FINAL ROUND NT v ACT
NT failed to press home its early advantage against ACT.
In the final round of the Championship, the NT was drawn against ACT at New Town Oval in North Hobart, and while they had their moments, they did not build on the advantages gained by the early bowling dominance.
The Capitals won the toss and elected to bat, but the decision had an immediate downside when Territory skipper Tom Menzies, who had the ball going both ways, cleaned up his counterpart captain Akshay Joseph with only 12 on the board and for good measure Jordan Clyne and Jaxon Treumer with a wicket each had the ACT in early turmoil at 3-41. A mini recovery led by Nicholas Kent and Jake Smith was snuffed out by Rehaan Shyamsundar and Charlie Kemp (two wickets) and at 6-121 the ACT was teetering.
With the NT bowlers on top, the pressure valve was released on the batters when seemingly unnecessary changes saw nine bowlers used and a 63-run seventh wicket partnership followed. Further deep batting support allowed Smith to reach his century and the ACT clawed its way to 8-291 after 50 overs.
Archie McCormick and Joshua Gawthorpe opened for the NT in the absence of Charlie Bignell, Cooper Blanch batted at three while Kemp retained fourth spot in the order. It was however Kemp who was next to go, and he was clearly unable to settle in the face of left arm orthodox bowler Thomas Hogan who habitually forced the batsmen to shape up rapidly. Then James Hatton went first ball, and Tom Menzies safely avoided the hattrick but at 4-27 the black and ochre team clearly had some work to do.
Some batting resistance occurred through the middle order but again it was left to a few and only three reached double figures – compared to six out of eight from the opposition - and in the face of right arm medium pacer Kent and Hogan, the tail failed to rally.
Match Scores: ACT 8-291 (50) (Jake Smith 118, Nicholas Kent 40, Thomas Hogan 40; Charlie Kemp 2-41, Tom Menzies 2-43) d Northern Territory 10-117 (42.3) (Tom Menzies 36; Thomas Hogan 5-22, Nicholas Kent 3-24).
QUALIFYING FINAL NT v NSW COUNTRY
In Round 5, a qualifying final, the NT went down by 83 runs to NSW Country in the match played at the Queenborough Oval in Sandy Bay.
Star for the Territory was Charlie Bignell who, batting at three, withstood the early mayhem and remained 95 n.o. at the fall of the final wicket. Bignell finally found a batting ally in James Hatton and together they put on a face saving 84 for the fourth wicket but no other partnership of consequence emerged and Bignell fell an agonising five runs short of his century.
Five out of five toss wins by Tom Menzies and he again elected to field but this time his opening bowling partner was Hugo Matthias and this change up proved successful with the medium pacer snaring the first two wickets. However, as has been common, the batting side put away their array of arrogantly undisciplined shots and set about consolidation where a third wicket partnership between Sam Weir and Angus Campbell built a foundation.
But Jordan Clyne broke up the developing partnership, which had reached 62, when he had Campbell caught at mid-on after playing a lazy shot and at the halfway mark, Country was 3-102. Although wicketless, the mystery may just be why didn’t Rehaan Shyamsundar bowl his full quota of 10 overs when he clearly had rhythm, and again did not feature in the wides column which is a measure of his performance especially as a leg spinner? On return, his two wickets came from pieces of masterly leg spin bowling.
Another solid middle order partnership between Liam Roche and Zak Graham enhanced the score and at the compulsory close NSW was 7-267.
The NT batting was all about the resolute Bignell, he faced 143 balls and hit 6x4 and 2x6 and hopefully his heroics will open the eyes of his teammates – Hatton (33) and Nick Fleming (11) were the only others to make double figures.
Match Scores: NSW Country 7-267 (50) (Liam Roche 86 n.o., Sam Weir 67; Hugo Matthias 2-33, Rehaan Shyamsundar 2-40) d Northern Territory 10-184 (48.5) (Charlie Bignell 95 n.o., James Hatton 33; Zak Graham 3-23).
ROUND 4 NT v NSW METRO
In Round 4, the NT was beaten, going down to NSW Metro by 169 runs in the match played at the TCA Ground in Hobart. The bowlers displayed admirable improvement, however, when batting, poor shot selection, an unnecessary run out together with an inability to build an innings were obvious deficiencies and only two reached double figures against a moderate Metro bowling attack.
Territory captain Tom Menzies won his fourth consecutive toss and elected to field and the skipper opened the bowling and achieved immediate success when he had opening batter Sam Konstas caught by brother Max at square leg with only six runs on the board. Two wickets to Charlie Bignell including a masterly leg side stumping to ‘keeper Cadell McMahon and a smart catch by Charlie Kemp at slip to give young leggie Rehaan Shyamsundar his first wicket of the tournament and Metro slumped to 4-98 at the halfway mark of their innings.
NSW then steadied, putting on a near run-a-ball 159 run stand for the fifth wicket between Addison Sherriff (79) and Joel Wright (72 n.o.) which took the total to 5-263 at the compulsory close.
Charlie Bignell and Joshua Gawthorpe strode out to take on the Metro frontline bowlers but the new pairing at the top of the order was unable to build a score foundation. First it was Gawthorpe and then Charlie Kemp who had been elevated to three and both fell to steady right arm medium pacer Jaiveer Singh Dhanoa and when Tom Menzies was caught down leg side by the ‘keeper, the score was 3-20 and the batting plan hadn’t measured up to reality.
Meanwhile, Bignell and James Hatton both batted past the 40-ball mark and put on a face-saving 48 run fourth wicket partnership. Next to go was Jaxon Treumer who was needlessly run out responding to a suicide call from Nick Fleming and the remainder folded although the nineth wicket pair Max Menzies and Hugo Matthias soaked up some time by careful value of their wickets. Otherwise, opposition spin bowlers again ran through the Territory batters with leg spinner Roopmehar Dhillon picking up 4-16 from his 10 overs.
Match Scores: NSW Metro 5-263 (50) (Addison Sherriff (79), Joel Wright (72 n.o.); Charlie Bignell 2-40 (10 overs)) d Northern Territory 10-94 (44.3) (James Hatton 28; Roopmehar Dhillon 4-16).
ROUND 3 NT v VIC COUNTRY
In Round 3, the NT was again soundly beaten, going down to Victoria Country by eight wickets in the match played at the Pontville Park (Gunn Oval) in the Southern Midlands area.
Territory skipper Tom Menzies can do no wrong with the spinning coin – three out of three winning tosses is not bad! Against the Vic’s he decided to bat first but disaster struck early when one of the few shining lights with the willow Charlie Bignell sliced a catch to point and was dismissed without scoring.
Another shining light and another Charlie but this time Kemp and Archie McCormack resurrected the situation with a positive second wicket stand but with the demise of those two, and a stoic stay at the crease by Menzies batting at four, no other batsman reached double figures although Max Menzies hung on for a period batting at nine.
There didn’t appear to be much venom in the Country bowling attack, and it was leg spinner Abhilasha Rodrigo (10 overs) and ‘offie’ Brodie Reaper with two wickets each that stood out.
The captain took the new ball and after bowling impeccable lines was rewarded when Vic opener Kyle Parrott hesitantly nicked the ball which was well taken low down by ‘keeper Cadell McMahon. Brisk medium pacer Joshua Gawthorpe had Reaper caught in the deep by Tom Menzies and the Vics went to lunch at 2-72 from 13 overs.
However, after the beak Country released the shackles and cruised home in 18.5 overs at 2-102 with opener Lucas Cavigan still at the crease.
Match Scores: Vic Country 2-102 (18.5) (Lucas Cavigan 47 n.o.; Tom Menzies 1-16, Joshua Gawthorpe 1-17) d Northern Territory 10-101 (42) (Charlie Kemp 22; Brodie Reaper 2-4, Abhilasha Rodrigo 2-13).
ROUND 2 NT v QLD
In Round 2 the NT was outgunned by Queensland, losing by seven wickets in the match played at the Kangaroo Bay Oval in the city of Clarence.
Another correct call by Territory captain Tom Menzies and this time he elected to bat first but in a similar performance to the previous game, the batsmen failed to take advantage of the placid track and were bowled out for 79 in 33.4 overs. Batting at four, Charlie Kemp made a solid 20 before he was dismissed. Interestingly, Kemp faced 38 balls in his total and in scoring a similar amount of runs on day one, he faced 40 balls. Quickish leg spinner Eshwin Kapoor (3-17) was best with the ball for the Queenslanders.
Tom Menzies immediately showed his class with the ball when he forced the error from Queensland opener Bailey Garnham, and he was well caught at second slip by Kemp. Soon after, an in-swinging yorker cleaned up the Maroon number three and although Jordan Clyne chipped in with another, at lunch the Queenslanders were 3-61 and chasing a meagre 79, it was too little too late.
Match Scores: QLD 3-80 (20) (Jack Balkin 22 n.o.; Tom Menzies 2-19) d Northern Territory 10-79 (33.4) (Charlie Kemp 20; Eshwin Kapoor 3-17).
ROUND 1 NT v SA
The Male Under 17 National Cricket Championships are scheduled for Tasmania and in Round 1 the NT was fixtured to play South Australia at Queenborough Oval, Sandy Bay, in the southern suburbs of Hobart.
Territory skipper Tom Menzies won the toss and decided to bowl and he shared the new ball with Jaxon Treumer but early success eluded them both – a succession of wides and no balls didn’t help to build pressure on the opening batsmen. Medium pacer James Hatton replaced Treumer and while he appeared to trouble the openers, the extras continued to pile up and after 10 overs the SACA’s were 0-47 including 14 extras. However, Hatton who had been the pick of the bowlers with his extraordinary bounce enticed Luke Szabo to nick one to keeper Cadell McMahon and the first wicket fell at 58.
A second wicket partnership between opener Jack Thomas and Kane Halfpenny realised 103 runs and the right hand / left hand combination unsettled the Territory bowlers although leg spinner Rehaan Shyamsundar bowled with some authority and didn’t register a wide or no ball in his five overs. Although wayward, it was medium pacer Jordan Clyne who enticed Thomas into error and the second wicket fell at 161 and soon after a skied shot and an athletic running catch by Archie McCormack gave Hugo Matthias his first wicket. Four quick wickets to Menzies including a beauty when he beat Halfpenny for pace, and another to leg spinner McCormack had the SA run spree in turmoil although they did end at a respectable 8-281 which included 31 wides.
In its turn to bat, only James Hatton (38) at seven and Charlie Kemp (18) batting at the unusually high number four managed to reign in a moderate SACA attack. Some undisciplined batting by the Territory top order essentially gifted their wickets to the SA seamers and only tall off spinner Thomas Brown (4-19) appeared threatening.
Match Scores: SA 8-281 (50) (Jack Thomas 75, Kane Halfpenny 63; Tom Menzies 4-48) d Northern Territory 10-102 (30) (James Hatton 38; Thomas Brown 4-19).