Weather can't stop Chris Ridley's ton

Premier Grade Cricket Report – Round 4 Week 2 Bankstown v Gordon

The coastal weather wasn’t kind to The Sydney Cricket Association Premier Men’s Cricket last weekend with Bankstown’s First, Third and Fifth Grade matches failing to get any play at all on day two. However, locally the break in weather around lunchtime meant play was possible in Second Grade at Memorial Oval and Fourth Grade at Jensen Oval.

Second Grade.

The Joel Brockley-led Bulldogs scored a convincing first innings victory led by a stellar batting performance from popular local Chris Ridley.

Bankstown’s Matt Dedes (35) and Matt Simpson (24) resumed with the score at 0/62 chasing Gordon’s total of 228. The pair progressed steadily until Simpson was caught for 30 (75 balls including four 4’s). Skipper Brockley was out cheaply (5) before Dedes and Chris Ridley steadied the ship. Dedes was in terrific touch and had the magical 100 milestone in his sights but was unfortunately out caught to former Bulldog paceman Alex Patterson for 80 including eleven 4s.

But the day belonged to Ridley who showed the class that has seen him play first grade at Bankstown and Western Suburbs. He bludgeoned the Gordon attack with ten 4s and three 6s as he scored a richly deserved 100 not out. A Level 2 qualified coach, Ridley was heavily involved with the Club’s off-season junior coaching academy (Bulldogs Pup’s Academy) and is also conducting weekly session for the BDCA Under 14 Moore Shield Representative team. Ridley received solid support from young keeper-batsman Cameron Middleton who contributed a bright 38 off 63 balls including six 4s as the Bulldogs reached 5/271 to claim the first innings points.

Fourth grade The Damien Loy led Bulldogs fell short of the Stag’s 107 mustering just 92 in their first innings. However, the locals came out firing with paceman Chris Stefanish returning the remarkable figures of 8/31 off 15 overs before Gordon declared at 9/127. Requiring 142 for outright points Ryan Malcom added a solid 27 to have the locals on target at 3/67 before bad light intervened and forced play to be abandoned. Stefanish was the undoubted ‘man of the match’ returning match figures of 28 overs, 13 wickets for 46 runs.

Next Saturday the Bulldogs First Grade side will play Parramatta in a two-day fixture commencing at 10.30am at Memorial Oval. Canteen facilities are available and entry to the venue is free.