Sydney CC vs Randwick Petersham CC ( att : 66 approx )

February 16, 2020

There is a veritable feast of cricket to choose from in Sydney today, ranging from Day 3 of the Sheffield Shield match between NSW and Victoria at the SCG, the final of the national Women’s Championship between NSW and Western Australia at the North Sydney Oval, or the semi-finals of the club cricket First Grade Limited Overs Cup.

With the Sydney CC versus Randwick Petersham CC semi-final taking place at the Drummoyne Oval, less than 5 minutes drive away from where we are staying, this is our choice to spend a few hours watching some cricket today.

There are 20 teams in the First Grade structure of Sydney’s club cricket, and matches are 2 days, played over consecutive Saturdays. However, there is also a 50 knock-out competition played on Sundays. All quarter-finals were rained off the previous week, and the winners were determined by who was highest in the League table at that time. Sydney lie in second place in the league table, one place above Randwick Petersham, so presumably the home side start as favourites and would be the winners if today’s match is not completed.

Randwick Petersham are known locally as “The Randy Petes” and are the club of David Warner. He was due to play in their rained off quarter final but is unavailable today with the Australia tour taking precedent. They are also without captain Jason Sangha, who is playing in Hobart for a Cricket Australia XI against the touring England Lions team. However, their team includes Daniel Sims, the leading wicket taker in the recently concluded Big Bash T20 tournament, Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond and Ryan Ninan, who has played in the IPL. In contrast, Sydney have two Middlesex players ( Nick Gubbins and Steve Eskinazi ) whilst Nicholas Bills played for NSW a few years ago. Eskinazi was born in South Africa to an English father and a Zimbabwean mother ( who are apparently watching here today ), who moved to Australia when he was young, so he counts as an Australian in terms of his qualification to play in Sydney club cricket ! Joe Denly and Zak Crawley have recently played for Sydney

Unbeknown to us the match had started at 10am so by the time we arrive Randy Petes, as they are called on the electronic scoreboard, have already progressed to 210 for 5 off 40 overs. We had just missed opener Eaton being dismissed for 113, and earlier Bell-Drummond had made 39. 

The first few overs we see are pretty turgid, with the batsmen showing little urgency against some pretty ordinary looking bowling. However, the long handle is finally unleashed and 30 runs from the last four overs takes the innings to a close at 280 for 7 of the allotted 50 overs.

As this is a limited overs match, it is white ball cricket with the teams in coloured clothing. Sydney have a dull yellow and grey combo, whilst Randy Petes are in dark green. The umpires have sky blue shirts with red McDonald’s advertising on the back.

The Drummoyne Oval is a pretty ground which also hosts matches for the NSW Women team, NSW played a Sheffield Shield match here last season, and the touring England Lions hammered a NSW select XI earlier in the week at the ground. There is a small concrete stand at one end ( the Greg Davis Stand, named after the captain of Australia’s Rugby Union side in the 1960’s who played for the Drummoyne Rugby club, who also play here in the Australian winter ), a small player’s pavilion on one side, a quirky old fashioned small stand  with around 250 seats, and then there are grass banks around the rest of the oval. There are 6 floodlight pylons, TV gantries at both ends, as well as a large scoreboard in the far corner by a very large tree. 

There is a small food & drinks outlet in the side of the Greg  Davis stand, with cans of beer or glasses of wine for 5 AUD, and soft drinks for 3 AUD. There were also what looked to be pies and sausage rolls available, but I didn’t inquire about those.

Entrance to the oval is free today, and before lunch I count 47 spectators, which shortly after the 30 minutes lunch interval has increased to 66. There are comings and goings during the afternoon but the number watching at any one point remains fairly constant. There are 15 people sitting on the grass bank, with everyone else in the Greg Davis stand. Late in the afternoon three people have moved into the old fashioned stand. The majority of the crowd are supporting the visitors.

The post lunch warm-up by the visitors is pretty amateurish with only 4 players taking part in the fielding drills. Things were far more professional when I played in the Dutch second division………..

The opening bowlers for Randwick Petersham look more lively than the Sydney medium pacers and I am advised that Sims is capable of bowling at 140 kph, although he doesn’t look that quick today. The Sydney openers start confidently, and in the fourth over a short ball is pulled towards Bell-Drummond at deep square leg, who takes a couple of steps back to take the catch before realising he is about to cross the boundary. He throws the ball up in the air but is unable to catch at the second attempt and six runs are awarded.  The batsman’s reprieved is short though as in the next over he attempts the same shot off Sams and this time is caught on the boundary. 24 for 1 in the fourth over.

A left arm spinner is quickly introduced into the attack and the other opener chips to mid-on for a soft dismissal, which brings Gubbins to the crease. He takes 10 runs from the rest of the over, and pulls the third seamer over long leg for six. After 12 overs it is 69 for 2 and the run chase looks on. Gubbins looks in a different class to his team mates.

However, the introduction of spinner Ninan changes the tone of the innings. The Sydney number three attempts to attack the spinner in his first over but his slog to cow corner leads to Sams running around the boundary to take a tremendous diving catch at full stretch.

This brings the two Middlesex batsmen together but it is a surprise in the next over when Gubbins attempts a hook shot only to give an edge to keeper. He is out for a quick-fire 29 and at 80 for 4, a lot now depends on Eskinazi.

Neither Eskanzi or the new batsman look comfortable against Ninan, who at one point bowls 4 overs for just 7 runs. Sydney go ten overs without a boundary. Whilst Eskanazi is scoring singles, his partner struggles to rotate the strike. Eventually a wild slog goes up in the air for an easy catch, and the pattern continues with the next two batsmen. At the end of the 35^th over Sydney have subsided to 158 for 8.

Eskanazi finally manages to start scoring boundaries and gets some support from the tail, but he finally runs out of partners and is stranded on 76 not out and Sydney are all out for 211 in the 44^th over.

The Randy Petes are into next week’s final against Sydney University, but will be without Bell-Drummond as he apparently has a flight back to the UK at 10pm this evening !