Sydney University wicketkeeper Tim Cummins cracked an unbeaten 121 off 100 balls to help the Students to a tense five-run win over Parramatta in the final of the 2017-18 Sydney Grade cricket Limited Overs final at Old Kings Oval on Sunday.
Batting at No.6, Cummins hit seven boundaries and a pair of sixes as Sydney University accumulated 7-277 off their 50 overs.
He shared a 122-run partnership with Damien Mortimer (71) after the Students were 4-86. It was Cummins’ maiden First Grade century and built on a series of solid middle order contributions in his first season with Sydney University. It was also the Students sixth First Grade title in the past 10 seasons.
Parramatta took the game to the wire on the back of a 124-run fourth wicket partnership between Brenton Cherry (75) and captain Nick Bertus (68), but they finished five runs short at 8-272 off 50 overs.
Tim Ley (3-58) and Devlin Malone (2-47) were the best of the six-prong Sydney University bowling attack.
Sydney University qualified in fifth place for the quarter-finals of the Limited Overs Cup and won all three of their finals matches away from home.
“You come into these games and just hope you win … to score a couple of runs. But to score a hundred, unbelievable,” Cummins said.
The keeper-batsman said there was a clear plan from the outset between himself and Mortimer.
“It was just literally to tick the scoreboard over, run hard, get twos and get yourself in and then hopefully in the back end, fill your boots.”
Meanwhile, Sydney University dropped to fourth on the First Grade ladder in the Belvidere Cup competition with an 80-run loss to Bankstown in their two-day Round 14 match concluding at Sydney University Oval on Saturday.
The visitors amassed a competitive 291 on day one and rolled the Students for 211. Liam Robertson topscored for the hosts with 67, while Benjamin Taylor (4-53) and Nathan McAndrew 3-49) were the best of the visiting trundlers.
Campbelltown-Camden head the ladder on 58 points with one round to play, with Parramatta (58), Sydney (52), Sydney University (50), Sutherland (49) and Gordon (45) making up the top six.
Sydney University, the defending premiers, will meet the competition leaders in a limited overs fixture at Raby No.1 Oval on Saturday, before the qualifying finals begin on March 17-18.
The Club Championship will go right down to the wire with Parramatta on 1308 points holding off Manly-Warringah on 1306 points going in to the final round. Sydney University were still in the hunt with four rounds to play but dropped away to finish sixth on 1113 points.
Scoreboard
Sydney Premier Men’s Grade competition – Round 14 (Two-day matches)
First Grade: Bankstown 291 off 83.4 overs (Kyle Brockley 82, Daniel Solway 50, Brendan Smith 42, Benjamin Taylor 42; Tim Ley 4-42, Hayden Kerr 2-38) defeated Sydney University 211 off 57 overs (Liam Robertson 67, Ben Trevor-Jones 37, Tim Cummins 25 not out; Ben Taylor 4-53, Nathan McAndrew 3-49) on the first innings at Sydney University Oval on Saturday. Toss: Bankstown Batted first: Bankstown. Points: Bankstown 6, Sydney University 0.
Second Grade: Bankstown 3-277 (Peter Dignam 117 not out, Cameron Middleton 80, Ethan Leten 53; James Larkin 1-11) defeated Sydney University 275 off 79.3 overs (James Larkin 95, James Crowley 65, Matthew Powys 36, Ryan Danne 35; Luke Docherty 3-41, Daniel Slane 2-40) on the first innings at Bankstown Memorial Oval. Toss: Sydney University. Batted first: Sydney University. Points: Bankstown 6, Sydney University 0.
Third Grade: Sydney University 2(dec)-107 off 35 overs (Brayden Dilley 38 not out, Ash Cowan 29, Lewis Bedford 26; Jacob Malcolm 1-13) defeated Bankstown 105 off 42.5 overs (Connor Wilkinson 27, Nivethan Radhakrishnan 26; Jack Lawson 4-14, Josh Toyer 4-27) and 1-102 (Zeeshaan Ahmed 49 not out, Connor Wilkinson 29 not) on the first innings at Camperdown Oval. Toss: Bankstown. Batted first: Bankstown. Points: Sydney University 6, Bankstown 0.
Fourth Grade: Bankstown 277 off 71 overs (Mansukh Singh 119, Cameron Cotter 78; James Robertson 3-36, Vince Umbers 3-41) defeated Sydney University 275 (Hayden Storey 163, Robert Browne 32; Md Hossain 3-99) on the first innings at Jensen Park on Saturday. Toss: Bankstown. Batted first: Bankstown. Points: Bankstown 6, Sydney University 0.
Fifth Grade: Bankstown 3(dec)-181 off 36.2 overs (Harry Brett 116 not out, Sanjiv Weerasingham 30; Murray Miles 2-61, Ashwin Kirubanandan 1-4) and 3-41 (Alex Koeventaris 28; Murray Miles 2-19) defeated Sydney University 159 off 52.2 overs (Ethan Jamieson 40, Rakin Rahman 24; Alex Kouventaris 5-48) and 146 (Ethan Jamieson 35, Andrew Wilkinson 27; Isaac Schipp 3-66, Rhys Ward 2-15) on the first innings at St Paul’s College Oval. Toss: Bankstown. Batted first: Sydney University. Points: Bankstown 6, Sydney University 0.
Metropolitan Cup – Round 15 (Two-day fixture)
UNSW Black 231 off 74.4 overs (Anthony Melnyk 78, Philip Hood 29, Oscar Howard 29; Ashwin Kirubanandan 5-67) defeated Sydney University 114 off 42.1 overs (Greg Cade 25 not out; Prakhar Sharma 7-59) on the first innings at David Phillips North Oval on Saturday. Toss: Sydney University. Batted first: UNSW Black. Points: UNSW Black 6, Sydney University 0.
Sydney Premier Women’s Grade competition – Round 13 (Limited Overs)
First Grade: Universities 5-222 (Georgia Redmayne 104 not out, Maisy Gibson 29 not out; Isabelle Afaras 1-31) defeated Northern District 124 off 39.4 overs (Lauren Smith 32, Sam Bates 32; Olivia Porter 2-6, Kate Owen 2-7, Qanita Jalil 2-31) by 98 runs at Mark Taylor Oval on Sunday. Toss: Universities. Batted first: Universities. Points: Universities 6, Northern District 0.
Second Grade: Universities 0-51 off 16 overs (Samantha Robinson 24 not out, Anastasia Sims 12 not out) defeated Sydney 50 off 26.5 overs (Alexandra Meuller 14; Shebani Bhaskar 3-10, Samantha Robinson 2-6, Taylor Ling 2-14) by 10 wickets at David Phillips South on Sunday. Toss: Sydney. Batted first: Sydney. Points: Universities 6, Sydney 0.
