Round 5 Match Report
Sydney Tigers Vs Western Suburbs
4th Grade
Round 5 and a clear indicator the Sydney Grade Cricket season was well underway. The match against Wests was conveniently a home game for the 4th Grade boys, and with it being played at ELS Hall, we knew that if we played to our strengths we would be successful.
After calling correctly again, Gricey elected to field and with our 4 pronged pace attack of Caruso, Najeet Azzim, Parasher and Fiore along with selected spinner Anand Verma, we knew that if we were able to take advantage of the conditions and the pitch we would be able to apply significant pressure to a young Wests outfit.
A solid start saw Wests lose their opener in the 2nd over, to Azzim’s 1st delivery. From there, only the number 4 Wests batsman was able to contribute significantly to the Team score and that was after multiple chances. Full credit to all of our bowlers, especially two I’d like to mention. Najeet Azzim bowled with great pace and accuracy to demonstrate why he loves ELS Hall. 10 wickets in 2 matches is quite a good return and he is certainly doing the job required for his skipper as he finished with 6/22 from 11 overs. Credit also goes to Nathan Fiore who after a few matches where he would admit his bowling hasen’t been up to scratch, has toiled hard over the weeks and was rewarded with 2/14 from his 6. Excellent to see him come back so strong after a couple of disappointing performances.
The Tigers 4th Grade fielding still needs work but evidence is clearly there that we are improving and learning to function as a unit in the field, and be proactive rather than reactive.
With 43 overs still left to play in the day, it was Grice and Tripp who took to the centre, with Grice especially on a mission to take apart the Wests attack and really put the stranglehold on the young oufit. He didn’t disappoint and smashed his way to 42 before given out to a dubious decision. Either way the opening damage had been done and it was evident in the way of Wests body language, heads down and no chat, while the Tigers remained upbeat. Max Newman joined Tripp at the crease and after looking good, was out to a lapse in concentration for 12. Nathan Fiore was next in and he made a start before he too was bowled by Wests 5th bowler. Thalina Vitharana joined Tripp at the crease with the score on 121 and will be looking to push on next week, get a solid lead and go for the full 10.