The Lefand Group are proud sponsors of Randwick Petersham Cricket Club
The win in the Kingsgrove Sports Twenty20 Cup this season, confirmed Randwick Petersham’s dominance in the 13 years of this 1st Grade competition. It was the fourth time the club had won the T20 Grand Final while it finished third in the competition on three other occasions. Of 72 matches drawn to play, the side won 51 with just 18 losses and three washed out draws. It has played in three quarter-finals, six semi-finals, four preliminary finals and four grand finals. Two of our premiership wins have been under the sponsorship of Harry Solomons’ Kingsgrove Sports and it’s fair to say, we love Harry!
Twenty20 cricket was first played in England in 2003 between county teams. It was introduced to create a fast-paced game that would be attractive to spectators at the ground and viewers on television. In 2005, Australia played a match against England at the Rose Bowl and a year later, Australia hosted South Africa in a similar event at the ‘Gabba. The surprising large attendances saw the concept catch on around the world, with the first of such matches in Australian domestic cricket, played between NSW and Queensland in 2007. A year later, over 85,000 turned up to watch Australia play India at the MCG.
In 2008-09, the Sydney Cricket Association conducted three exhibition T20 matches played on a single day with all Premier Cricket clubs participating. That was the forerunner to the commencement of a three round competition in the 2009-10 season. Randwick Petersham’s first scheduled match against Sutherland was washed out, while it lost the second to Western Suburbs before registering its first win against Northern District at Coogee. The team won all four preliminary matches the next summer before narrowly losing to Mosman in the Quarter-Final, 9-133cc to 9-134.
The club’s first T20 premiership came the following 2011-12 season, defeating Sydney University in the Grand Final at University Oval by 45 runs. And while it won six matches to take the trophy, it lost the first round, ironically against Sydney University, despite Usman Khawaja scoring 72–a then huge score in the new short format of the game.
Back row - Adam Coyte, Brandon McLean, Damian Wall, Anthony Sams, Nicholas Stapleton, Jake Wilson, Matthew Frith, Adam Semple, Nathan Hauritz
Front row - Burt Cockley, Scott Coyte (Captain), Nick Warren, Nathan Price, Usman Khawaja
Two years later, it was premiership excitement once again, with the defeat of Campbelltown-Camden under lights at Drummoyne Oval. It was a spectacular Grand Final, with Adam Semple (37*) charging down the wicket as the bowler delivered the last ball of the match which passed through to the ‘keeper. A shy at the stumps missed and batter, Nathan Ellis (0*), made his ground at the non-striker’s end as the stumps were shattered. Randwick Petersham had won with a bye, 8-132 (20) to 9-131 (20).
Back Row - Simon Katich, Brandon McLean, Daniel Sams, Soumil Chhibber, Nathan Price, Anthony Sams, Rory Burns,
Front row - Shaun Eaton, Nathan Ellis, Adam Semple (Captain), Nicholas Stapleton, Jake Wilson
Over the next 24 months, the 1st Grade team won 12 of 13 T20 matches. The only loss came in the 2014-15 Preliminary Final when the side went down to St George at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The last of those matches however, was another defeat of Sydney University in the 2015-16 Grand Final at Coogee, 7-166 (20) to 7-140 (20).
Back row - Peter Devlin (Committee), Simon Gould (Asst. Coach), Francois Neser, Anthony Sams, Sam Doggett, Nathan Price, Barry McCarthy, Bill Anderson (Director of Cricket Operations), Jake Wilson, Shaun Eaton, Mike Whitney (President)
Front row - Greg Small (Club Coach), Daniel Sams, Adam Semple (Captain), Soumil Chhibber, Jake Scicluna, Alex Kemp
And while the following five years didn’t bring further premiership glory, there were a number of outstanding matches and performances. Playing University of NSW in 2018-19 at Village Green, David Warner (76*) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (77*) chased down a target of 7-151 (20) in just 15.1 overs to win with a score of 0-155. Almost 12 months later, again playing the students at David Phillips South, the side amassed a huge 5-241 off its 20 overs with Ben Abbatangelo smacking 75 and Bell-Drummond 67. Riley Ayre then claimed 5-14 to have Uni. out for 87 and a win by a record margin of 154 runs.
David Warner played the full 2018-19 season in NSW Premier Cricket, with spectacular results in all forms of the game. Playing a T20 match against North Sydney at North Sydney Oval, he belted 81 out of a total of 1-148, to chase down 8-147 (20). In five successive T20 matches, he scored 63, 54, 81, 76 and 52 for a season tally of 336 at an average of 84. A season record for the club.
Another power hitter, Daniel Sams, hit 86 off 43 with 7 sixes in 2016-17 playing Manly at Manly and a season later, smashed 92 off 39 with 9 sixes at Hurstville against Saints. And in 2019-20, Manly copped another shellacking when he hit 83 off 45 with 5 sixes at Coogee. This season, University of NSW were on the receiving end with Sams matching his 92 top score off 41 with 8 sixes.
Last summer, the side lost four successive matches to record its worst T20 season. But that hiccup was soon overshadowed by a fourth premiership this season, again at the expense of Sydney University, who it beat in a low scoring Grand Final at University Oval, 114 to 83–the lowest-ever completed innings by both clubs. It was Sydney University’s fifth runner-up placing.
Back: Robin Gardner (Life Member), Eddie Otto (Asst. Coach), Daniel Sams, Ash Burton, Shivansh Patak, Ben Mitchell, Puru Gaur, Camden Hawkins, Jason Ralston, Basit Ali, Bill Anderson (Director of Cricket Operations)
Front: Veena Naidu (Scorer), Sanjiv Dubey (Asst. Coach), Michael Haire (Coaching Director), Adam Docos, Riley Ayre, Daya Singh, Jason Sangha (Captain), Adam Semple, Anthony Sams
The club has had four century-makers. Rory Burns, the England Test opening bat was the first, smashing 102* off 64 balls with 11 fours and 4 sixes against Manly at Manly Oval in 2013-14. Two years later, Nathan Price was brilliant in knocking up 101 off just 51 balls with 3 fours and an amazing 9 sixes. And this season, Anthony Sams pulverised the Eastern Suburbs attack to bring up 100 off only 50 balls with 7 fours and 7 sixes. He finished with a record 115* off 55 balls hitting 9 fours and 7 sixes. Two matches later, in one of the best played and most valuable innings, Adam Semple ended with a neat 100* when he hit the winning run to defeat University of NSW in the Preliminary Final at Coogee. He faced 54 balls and hit 5 fours and 8 sixes in a superb display. The final score of 4-168 to pass the target of 7-167cc, was the club’s highest successful run chase in 68 Twenty20 matches.
In the 13 years of the competition, the side has played 16 clubs as well as teams from Illawarra and Newcastle. The only clubs it has not been drawn to play have been Bankstown, Parramatta and Fairfield-Liverpool. It is undefeated against Easts (6 wins), Uni. of NSW (6), North Sydney (5) and Manly-Warringah (5). Mosman however, holds a record of 5 wins to 3. In 36 home games, the team has won 24 while in the 36 away games, it has won 27.
The leading run-scorer is Adam Semple with a neat 1,200 runs from 62 matches and a highest score of 100*. Anthony Sams has played most matches with 65 totalling 986 runs including a score of 115*. Anthony has also completed 58 dismissals behind the stumps. Daniel Sams is fast approaching both of those two players with 878 runs from only 39 matches. Daniel also has 51 wickets, just 12 behind Semple who is the leading wicket-taker with 63. And in the six-hitting department, the club has plonked 333 over the fence in 69 matches. Daniel Sams has led the way with 58, followed by Semple, 47, his brother, Anthony Sams, 27, just one maximum ahead of Nathan Price who has hit 26, while Shaun Eaton is not far behind with 23.
Twenty 20 cricket is all about batting. Fast batting. Big scoring. Bowlers have little opportunity to parade their skills other than those who can prevent batters from hitting hard and often. Randwick Petersham has always had a number of batters who could crunch out the runs. In the early days, there was Richard Chee Quee, one of NSW Premier Cricket’s highest scoring players and one of its most attacking. He would caress a cricket ball into a nearby street just as often as he would play a forward defensive prod. The number of sixes he hit were not recorded, but it’s fair to say, it would be in the hundreds.
Then there was Joseph Hill, who hit 26 over the fence in 2003-04. And that was in regular cricket matches. Matt Cassar was another big-hitter, as his 16 sixes in 2002-03 indicates. And while Test opening bat, Simon Katich, was more of a strokemaker, the 9 sixes he hit in an innings at Petersham Oval in 2002-03, left no doubt he also would have had an impact in T20 cricket. Nathan Hauritz was another who enjoyed a tonk and belted 13 out of the ground in 2006-07.
The introduction of the Twenty20 concept as a regular competition in 2009-10, really brought out the attacking flair in many players. It also highlighted the value of athletic fielding as many of the catches taken in International, BBL and similar tournaments indicate. Even at club level, it requires a standard of fitness well in excess of what was the case in cricket prior to its introduction. With a T20 World Cup competition played every two years, the game is here to stay. In the 2020 World Cup (completed in 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns), it is with great satisfaction that Randwick Petersham had two players, David Warner and Dan Sams, along with former club member, Nathan Ellis, in the successful Australian T20 World Cup squad.
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