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Featured Article
Prem Men Well Place After First Day - 2nd's Make the One-Day Final
The two-day competition resumed on Saturday as the Prem men took on OBC at Elmwood Park. Another distinctly green looking wicket saw Sydenham win the toss and not hesitate to ask OBC to bat. However, the opposition then got their innings off to a good start, with Daniel Stanley dominating, as he and Wakefield put on 34 for the first wicket. But when Stanley eventually fell to Tom Agnew in the 8th over, the batting side started to get the wobbles. Tom seems to have relished the recent opportunities to open the bowling since Braden Gardner’s transfer to Auckland, and it was he who was largely responsible for setting the OBC innings back by taking four of the first six wickets that fell. Tom’s 4-29 off 15 carved through the upper order to have OBC 5-66 by the 20th over. The innings never recovered much from that position as Mitch Gardner’s second spell saw him come back with 3-23 to take out the tail and see OBC dismissed for 108.
However, the Sydenham reply initially threatened to do little better when a couple of rash shots saw both openers back in the pavilion with the score at 31, and then Ryan Wallace, who was batting beautifully up to that point, perhaps too much so, tried unsuccessfully to bail out of a half shot and was caught and bowled for 22 with the score at 50. Still, Sydenham looked comfortable at 51/3 but that changed quickly when TJ was out without troubling the scorers, and Hayden Day was very unlucky to be given out LBW for 4. Suddenly struggling at 58/5, the 108 looked along way away and the chance of a first innings lead was starting to be questioned, let alone a decent one.
At that point Taylor Irie and Chris Harris came together and put on a critical 70 run partnership for the 6th wicket that swung the match back in Sydenham’s favour. Taylor played the innings of his short Prem career to date. Although having not scored many in his first three Prem matches this season, Taylor had batted time in those matches and looked all the better for it in this one – in scoring his 44 off 88 balls, it was his careful defence that provided him with the later opportunities to put the bad balls away as he visibly gained in confidence with the comfort of the nurturing Chris Harris at the other end for much of his innings.
As for Harry, it was Ground Hog Day – how many times for New Zealand, Canterbury, and now Sydenham, has Chris Harris done this? With the innings teetering at 58/5, he comes in, looks assured and in being so settles down his partners, and then proceeds to extract the side from trouble yet again. His 48* off 98 balls was well paced, and towards the end as the declaration was chased, he was well in charge. After Taylor’s dismissal, Jamie Hunt, Tom Agnew and Carl Hooper all suffered in the late innings dash before the declaration at 158/9 which left us with a 50 run first innings lead. Sydenham then had the opportunity for an eight over crack at OBC before stumps, and thanks to a wicket each to Tom and Mitch, managed to eke out both openers, the two top scorers from the first innings, to have the innings at 15/2.
Sydenham will start the second day next week with a small advantage, but with both sides still in the match and keen to get a result, especially with the other matches around town also well advanced.
Sydenham Premier Women played two Kirsty Bond games yesterday, losing the first to OBC and winning the second against LPCC. In the first game at Woolston Park, OBC batted first and made it to 67-6 off their 16 overs, with Rachel Davidson starring and taking 4-6 off her 4 overs. Jenna Waghorn and Jodie Dean picked up the other two wickets. Sydenham made it to 43 all out in reply, with Isla McKenzie top scoring with 17 runs. The batting reputably overall lacked the application required to win this match.
The second game required rushing over to Garrick Park straight after the first game finished, and turned out to be a great team effort against LPCC. Sydenham batted first and got 85 runs for the loss of 2 wickets, with Rachel Davidson getting 34 opening the batting, Erika Oda getting 21 and Isla McKenzie getting 15. LPCC could only muster 35 all out in reply. Caitlyn Robertson produced some great bowling to take 3-5 off 2.2 overs, while the rest of the team shared the wickets around. There were several good catches taken by Erika Oda, Jenna Waghorn and Alana Topping, who also produced a run out. The fielding overall was of a high standard.
Both Division One teams had a disappointing day with no wins between them in two T20 matches they each played at Sydenham. The Div 1 first match against Lancaster Park was the best of them that resulted in a tie. Sydenham batting first scored 113/9 with Gaurav Dudeja top scoring with 23, and Charlie Finnie with 21. Park started well slumped only to get up again in the last few overs and get the tie with 113/7. Wickets were evenly shared but extras were the killer for Sydenham in this match
The second match saw Merivale Papanui score 166/5 in their 20 overs. The main wicket takers were Charlie Finnie (3-33) and Michael Nicolson (2-18) but again there were far too many extras for a T20 match from the Sydenham bowlers. Sydenham looked initially on target in reply with scores from Gaurav Dudeja (42), Charlie Finnie (25) and Liam White (22) being the best of them, but with no one able to bat through and a couple of runs out to boot, Sydenham fell 24 runs short, bowled out for 142.
Sunday saw the much awaited semi-final of the one-day competition on Sydenham 1 when Div 1 played the Lancaster Park boys who they had tied with in their T20 match with the day before. Park batted first, and at 68/3 at a modest run rate Sydenham felt in control. However, a well struck 54 by middle order batsman Hick got Park back into the match at 149/5 before the innings folded. Wickets were evenly shared with Charlie Finnie taking 3-23 & Jamie Hunt, Carl Hooper and Scott Grose all getting a couple each.
A six over long-on from Kelvin Scott
In reply Sydenham lost their first wicket at 22 but Matt Day (28) and Kelvin Scott (31) then put on 61 for the 2nd wicket to establish the innings. When both fell with the score at 89-3, one more good partnership was needed and it came from Taylor Ire, fresh off his success with the Prems the previous day, and Pankaj Bhagat. Their carefully controlled 60 run partnership slowly extinguished Park’s hopes with PK falling for 27 with just a handful of runs still required, and Taylor remaining unbeaten on 45. The final looks set to be played against OBC at Elmwood Park next Sunday.
Division One Suddenly Sydenham lost both of their opening T20 matches at Sydenham. Playing Merivale Papanui first up, Kieran Charlton playing his first match for Sydenham took 4-12, and Paddy Wickes 3-17, as MP got through to 147 as they were bowled out in their final over. The Sydenham reply saw Marty Crook get a 20, and young James Luxton also looked promising in his first match as well with his 16, but Sydenham struggled throughout the innings to be dismissed well short for 65.
In the other match against BWU Sydenham batted first to score 108-4 with top scores from Andre Reynolds (40 off 25 balls) and Andrew Moulton (35 off 33). BWU in reply got the 5 down with 17 balls to spare with Paddy Wickes (3-1-11) the best of the bowlers. Kieran Charlton was again notable with a sharp run out from short fine leg.
The Division 3 Goats came out on the wrong end of the result against Marist at Tullett Park. Batting first the Goats only managed 70 (Andrew Douglas 23), and then despite Chris Douglas’ 3-18 Marist managed to get there seven down.
The Division 6 All Stars also lost their match against Parklands at Parklands Domain. Batting first Sydenham scored 140 thanks mostly to Abe Atherton’s 43*, Chris Reeve’s 33 and Kiran Gullapalli’s 23. Parklands were never in trouble though in reply when their opener Koster struck a 99 and their side coasted home for the loss of just the one wicket inside 20 overs.
The Division 6 Cardinals had another win, this time a default
The Division 8 Tamil XI had their 3rd win of the season in their match against Lancaster Park at Woolston Park where Muskeh Kapila’s 74, coupled with useful scores throughout the order, saw the Tamils set Park 178 to win. In reply Park lost their first four wickets inside the first 10 overs with Kumarappan Subbaiyah’s 3-18 and David Jayapaul’s 3-14 were the main destroyers and they eventually bowled Park out for 125 in the 30th over.
The Presidents Cardinals made a better fist of it this week against Lancaster Park at Burnside Park, but couldn’t pull of a win. Buoyed by the one match return of the grade’s top all-rounder in ex-skipper Brendon (Ralphy) Winder, the Cardinals batted first and initially looked comfortable with opener James McKay scoring 40, and useful smaller contributions coming from further down the order. However, no one managed to bat on through and at 155/9 from their 40 overs, they were vulnerable. Early wickets helped but then the Park middle order saw a 30, 40 & a 50, and Park coasted home five down with two overs to spare.
Hospital had a big win over Sumner at Burnside. A great start from openers Abhaya Paudel (49) and James Barkhuizen (52) set the innings up, and with other contribution right down the order with the best of them Bruce Day (36*) and Rex Venning (28), the Hospital boys got through to 223/6. Summer got a poor start, and with James (3-27) and Frank Walsh (3-16) dominating, Hospital held Sumner to 144/7 at the end of the 40 overs.
The T20 Women went down to Heathcote on the Polo Grounds. Batting first Heathcote scored 142/3 from their 20 overs (Jamiee Cartwright 2-31), but despite Hanna Morrissey’s 47* in reply Sydenham came up 30 runs short at 112/2 at the end of the 20th over.
Year 10 - Won (by default)
The Year 10’s were excited to be drawn on the no.1 at Christchurch Boys High. Unfortunately the Boys High team forgot to show up for the game and Sydenham won by default. A disappointing way to end the season.
Year 9A – Loss (Day 2 of 2)
Starting day 2 of their match against Christchurch Boys High on Sydenham no.1, Sydenham held a 95 run advantage with 4 wickets in hand. By mid-morning they were all out for 111 having advanced their overall lead to 140. Dallas Crowe top scoring with 19. The 9As then managed to get the first Boys High wicket without any runs on the board, the second at 10/2 and the third at 21/3. Boys High then dug in to form some small partnerships and the score crept up as wickets fell. 96/3 became 124/7 and then 133/8. A skied catch fell tantalizing between 2 fielders with only 5 runs needs to win. Boys High getting home with 2 wickets to spare. Toby Hull, Isaac Milne and Charlie Hickey each snaring 2 wickets.
Given it was the last game of the season, the 9A parents and supports when all out with the end of season BBQ that was a step up from the usual pre-cooked snarler and bread as can be evidenced below.
9B Blue - Loss
Our last game of the season , and first game on grass. 9B, lost the toss and were put in to bat on a pitch with longish grass and big boundaries. St Thomas kindly offered their 12th man so we were back to 10 players. The wicket was a bit two paced with some inconsistent bounce. Our top order did a great job preserving wickets in the tricky conditions but our scoring was very slow, roughly 44 for 2 after 20 overs. We picked up the pace but it was hard going and opened up 93 for 8. Jack MacDonald scoring a hard earned 25.
Our bowling started well, and they were 55 for 4 after 20 overs. However it was only going to take one good partnership and they got home 5 down with wickets spare, wickets spread over 5 different bowlers. A couple of "close" calls including their umpire not watching during a stumping could have made it even tighter. Jack MacDonald was man of the match, also picking up a wicket. Fergus Ord bowled well taking a stunning one handed caught and bowled at full stretch above his head. We were lucky to have Archie MacDonald from 9A join us for the last 10 overs in the field when our reserve player was returned to St Thomas’.
All told it was a pretty good effort given it was our only game on grass.
9B Red - Win
9B Red played Shirley Boys High at Cashmere High on Saturday, Sydenham won the toss and chose to field first.
They were off to a great start taking 4 quick wickets, all going to James Onslow coupled with some outstanding catching in the field from Jermone Crichton and the boys backed each other up. Shirley Boys were all out for 41. Into bat, Shirley Boys tried to intimidate Sydenham but they got on with the job and only lost 2 wickets in securing the win. It was a great win for the boys and a great season - well done Y9B Red.
The youth season has now ended. It will recommence in late January 2019. Prize giving is to be held in the Clubrooms at Sydenham Park on Saturday December 15th at 5pm.
