with a rapid 29; it would take a good catch on the fence to remove him, but that’s exactly what happened.

Mike Weaver started out positively, and hit a nice boundary behind square, but unfortunately tried to work an offside ball to the leg side and was bowled through the gate taking the score to 8-145 with 5 overs remaining.

It was a tough task to win from here, but the team still had a lot of belief with Jim Hadley and ‘Jonno’ Shaw at the crease, Jonno was happy to rotate the strike while Jim looked in superb touch. Shot of the day went to Jim, slapping one off the back foot over the pavilion for 6, the pair scored at around 7 an over and brought the equation down to 10 runs off the last over. Jim looked to take the bowler downtown and middled a lovely straight drive only to be outdone by the bowler who stuck his hand in the path of the ball which regrettably stuck. 

Mike Pinter (“Punter”) the last man played and missed, and an eager Jonno called him through for a single, but the keeper’s throw was on target and again regrettably Punter was run out at the non striker’s end to end the match 7 runs short.

 A disappointing loss for the team in blue who believed the entire time a win was possible. A little more discipline from the top/middle order could have seen the result go in our favor, but credit to PCA who fielded well and took any chances that came their way. In any case, some positives could still be taken away from the match and we will go into the next one a better team for it!

Spirits were still high at the end of the match and both clubs shared a drink together and discussed highlights from the match overlooking the beautiful Camperdown oval under a gold and orange sky.

The Team was (playing 12): – Tom Robertson 15, Gerald O’Shea 4, Paul Nash 5, Jamie Murtha 34, Harry Bridge 25, Aaditya Mahata 29, Soren Hughes 1, Michael Weaver (w) 9, Jonno Shaw 14*, Jim Hadley (c) 23, Mike Pinter 0, Adam Khamis dnb

The Result was: – 

The Primary Club of Australia: – 8-184 (35 overs) (A. Mahata 3-28)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 10-177 (34.3 overs) (J. Murtha 34)

By 7 runs

FoW: – 1-12 (G. O’Shea); 2-31 (T. Robertson); 3-37 (P. Nash); 4-94 (H. Bridge).5-94 (J. Murtha); 6-102 (S. Hughes); 7-138 (A. Mahata); 8-145 (M. Weaver); 9-177 (J. Hadley); 10-177 (M. Pinter);

The Bowling was: – S. Hughes 7-1-16-0, J. Shaw 7-0-26-1, J. Murtha 7-0-36-0, A. Mahata 7-0-28-3 P. Nash 3-0-23-1, J. Hadley 3-0-39-2, A. Khamis 1-0-10-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – 2 to M. Weaver

Catches: – 2 to A. Mahata and one each to S. Hughes and J. Murtha, 

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to A. Mahata; 2 points to J. Murtha; one point to S. Hughes

C&S, Masters, Vintage

WEEK TWENTY THREE: SATURDAY 11- SUNDAY 12 MARCH 2023

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C&S ROUND 16 v PADDINGTON AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SATURDAY 1 1 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY SOREN HUGHES

Last season when  we played Paddington, or perhaps each time, our batsmen are excited at the prospect of scoring a bunch of runs and the bowlers keen to rack up a few wickets for not many runs and bowling them out cheaply.  It is always ‘a win the toss and bat’ situation and Jamie Murtha- captain on the day-  did not disappoint by winning the toss. Notably the author missed all of this and turned up 40 minutes late thanks to the increasingly unreliable Sydney train services. On arrival someone appeared to have taken over Tom Robertson’s soul and was able to easily flick balls off his legs behind square with confidence. I was informed this had occurred since the start of play and he was 50 odd after 7 overs. Unfortunately that display was soon over with the Tom and Gerry show coming to a close after a century opening partnership with Tom on 79 and Gerry O’Shea  out not long after for 38 (and a near impenetrable defense). Harry Bridge missed out but Declan Thomas (24), Matt Leong (17) and  Sumeet Kudal (30) chipped in with runs. Despite a rather lack-lustre last 3 overs, we made it to 201 from the 35 and most had an opportunity to bat.

Jamie Murtha and Matt Edge opened the bowling for us and Paddington were mostly tied down despite their apparent intent to chase us down. Both Jamie and Matt picked up 2 wickets each for 29  runs after 7 overs  straight by each of them. Soren Hughes and Ed Robertson were first change and after 3 or 4 good overs and a wicket each, a couple of young Paddington batters with ambition took after them, sadly right after one had been  dropped at mid on. Soren won the prize, going for 16 in an over and Ed going for  15. A change of bowlers was required and the slow off spin of Adam Khamis and leg spin of Sumeet Kudal clogged them up and cleaned up whatever was left. Paddington all out for 155 after 30.5 overs. Good on them for coming to Camperdown on a Saturday given the reluctance of so many C&S sides to commit to Saturday games.

Kudos to Sumeet Kudal who has now picked up 6 wickets at an average of 10 and scored 30 runs in one innings in his first two games for CCNSW. 

The Team was: – Tom Robertson 79, Gerald O’Shea 38 , Harry Bridge 0,  Sumeet Kudal 30, Matt Leong (w) 17, Declan Thomas (w) 24, Soren Hughes 7*, Ed Robertson 2, Adam Khamis 0, Jamie  Murtha dnb, Matthew Edge dnb

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W.: – 8-201 (35 overs) (T. Robertson 79; G. O’Shea 38)

Defeated

Paddington CC (playing 10): – All out 155 (30.5 overs)

By 46 runs

FoW: – 1-107 (T. Robertson); 2-107 (H. Bridge); 3-125 (G. O’Shea); 4- 168 (M. Leong). 5-185 (S. Kudal); 6-196 (D. Thomas ); 7-201 (E. Robertson); 8-201 (A. Khamis).

The Bowling was: – J. Murtha 7-0-29-2; M. Edge 7-2-29-2; S. Hughes 5-1-30-1, E. Robertson 4-0-28-1; A. Khamis 4-0-14-1; S. Kudal 3.5-0-21-2

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – One to M. Leong

Catches: – Two to M. Leong (w)

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to T. Robertson; 2 points to G. O’Shea; one point to M. Edge

MASTERS ROUND 11  v RYDE/HUNTERS HILL ‘PIRATES’ AT BORONIA PARK, RYDE ON SUNDAY 12 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY ANDREW DADSWELL

Round 11 saw CCNSW and Ryde Pirates play off for sixth   spot on the ladder. The word on the street suggested Boronia Park would be a tricky wicket and with that in mind the captain won the toss and batted first because, well, why not…Match highlight here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEdh9X18K9E  

Showing boundless versatility, David Craig was promoted to open the batting and took to the task with zest. In perhaps his last game of Masters – surely not, but it seems the Vintage crew have him on their recruitment list for 2023-24 – David looked solid in defence before his bat grew a few inches and he went big to a ball that popped off a length to be caught behind. This foreshadowed how the pitch would play for the next few hours.

With David Craig dismissed, the other opener Rob Lawther went about his work with some nicely timed cut shots and some trademark pulls to the boundary. In one over he advanced to the spinner and lofted him for a thumping boundary over mid-off, but in the next he tried the same tactic only to be smartly stumped for a well-made 24 runs.

The Masters are known for their top order runs this season and much faith was placed in the likes of Dan Turner, Jason Kenn and Paul Nash who have all had excellent seasons. However, Dan Turner was adjudged lbw, Jason Kenn’s defence was broken by a slider and Paul Nash was caught out on the pull. 5 for 50 in the 11th over and it looked a little dodgy.

Enter Scott Wells.

Whilst most other batters throughout the day struggled to find their timing by virtue of the challenging conditions, Wells latched on to anything remotely full and hit a series of lofted drives for 4s and 6s to retire at 40* in no time at all.

After Dadswell came and went the momentum was maintained by gun recruit Matt Johnston. He continued his good start for the Club my amassing 38 well-made runs and extracted a heavy toll against the spinners. Matt was out to a sharp caught and bowled.

Mick Tarrant was another strong contributor and made an important 24 with support from Ben Stanic and Dave Abreu to get the total past 160. Passers-by could be forgiven for mistaking Mick for a janitor with all the sweeping he was doing.

Wells returned from retirement in the dying overs only to be run out in what might be controversial circumstances as the bowler first knocked off the bails before removing the stump with ball in hand to effect the run out, or did he?

CCNSW made 10-169 which we thought was 20 over par given the conditions. Still, we left some runs out there by being bowled out in the 37thover.

The Pirates put on sandwiches and chocolate crowns for afternoon tea which proved a hit.

In defence of our total, the early overs were dominated by accurate bowling from Ben Stanic and Tarrant, as usual. Ben has been consistently good all season and was unlucky not to get an early wicket. However, in the sixth over he got the first breakthrough, albeit via a direct hit run out from backward square. Great intent shown there.

Three balls later and Mick Tarrant found Bailey’s edge to get him out for a duck – a huge moment because the dude can bat. This wouldn’t be Mick’s last big moment in this game.

Dave Abreu came on first change and as usual bowled a mix of swingers and cutters and troubled the batters without reward whilst Matt Johnston started shakily before hitting his groove and getting three middle order wickets. Matt is tough to play and gets extra bounce which combined with some outswing is a great asset. His spell, combined with his 38 runs would earn him 3 player of the season points. But like Mick, Matt would also have a say towards the end of the match.

Dadswell and Nash bowled to their plans and kept things tight in the latter overs. Nash grabbing a wicket caught behind. With four overs to go the Pirates needed 41 runs to win. Stanic came back and bowled tight lines, getting an lbw along the way. But it was all set up for a dramatic final over.

With 23 needed off 6 balls it was surely in the bag. Mick Tarrant wasn’t too bothered at the start of the over until Grace decided to go 4,4,2 off the first three balls. Now with 13 still needed off 3 balls we were still looking solid and when Mick bowled a nice yorker that was squeezed to the leg side everyone drew a sigh of relief, that’s everyone except Matt Johnston who saw a chance for a run out and went for it. Let’s just say they scored 5 off that delivery and now needed 8 off 2 to win.

Next ball was another attempted yorker but this time Sheddan got under it and scooped it to the leg side boundary for 6! Game on. 2 to win. 1 to tie.

To have a bet each way, the skipper kept the field unchanged. The infielders were ready to pounce. The outfielders were focused. But none of them were needed. Tarrant bowled wide of the off stump and got the swing-and-miss he was after, allowing keeper Lawther to run in and take out the stumps to get the run out and the win.

So, for the Masters the season ended the way it started, with a last ball victory. We seem to know how to win the close ones, just.

The Pirates put on some beers and were great hosts. Post-match we headed to the HHH (Hunters Hill Hotel) and celebrated a successful season, winning 6 of 8 matches played. Jason Kenn gets the prize for best story at the pub.

The Team was: – Rob Lawther (w) 24, David Craig 5, Dan Turner 6, Jason Kenn 4, Paul Nash 1, Scott Wells 40,  Andrew Dadswell (c) 7, Matthew Johnston 38, Michael Tarrant 24, Benjamin Stanic 8, David Abreu 7*

The Result was: –

CCNSW 10-169: – (37 overs) (S. Wells 40; M. Johnston 38)

Defeated

Ryde/Hunters Hill Pirates: – 9-168 (40 overs)

By one run

FoW: – 1-30 (D. Craig); 2-36 (R. Lawther); 3-36 (D. Turner); 4-40 (J. Kenn); 5-50 (P. Nash); 6-98 (A. Dadswell); 7-143 (M. Johnston); 8-158 (M. Tarrant); 9-162 (B. Stanic); 10-169 (S. Wells).

The Bowling was: – B. Stanic 9-0-31-1; M. Tarrant 9-2-37-1; M. Johnston 7-0-35-3; D. Abreu 5-1-21-0; A. Dadswell 6-0-21-0; P. Nash  4-1-20-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 4 to R. Lawther (w)

Run outs: – Three: -One to D. Turner; one to B. Stanic and one to R. Lawther (w) 

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to M. Johnston; 2 points to S. Wells; one point to M. Tarrant

See: – https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/masters-summer-202223/masters/game-centre/cfaef661

VINTAGE ROUND 11 v NORTHERN STARS AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 1 2 MARCH 2023

CCNSW won by forfeit and also won the Premiership; Table below

Sydney Masters Cricket Association – Sydney Vintage Over 60s

League Table 2022-2023

 
 TEAMPWLN/RBONUS POINTSPOINTS
   1CCNSW11920157.40352.4
   2Lindfield11821157.05344.0
   3Sri Lanka11830144.25339.2
   4Cyclones1173142.70307.7
   5Southern Highlands11521134.15298.1
   6Northern Stars11713  84.20264.2
   7Ashfield  DLS Old Boys11362117.00217.0
   8Hunter11252109.45209.4
   9Burwood11372103.05203.0
 10Castle Hill11380123.40191.4
 11Roseville11172  96.20178.2
 12Georges River11282  95.80155.8

SOCIAL GAME (VINTAGE DOUBLE WICKET IN LIEU OF FORFEIT FROM NORTHERN STARS FOR LAST GAME OF THE SEASON) AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, ON SUNDAY 12 MARCH 2023 : REPORT BY PETER ROLLS 

TEAMS FOR CCNSW VINTAGE DOUBLE WICKET SUNDAY 12 MARCH 2023
Back Row: Jim Hadley, David Wilkinson (guest), Frank Baliotis, Gerard O’Shea, Graham McDonald, Ashok Peiris (guest wk/1), Ajoy Roy.
Front Row: Craig McKenzie (wk/2), Peter Rolls, Michael Carman, Paul Georgiadis.
Absent: Daniel Pellen

Even though the forfeit by Northern Stars (who could only raise 6 players) all but guaranteed us the premiership, it would have been nice to play them for the last game of the Vintage season. We received 40 points for the forfeit so it meant to beat us, second place Lindfield needed to get 278 runs in 40 overs then bowl out third place Central Coast for under 20 overs ie. a miracle needed for a win with huge bonus points…which didn’t eventuate.

So it was decided with so many keen Vintage players still eager for a game, to have a game amongst ourselves.

The Rules:

Six teams of two for a total of 12 players. Each team bats for 4 overs against another team who bowls 2 overs each. Minus 3 runs for a wicket. No LBWs. Eight fielders including the two bowlers. Next game two batsmen padded up as the two umpires. Two rounds of three games then a final if time permitting.

Perfect conditions for cricket with 24°C and a nice breeze. Camperdown oval looking its best for the season and a new pitch prepared that was dry and hard as a goats head. Even a couple dozen spectators to see us in our glory.

Thanks to Ashok Peiris who was going to fill in as keeper (against Northern Stars) for John Finucane who was in India watching the fourth and last test India v Australia (booked before our Vintage season). Ashok plays in a local Sri Lankan comp and has helped us out a couple of seasons ago (a recruit thanks to Sittampalam Ragavan (better known as ‘Raga’). Even though we had a forfeit, Ashok was still keen to play and did a fine job behind the stumps with a sharp catch and an easy stumping in this throw-the-bat competition.

Craig McKenzie (better known as “Bomber”) was a late inclusion and shared the keeping duties with Ashok. ‘Bomber ‘claimed when he got the late call the day before, that he had nightmares that night about bowling. The rules stated he would have to bowl. Not something he has done for over 30 years! These nightmares were a self-fulfilling prophecy that was to come to pass like a Lancaster squadron over Dresden.

Michael Carman (better known as “Opera”) also helped us out on late notice and sings the praises of the Vintage team for given him the opportunity to perform on the big stage of Camperdown.

David Wilkinson (Peter’s soccer mate) who has played against CCNSW C&S for Hunters Hill Pirates kicked some bowling backside with the bat but produced almost as many ball bombs as Bomber as he too is only a keeper/batsman.

Graham McDonald seized the opportunity to enjoy more social cricket with a different flavor to the Raga XI Social games he has played in previously. Also he enjoyed playing with Jim after a few nets sessions during the season with the Coogee locals.

For Jim Hadley, Frank Baliotis, Gerry O’Shea, Paul Georgiadis, Ajoy Roy and Peter Rolls it was a great to celebrate a fine season with like-minded individuals.

The Teams (selected by Peter Rolls with no correspondence entered into):

Round one:

Gerry O’Shea and  Frank Baliotis vs Jim Hadley and Graham McDonald – Jim Hadley and Graham McDonald  batted first and scored 51. Gerry O’Shea and  Frank Baliotis in reply 31 runs. Jim Hadley taking a liking to Gerry O’Shea with three 6s and Frank 1 x 6. Graham doing a fine job of turning over the strike to Jim who was having a day out with bat and ball.

Ajoy Roy and  Daniel Pellen  vs Paul Georgiadis & Craig McKenzie (“Bomber”) – Ajoy Roy  and Daniel  Pellen batted first and scored 34. Bombs away from Craig McKenzie who manage to get a few to land on the strip and even got a wicket (jubilation!). Paul Georgiadis snared 3 wickets in one over to halt the two big hitters run frenzy. Paul and Craig in reply 28 with both getting out once to make the difference in a nail biter. Daniel Pellen  showing some toe off a 14 step run up but more wayward than a Manly ferry with stalled engines. Craig McKenzie lucky to survive a beamer at his melon then another fully off his gloves onto his check. Luckily no major damage to Craig although Daniel is now having therapy for nightmares too!

Michael Carman  and  Ashok Peiris vs Peter Rolls  and  David Wilkinson – Michael Carman and Ashok Peiris batted first and scored 28. Peter Rolls and David Wilkinson in reply with 42. Michael  bowled tidily but Ashok showing more promise with the ball than Bomber with his ‘offies’ and bowled Peter Rolls with a genuine tweaker! Still not enough wickets to reel in some big hitting, especially from David Wilkinson with four boundaries including a 6.

Round two:

Gerry O’Shea and  Frank Baliotis vs Ajoy Roy and  Daniel Pellen – Gerry O’Shea and Frank Baliotis batted first and scored 17 with Ajoy’s 2 wickets halting their momentum. Ajoy Roy and  Daniel  Pellen replied with  28 and a comfortable win as no outs.

Paul Georgiadis and  Craig McKenzie vs Peter Rolls  and David Wilkinson – Paul Georgiadis and Craig McKenzie batted first and scored a respectable 40 even with 3 outs. Peter Rolls and David  Wilkinson in reply with 70 and taking a very long handle to ‘Bomber’ with 4 x 6s and 3 x 4s. Paul  Georgiadis again very miserly.

Jim Hadley and  Graham McDonald  vs Michael Carman and  Ashok Peiris – Jim Hadley  and  Graham McDonald batted first and scored 47. Michael Carman and Ashok Peiris in reply 22 and having more difficulty with the leg spin of Jim Hadley  than a ballerina on a stage covered in confetti. Graham  McDonald also hard to get away with no boundaries off his bowling or Jim’s.

So the winning teams were (2 wins apiece):

Jim Hadley  and Graham McDonald

Ajoy Roy and Daniel Pellen

Peter Rolls and David Wilkinson

Round 2 finished at 5pm so it was decided early beers was the winner. Then all the “what if’s” came into play to finish an enjoyable competition and afternoon.

Runs per player:

Jim Hadley 45+31=76, Graham McDonald 5+16=21, Gerry O’Shea 12+8=20, Frank Baliotis 16+9=25, Ajoy Roy 9+11=20, Daniel Pellen 20+12=32, Michael Carman 16+5=21, Ashok Peiris 9+11=20, Paul Georgiadis 9+11=20, Craig McKenzie 19+28=47, Peter Rolls 17+25=42, David Wilkinson 23+40=63.

C&S, Classics

WEEK TWENTY TWO: SUNDAY 5 MARCH 2023

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C&S ROUND 15 v BEAVERS AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 5 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY LENNY VOLKOV

As told by Lenny Volkov, who was there. (Ed note: and playing!

Sunday afternoon cricket, what could be better, we ten men of the Cricketers Club assembled to take the covers off, the grass was shorn and itwas humid and still. The air was thick and warm like the remnants of a Macca’s strawberry milkshake that had been left in a late eighties, pale blue  Commodore only to be found after three days of free parking five clicks out of town. 

Beavers had a full eleven Beavers (large rodents, most of whom had English accents and pink hats) so they made us field hoping to gain an advantage before our eleventh turned up. They didn’t and he didn’t. Captain Soren Hughes (“Big Sooz’) and Avinash Bhandari opened the bowling making the breakthrough in the fifth over. Hughes set it up with a well directed bumper followed by a slower ball yorker that left the batter politely asking Hughes what the ball had done. (1-26) Beavers next batter, Mr. J. Shoeffers came out with a ‘GoPro’ strapped to his helmet no doubt to later rub one out over a scratchy looking start interspersed with a few clean shots before Avi got him lbw having changed ends for his second spell. If you are ever invited to J. Shoeffers’ lodge for a home movie night, my advice would be to politely decline. They were 2-72 in the sixteenth over. Avi finishing with 1-31 off his 7 overs; it was time for spin.

Adam Khamis bowled something unplayable to the new bat who had clearly been watching the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rather than being beaten again, he decided to play the reverse sweep. Also lbw, player review would have shown he was fired by his own team mate for stupid shot selection as much as the fact as it was cannoning into middle. 3-77 and Beavers called for an early drinks to help slow down the rot. 

It worked with a handy little partnership but then In his first game for the Club, his first ball even, Bhandari’s mate Sumeet Kudal, making his debut for the Club, struck with his leg spin. He put a very juicy one loose, full and wide and the new batter chased it all the way to me at point. Two balls later he struck again: Gerry O’Shea  pouching it nicely low down. 5-112 in the 24th. Khamis declared it a spinners’ paradise. 

Sumeet Kudal got 2 more wickets both caught by his mate Avi  Bhandari at mid and later  at long on  to have figures  of 4-40 off 5 overs.

Matt Leong who had kept until drinks,  was now unleashed from the shackles of borrowed keeping pads; he bowled with good pace and zero luck beating the bat or the ball ballooning to exactly where Captain Hughes would have had an eleventh  fielder placed. If we had had one!

At is at this point I feel I should mention we were not only a player down but we also had no specialist keeper. Matt Leong kept till drinks. After drinks Mike Beergah kept, playing his first game for the Club for three years, since Perth  in 2020. They worked hard given the conditions and lack of familiarity, but a specialist keeper would have helped.

Young Harry Walsh also in his first game for the Club wasn’t going to be the only leg spinner not getting wickets; he bowled some great nuts, went for a bit of stick coming on late in the day when they were going for quick runs and got two great spinners’ wickets in  one over to finish on 2-23 after 4 overs  plus a dropped catch and one that fell agonizingly short:  could have easily been four wickets for not many.

Captain Big Sooz brought himself back on to finish off the innings with their opening batter finally holing out for 86 to Matt Leong who took a good catch at deep square. Hughes finished with figures of 2-20 and Beavers all out for 182 in the thirty fourth over.

Mike Beergah and I opened the batting. Beergah looked me square in the eye and said “Mind if I take the first one” I did not. He fell to the one bowler that managed to swing the ball for the day for 1 in the third over and we were 1-3. Adam Khamis came out and started swinging just as the ball stopped doing the same and helped himself to 14 of the finest before a rush of blood to the head took out his middle stump. 2-18 now. Gerry O’Shea walked to crease like a man that thinks about his cricket; the bowling was tight and so was our defence. Gerry worked away for 5 before being undone playing one of his usually very dependable cut shots. We were 3-29 in the 14th. Those of you playing at home will have no doubt have done the maths and worked out that not only was I still in, but I hadn’t been scoring at a click either. ‘History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it’, said Churchill. I kept out a lot of very good balls from the openers and found the fielders with frustrating regularity.

Beavers first change bowler was probably the pick of their lot, easily a yard If not more faster than the openers and accurate with a little movement off the pitch to make you worry. He bowled an absolute peach to Harry Walsh who did everything right only to have it find the outside edge for a well placed single between the keeper and first. 3-31 at drinks.

Those assembled around the score book suggested to the skipper it might be time to retire me. As a team player I didn’t really have a problem with that, but nobody said anything further so I hydrated as best as I could in the heat and HW and I strode back to the middle where my sweat dripping, hand-me-down, Sydney Thunder helmet was waiting. Harry was out not long after to the offie for 3 in that typical Camperdown way of a shorter pitched one staying low and finding the stumps at ankle height. Tom Robertson, not opening because of the Volkov/Beergah experiment, came in and opened his account second ball with a four. Captain Big Sooz was now a lot more serious about dragging me, I negotiated as much out of pride than out of stubbornness to hit out or get out this over. A man of my word my next two balls had a strike rate of 50 and I was finally on my way for 11 caught at cover off a nothing ball. “Must be a day for ironic helmets” chirped the Beavers keeper.

Matt Leong came in and got moving including a lovely cover drive that Gerry O’Shea declared shot of the day. He and Robertson put on a 20 run partnership before he fell for 9. 6-64 in the 29th

Now Bhandari joined Robertson in the task of quick scoring (Ed note: CCNSW needed 112 off 6 overs), getting off the mark with a 4 first ball and scoring 12 runs off his first 5 balls received, These two with some power hitting, a never say die attitude and also some great running including a couple of threes, quite heroically almost got us there, putting on 84 runs in a little over 5 overs. Tommy finishing on an unbeaten 50* and Avi on 45*. After 35 overs,  Cricketers’ Club ended 34 runs short at 6-148.

Likely if we had that 11th fielder or held our catches or a specialist keeper or I had negotiated to ‘hit out or get out’ a few over earlier we might have got across the line but it was not to be. We are playing them again in three weeks time; history will not repeat itself.

The Team was (playing 10): – Michael Beergah (w) 1 (9 balls), Lenny Volkov 11 (54 balls), Adam Khamis 14 (28 balls), Gerald O’Shea 5 (15 balls), Harry Walsh 3 (14 balls); Tom Robertson 50* (35 balls), Matt Leong (w) 9 (16 balls), Avi Bhandari 45* (36 balls), Sumeet Kudal dnb, Soren Hughes  (c) dnb 

The Result was: –

Beavers CC: – 10-182 (33.3 overs) (S. Kudal 4-40)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 6-148 (35 overs) (T. Robertson 50*; A. Bhandari 45*)

By 34 runs

FoW: – 1- 2 (M. Beergah); 2-18 (L. Volkov); 3-29 (A Khamis); 4- 42 (H. Walsh); 5-44 (L. Volkov); 6-64 (M. Leong).

The Bowling was: – A. Bhandari 7-0-31-1; S. Hughes 5.3-0-20-2; G. O’Shea 2-0-11-0; A. Khamis 7-1-26-1; M. Leong 3-0-19-0; S. Kudal 5-0-40-4; H. Walsh 4-0-23-2

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 2 to A. Bhandari; one each to M. Leong, G. O’Shea and L. Volkov

Run outs: –   Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to T. Robertson; 2 points to A. Bhandari; one point to S. Kudal

CLASSICS ROUND 11  v WARRINGAH   AT FRANK GRAY OVAL, DEE WHY ON SUNDAY 5 MARCH 2023: REPORT BY SCOTT WELLS

A lovely sunny day greeted us at Weldon Oval home of Warringah CC. The pitch was well grassed with previous ball marks evident from another game so it could have proved quite difficult to bat on.

The match itself was 4th vs 5th on the table with the winner to secure a semi spot in the last game of the regular season. The toss was won by Warringah who elected to bat. From the opening spell with Mike Tarrant and Stuart Ridge, every ball was asking questions of the batters. In the blink of an eye after 10 overs Warringah was on the ropes with Tarrant picking up three plumb lbws with some great outswing and off cutter bowling and Ridge from the other end hitting the right length to secure three very sharp catches to Andrew Dawson (one hander), Paul Nash at Gully and a caught and bowled one hander. Warringah was 6 for 28 after 10 overs.

After that over, Warringah batted and batted and batted defending anything of danger and putting away the loose one plus popping some into gaps where three fielders seemed to converge plus a couple of sharp and one simple catch were put down. This went on for another 20 overs until another wicket fell – 7 for 92. The remaining overs for the openers, Greg Brooks, Andrew Bachelard, Ed Cross and David Craig could not penetrate the Warringah defence. It was only Nash who could find the way through with two clean bowled to leave Warringah on 8 for 152 after their allocated 40 overs. A great comeback by them.

CCNSW went to lunch thinking what just happened – talk about a game of two (uneven) halves. 6 for 28 in the first 10 overs and 2 for 124 in 30 overs.

Perhaps the pitch had demons when the ball was new so it was important to see of the first 10 overs. But with a very solid batting line up and power to burn at the end 150 should be well achievable.

The innings started well with Mike Pinter off to a flier picking off cover drives at will and Dawson at the other end watchful. However in the 4th over Pinter fell to an ‘Akram like’ inswinging yorker and Dawson adjudged lbw almost straight after bringing Nash and Scott Wells to the crease. Both batted watchfully until the 11th over when Wells went for a widish ball catching an outside edge to cover. Nash and Andrew Davis consolidated until the 16th over with Nash caught. Ed Cross then soon followed lbw leaving us in an unfamiliar position with the top order failing for the first time this year. But still plenty of talent with the bat to come. 

Unfortunately we just lost constant wickets giving us no momentum throughout the innings seemingly every 10 runs one wicket or 20 runs two wickets. Our power trio of Tarrant, Brooks and Bachelard then forced to play unfamiliar roles anchoring the innings. A handy partnership at the end between Ridge and Craig got us to 120. This score at the start was unthinkable but in the end we seemingly overachieved getting to 120.

It was our day then not our day – It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

In all we had a very good side and had a very good season with most importantly a great bunch of blokes.

Thanks to all for making it enjoyable.

The Team was: – Andrew Dawson 2, Mike Pinter 10, Paul Nash 22, Scott Wells (c) and (w) 9, Andrew Davis 29. Ed Cross 0, Greg Brooks 5, Mike Tarrant 10, Andrew Bachelard 2, David Craig 9, Stuart  Ridge 8*

The Result was: –

Warringah CC: – 8-152 (40 overs) (S. Ridge 3-25; M. Tarrant 3-26)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 10-120 (34.3 overs)

By 32 runs

FoW: – 1-15 (M. Pinter); 2- 22 (A. Dawson); 3-44 (S. Wells); 4-55 (P Nash). 5-64 (E. Cross); 6-80 (G. Brooks); 7-93 (M. Tarrant); 8-97 (A. Davis); 9-99 (A. Bachelard); 10-120 (D. Craig).

The Bowling was: – S. Ridge 9-0-25-3; M. Tarrant 9-3-26-3; G. Brooks 5-1-13-0; A. Bachelard 6-0-30-0; E. Cross 1-0-11-0; D. Craig 5-1-26-0; P. Nash 5-2-17-2

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One to each of A. Dawson, P. Nash and S. Ridge

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to S. Ridge; 2 points to M. Tarrant; one point to A. Davis.

See: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/classics-summer-202223/classics/game-centre/7a3968ff

C&S, LMS, Masters, Social, Vintage

WEEK TWENTY ONE : WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY-THURSDAY 2  MARCH 2023

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LMS T20 (8-a-SIDE) EASTERN SYDNEY MIDWEEK DIVISION 2  ROUND 14 v ‘JOHNNY CASH MEMORIAL’ AT MP 5 ROBERTSON ROAD, MOORE  PARK ON WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2023 

Cancelled by rain

C&S ROUND 14A v YARALLA  AT GODDARD OVAL, CONCORD ON SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2023

Pitch unable to be prepared by groundsman because of rain the previous Thursday

C&S ROUND 14B v REG BARTLEY XI AT REG BARTLEY OVAL, RUSHCUTTER BAY ON SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY JAMIE MURTHA

It was a stunning late February day for our match against the RBXI at their home ground in Rushcutters Bay. As you turn down Waratah Street you see the picturesque oval, lush green grass surrounded by a cream picket fence, with large trees scattered around the perimeter, a similar feeling to Camperdown. On the North side of the ground is Sydney harbour, home to hundreds of sail boats floating there in the still deep blue water.

It was a warm afternoon, as the teams got ready, the captains tossed a coin, falling against CCNSW this time and we were sent into field.

James Murtha took the new ball from the Paddington end, the conditions produce some inswing in the first over, but the assertive opener looking to capitalise on anything slightly short managed to start well getting a few runs on the board. Andy Durant took the new ball from the harbour end and delivered a quality maiden over, beating the bat a couple of times. In his second over, Murtha found his line and length removing the opener with a sharp cutter that hit the batsman in front (playing on the back foot), after a long appeal the umpires fingers went up! 1 down.

Durant kept toiling and bowled economically without luck, his bowling suited the conditions and made the batters very uncomfortable! A quick change from the Paddington, Toby Forbes too made good use of the conditions, bowling short of a length; the batters couldn’t find their timing on the back foot as Mick McGrath prevented any opportunity for runs at cover.

Henry Davis the leg spinner on debut replaced Durant and was unlucky not to take a wicket, several balls in his 3 over spell going either side or just short of the fielders. A double change at around 1-60 after 14 overs:  McGrath bowled from the harbour end and Rhys Longbottom from the Paddington end. Both produced exceptional spells. Longbottom was fast, full, and providing real problems for the batters. McGrath was superbly accurate in his spell of 6 overs 1-6, including the critical wicket setting up RBXI’s No.3 batter in his first over, getting one to nip away and take the edge, with  Declan Thomas taking a great catch with the gloves moving to his right.

With the end of the innings approaching, Aaditya Mahata, Luke Holman and Toby Forbes bowled well, creating half chances, it was a good contest, with the batters continuing to tick the scoreboard over. Longbottom returned to bowl the final over of the innings with devastating effect. 2 wickets and a run-out from cover by McGrath assisted by Thomas behind the stumps,  to restrict the score to 8-132.

— Innings Break —

As we know, anything above 130 is a tough score to chase at this ground, made tougher by being effectively one down as a result of losing previous John McDonald Medal recipient Forbes to work commitments. 
Our openers Michael Carman and James Bonkowski went out to get us underway. The opening spells were tight. Our first run didn’t come until the fourth over, ‘Bonkers’ with a tidy flick of the legs for one; unfortunately he fell only two overs later to a sharp return catch by the bowler. 6 overs 1-5.

Rhys Longbottom was positive from the outset  but was forced to run ones and twos against his natural game due to the long boundaries, Carman was solid in  defence at the other end. Longbottom’s luck ran out after being struck right in front moving across the crease for 16. 13 overs 2-32. Followed shortly after by Carman, caught for 15 and Holman caught for 1 (another excellent return catch.) 

We were reeling at 4-45. Henry Davis dug in to try and stabilise the innings, while debutant Aaditya Mahata counter attacked effectively from the other end. He too was forced to run ones and twos but did manage to hit three particularly clean fours towards the square leg boundary. The pitch unfortunately had his number when a mistimed pull shot was skied and comfortably taken, out for an attractive 30. Declan Thomas was dismissed without troubling the scorers. It took a good catch, hit hard and flat. 6-70 after 25.

Henry Davis was out for 10 trying to pick up the scoring; he got decent hold of a pull shot in front of square straight to the fielder. Durant and McGrath boxed the ball around with good intent. They put pressure back on the bowling with a quick-fire 20 run partnership. Durant felt hard done by to be adjudged lbw for 12. Perhaps he got a tickle on it? Few could corroborate his feeling on the day.

Murtha was the last batter in, and solidly negotiated the final ball of the over back down the pitch to the bowler. The equation was 21 runs to win off 12 balls, McGrath on strike loaded up for the big pull shot, which had been a feature of his innings so far, but unfortunately picked out the man right on the boundary, out for 21 and closing out the innings. Murtha stranded on 0* entertained with a tongue in cheek request to bat alone, smiles all round.

Despite the outcome a good time was had by all at the beautiful Reg Bartley oval, the game was played in excellent spirit against a good side. Post-match underneath an orange sky the teams shook hands and shared beers and recollections of the enjoyable match and the hopes for even more fixtures in the future.

The Team was: – Michael Carman 15, James Bonkowski 1, Rhys Longbottom 16, Luke Holman 1, Henry Davis 10, Aaditya Mahata 30, Declan Thomas (w) 0, Mick McGrath 21, Adam Durant 12, Jamie Murtha (c) 0* Toby Forbes absent

The Result was: 

Reg Bartley XI: – 8-134 (35 overs) (R. Longbottom 3-18)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – All out 112 (33.1 overs) (A. Mahata 30)

By 22 runs

FoW: – 1-4 (J. Bonkowski); 2- 32 (R. Longbottom); 3-38 (M. Carman); 4-43 (L. Holman).5-93 (A. Mahata); 6-93 (D. Thomas); 7-105 (H. Davis); 8-108 (A. Durant ).; 9-112 (M. McGrath); 

The Bowling was: – J. Murtha 3-0-19-1, A.  Durant 6-1-25-0, M.  McGrath 6-3-6-1, H. Davis 3-1-13-0, A.  Mahata 3-0-20-0, R. Longbottom 7-2-18-3, T.  Forbes 5-1-24-1,  L. Holman 2-0-11-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 2 to D. Thomas (w) and one to A. Durant

Run outs: – One to M. McGrath

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to M. McGrath; 2 points to R. Longbottom; one point to D. Thomas

MASTERS ROUND 10  v LINDFIELD   AT CAMPERDOWN PARK, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY ROB LAWTHER

Another hot humid day at Camperdown Park. No one was looking forward to running around in the heat so Andy Dadswell winning the toss and electing to bat was well received by all. Lindfield only had 9 players (including one child filling in) so we agreed to lend them a fielder. A late withdrawal due to illness from CCNSW meant it was 10 v 10 in the field – game on. 

The opening partnership of Rob Lawther (16) and Ed Cross (14) was steady if relatively uneventful. The pitch was a bit slow with the odd ball keeping low, with batsmen wary of going on the back foot. Eventually both openers were removed lbw (both adamant it was sliding down leg, obviously), bringing Dan Turner and Paul Nash to the crease. Some solid batting brought us to 2-80 at drinks – a “solid platform” as described by the skipper.

From there Nash and Turner continued their great partnership, accelerating the scoring and each retiring at 40* in style. Dadswell had a swashbuckling innings, featuring some lovely drives over cover, finally undone being bowled for 39 going for one big shot too many. Some big hitting by Michael Johnston in the final overs saw him to a quick-fire 21* not out, and brought the team to a very respectable 5-215 off our 40 overs.

After a few too many ‘twisties’ and ‘choccy bikkies’ it was time to take the field. Ben Stanic and David Abreu opened the bowling knowing we needed a good start to apply some pressure to the Lindfield openers. They did just that, keeping the runs down and watching the required run rate slowly creep up. Abreu got one of the openers to play across the line and pinned him lbw (smashing middle, obviously). Stanic then had the perfect set up the next over – first a long hop which was smashed for four through midwicket. Then a length ball just outside off which was back-foot cover driven with ferocity to the pickets. Finally one just short of a length that didn’t get up and cannoned into the base of middle stump. Classic.

With the Lindfield openers gone and the run rate going up, some great tight bowling from Jose Poothokaren and Johnston meant Lindfield were never in the hunt. Pick of the bowlers was Poothokaren with 3-11 off 6 including a one-handed ‘speccy’ by the keeper, rob Lawther diving to take an under-edge that wouldn’t have carried to first slip. Special mention also for Johnston’s miserly spell of 1-4 off 6, including some of the best long (and lone!) lbw appeals you’ve ever hear. Eventually Lindfield limped to be all out for 74 after 32 overs.

Thanks to Lindfield for a good day of cricket played in the right spirit, and good work to the CCNSW boys on a good win.

The Team was (playing 10): – Rob Lawther (w) 16, Ed Cross 14, Dan Turner 40* ret not out, Paul Nash 41* ret not out, Sanjeet Bhandari 1, Andrew Dadswell 39, Michael Johnston 21*, Jose Poothokaren 4, David Abreu 6*, Ben Stanic dnb, Peter Constantinou dnb (absent ill)

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W.: – 5-215 (40 overs) (P. Nash 41* ret not out; D Turner 40* ret not out; A. Dadswell 39)

Defeated

Lindfield CC: – All out 74 (9 players) (32 overs) (J. Poothokaren 3-11)

By 141 runs

FoW: – 1-26 (E. Cross); 2-37 (R. Lawther) 3-111 (S. Bhandari); 4-191 (A. Dadswell); 5-195 (J. Poothokaren).

The Bowling was: – B. Stanic 6-1-22-1; D. Abreu 6-1-21-1; M. Johnston 6-2-4-1; J. Poothokaren 6-0-11-3, E. Cross 4-0-8-0, A. Dadswell 4-1-4-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – One to R. Lawther

Catches: – One to R. Lawther (w)

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to A. Dadswell; 2 points to P. Nash; one point to D. Turner

See:–www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/masters-summer-202223/masters/game-centre/02d9be0e

VINTAGE ROUND 9  v  CENTRAL COAST AT ROGERS PARK OVAL No 1, WOY WOY ON SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY PETER ROLLS

A performance for the ages by the Prez!

A hot 32°C and humid day with plenty of sunshine and only a slight breeze. No rain in sight or forecast.

A top of the table clash with the Central Coast only a couple of points behind us and only two losses like us and two teams in third and fourth place only a few points further behind.

The pitch was well grassed but a bit soft in patches where there was no grass after 40mm rain mid-week. Phone calls were made by Central Coast reassuring us that the wicket would be ready and covered the night before but they failed to inform the groundsman. No covers but luckily no rain overnight and the groundsman had an hour to prepare. Luckily there was a game played on the same wicket on the Saturday so it did have some preparation on the Friday. Even though the wicket looked dodgier than a vindaloo left out in the sun, the groundsman said 200 runs were scored on the Saturday and with the current stifling heat and humidity the decision to bat was made after winning the toss.

It was apparent after a few overs that this was going to be a difficult wicket to bat on and we were to be told,  half way through the game by a local, that 100 runs is a good score in 40 overs and typical of many Vintage games here. CC took advantage of the seam and slow bounce by bowling on a good length and letting the ball do the work. As nothing was coming off the bat we had to work the singles and the thick kikuyu outfield meant aerial was the only way to get boundaries.

The CC fielding was sublime when Frank Baliotis (2) smashing a rare loose ball hard to mid-on and was snapped up.1-2 off 3 overs. There followed a bizarre run out of John Finucane (4) initially turning back  for a second run after his good aerial shot over mid-on but then  deciding not to go, His bat appeared to get stuck in the grass, while he was trying to slide it into the crease. 2-16 off 10 overs.

CC’s fine fielding continued with finger tips scraping the grass diving forward to get Gerry O’Shea (16) cutting a short ball that popped on him. 3-26 off 16 overs. 

Peter Rolls (10) and Greg Brooks were starting to get some momentum when Peter flicked a ball hard off his pads towards mid-wicket when the 70 yr old CC  Captain Grieg Buscombe stuck his right hand out at full stretch at short mid-wicket for it to stick. 4-50 off 25 overs.

Mick McCormick  (0) tried to go aerial too early off a ball that bounced slowly off the pitch which meant his off drive went straight up in the air and was  caught. 5-57 off 26 overs.

Greg Brooks threw his quality willow at anything slightly full or short for five boundaries including a mighty 6 and soon retired not out at 30. A much needed one in the bank with smart aerial play on this “tennis ball” bounce wicket.

Mel Lucas (0) replaced Greg and had no choice but to throw the bat as soon as he entered the fray with only 11 overs remaining in a fine show of team spirit. A good cut shot but straight to point who held it. 6-71 off 29 overs.

Ajoy Roy(4) in his first game for 12 months (after having long Covid and other health issues) looked in command until a poor umpiring decision had him caught behind hitting the ground with an attempted drive. Even Garry James at the non-striker’s end,  saw a 4 inch gap between the bat and ball as it went past the outside edge. 7-76 off 32 overs.

Garry James (17) had combined well with Greg Brooks, then Ajoy Roy and then Stuart Ridge until he got one of the occasional massive off cutters that skittled his stumps. 8-92 off 37 overs.

Paul Georgiadis (0) was a gracious team man again (like against Southern Highlands) in throwing his bat at the onset and was bowled off the second ball he faced. 9-92 off 37 overs. Paul’s great team spirit allowed the return of a recycled Greg Brooks for what would be the finest display of big hitting I have ever seen in Vintage cricket. With three overs to go Greg and Stuart ridge put on a show for the last wicket that was cheered every ball. Even when Stuart blocked the last ball of an over he got a cheer as we knew Greg would get to face the next over. Over 38 went for 19 runs; over 39 went for only 3 runs but over 40 went for 18 runs with balls dispatched in all directions for a total of 9-133 and a score with “hope” for our bowlers. Greg 64* (including a further two 6s and four 4s) and Stuart 10*, both unconquered.

At tea, a well earned breather for all from the humidity and then we took the field with a spring in our step with the wicket still doing a bit. CC needing 3.3 per over.

Stuart Ridge  fresh from representing Australia in Overs 60’s ODI tournament in Barbados (and voted the second MVP for the tournament) was on song (even though congested with a cold from the flight back) and picked up our first wicket in his second over courtesy of a stunning reflex one handed catch at first slip by Greg Brooks when the ball was edged between keeper and first slip. 1-6 off 3 overs.

Paul Georgiadis opened at the other end and bowled a good line and length except for the odd short ball which CC pounced on as they knew they would get nothing from Stuart who took our second wicket in his fourth over bowling their number 3 with an in-swinger. 2-18 off 7 overs.

Both Stuart and Paul bowled only 4 of their max 7 overs due to the humidity and saving them for later. Greg Brooks replaced Stuart Ridge and kept it tight with a great line and length and Garry James  came on after Paul Georgiadis to great effect with two wickets in his first over (one bowled and one caught Ridge at cover). Wickets 3 and 4 for 33 off 10 overs.

Garry James then bowled their dangerous swinging left handed opener on 20 with an ‘offie’ he pushed through quicker. 5-40 off 14 overs.

Greg Brook’s fine spell was rewarded in his fifth over with an lbw. 6-48 off 17 overs. He was rewarded again in his sixth and seventh overs with a wicket in each (bowled middle peg and caught by a superb outstretched one handed grab from a snick by keeper John Finucane). 8-57 off 21 overs.

Then in the next 12 overs, a partnership developed between their numbers 6 and 10. Our fielders were throwing their bodies around like Greco-Roman wrestlers (which is not easy at our age) but Frank Baliotis, Gerard O’Shea and Mel Lucas saved many runs with their acrobatics. This CC partnership got them to 100 in the thirty third over by smart cricket just waiting for the odd loose ball from Mick McCormick, Gerard O’Shea and Ajoy Roy  who all put in sterling efforts under tense pressure. Even Stuart Ridge came back for one over to try to get a break through. Hopes were fading with only 35 runs required off 7 overs. (5 per over).

Enter partnership breaker Paul Georgiadis and in his second returning over, he had their number 10 hole out to Stuart Ridge at mid-wicket with a good and important catch. 9-100 off 33 overs.

The CC number 11 could also hold a bat and was feeding the strike to their number 6 who had reached 30 but continued batting as the last wicket was in. Over 34 went for 5 runs; over 35 went for 3; over 36 went for 5.

Stuart Ridge returned for over 37 and on his second ball CC number 6 made a strong cut shot that flew behind square.  Greg Brooks fielding at deep fly slip, launched like NASA, diving to his right to take a spectacular one handed catch to win us the game. Euphoria erupted from the team with hugs to Greg, lifting him off the ground which is some feat for this massive man.

A win by 18 runs but it felt like a win by one run so the beers went down well with Greg the stand out man of the match winner with 64* not out, 3 wickets and 2 excellent catches to get a bottle of red he knows his wife will love. (Ed note: Greg is a teetotaler) An individual performance I have not seen before in Vintage cricket but still also ten other players that all contributed in different ways to make this a special team effort. 

A tough final match against Northern Stars on Sunday 12 March to finish the season. Let’s hope we can all put in a big effort to finish on a high to stay on top with what has already been a special season of good sportsmanship and fun camaraderie.

The Team was: –  Frank Baliotis 2, Gerard O’Shea 16, John Finucane (w) 4 , Peter  Rolls (c) 10, Greg Brooks 64*, Mick McCormick 0, Garry James 17, Mel Lucas 0, Ajoy Roy 4, Stuart Ridge 10*, Paul Georgiadis 0

The Result was: 

C.C.N.S.W.: – 9-133 (40 overs) (G. Brooks 64*)

Defeated

Central Coast: – 10-115 (37.2 overs) (S Ridge 3-8; G. James 3-9; G. Brooks 3-21)

By 18 runs

FoW: – 1-2 (F. Baliotis); 2-16 (J. Finucane); 3-26 (G. O’Shea); 4-50 (P. Rolls); 5-57 (M. McCormick); 6-72 (M. Lucas); 7-76 (A. Roy); 8-92 (G. James); 9-92 (P. Georgiadis).

The Bowling was: – S. Ridge 5.2-1-8-3; P. Georgiadis 7-0-33-1; G. Brooks 7-1-21-3; G. James 7-3-6-3; G. O’Shea 5-0-15-0; M. McCormick 2-0-14-0; A. Roy 4-0-14-0

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 2 to G. Brooks; 2 to S. Ridge and one to J. Finucane (w)

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to G. Brooks; 2 points to S. Ridge; one point to G. James

See: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/vintage-summer-202223/vintage/game-centre/f8494563

SOCIAL GAME v VICTORIA BARRACKS XI AT VICTORIA BARRACKS, OXFORD STREET  ON THURSDAY 2 MARCH 2023 

Game cancelled by Army as ground not available; being used for other military purposes.

C&S, Classics

WEEK TWENTY : WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY-SUNDAY 19  FEBRUARY 2023

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LMS T20 (8-a-SIDE) EASTERN SYDNEY MIDWEEK DIVISION 2  ROUND 14 v ‘CLEVELAND SEAMERS’ AT MP 6 ROBERTSON ROAD, MOORE  PARK ON WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY CHARLIE SHARPE

Steve Sheakey 54* off 16 balls and Rob Shone (4) opened the batting on a small ground. The Cleveland Seamers bowling was unable to trouble any of our batters on the day and stand-out performances were Steve Sheakey, Joel Uddstrom with 52* off 22 balls,  debutant Matt Shean also with 52* off 25 balls and finally Dan May with 28* off 8 balls!‘ Some really powerful hitting from all of them. Myself I was struggling with the bat (demonstrated by the lowest strike rate of any of the establish batters with 46* off 31 balls). 

Defending 1-234 we were pretty confident going in to bowl, and Steve Sheakey the acting captain gave everyone a go with the ball. Their opening batter was their stand-out performer and yet with 30 balls remaining they still needed over 70 runs to chase down the total. At this time there was some controversy as their retired bat Gaurav Runwal came back in before his turn and before their number 8 batter had come in. Without going into detail, without that controversy CCNSW would probably have won the game, but congratulations go to Gaurav Runwal with 78* off 23 balls and Kris Baptiste with 40* off 14 balls for performing very well with the bat at the end.

(Editor’s note:  Still it may well have cost us a place in the Finals as we are now very unlikely to overtake the No 4 team with only one round remaining.)

The Team was: – Steven Sheakey (c) 54*, Rod Shone 4, Matt Shean 52*, Charles Sharpe 46*, Joel Uddstrom (w) 52*, Dan May 28*, Craig Fordham dnb, Matthew Edge dnb

The Result was:- 

CCNSW: – 1-234 (20 overs) (S. Sheakey 54*; J. Uddstrom 52*; S. Williams 52*; C. Sharpe 46*)

Lost to

Cleveland Seamers: – 3-237 (19.1 overs) 

By 5 wickets

The Bowling was: – M. Edge 4-0-55-0; R. Shone 4-0-50-1; M. Shean 3-0-33-0; S. Sheakey 3-0-26-1, C. Sharpe 2.1-0-20-0, C. Fordham 2-0-39-0, D. May 1-0-12-0

The Fielding was:-

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 2 to M Shean

Run outs: – One to C. Fordham

Player points: – 3 points to S. Sheakey; 2 points to J. Uddstrom; 1 point to M. Shean

See: https://www.lastmanstands.com/leagues/scorecard/1st-innings?fixtureid=370868

C&S ROUND 13 v BALMAIN-SOUTH  SYDNEY RANGERS  AT ALAN DAVIDSON  OVAL, ST PETERS ON SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY HARRY BRIDGE

An ominously cloudy morning gave way to open skies as players arrived at a lush and springy Alan Davidson oval. Neither team remembered stumps and Mike Weaver made a dash back to Camperdown to save the day; however Rangers also arrived without a scorebook so we made do with one. Fortunately it was a match where the scorebook did not require detailed scrutiny. The uncovered wicket had held up well in the overnight rain but had enough juice in it for our skipper, Jim Hadley to not hesitate in  opting to bowl. 

Rangers started slowly as runs were not easy on the thick heavy outfield against solid bowling. Soon one opener was caught at mid off trying to clear the infield, and a few others perplexingly fell playing all around full tosses and being bowled; their eagerness to score off the rare loose balls undoubtedly being their undoing. A 40 run middle order partnership between their No. 5 “Dano” with 35 runs and No. 6 “Jono” with  13 , steadied Ranger’s innings but was eventually broken when they tried to up the run rate. A well hit drive to long on was taken by Harry Bridge (narrator) stretching left simply hoping to stop a boundary and somehow holding the catch. A few overs later another firmly hit but much easier lofted drive was also taken by Bridge. Another two potential catches also came to deep mid on but Bridge was content with taking their two established batsmen which stymied Ranger’s run rate restricting them to 5-109 in an innings which appeared to have been cut short by the scorers at 34 overs.

Tom Robertson and Gerard O’Shea opened in reply with their usual complimentary styles: O’Shea working the ball around nicely for a series of twos and Robertson’s aggressive stroke play yielding a quick-fire 21 and bringing the target, and the local brewery, into focus. O’Shea fell in their spinner’s first over driving a ball which turned sharply and edged to first slip. Bridge and Weaver then took us to around 2-60 at drinks with the game in their grip almost as firmly as the Indians in Delhi as Australia haplessly swept their way to defeat on the iPad setup in the clubhouse. After drinks Weaver took a similarly aggressive approach to counter the Ranger’s spinner, who was turning it both ways but struggling with his length. Runs steadily accumulated as Bridge (41*) and Weaver (27*) compiled an unbeaten  75 run partnership, offering a handful of sharp catches but surviving. Bridge brought us home with consecutive pulls to the boundary off Ranger’s spinner to end the game early and continue our City and Suburban team’s impressive form  in 2023, in which it has not lost a C&S game (though it is fair to say a largely C&S based team did lose a non C&S social game in Canberra v Molonglo  in the last over). 

The Team was: – Tom Robertson 21, Gerard O’Shea 11, Harry Bridge 41*, Mike Weaver (w) 27*, Soren Hughes dnb, Toby Forbes dnb, Jim Hadley (c) dnb, Matt Edge dnb, Matt Leong dnb, Luke Holman dnb and   R.  McMahon dnb 

The Result was:- 

Balmain-South Sydney Rangers CC: – 7-109 (34 overs) 

Lost to

C.C.N.S.W.: – 2-113 ( overs) (H. Bridge 41*)

By 8 wickets

FoW: – 1- 28 (T. Robertson); 2- 38 (G. O’Shea)

The Bowling was: – S. Hughes 4-1-12-1, T. Forbes 7-1-15-1, M. Leong 4-0-16-1, M. Edge 9-1-28-2, L. Holman 6-0-31-1; and R. McMahon 4-1-9-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – Two to H. Bridge and one to M. Edge

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to H. Bridge; 2 points to G. O’Shea; one point to M. Edge

Despite the covers going down (thanks to help from a random local hippy named Tom, and Stuart Ridge arising from his deathbed), the cyclonic winds ensured some Saturday rain got on the pitch. Whilst it was certainly playable, the extra moisture promised to provide plenty of assistance to the bowlers. With our bowling line-up stacked full of Australian and State representatives, Scott Wells took pity on Roseville  and elected to bat first.

A steady start from Andrew Dawson and Ed Cross saw us to 31 without loss before the pitch demons struck in the sixth over. Cross got bowled by one that jagged back and kept low, and the very next ball spat up from a length to take Paul Nash on the glove (unplayable!); Dan Zatz at gully diving forward to take a superb one-hander: 2-31.

New batter Wells was finding it hard to get some tight bowling away, while Dawson cruised smoothly to retire not out at 31* inside 10 overs (including a rare 5 all run with a couple of overthrows – very nearly a 7!).Craig Kitson replaced Dawson and got into the groove with a couple of boundaries, and the score ticked up to 65 before Wells was caught off surprise ring-in ‘Joffra Archer’ lookalike (surely he’s not over 50?). Brett James joined Kitson in a fine partnership, with Kitson (31* ret not out) joining Dawson in the sheds before drinks were taken at 3-88.

David Kent joined James as the fourth  wicket continued to elude Roseville, and James kicked it up a gear, depositing Jom onto the hill and retiring to the sheds for a well-earned rest (32*ret not out). Mike Tarrant joined Kent and immediately began hitting out, but was somewhat frustrated when his drives kept plugging in the fairway bunkers, forcing him to “run ‘em out” on a warm, sticky day. With wickets in hand and three batters in the shed, everyone was swinging for the fences, and Tarrant (9) and Greg Brooks (1) fell in quick succession; 5-130 after 27. Andrew Bachelard  contributed an entertaining 20 with a big 6 and a couple of 4s, and Kent made a well compiled 21. David Craig made 8 before driving one straight to mid-on and inexplicably yelling out a suicidal “yes!” A flurry of hitting and running by the returning Dawson, Kitson and James lifted Roseville’s target to an even 200. With the sandy outfield making boundaries harder than usual, and the deck still offering some assistance, it was a big ask.

Mick Tarrant (6-3-10-3) started proceedings from the Australia Street end, with Stuart Ridge (5-1-14-1) steaming in with the Rotunda behind him. Both were miserly as Roseville stuttered along to just 24 off the opening 11 overs, along the way losing Jom to a superb diving catch (Andy Dawson at midwicket), Zatz & Ewing (lbw) and Harry (caught by Andy Dawson at short cover). Mick Tarrant was on a hat-trick at one point, and could have had even better figures had Scott W not spilled a dolly (“I couldn’t see it, my gloves got in the way” was a new one to me!). Brett James relieved the ‘flu-struck Ridge and promptly blew away Duncan’s middle peg and Berry’s front pad, leaving Roseville in all sorts of trouble at 6-36 when drinks were taken.

While they came out with more intent in the second half, and managed to get Woods and Mulvaney to a brace of 30*s, they were never in the hunt. Unfortunately wickets were hard to come by in the second half, with only Ed Craig (swinging one through the gate) and Brett James (played on off the last ball) having success. Craig Kitson bowled well without luck, while David Craig served up an assortment of pies before being dragged off. (“They were turning big, though!”). 

Another solid win for CCNSW against a good bunch of blokes, job done, six points and a song!

The Team was (playing 12): – Ed Cross 10, Andrew Dawson 47*, Paul Nash 0, Scott Wells (c) and (w) 4, Craig Kitson 36, Brett James 35*, David Kent 21, Mike Tarrant 9, Greg Brooks 1, Andrew Bachelard 20, David Craig 8, Stuart Ridge dnb

The Result was: 

C.C.N.S.W.: – 9-199 (40 overs) (A. Dawson 47*; B. James 35*)

Defeated

Roseville CC: – 8-126 (40 overs) (M. Tarrant 3-10; B. James 3-18)

By 63 runs

FoW: – 1- 31 (E. Cross); 2- 31 (P. Nash(); 3- 65 (S. Wells); 4-128 (M. Tarrant). 5-130  (G. Brooks); 6-160 (A. Bachelard); 7- 163 (D. Kent); 8-178(D. Craig).; 9-191  (C. Kitson).

The Bowling was: – M. Tarrant 6-2-10-3; S. Ridge 5-1-14-1; B. James 9-2-18-3; A. Bachelard 3-1-7-0; D. Craig 5-1-30-0;   E. Cross 6-1-30-1; C. Kitson 6-1-16-0

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – Two to A. Dawson

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to B. James; 2 points to A. Dawson; one point to M. Tarrant

LMS, Masters, Social, Vintage

WEEK NINETEEN: THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY-SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2023

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LMS T20 (8-a-SIDE) EASTERN SYDNEY MIDWEEK DIVISION 2  ROUND 12 v ‘JOHNNY CASH MEMORIAL’ AT CP 4 BRAZILIAN FIELD , CENTENNIAL  PARK ON THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2023

Cancelled because of rain.

MASTERS  ROUND 9 v  BURWOOD BRIARS  AT RON ROUTLEY OVAL, ROTHWELL PARK, CONCORD ON SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY JASON  KENN  

A glorious albeit a little warm day greeted both teams as Burwood hosted CCNSW at Ron Routley Oval.

CCNSW welcomed 3 debutants Kieren Purnell, Sandeep Bhandari and Matthew (‘Matty J’) Johnston into the team to bolster an already strong CCNSW squad.  Welcome to the Club, gentlemen.

The day started on a winning note, with Andrew Dadswell winning the all important toss and having no hesitation in batting first on a deck that would come to resemble Nagpur by the end of the day’s play.  A new opening combination of Rob Lawther and Kieran Purnell strode to the crease, and started positively with a partnership of 21, until Kieran was trapped in front for 4 by a new ball that didn’t bounce more than a few inches.  Enter an in-form v/c Dan Turner who continued the momentum with Rob scoring freely as both took control on a tricky pitch.  

Rob worked his way to 40*  retired prior to drinks and never gave the opposition a chance with his stylish shots all around the ground, and even ducking a weaving a few head high full tosses. This brought last season’s leading run scorer to the crease Jason Kenn.  Dan and Jason survived some tight stump to stump bowling to go to drinks at 1-79.  On resumption, Jason put one over the fence (because it would be rude not too), before I tried to replicate the same shot, but the pitch demons got the better of me and I was bowled for 9.

Enter another debutant Sandeep Bhandari who joined Dan who continued to look like another retirement looming, before he played and missed for a well earned 31.  Quick wickets fell in succession and we were in trouble before our third debutant Matt Johnston came to the crease for the first time in 18 months after shattering his finger in a club game.  Showing no rust, he joined Sandeep who was also victim to the bounce and trapped lbw for 10.  Mick Tarrant came in at 6-119 in the 29th over and he and ‘Matty J’ regained control of the innings, constantly finding the gaps and the boundary, before Mick hit one straight back to the bowler to be dismissed for 19.  Dave (reverse sweep specialist) Craig joined Matty J (who was running out of puff), and showcased his skills to keep pushing the score past 160 before Matty J was stumped for a well deserved 28.  Ben Stanic pushed the scoreboard to 170 before being run out on the last ball of the innings.  CCNSW headed to the sheds for a well earned drink 9/170 after 40 overs. 

As we sat around and contemplated how to go about defending this total on a pitch on which it was becoming more difficult to score runs, our philosophy was to bowl full and straight, and that’s what our opening pair of Ben Stanic and Mick Tarrant did. The plan worked in Mick’s first over trapping their opener on the pads.  Burwood found scoring tough early on and Ben Stanic struck next helped out by a reflex catch by Dave Craig (who still probably hasn’t seen the ball).  

Runs then flowed at a steady pace for Burwood before a 60 run partnership was broken in the 25th over by a glorious delivery from Jose Poothokaren  to remove their opener for 39 (ouch).

Burwood looked to be gaining the upper hand in the middle stages, but enter our captain, Andy Dadswell who worked his magic to remove their dangerous middle order batter, bowling him around his legs.  A few field changes to try and dry up the singles paid off with a sharp catch at short mid wicket by Jason Kenn to remove their hitter for 27.  The game was in the balance with Burwood needing 24 of 18 balls, as Mick Tarrant came back for his second spell, and changed the game in CCNSW favour, only going for 3 runs in the 38th over.  Tight bowling from Ben Stanic in the 39th over. 15 now needed off 6 balls but Mick Tarrant continued his line and length with 2 wickets in the final over sealing the game for CCNSW.  Mick Tarrant finished with 4-21, Andy Dadswell 3-30 and wickets each to Ben Stanic  and Jose Poothokaren.  

This was a great game to be part of,- tight to the very end, and played in the true spirit of the game.  

The Team was: – Rod Lawther (w) 40* ret not out; Kieren Purnell 4, Dan Turner 31, Jason Kenn 9, Sanjeet Bhandari 11, Andrew Dadswell (c) 5, Jose  Poothokaren 0, Matthew Johnston 28, Michael Tarrant 19, David Craig 7*, Ben Stanic 3

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W.: – 9-170 (40 overs) (R. Lawther 40* ret not out)

Defeated

Burwood Briars CC: – 9-161 (40 overs) (M. Tarrant 4-21)

By 9 runs

FoW: – 1-21 (K. Purnell); 2-83 (J. Kenn); 3-95 (D. Turner;) 4-100 (A. Dadswell); 5-108 (J. Poothokaren),;6-119 (S. Bhandari); 7-153 (M. Tarrant); 8-163 (M. Johnston); 9-170 (B. Stanic).

The Bowling was: – B. Stanic 9-0-38-1; M. Tarrant 9-0-21-4; D. Craig 4-0-17-0; M. Johnston 5-0-24-0; J. Poothokaren 7-0-27-1; A. Dadswell 6-0-30-3

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One to R. Lawther (w); and one to each of D. Craig, J. Kenn and B. Stanic

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to R. Lawther; 2 points to M. Tarrant; one point to M. Johnston

See: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/masters-summer-202223/masters/game-centre/7794ae53

VINTAGE ROUND 9  v SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS  AT CAMPERDOWN PARK, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY GERALD O’SHEA

CCNSW (in white shirts) and Southern Highlands (in blue shirts) in a pre-match barefoot ceremony as recommended by Cricket NSW

After a pre-match barefoot ceremony honouring and showing respect for local Indigenous Country the Vintage side went on to win a thriller at Camperdown Oval last Sunday in a high quality encounter with the strong Southern Highlands side. This victory has taken a few years to come around so spirits are high heading into the last two rounds. Cricketers’ Club won the flip and batted first and after a slowish start (2-8 off 6 overs) against a very accurate bowling attack were soon able to change gear through solid knocks from Joe Scarcella (34*) and Peter Rolls (31). Greg Brooks (30*) then came to the wicket and followed them into the shed with his signature ball striking that accelerated our run rate, taking pressure off instantly. This is what he does. The back end of the innings was fortified by Jim Hadley’s sublime 32* and Sittampalam Ragavan’s (‘Raga’) accompanying 23* giving the Highlanders requiring a fair shot to pass CCNSW total of 8-170.

The Southern Highlands boys started well enough, keeping abreast of the 4.25 run rate but little by little CCNSW’s accurate bowling saw them gain the upper hand. Southern Highlands were 7-150 off 37 overs with 3 overs to go and 21 needed. In the 38th over Hadley  only conceded  2 runs and a wicket and in the 39th over Brooks only 3 runs and a wicket . this halted their momentum and the match went into the last over with southern highlands  requiring 16 runs to win, Raga (2-14) held his nerve in the last over to see us close out the match out and win  by 9 runs (with only 6 runs off Raga’s over). 

CCNSW bowling was on display last Sunday and wickets were shared around including Greg (2-32), Jim Hadley (2-23), raga (2-14),  Joe Scarcella (1-18) and Garry James  (1-37) digging deep with a dodgy knee and rewarded with a wicket at the games critical turning point. Special mention goes to keeper John Finucane whose skill is quite breathtaking at times. He snapped up 3 sharp catches, and a fourth snick, although heard all over the field was denied.  Also good catches by Joe Scarcella and Paul Georgiadis and a special one hander by Greg off his own bowling in his final over. Joe Scarcella’ all-round performance saw him named MOM on a memorable Sunday at Camperdown where Peter Rolls and his merry men were a reminder of how well a team can stick together when it matters.

Special thanks to Carla Stacey (Inner West Council’s ‘Coordinator Sporting Partnerships’) and her lady helpers from the Inner West Council for putting on afternoon tea as part of Council’s Seniors’ Festival. Cakes were amazing with Joe Scarcella (having the first shift off the field as 12thman) being the only one able to take advantage of the Pavlovas as the rest of the team had to bowl and field after tea!

The Team was (playing 12): – Gerard O’Shea 7, Frank Baliotis 0, Joe Scarcella 34*, Peter Rolls (c) 31, Jim Robson 0, Greg Brooks 30* ret not out, Garry James 1, Mick McCormick 5, Jim Hadley 32 * ret not out, John Finucane (w) 1, Sittampalam Ragavan, 22* Paul Georgiadis 1

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W.: – 8-170 (40 overs) (J. Scarcella 34*; J. Hadley 32* ret not out; P. Rolls 31; G. Brooks 30* ret not out)

Defeated

Southern Highlands: – 8-161: – (40 overs) 

By 9 runs

FoW: – 1-6 (F. Baliotis); 2-8 (G. O’Shea); 3-82 (J. Robson); 4-101 (G. James); 5-107 (M. McCormick); 6-108 (J. Finucane); 7-161 (P. Georgiadis); 8-163 (P. Rolls)

The Bowling was: – M.  McCormick 3-0-19-0; P. Georgiadis 5-0-17-0; S. Ragavan 6-0-14-2; G. James 7-0-37-1; J. Scarcella 5-1-18-1; J. Hadley 7-0-32-2; G. Brooks 7-1-32-2

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 3 to J. Finucane (w); one to each of G. Brooks, P. Georgiadis and J. Scarcella

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to J. Scarcella; 2 points to J. Hadley; one point to G. BrooksSee: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/vintage-summer-202223/vintage/game-centre/43233f7f

SOCIAL GAME   v MOLONGLO  AT KIPPAX OVAL, HOLT,  CANBERRA ON SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY SOREN HUGHES [ASSISTED BY AI CHATBOT]

Back row: Luke Holman, Brendon Kay (w), Brett James (c), Mark Henwood, Jack Luff, Tim Kerr
Front row:  Ziggy James, Tom Robertson, Soren Hughes, Rhys Longbottom , Harry Bridge

Molonglo Cricket Club was founded in 1956 as a nomadic social cricket club originally with a strong connection with Canberra Grammar Old Boys. Its logo is a keg of beer which perhaps over-emphasises the social aspects of the Club which contains very competent cricketers. It has no geographic connections with the Molonglo River or valley in Canberra 

With only six players mid week, MCC recruited some local Sri Lankan players for the day, including an opening batter from the local first grade side. CCNSW was also short despite the best efforts of Tom Robertson to persuade more C&S players to come and in the end we recruited 2 local players for the day including most relevantly a keeper and also gave a opportunity to Brett James’ 15 yr old son Ziggy- a promising young bowler.

The game was at the first Grade ground at Kippax Oval 1, located in the suburb of Holt in the Belconnen district of Canberra. 

Tom Robertson  and Rhys Longbottom (recruited from our LMS Mid week team)  opened the batting scoring at a run a ball and put on 84 for the first wicket in 14 overs before Longbottom retired at 50* off 42 balls and Tom was out,  hit wicket  for 31 off 38 balls. The partnership built a strong foundation for the rest of the team but unfortunately the opportunity was not taken. Apart from 39 off 54 balls from Harry Bridge and an obdurate 19 from Brett James off 28 balls the rest of the batting failed and we ended with 8-178 off 40 overs, only adding 94 runs from the last 26 overs

Brett James and Rhys Longbottom opened the bowling and Brett dismissed both openers in his first four overs to reduce Molonglo to 2-26 in the seventh over  but their numbers 3 and 4 batters were a class above us and both reached 50^ ret not out. Apart from a very economical spell by Soren Hughes (7 overs for 12 runs) the rest of our bowlers failed to contain them until the late introduction of young Ziggy James who brought us back into the game with only a few overs left and took 2-10 from 7 overs on his CCNSW debut. 

At 6-149 with only 6 overs left the game seemed in the balance. Unfortunately their number 10 batter (current First Grad top order batter), dealing mainly in boundaries was too good for us and delivered blow after blow to win the game for Molonglo on the first ball of the 40th over. We did drop a couple of catches so the game was there to be won by us but we didn’t take the opportunities.

A great day was had by all and the fun and merriment was reflected in the post game banter and a speeding ticket for one lucky driver who didn’t lose any demerit points on the ACT side of the border. 

This report was partly generated for you by a chat bot who has, in so doing, perhaps delivered possibly our first AI generated match report. (Ed note: a lot of factually incorrect information generated by the ChatBot has been deleted and Soren Hughes takes responsibility for what remains above)

The Team was: – Tom Robertson (c) 31, Rhys Longbottom 50* ret not out, Harry Bridge 37, Tim Kerr 2, Soren Hughes 12, Brett James 19, Brendan Kay (w) 5, Luke Holman 10, Mark Henwood 2, Jack Luff 2*, Ziggy James 3*

The Result was: 

C.C.N.S.W.: – 8-178 (40 overs) (R. Longbottom 50* ret not out)

Lost to

Molonglo CC: – 6-179 (39.1 overs) 

By 4 wickets

FoW: – 1- 84 (T. Robertson); 2- 85 (T. Kerr); 3- 111 (H. Bridge); 4-150 (S. Hughes); 5-157 (B. James); 6-159 (B. Kay); 7- 168 (M. Henwood); 8-170 (L. Holman).

The Bowling was: – B. James 7-0-30-2; R. Longbottom 8-1-35-0; S. Hughes 7.1-3-12-0; L. Holman 2-0-9-0; J. Luff 2-0-22-0; H. Bridge 3-0-15-0; Z. James 7-1-10-2; M. Henwood 3-0-24-0

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One each to M. Henwood, B. James and T. Robertson

Run outs: – One to J. Luff

C&S, Classics, LMS

WEEK EIGHTEEN: WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY-SUNDAY 5  FEBRUARY 2023

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LMS T20 (8-a-SIDE) EASTERN SYDNEY MIDWEEK DIVISION 2  ROUND 11 v ‘JOHNNY CASH MEMORIAL’ AT CP5 CENTENNIAL PARK PARADE GROUND, MOORE PARK ON TUESDAY 31 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY SCOTT WILLIAMS

CCNSW fielded possibly the strongest LMS team it has ever put together. After seeing our line-up the Jonny Cash Memorial team suggested that CCNSW should bat first so that we could get a decent game. This turned out to be a good decision as CCNSW put on 3-202 and kept Jonny Cash to 119. 

Steven Sheakey and Rob Shone got CCNSW off to a good start with some quick runs before Sheakey missed a full one to be out for 25. As Sheakey departed, James Bonkowski arrived…. and then departed an over later. Scott Williams came in swinging and put together a quick fire 43 off 17 balls. Rhys ‘Wild Thing’ Longbottom took over where Scott left and smashed the ball over the place. Rhys retired 50* from 20 balls  and Rob Shone, in  keeping with his current form of being undissmissable,  retired at a run a ball 50*. Dan May came in with 6 balls left and managed to destroy those 6 balls for 28 runs which include a home run 12 on the last ball.

Set 204 to win, the Johnny Cash Memorial VIII was always going to be in trouble and Mick McGrath swinging the ball around corners,  wasn’t going to help them. Mick picked up a wicket in his first over and from there the wickets tumbled with no partnership ever getting set. Wickets were spread around with all the bowlers having great economy rates and Dan May even bowling a maiden.

The win made it back to back bonus point victories and is putting CCNSW in a great position to sneak into the 4th spot and into the finals being currently only 3 points behind the 4th place team

The Team was: – Steven Sheakey 26, Rod Shone 50*, James Bonkowski 4, Scott Williams (c) & (w)) 43, Rhys Longbottom 51*, Mick McGrath 1*, Daniel May 28*, Craig Fordham dnb

The Result was:- 

CCNSW: – 3-203 (20 overs) (R. Longbottom 51*; R. Shone 50*)

Defeated

Johnny Cash Memorial: – 6-119 (20 overs) 

By 84 runs

The Bowling was: – M. McGrath 4-0-19-2; R. Longbottom 4-0-21-0; R. Shone 4-0-20-1; D. May 3-1-11-1, S. Sheakey 3-0-23-1, C. Fordham 2-0-21-1

The Fielding was:-

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One to each of S. Williams (w) and M. McGrath and D. May

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to D. May; 2 points to R. Longbottom; 1 point to R. Shone

See:  https://www.lastmanstands.com/leagues/scorecard/1st-innings?fixtureid=370874

CITY AND SUBURBAN ROUND 11  v NONDESCRIPTS  AT CAMPERDOWN PARK, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY TOM ROBERTSON

(Editor’s Note: this match appears to have given rise to some tension arising from player-umpire decisions)

Glorious conditions met us at Camperdown beach for our game against Nondescripts. Jamie Murtha  was captain for the day.  ‘Nondos’ won the toss and batted. Tight bowling from Avi Bhandari and Soren Hughes had them going at only just over 2 runs per over for the first 10 overs. Wickets were not falling quickly but runs were like hens’ teeth.

The young opener to the eyes of the CCNSW fielders appeared to snick one off Avi but the (Nondo player) umpire did not apparently see or hear it. More controversy soon after, when their captain appeared to  nick one  off Matt Edge’s slow bowling which deflected into Declan Thomas’s leg, standing up as keeper, then spooned up to slip. Again the edge appeared clear to us but was given not out.

Their captain did not walk and a few words were exchanged. Their innings never really got going and they were restricted to 7-124 off 35 overs. All our bowlers bowled well with Jamie Murtha lifting and bowing some nice seam up to end up with 3-19.

Our turn to bat and we soon discovered they were very much a bowling side. Their opener bowled full and straight but as it often turns out, the other less threatening opener went and got wickets. Tom Robertson faced his first ball that went sailing over cover for 6. ‘This is easy’, thought Tom. Next ball, bowled! Matt Leon (0) and Harry Bridge (0) came and went. Avi Bhandari (12) showed good resistance till he copped a good yorker.

Nondescripts had us 6 for 38 in the eleventh over and in deep trouble. But we fought  back  thanks to Toby Forbes and Jamie Murtha. These two have been caught in bad situations many times and have really fought hard. Jamie (19), Adam Khamis (3) and Toby (32) got out within 9 runs as we slipped from 6-88 to 9-97. We were in a real pickle at 9 down for 97, needing another 28 to win with six overs to go.

 Little did they know we had a Soren Hughes and a Matt Edge at Nos. 10 and 11 and both could bat! Soren put the state of the game aside and played his natural game hitting the bad ones away hard with his 3lb monster bat. Matt too hit some beautifully timed boundaries.

Two overs left and six to get. The pendulum had swung. Matt took strike and the lads worked 3 singles off the first 4 balls. Can Soren finish this? The bowler pitches it up into Soren’s sweet spot. Boom! But wait, he’s smashed it straight at a fielder on the boundary, oh no! But justice has prevailed; it has burst through his hands and gone for 4.

 What a finish! Beers were then enjoyed and tasted oh so sweet.

While there had been a degree of controversy and contention in the game with the odd hard word, next game the slate is wiped clean so I hope it is played in the spirit cricket should be played, especially when in most C&S games the players have to umpire their own batters and the fielding side can sometimes become frustrated.

The Team was: – Michael Carman 11, Tom Robertson 7, Matt Leong 0, Harry Bridge 0, Avinash Bhandari 12, Declan Thomas (w) 2, Toby Forbes 32, Jamie Murtha (c) 19, Adam Khamis 3, Soren Hughes 16*, Matthew Edge  12* (and 11 extras)

The Result was: –

Nondescripts: – 7-124 (35 overs) (J. Murtha 3-19)

Lost to

C.C.N.S.W.: – 9-126 (33.5 overs) (T. Forbes 32)

By one wicket

FoW: – 1- 8 (T. Robertson); 2-17 (H. Bridge); 3- 17 (M. Leong); 4-33 (A. Bhandari). 5-38 (D. Thomas); 6-38 (M. Carman); 7- 88 (J. Murtha); 8-96(A. Khamis); 9- 97 (T. Forbes).

The Bowling was: – A. Bhandari 7-1-23-1; S. Hughes 5-2-8-1; M. Leong 2-1-4-0; T. Forbes 6-0-22-2; A. Khamis 5-0-21-0; M. Edge 5-1-18-0; J. Murtha 5-1-19-3

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 2 to D. Thomas (w) ; one each to H. Bridge and T. Robertson

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to T. Forbes; 2 points to S. Hughes; one point to M. Edge

CLASSICS  ROUND 9 v STRATHFIELD  AT AIREY PARK, HOMEBUSH  ON SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2023: REPORT BY SCOTT WELLS

On a lovely Summers day – mid to high 20s slight breeze, the team was eager to play on the magnificent Airey Park vs Strathfield being the Shires first grade ground with a well prepared pitch and a rarely seen carpet like couch outfield. So much so that the skipper had left his whites behind (blaming his mum for not packing them the night before). 

Two late withdrawals from our 12 man team (Ed Cross and Brett James both with injury) meant we headed into the game with 11 but still with very strong depth in the bowling and batting. With the skipper not there for the toss, Mike Pinter was anointed in that capacity. Mike lost the toss and Strathfield had no hesitation in sending us into the field on what appeared to be a belter. 

Mick Tarrant opened the bowling and was on the spot from ball one getting some good movement in the air and with the pitch seaming, some coming through with lots of bounce and others “Camperdown like”. Perhaps the good coverage on the wicket was hiding what lurks below. From the other end, Andy Bachelard returning from his great spell against Old Ignations a month ago, was  bang on with his line and length as well. This is where our team really does stand out from other teams with the seemingly abundance of good quality line and length bowling. We were without Stuart Ridge (currently in Barbados representing Australia in the over 60s) and Brett James for this game.

With one opener throwing the bat at anything short or wide and the other watching patiently, Mick Tarrant was the first to bring on a mistimed slog skying between mid-wicket and mid-on but it was unfortunately spilled. Another edge behind was also spilled to the frustration of all. Andy Bachelard  also had a skied chance dropped from their opener. Mick bowled his best spell this season continually beating the bat and eventually send middle stump cartwheeling. 1 for 24 off 7 – off to a flier but you could feel the momentum shifting now with continued pressure from the good bowling.

Their first drop was run out by some swift fielding from Mike Pinter back to the keeper and we were on our way. Andy picked up a clean bowled and Mick also picked up their opener with a classic outswinger nicked to the throat of Brooksie standing at first slip. The very next ball was followed by a beautiful inswing to the left hander knocking back to the top of middle – fair nut to get first ball. Their spine was broken.

Change bowlers Paul Nash, “The Prez” Greg Brooks and David Craig continued the pressure with great line and length 4 for 86 at drinks – we were now well in control. Brooks was rewarded with an lbw and Craig the same with the quicker ‘zooter’ trapping the batter back and in front much to his delight. Their number 4 batted well to make 30* and be back in the bank but others offered little in attack. Brooksie picking up another lbw and Dave Kent (debut CCNSW Classics) picking up another clean bowled as his first scalp. Andy B came back and made short work with of their returning batter, clean bowling him as well. Strathfield all out 148 with 5 bowled, 3 lbws, and no wides: a tribute to our great bowling on the day setting up a very chasing target. A couple of injuries from fielding with Andrew Davis copping one on the ankle (very swollen), David Benson pulling something that resembled a muscle in the thigh to groin area and Mike Pinter also hampered by a niggling gluteus muscle.

With the  ball swinging all innings, it was also going to be a tricky target. But a solid start from Pinter and Gerard O’Shea picking off runs in a very good opening stand of 38 off ten overs keeping up with the necessary run rate (with not a boundary hit) until Mike on 16 copped a questionable lbw from a right arm around the wicket slinger. Mike called for the DRS but he must have not got the signal in time. Paul Nash and Gerry continued to knock it around with Gerry playing a classy, flawless innings to retire on 30* and Nash putting the loose ones away with the score on 74 when he retired, having  set us up well.

At drinks we were 1 for 86 – well on target for the chase set up by our top 4 batters. With wickets in hand, the skipper set the goal of achieving the total within 32 overs which would gain 2 bonus points in a chase. Achievable at just over 5 an over. Post drinks Scott Wells and Nash went about their business knocking them around with the odd rush of blood from Wells (much to the ire of ‘the Prez’  – his displeasure heard well beyond the boundary causing flocks of birds to scurry from every tree within 2km). Knuckling down Nashy bought up his 30* with a typical Nash like pull well over the boundary at mid wicket.

With a few guys injured, this bought debutant David Kent to the crease still needing 42 for victory – showing his class with a watchful eye, picking off runs, good running between the wickets and a smoked cover drive until a misunderstanding bought about a run out on a misfield (what was that saying?) when he was looking at getting going on 9. This bought ’ the Closer’ to the crease (G Brooks) with 30 runs to get. Brooksie did what Brooksie does, putting loose and some good ones away and running hard on the twos and threes.

Wells retired on 32* with the scores level bringing in our pinch runner Andy Bachelard at the non striker’s end. Brooksie then hit the winning runs and we had achieved the goal of getting the runs within 32 overs with 2 bonus points in a comprehensive win.

Post-match hospitality was at its finest with lots of stories, Asahi beers, spiced chicken and noodles a plenty.

The Team was: – Mike Pinter 16, Gerard O’Shea 31*, Paul Nash 34*, Scott Wells (c) and (w) 32*, David Kent 9, Greg Brooks 14*, Andrew Bachelard 0*, Mike Tarrant dnb, David Benson dnb, David Craig dnb, Andrew Davis dnb

The Result was: –

Strathfield CC: -10-148 (37.5 overs) (M. Tarrant 3-28)

Lost to

C.C.N.S.W.: – 2-149 (31 overs) (P. Nash 34*; S. Wells 32*; G. O’Shea 31*)

By 8 wickets

FoW: – 1-38 (M. Pinter); 2-123 (D. Kent)

The Bowling was: – M. Tarrant 8-1-28-3; A. Bachelard 7.5-0-34-2; P. Nash 3-0-14-0; D. Craig 8-1-26-1; G. Brooks 7-0-29-2; D. Kent 4-1-13-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One to G. Brooks

Run outs: – One to M. Pinter

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to P. Nash; 2 points to S. Wells; one point to G. O’Shea

See: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/classics-summer-202223/classics/game-centre/fe97c851

C&S, LMS, Masters, Match Reports, Social, Vintage

WEEK SEVENTEEN: WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY-SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2023

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LMS T20 (8-a-SIDE) EASTERN SYDNEY MIDWEEK DIVISION 2  ROUND 10 v ‘NRLCC’ AT MP 8, ROBERTSON ROAD, MOORE PARK ON WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY SCOTT WILLIAMS 

CCNSW win the toss and elected to bowl. Things got off to a great start with Mick McGrath being unplayable and even bowling a maiden-a very rare event in LMS cricket. Scott Williams and Mick kept things tidy for the first 8 overs and NRLCC never recovered, only scoring 5-106 off their 20 overs with new keeper and English debutant Freddie Greenwood getting a stumping and 2 catches..  

CCNSW needed to score 107 within 16 overs to get the bonus point and Stephen Sheakey (13 off 9 balls) and Rob Shone (30 off 35 balls) got us off to the start we needed. Once ‘Sheaks’ departed, Freddie Greenwood (50* off 34 balls) picked up where ‘Sheaks’ left off and we managed to win in the sixteenth over with a bonus point. 

The Team was: –  Steven Sheakey 13, Rod Shone 30, Fred Greenwood (w) 50*, Tom Richardson 9, Mick McGrath 0, Scott Williams 5, Jim Hadley (c) dnb, Soren Hughes dnb and Will Jacobs dnb

The Result was:- 

NRLCC: – 5-106 (20 overs)

Lost to

CCNSW: – 3-107 (15.2 overs) (F. Greenwood 50*; R. Shone 30)

By 5 wickets

The Bowling was: – S. Williams 4-0-14-1; M. McGrath 4-1-13-2; T. Richardson 3-0-21-0, S. Sheakey 3-0-13-0; R. Shone 3-0-16-1; J. Hadley 3-0-27-0

The Fielding was:-

Stumpings: – 2 to F. Greenwood

Catches: – One to F. Greenwood (w)

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to F. Greenwood; 2 points to M. McGrath; 1 point to R. Shone

See:  https://www.lastmanstands.com/leagues/scorecard/2nd-innings?fixtureid=370871

SOCIAL GAME V ‘RAGA’ INVITATION XI   AT CAMPERDOWN PARK, CAMPERDOWN  ON THURSDAY 26 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY PETER ROLLS

[PETER ROLLS REPORT TO FOLLOW]

The Team was: –  John Finucane  4, Andrew Thurlow 3, Michael  Carman 10, Mel Lucas 30*, Peter Rolls (c) 7, Greg Brooks 5, David Craig 13, John Jackson 25. Paul Kumar 1, David Wright 9, Joe Scarcella 0

The Result was: 

Raga Invitation XI: – 9-199 (40 overs) (J. Finucane 3-14; G. Brooks 3-24)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 10-119 (38 overs) (M. Lucas 30)

By 80 runs

FoW: – 1-4 (A. Thurlow); 2- 9 (J. Finucane); 3-50 (G. Brooks); 4-50 (P. Rolls). 5-72 (D. Craig); 6-73 (P. Kumar); 7- 94 (J. Scarcella); 8-113 (D. Wright); 9-117 (M. Carman); 10-119 (J. Jackson).

The Bowling was: – G. Brooks 6-0-24-3; J. Scarcella 6-1-20-1; D. Craig 6-0-41-0; M. Carman 4-0-23-0; P. Rolls 6-0-31-0; J. Jackson 5-1-23-1; J. Finucane 4-0-14-3; A. Thurlow 3-0-21-0

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: –

Catches: – 2 to M. Carman; 2 to P. Kumar, one to P. Rolls and one to J. Scarcella

Run outs: – One to anonymous

CITY AND SUBURBAN ROUND 10  v HUNTERS HILL  AT BORONIA PARK, HUNTERS HILL ON SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY TOM ROBERTSON

Always interesting playing at Boronia Park. Wicket is full of spice. To help bowlers even more, the humidity at Hunters Hill may have exceeded 100%. 

Craig Kitson took the reins and went and lost the toss. Hunters Hill decided to have a bat.

Avi Bhandari and Toby Forbes opened the bowling and the scoring rate was dour. Hunters Hill amassed 1-29 from  their first 18 overs. After drinks wickets steadily fell. We knew their best batter hated spin so Adam Khamis  came on and bamboozled him and got his wicket not long after. One of their middle order batters so struggled with his pads that he eventually just batted without them. Something you don’t see every day. Hunters Hill ended at 9-109 after 35 overs

Our turn to bat to chase a small total. The modern vogue in cricket is to attack the bowling but Hunters Hill’s strength is bowling so we needed to be careful about our chase. Tom Robertson  and  Jamie Murtha opened the CCNSW batting and went at over a run a ball. The ground is probably the biggest in C&S and that made it ripe for threes. We certainly earned our runs the hard way.

A 50 opening partnership all but ensured victory. Tom proved his inability to finish again by choking within sight of the line. Harry Bridge and Paul Nash took us home with more threes. One real point of difference in the sides was our catching; we caught everything (Oh except Declan when his Dad arrived to watch).

The Team was: – Tom Robertson 56, James Murtha 15, Paul Nash 18*, Harry Bridge 11*, Peter Constantinou dnb, Soren Hughes dnb, Toby Forbes dnb, Declan Thomas (w) dnb, Craig Kitson (c) dnb Avinash Bhandari dnb

The Result was: 

Hunters Hill: – 9-109 (35 overs)

Lost to

C.C.N.S.W.: – 2-111 (16 overs) (T. Robertson 56)

By 8 wickets

FoW: – 1- 54 (J. Murtha); 2- 93 (T. Robertson)

The Bowling was: – A. Bhandari 9-4-17-2; T. Forbes 6-2-10-0; S. Hughes 5-0-21-2; P. Nash 3-0-4-0; C. Kitson 3-0-13-1; A Khamis 7-0-35-2; P. Constantinou 2-1-5-2

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 3 to T. Forbes; one each to A. Bhandari S. Hughes, A Khamis, C. Kitson and T. Robertson

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to T. Robertson; 2 points to A. Bhandari; one point to T. Forbes

MASTERS ROUND 8 v STRATHFIELD CC AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL  ON SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY ANDREW DADSWELL  

A tough day in the office against some genuine quality cricketers

It was hot. It was humid. The opposition was high quality.

After two washouts the CCNSW Masters were keen to get on the field and have a crack at the defending premiers and undefeated Strathfield on our home soil. We presented a strong line-up by CCNSW standards, but so did Strathfield, in fact they seemed to have all their gun players on show and boy did they come ready to play.

Strathfield skipper Pasupati won the toss and happily batted first, taking advantage of the hot conditions. The pitch was an unknown factor and gave us some hope of early damage. Brett James didn’t disappoint with a fine display of left arm medium new ball bowling. But the Strathfield openers played the right shots at the right times until Ben Stanic got a wicket first ball of his spell to remove the dangerous Patel. Strathfield went about seeing off the good balls and punishing anything remotely loose. Four of their top seven batters reached 40*+ retirement scores as we struggled to make inroads in the middle overs. It wasn’t so much a case of bad bowling – it’s just that the batting was very, very good.

Ben Stanic continued to create chances and Mick Tarrant’s second spell was high quality. Their efforts created our best period in the field as we took wickets after drinks. But when Strathfield’s Paul Maraziotis came back to the crease he played his shots and ended up on 92* – just 98 short of his highest score of 190 for the NSW 2nd XI against the likes of Mitch Johnson back in the 2000s!

Against this kind of quality batting if we were to restrict them we needed to hold every half chance. We had our moments in the field with a brilliant one handed diving catch by Brett James, Jason Kenn’s great pair of hands and a beauty of a direct-hit run-out by Ed Cross. However we let a few chances slip too which proved costly, as they always do.

Strathfield’s 8-320 was going to be tough to chase down and it didn’t start well as both openers, Ed Cross and Jason Kenn, departed for ducks. Dan  Turner looked very good against the pace of Kish ‘I don’t bulk bill’ Nadesan and Scott Wells saw off the good bowling early before cashing in with some lusty blows and retiring at number 4. They were ably supported by Rob Lawther who continues to show his quality against good bowling.

But as each quality Strathfield bowler’s spell ended, another quality one would begin There was no let up and we ended up being all out for 134.

Beers were enjoyed after the game and the Strathfield guys are a good bunch.

It is easy to see why they keep winning the over 40s Masters competition each year. With Paul Maraziotis, the 8th highest run scorer ever in Grade Cricket, followed by two current representatives in the Australian  over 40s side  and a bunch of other quality players, they are the yardstick and they showed us the level to which we need to get  if we are to threaten the top sides.

The pitch played excellently and provided good consistent bounce throughout the day.

The Team was: –  Ed Cross 0, Jason  Kenn 0,Dan Turner 26, Scott Wells (w) 43, Rob Lawther 19, Brett James 2, Andrew Dadswell (c) 7, Jose Poothokaren 0, Michael Tarrant 11, David Abreu 11*, Ben Stanic 0

The Result was: –

Strathfield CC: – 8-320 (40 overs) (B. Stanic 4-77)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: -10-134 (35 overs) (S. Wells 43)

By 86  runs

FoW: – 1-0 (E. Cross); 2-0 (J. Kenn); 3-39 (D. Turner); 4-83 (B. James); 5-91 (A. Dadswell); 6-98 (J. Poothokaren); 7-100 (R. Lawther); 8-118 (M. Tarrant); 9-118 (B. Stanic); 10-134 (S. Wells)

The Bowling was: – B.James 9-0-36-1; M. Tarrant 8-0-69-1; B. Stanic 9-0-77-4; D. Abreu 6-0-51-0, A. Dadswell 6-0-57-1; J. Poothokaren 2-0-28-0

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – 2 to J. Kenn; one to each of S. Wells (w), B. James and R. Lawther

Run outs: – One to E. Cross

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to S. Wells; 2 points to B. Stanic; one point to D. Turner

See: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/masters-summer-202223/masters/game-centre/b54ac9dd

VINTAGE ROUND 8 v GEORGES  RIVER   AT BLAND OVAL, RIVERWOOD  ON SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY GREG BROOKS  

When you’re hot, you’re hot!!

The over 60s CCNSW side arrived at Bland Oval with the conditions best described as hot and humid. Clouds were gathering and the first thought from the ‘Weather Oracle’ (Mr. G. James) was rain by 3pm.

Georges River won the toss and sent us in on a well grassed, hard wicket. We had a slow and measured start by Gerard O’Shea alongside guest player Neville Emerson who joined us via the “Raga network”, a very extensive network as we know! Neville was first to go adjudged lbw and Gerry was joined by Frank Baliotis, resplendent in his new CCNSW long sleeve shirt. He has now worn it twice and made consecutive 30 not outs! Further steady progress was made until Gerry (23) was stumped with the score on 43. Peter Rolls and Frank both batted well and were in complete control. On Frank’s retirement at 30* ret not out, ‘the Prez’, Greg Brooks  joined the Skipper, Peter Rolls to initiate some acceleration. The fours and sixes flowed and with the ‘Prez’s’ departure (34* ret not out) Mick McCormick joined Peter who retired not long after for 31*. Garry James (30* ret not out) then strode out… (perhaps more of a shuffle with his sore knee!) and smacked it to all parts of the ground continually “encouraging” Mick to follow suit! Mick (33* ret not out) changed bats and started to find the middle with regularity.

‘The Oracle’ was only 10 minutes off and sure enough at 2:50pm we retreated to the pavilion as a thunderstorm came through with solid rain. As a result we lost three overs. John Finucane  (8*), Sittampalam Ragavan (0) and Joe Scarcella (8*)  then came out swinging on the resumption and we finished with a very healthy total of 3-218 off 37 overs.

The umpire for the day Scott did a great job in managing the break between innings. Both teams wanted to get back out there and play some cricket as the covers had done their job. A target of 219 from 37 overs was always going to be tough so getting through the first 15 overs as quickly as possible to ensure a game was our first objective.

Georges River got off to a terrible start with the opener chopping down on his stumps (hit wicket) in the first over. Joe Scarcella (3-15) and Paul Georgiadis (1-20) did all the early damage backed up by some great catches from Neville Emerson (2) and Gerry O’Shea (1). With Garry James and Greg Brooks  replacing the openers Georges River found the going tough. Six of the runs from Garry’s bowling came in one blow yet the next ball saw a smart stumping by John Finucane and GR’s best batter was on his way! From  5-58 there was no recovery but two more wickets to Garry James (3-8) , one to Greg Brooks (1-14) and a destructive 2 ball /2 wicket spell from David Craig (2-0) meant the last 5 wickets fell for nothing!!  All out 58 in 21.2 overs.

David Craig as a 58 yr old ‘youngster’, played his first Vintage competition match thanks to permission from the Vintage Association Committee (and with the consent of the Georges River captain) and he duly delivered! Excellent in the field as always and limited to a 4 over bowling, he short changed himself by needing only 2 balls to wrap it all up.

Georges River were good sports and we had a laugh and a beer to finish.

Tough matches lay ahead starting with Southern Highlands at Camperdown on Sunday February 12th, followed by Central Coast and Northern Stars to finish.

If we continue to back our batting and bowling with good fielding we can give this competition a shake!

The Team was (playing 12): – Gerard O’Shea 23, Neville Emerson 4, Frank Baliotis 30*, Peter Rolls 31*, Greg Brooks 34*, Mick McCormick 33*, Garry James 30*; John Finucane 8*, Sittampalam Ragavan 0, Joe Scarcella 8*, Paul Georgiadis dnb, David Craig dnb

The Result was: –

C.C.N.S.W.: – 3-218 (37 overs) (G. Brooks 34*; M. McCormick 33*; P. Rolls 31*; G. James 30*)

Defeated

Georges River CC: -10-58 (21.2 overs) (G. James 3-8; J. Scarcella 3-15)

By 160 runs

FoW CCNSW: – 1-18 (N. Emerson); 2-43 (G. O’Shea); 3-209 (S. Ragavan).

FoW GR: – 1-0, 2-21, 3-27, 4-31, 5-48, 6-58, 7-58, 8-58, 9-58, 10-58.

The Bowling was: – J.Scarcella 7-3-15-3; P. Georgiadis 5-0- 20-1; G. Brooks 5-1-14-1; G. James 4-2-8-3; D. Craig 0.2-0-0-2

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – One to J. Finucane

Catches: – One to J. Finucane (w) and two to N. Emerson and one to G. O’Shea

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to G. James; 2 points to G. Brooks; one point to J. Scarcella

See: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/org/sydney-masters-cricket-association/vintage-summer-202223/vintage/game-centre/45652d38

C&S, Classics, LMS, Match Reports

WEEK SIXTEEN A: THURSDAY 19 JANUARY-SUNDAY 22  JANUARY 2023

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LMS T20 (8-a-SIDE) EASTERN SYDNEY MIDWEEK DIVISION 3  ROUND 9 v  ‘CLEVELAND SEAMERS’ AT MP 5, ROBERTSON ROAD, MOORE PARK ON THURSDAY 19 JANUARY 2023: REPORT BY SCOTT WILLIAMS

On a wet and miserable Thursday CCNSW were up against the previously undefeated Cleveland Seamers. Cleveland Seamers ‘generously’ offered to bat first without a toss, Our captain, Scott Williams jumped at the chance to get the ball in his hands so accepted the offer.

Some tidy bowling from Dan May (1-20 off 4 overs) and Scott  Williams(1-18 off 4 overs) had them on the back foot. Matt  Edge  (2-36 off 4 overs) didn’t let the foot off with constant wickets slowing their progress. Seamers set a pretty modest score of 150 which we never thought was to be in doubt. However what we had never contemplated when we accepted  their  ‘generous’ offer at the “toss” was that we were going to have to bat in the dark; we had been played. James Bonkowski (8) was out early to some very good line and length bowling but Rob Shone (53*) and Joel Uddstrom (24) got us back on track. On Joel’s departure, Scott  Williams came to the crease with CCNSW  needing 8 an over. His 30 off 11 balls followed by Dan May’s 37* off 20 balls was enough to get us over the line to win with 11 balls to spare and back on track for a place in the finals.

The Team was: – James Bonkowski 8, Rod Shone 53*, Joel Uddstrom (w) 24, Scott Williams (c) 30, Daniel May 37*, Matthew Edge dnb, Craig Fordham dnb, Peter Constantinou dnb

The Result was:-

Cleveland Seamers: – 5-149 (20 overs) ()

Lost to

CCNSW: – 3-155 (18.4 overs) (R. Shone 53*)

By 5 wickets

The Bowling was: – D. May 4-0-20-1; S. Williams 4-0-18-1; M. Edge 4-0-36-2; P. Constantinou 4-0-39-1; C. Fordham 4-0-35-0

The Fielding was:-

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One to each of R. Shone and S. Williams

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by captain): – 3 points to D. May; 2 points to R. Shone; 1 point to S. Williams

CITY AND SUBURBAN ROUND 9  v NONDESCRIPTS  AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2023

Cancelled because of rain

CLASSICS ROUND 8 v ST CLAIR WARRIORS   AT MERRYLANDS  OVAL, MERRYLANDS ON SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2023

Cancelled because of rain