Century Partnership Brings Third Win

CENTURY PARTNERSHIP BRINGS THIRD WIN – 5 DECEMBER 2024

A solid performance from the bowling unit, backed by two unbeaten half-centuries from Ryan Wallace and Aarush Bhagwat, saw the Premier Men through to their third straight T20 win to jointly lead that competition after three matches. Unfortunately, that success didn’t extend to either of the Championship or Division 1 sides, who both remain winless in their respective competitions.

A number of the photos in this publication are also courtesy of Ash Hart’s Hartland Images.

Scott Insurance Brokers Insurance Premier Men

It was a beautiful sunny evening for the first and only Thursday night T20 match this season, where the expectation of failing light on a cloudy evening often influences decisions at the toss. As it turned out, visitors Lancaster Park won the toss on Sydenham Park 1 and elected to bat first on a worn strip that suggested batting first.

As he so often does, Mitch Gardner struck early in his opening over, claiming a caught behind with just one run on the board. Three overs later, Tim Johnson took the second at 11-2 when he had Michael Davidson’s valuable wicket. It was a pleasure to see TJ back at the bowling crease after a few seasons in hibernation, and for someone who’s hardly rolled his arm over in that time, he did a fine job bolstering the team’s vital spinning resources and creating some challenges for the Park batsmen. Pryde was the third wicket to fall, rather unluckily, with a delivery from Srirag Harish that cramped him a little and him only managing to cut the ball down onto his boot for it to bounce up and be well caught in a reflex juggle by the wicketkeeper Bhagwat (see the clip in the link below).

Gardener takes first wicket caught behind (top) & Pryde caught off the boot

At 30-3, the Park innings struggled from there. Scott Duggan was doing a fine job at one end with a run-a-ball innings, but other than van Woerkom down the order, there wasn’t a solid enough other partnership that could get the run rate up. Ex-St Bede’s player Josh Wedlake then made his Sydenham debut. The 18-year-old picked up a wicket in his second over and impressed as a young man with much potential.

Josh Wedlake on debut

However, it was the other youngster in Archie Goodrick who came away with the best figures. He picked up Duggan in his first over and another two in the final over to finish with 3-28 off his four overs, with Park closing at 111-8. The bowlers had been well supported with some excellent fielding and catching, with Matt McCall, not for the first time, taking three with the standout a sprawling diving catch at mid-wicket, a trademark special of his.

Matt McCall (left) & Taylor Irie

The 111 target did feel a touch short of a more comfortable 130-140 level, but the way Aaursh Bhagwat and Ryan Wallace subsequently played, perhaps the wicket demanded more again. Sydenham lost opener Lucky Singh in the second over at 9-1, which brought Ryan Wallace to the crease, and that proved to be the only wicket of the innings as Aarush Bhagwat and Ryan put on an unbeaten 103 for the second wicket to take the match.

Ryan Wallace

Aarush continued his recent good form, scoring an unbeaten 50 off 46 balls. With the recent loss of some class players, Aarush continues to take up the mantle as one of the side’s senior batsmen. He played the more aggressive role early, which made Ryan’s more conservative role initially all the more important. Whilst picking up the ones and two until well set, he was equally punishing towards the end of the innings when the match was in hand, finishing unbeaten on 56 off 42 balls, with Sydenham comfortably reaching its target at 112-1 in the 16^th over.

Aarush Bhagwat

The side’s next matches are on Saturday against Riccarton on Hagley 5, then East Shirley at Burwood Park

Thanks to umpires Altamash Askari & Shane Verster

Full scoreboard & video highlights: https://live.nvplay.com/nz?tab=m_scorecard#md436ede9-0a48-47c4-86a8-ec58d415688d

Scott Insurance Brokers Championship

The difference was an unbeaten century to Halswell’s L Singh as the Championship side went down to Halswell over on Sydenham 2. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat on what is always a good wicket with favourable boundaries for the batting side.

Halswell started very well, scoring 67 off the first six overs before Potiki Hamilton-Morrison had the dangerous Hardeep Singh back on the sideline. Sydenham chipped away at the other end, but Singh was dominating them at the other. Potiki with 46-2, Cardell Durdin 1-49 and Connor Williams with 1-28 were the wicket takers, but Carl Hooper (0-25) and Shevron Perera (0-31) were the only bowlers able to concede in single figures off their four overs as Singh trashed the others around for his 123* off 73 balls. In truth, Sydenham was their own worst enemy, putting Singh down a number of times during his innings.

Cardell Durdin

Halswell’s 181-4 set a daunting target at over nine an over, which proved to be too big a task for the Sydenham batsmen. The top order all got starts but succumbed to the required run rate pressure. Nathaneal Paltridge (15 off 17) was out stumped in the 5th over with the score at 24, followed by Todd Ward (23 off 30), Michell Suddaby (22 off 12) and Eliyas Verghese (15 off 17). Todd was the third wicket to fall at 74-3, and then Tom McDonald’s next ball at 74-4, but already 12 overs were gone and the RRR over 13. The side carried on being all out for 96 in the 16th over.

Michell Suddaby

The Championship’s next matches are on Saturday against Merivale Papanui and East Shirley, both at Halswell Domain.

Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/mens-championship/game-centre/b51ccd62

Division 1

It was the same lack of success and degree of loss when Sydenham took on Lancaster Park in the Division 1 match on St Albans Park 1. After winning the toss, Sydenham elected to bat first and initially got off to a good start as Isaiah Prasad (13 off 15 balls) and Manish Rawat (13 off 13) put on 24 for the first wicket off the first three overs. However, it was all downside from there, with none of the next six batsmen reaching double figures and the side slumping to 47-6. Samuel Prasad (11* off 19) and Richard Howe (14* off 13) tried their best, but by the 20th over, Sydenham had to settle for a disappointing total of 82-8

Manish Rawat

Park made light work of the chase. The opening pair put on 20 for the first wicket in the opening three overs before Samuel took his wicket, but the remaining Park batsmen were little troubled, losing only another two wickets as they strode to Sydenham’s total, finishing the match off with seven overs to spare at 83-3.