Win all but 1sts... retain Club Championship

Premier Grade Cricket Round 6 – 22nd November 2019

The great start to the season by the Bankstown Sports Bulldogs received a setback last Saturday. Memorial Oval is an absolute picture, especially with the spectacular Jacaranda trees, but the very strong Manly side proved the victors in a hard-fought clash. All the other Bulldog sides won their matches, so the Club maintained its lead in the Club Championship. The home side batted first and struck trouble immediately when Daniel Solway had an extremely rare failure. Further woes followed and the Waratahs were flying high with 3-14. The critical turning point occurred when representative star Nathan McAndrew was run out. He was just starting to slip into top gear with some beautifully timed drives back past the bowler. The allrounder cruised to 28 in great style, but his unfortunate runout proved a Manly bonus. The Bulldogs were on the ropes but Manly could not deliver the knockout punch. Their nemesis was versatile spinner Ben Taylor who is making a name for himself as a very competent batsman. He fights very hard to defend his wicket and his spirited determination is to be admired. He made sure the Dion Bourne scoreboard kept ticking over. Taylor’s 54 got the Bulldogs barking again before he fell to representative spinner Steve O’Keefe. Ben Le Bas chimed in for a useful 20 and Bankstown finished with 8-175 after 50 overs. The Bulldogs bowlers gave the visiting batsmen plenty of trouble but eventually the Waratahs reached 6-178 in the 50th over. Le Bas was right on target as usual and took 2-20 from his 10 extremely accurate overs. Next week the Bulldogs take on Gordon with the venue Chatswood Oval in a 2-day fixture commencing at 10:30am. T20 v Northern District Another stellar all-round performance from Mitch Brown saw the Bulldogs maintain their unbeaten run in the prestigious Kingsgrove Sports T20 Cup, defeating Northern District at Memorial Oval on Sunday. The visitors delivered a blistering opening stand but the reliable Brown gave the Bulldogs a much-needed momentum shift snaring 4/17 in his four over spell, to leave ND’s with 8/115. The Bulldogs lost Mark Stoneman (6) and Nick Carruthers (0) leaving them in a parlous position at 2/18 but the redoubtable Brown, batting at number 4, smashed 31 off just 21 balls to again provide a major momentum swing for the home side. Bulldogs skipper Daniel Solway provided the platform for winning total of 7/121 with a typically classy 56 off 61 balls. The Bulldogs got home with just two balls to spare when Daniel Nicotra smashed a towering six from the only ball he faced. Second Grade Tony Clark’s second grade continued on their winning way with a superb win at Manly Oval. Former Bulldog allrounder Andrew Jamieson batted well for the Sea Eagles with 31 not out. Tushaar Garg was at his lethal best with 3-49 and had the batsmen continually back pedalling. Matt Bursa added to the home side woes with 2-40. The skipper only claimed 1 wicket but was the epitome of accuracy conceding just 15 runs from 10 immaculate overs. Joel Brockley was in sparkling form at the top of the order with 34. Mitchell Hinds plundered 5 boundaries and a superb six in his dynamic 58. Daniel Nicotra carried on the quest for 31 as Bankstown closed in on the target of 201. Ryan Clark was at his elegant best with 24 not out and Matt Simpson hit 3 boundaries and a splendid six in his 21 not out. Bankstown finished with 5-204 and six points. Third Grade Bankstown batted first at Kelso and were in trouble with a paltry 125. However, this proved more than enough as Manly plummeted to be all out for a meagre 102. Ethan Debono once again looked a class player and his 38 proved a matchwinner. Jacob Malcolm ripped through the Manly batting with consummate ease and deserved the magnificent figures of 6-20. The top 5 Manly batsmen contributed a miserly 9 runs between them. They simply had no answer to Malcolm’s devastating thunderbolts. Jehan Bilimoria gave great support with 2-19 in a lively spell whilst Chris Stefanish claimed 1-14 from 7 accurate overs. Fourth Grade Bankstown’s 8-259 was far too many for Manly at Graham Reserve last Saturday. The Waratahs could only cobble together 183. The Bulldogs batting star was Jeswanth Acharya who plundered 101 and looked a stylish and confident opener. He only faced 105 deliveries and delighted the crowd with 11 sizzling boundaries and a spectacular 6. Jesse, as he is called by his team mates, is a member of the Karnataka institute of cricket in India and he is visiting Sydney for a couple of months. It’s hoped he will be back to play with the Bulldogs in future seasons as he continues his development. Definitely an outstanding talent who is sure to delight Bankstown cricket enthusiasts. Daniel Naveed Khan also batted very well with 47 whilst Ryan Malcolm rammed home the advantage with 37 not out. Niran Wijewardene struck immediately removing both openers in quick succession. He finished with 2-20 in another tidy spell. That man Acharya showed his versatility to take the last two wickets conceding just 21 and wily Koby Layton chimed in with 2-34 to complete the rout. Fifth Grade The fifths capped off a good day for the club with a comprehensive win over Manly. The Bulldogs are having their best season in years. The extent of their victory on Saturday can be gauged by the fact they even secured a bonus point. Max Clissold claimed 2-24 in another fine spell whilst Bryan Handunneththi was right on target with 2-28. All other bowlers claimed a wicket each and it was a great team effort to restrict Manly to just 183. In reply the high-flying Bulldogs plundered 3-185. Johann Perera contributed a stirring 86 with some explosive batting. He hammered the Eagles attack with some stunning stroke play and brought the crowd to its feet with 10 boundaries and 5 superb sixes. Sanjiv Weerasingham reeled off 7 boundaries in his 46 and the Bulldogs were barking vociferously. Poidevin Gray T20 A classy 59 off 47 balls from Mansukh Singh and 29 off 23 balls from Zeeshaan Ahmed saw the Bulldogs reach 7/145 at Memorial Oval on Sunday. Dane Heward snared 2/30 off his four overs but after the umpires imposed a five-run penalty on the Bulldogs for a slow over rate, the ND’s score was adjusted to 7/145. Unfortunately, a couple of lusty blows by the visitors in their ‘super over’ was enough to deliver Northern District the win and leave the Bulldogs team extremely disappointed but much wiser for the experience.