Week 1 – The Opening Spell

_{Dylan Hunter hit them well for Sydney Uni on Saturday // Pic from Sydney University Cricket Club}

First Over - Kingsgrove Sports T20 Cup

First ball – Hunter goes bang!

Dylan Hunter pummelled the first century of the new summer in Round 1, belting 123* at an eye watering strike rate of 192.18 as his Sydney Uni chased down Western Suburbs’ 7/177 with seven wickets and two overs to spare at Bon Andrews Oval in North Sydney.

The Newcastle born 30-year-old’s dig included eight fours and 11 sixes, or for the mathematically challenged, 98 runs in boundaries, thank you very much.

Second ball – UTS North Sydney make it academic

UTS North Sydney won both of their opening two rounds against fellow ‘student’s, first beating Sydney Uni by 14 runs on Saturday afternoon, before taking care of UNSW by 15 runs that night. Norths’ skipper Mac Jenkins had a day out, scoring 44 and taking 4/32 in the daytime match, before backing it up with 3/29 under lights.

Third ball – Extra time

Two matches on Saturday afternoon went into super overs. Sutherland and Hawkesbury both scored 193 from their allotted 20 overs, forcing extra time in the middle. Will Straker restricted the Hawkesbury batters to five, inclusive of three byes, before prodigious Sutherland opener Sam Konstas got his team home with a boundary on the fifth ball of their over.

Out at Raby Oval, Eastern Suburbs and Fairfield-Liverpool were tied at the end of the 20 overs, each with identical scores of 5/177. Arjun Nair took 2/4 in his super over before Yuvraj Sharma smashed a six from the second ball off Easts captain Marcus Atallah’s return over to grab the win.

Fourth ball – Interstate raiders return

NSW products Jason Sangha and Tim Ward, now plying their trade for South Australia and Tasmania respectively, returned ‘home’ for the day with some success. The trip to Sydney would have been bitter-sweet for Sangha though, the former NSW Blue scoring 73 not out for Randwick Petersham only to fall one run short in the chase against Bankstown. Ward hit scores of 50 and 30 n.o. in Parramatta’s two wins.

Fifth ball – Felsch snares big fish

Ryan Felsch opened both the batting and bowling for Bankstown in both their fixtures, scoring a modest total of 30 with the bat and taking a solitary wicket from his seven combined overs. But what a wicket it was against Randwick Petersham, that of one David Andrew Warner for two, caught at deep mid-wicket by Jake Smith. Last year’s T20 Cup champions Randy-Petes have their title defence on life support after losing both of their matches.

Sixth ball – Double-D runs riot!

Penrith’s Dave Dubey got his season off to a smashing start, launching into the Sydney attack at Merrylands Park. Opening the batting, Dubey hit seven sixes and six fours in a knock of 93.

Second Over - Poidevin-Gray Shield

First ball – Lucky seven

Randwick Petersham picked off Sydney’s 10/163 inside 28 overs, but it was with the ball that the damage was done as Vansh Bhatia put on a clinic. The eighth bowler used by Randy Petes captain Thomas Coady, Bhatia snared a whopping 7/35, including the last six batters to fall. Bhatia opened the batting for his side too. One to watch!

Second ball – Warm welcome

Mahsen Narvel moved across from Randwick Petersham this year to play at UNSW where he was promptly made skipper. And didn’t he put on a captain’s knock for his new club, pulverising 157 not out in UNSW’s 8/267 at Raby Oval. Sheesh!

Third ball – Raining runs

It was pelting runs at Allan Border oval in Mosman, with William Allen smashing a glorious unbeaten 148 against Western Suburbs. Allen’s dig included 18 fours and three sixes as the home side chased down Wests 6/281 with an over to spare and seven wickets in hand. Wests had set a massive total courtesy of a 166 run opening stand between Rohin Patel (67) and Australian U19 representative Ethan Jamieson, whose 97 from 95 balls included nine fours and a six.

Fourth ball – Class prevails

Spencer White put Northern District in the box seat in their clash with Sutherland, scoring 105*, batting at five, including a handful of sixes, as ND’s put on 8/270. It wasn’t enough to hold off Sutherland though, with NSW Blues rising star Sam Konstas belting 112 from 109 balls at the top of the order, as the home side got the chocolates with an over to spare.

Fifth ball – Four fa fun

A host of players picked up four-wicket hauls on Sunday, including Paramatta’s Ryan Gupta (4/20), Bankstown’s Mitchell Constantinou (4/24), Fairfield Liverpool’s Yuva Nishchay (4/25), UNSW’s Nihal Desai (4/31) and Sutherland’s Luke Ritchie (4/50).

Sixth ball – Many hands make light work!

Gordon scored an 8-wicket win over Hawkesbury at Bensons Lane, chasing down 151 inside 26 overs but it was in the field that the visitors made sure it was an all-round team effort with no fewer than eight bowlers used to skittle the home side in the 44th over. All the bowling changes didn’t take too much of a toll on Gordon skipper Joseph Gillard, who clubbed 75 from 57 balls, including 12 boundaries and a pair of maximums.