RAIN FRUSTRATES, DIVISION 1 CELEBRATES – 10 October 2026
Overnight rain disrupted the weekend’s cricket, with the Premier Men’s match against Heathcote on Sydenham 1 abandoned early on Saturday afternoon after one small wet area looked unlikely to dry sufficiently to allow play to start. With the other Premier grade matches getting underway, it was a frustrating outcome for both sides, who remain winless after the opening two rounds.
The one consolation for the Prems on the day was Chch Metro taking the opportunity to present the pennant to the team for winning last season’s the 2-Day competition.
Chch Metro President Paul Knight presents to skipper Mitch Gardner
The same fate also affected the Division 2 match against Heathcote at Hillsborough Domain, which was abandoned early, while all afternoon grades were cancelled late on Saturday morning.
There was no such reprieve for the Premier women at Elmwood Park, where they suffered a nine-wicket defeat to OBC. The standout result for Sydenham came on Hagley 5, where Division 1 secured a victory over Riccarton. A strong bowling performance, led by Akshan Gulati, Cullen Crowe and Ryan James, laid the foundations for the win, before Crowe and James combined to complete the job with a partnership of 87 for the 3rd wicket.
However, the day’s standout individual performance came from the Youth 1st XI’s victory over Christ’s College 2nd XI at Christ’s College where William Herd produced a superb run/a/ball unbeaten 123. It was his maiden century for Sydenham and helped set his side up for an impressive win.
Some of the photos in this publication are also courtesy of Ash Hart’s Hartland Images.
DIVISION 1 MEN
WON
Riccarton 125 (42.4 overs)
Sydenham 126/3 (23.2 overs)
Match report courtesy of Ryan James
The Division 1 Men were away at Hagley against Riccarton on Saturday seeking another victory to start their season 2 from 2. After winning the toss, the only right decision was to get amongst it in the field on a very gloomy and overcast day. Ryan James and Noah Dean opened the bowling with Noah (1/16) proving to be the more successful of the two bowlers with an early wicket to halt the momentum of the Riccarton top order.
Akshan Gulati
After a good opening spell, Cadell Durdin and Cullen Crowe continued tightening the screws, both taking a wicket apiece to have the Riccarton side on 65/3 after 22 at drinks. After drinks, McKenzie Kirk bowled a demanding spell into the wind with luckless figures of 10 runs off his 6 overs. The pressure proved to be too much for the Riccarton middle order when Akshan Gulati was introduced, taking impressive figures of 3/25 off his 7 overs. This was then followed by an equally impressive run-out by Sam Williamson to have the Riccarton side 117/8 and Sydenham firmly in control. Cullen 2/24 (12 overs) and RJ 2/26 finished things off, bowling Riccarton out for 125.
Ryan James Cullen Crowe
Chasing 125 off 52 overs was always our game to lose, especially on what we thought was a good Hagley wicket. Adhi Suganthi and Akshan Gulati started well before Aki was trapped in front early in his innings. This brought Adhi and RJ to the crease with Adhi’s impressive timing and stroke play, batting seemed easy. Adhi was then dismissed with a good catch on 23, leaving the Sydenham side 28/2. With the support of the Sydenham spectators, Cullen (48) and RJ (42*) dusted off the early pressure putting together a match/winning partnership of 87 and securing the run chase for the loss of three wickets in just 23 overs.
A dominant all/round team performance sees the Div 1 side go two wins from two.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new/zealand/cricket/org/christchurch/metro/cricket/associationcjca/summer/202627/mens/division/1/game/centre/83cb0826
DIVISION 2 WOMEN
WON
Sydenham 117/8 (18.5 overs)
Pleasant Point 110/8 (22.2 overs)
Match report courtesy of Jeremy Rutherford
Played in cold conditions but with insight from “a significant national weather forecaster” that there is to be no rain today (despite it drizzling at the time!) we decided to peel off the covers and get on with it. The pitch looked beautiful, thank you ground staff, and as this was the first hit out for this new/look team, and the first time playing in this grade for some, both sides were eager to play.
Sydenham lost the toss and were sent in to bat just as, fortunately, the persistent drizzle ceased. The run total climbed slowly, with wickets falling at a steady rate as the pitch offered up a fair bit to the bowlers. Despite this however, all batters were able to contribute some runs and the odd boundary kept us moving forwards. Some notable tallies came with the last two wickets as Ruvi Lawrence put on 15 runs and Bella Maddaford ended on 19 not out.
With the outfield drying and some spice likely to remain in the wicket, we knew we needed to field tightly and bowl accurately to pressure the Selwyn batters. That is exactly how the innings unfolded. Sharp fielding cut off singles and forced the batters to target the boundary, while accurate bowling produced regular wickets at crucial moments. We took the match into the final overs before claiming the last wicket. The standout figures were Penny Tonkin’s 3/8 from 3.2 overs, Natalia Cook’s 1/3 from three overs, Juliette Cranfield’s 1/10 from three overs and Abbey Thompson’s 2/13 from three overs.
This was a great team performance with everyone in the team able to contribute something to the result, which bodes well for an enjoyable season.
Big thanks to Selwyn, who played the game in good spirits, despite the challenging conditions, and another big thanks to Suzy Moot who was able to overcome some PlayHQ challenges when we threw her some less/than/usual situations (“I know there’s a way, but how do you record a run out off a no ball!!”)
YOUTH 1ST XI
WON
Christ’s College 2nd XI 143 & 30/0
Sydenham 91 (34.2 overs)
Match report courtesy of Daniel Herd
GJ Gardner Homes Sydenham Youth 1st XI got their Term 4 campaign off to a strong start with a convincing 114/run win over Christ’s College 2nd XI at Christ’s College in a reduced overs match.
Choosing to bat first, Sydenham posted 194/5 from their 36 overs, led by an outstanding unbeaten century from skipper Will Herd / scoring 123 not out from 121 balls. Will anchored the innings superbly, before lifting the tempo once he’d achieved his maiden ton.
William Herd
Dhruv Arvindkumar batted well, with 31, in an opening partnership worth 102 runs. With the platform in place, the rest of the batters came to the crease with an attacking mindset. Harry Durdin (10) and Finlay Hill (14 off 12) were part of valuable partnerships that ensured Sydenham finished strongly.
Defending 194, Sydenham’s bowlers produced an excellent team performance to bowl Christ’s out for just 80 in 23.4 overs.
Daniel Barclay
Reuben Williamson made the early breakthroughs, taking 2/23 from six overs, while Daniel Barclay ripped through the middle order with an impressive 3/21 from four overs. Quinn Helms also claimed two wickets, finishing with 2/14, while Bayley Gardner, Kahn Stanbury and Noah Green picked up a wicket each.
The fielding backed up the bowling effort, with catches to Arvindkumar (an excellent caught behind keeping up to pace), Samuel Wild, Barclay, Stanbury, Hill and Helms.
A dominant all/round performance from Sydenham. It was a continuation of high quality performances from the team following their successful pre/season tour to Napier / where they won all three matches.
YOUTH 2ND XI
LOST
Sydenham 116 (40.4 overs)
North West 2nd XI 68 (24.2 overs)
Match report courtesy of Jamie Helms
We turned up at Sydenham Park on a misty morning with low cloud and a bit of rain around. We were lucky to have the services of a few players from the 3rd XI this week as they had a bye, with players away with the development team and a few injuries and unavailabilities across the 1st and 2nd squads.
We arrived at the ground at 9.30am and inspected the pitch under the covers. The pitch itself was in reasonable condition, but the wider block had standing water across it, meaning a delayed start was a given and there was a chance play might not be possible. After talking with Northwest and the umpires, who were at Sydenham 1 for the men’s Prem, it was decided there was no chance of starting on time. We agreed to reconvene at 12pm to inspect the pitch, hoping the sun and wind would dry the concerning areas and give us a chance to get some cricket in with reduced overs.
At 12pm we reinspected the pitch, with both captains very keen to try to get a game in. It was decided to give it another 30 minutes before deciding whether we could start at 1pm. With this in mind, we dragged the old hessian around the outfield to help with the drying process and found some sawdust to help dry the landing areas for the fast bowlers. At 12.30pm it was agreed we could make it work, with a 1pm start and a 30/over match. The toss became important, as conditions were likely to be very tricky for the first 10 overs under overcast skies. The captains tossed using a phone, with the Northwest captain calling correctly and putting Sydenham into bat.
Angus Ferguson
With the batting order arranged, our openers Liam Kinsett and Angus Ferguson knew it was going to be a difficult period and that keeping the ball along the ground could benefit the batters coming in behind them. After a slow start, they built a nice partnership of 41, with Angus the first to go for 13 while looking to increase the run rate in the 12th over. With a nice platform set, we had 18 overs to build a defendable total against one of the better bowling attacks in the cup. Jonty Rutherford came in at three to join Liam, who was second out for 28. Zander was batting at four but had only a short stay before Neil Thakar joined Jonty at the crease. They put on a 20/run partnership before Jonty mistimed a shot and departed for 15. Reuben Peterson joined Neil in the 21st over with the score at 76/4 and, needing to accelerate, was there only a short time before being run out after a small mix/up between the players. This was the start of a slide, with Sydenham losing five wickets in the last five overs while looking for quick runs to finish the innings. Neil was the last man out for a team/high 30, with Sydenham posting 118/9 off 30 overs. This was probably around 20 runs short of where we needed to be, which was a combination of good bowling from Northwest in the last 10 overs and our running between the wickets costing us a number of additional runs throughout the innings.
Liam Kinzett
With a 20/minute change of innings, we knew we needed early wickets and sustained pressure in the field throughout the innings. Will Johns and Zachariah Nicholson opened the bowling, with Will picking up our first wicket on the fifth ball of the innings for the perfect start. Will bowled a very good spell and, despite a couple of close calls, couldn’t find another wicket, finishing with 1 for 23 off six overs. We couldn’t get another breakthrough straight away until Benjamin Williams, bowling his leg spin, broke the second/wicket partnership with Northwest on 50/2 after 10 overs. Benji bowled six overs straight, creating a number of half/chances and a very good LBW shout, to finish with 2 for 32 off six overs. Austen Grant and Reuben Peterson bowled some tight overs through the middle, with Austen picking up 1 for 16 off four overs and Reuben grabbing 2 wickets for 7 runs off 3.2 overs. Northwest, however, reached our total in the 26th over, six wickets down.
The game was played in good spirits, with the difference in the end being the early conditions on a moist deck and Northwest running between the wickets very well, taking singles that the Sydenham team missed out on in our innings. All five catches were taken for a clean sheet, and conceding only seven extras over the 30 overs sets us up well for the rest of the season and, hopefully, the 50/over matches.
Looking forward to hopefully a sunny Saturday so we can get in a full day’s cricket and continue the good signs from the first game of the season.
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