Week ending 17th December: Silverware for Delray

Delray Rawlins – who is playing in New South Wales Premier Cricket in Australia – was part of a Sydney side that took part in the Kingsgrove Sports Twenty20 Cup Finals Day at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday. Delray was run out for eight in the semi-final against Sutherland, but made up for it in the field, taking 2-21 from his four overs and two catches as Sydney won by 32 runs. In the grand final versus Penrith, Delray top-scored with 57 from 42 balls to help Sydney to 158-7. He then bowled four tidy overs, taking 1-26, as his side cruised to a 36-run victory and took the title.

A Finals Day appearance didn’t excuse Delray from his first-grade duties on Saturday. In a 50-over match, Delray’s left-arm spin brought him figures of 3-23 off 9.4 overs as Northern Districts were all out for 135. His efforts with the ball meant that Delray was able to put his feet up for the rest of the day as Sydney secured a six-wicket win.

Elsewhere in New South Wales’ first grade on Saturday, Ollie Robinson was on a losing St. George side against Parramatta. He made ten runs from number seven as St. George could only muster 132 runs. This wasn’t enough and Parramatta reached their target with seven wickets in hand, Ollie recording figures of 0-13 from three overs.

In the third-grade competition, Abi Sakande’s Mosman fell to a four-wicket defeat against the University of New South Wales. Abi made five with the bat from number eight as Mosman were bowled out for 171 in 43.5 overs. His 2-26 off eight overs wasn’t enough to stop UNSW from recording a four wicket win.

In South Australia, Michael Burgess and his Adelaide University side played day one of their two day first grade match against Prospect on Saturday. Michael took a catch as Prospect were dismissed for 240 and he will resume on 12 when day two gets underway next weekend with AUCC 108-3.

Georgia Elwiss is Sussex’s representative in this year’s Women’s Big Bash League, playing for Melbourne Stars. She featured in two matches last week, both against Sydney Thunder. Georgia scored three and took 0-25 off three overs in an eight wicket defeat at Albury on Tuesday and made an all-run 23* off 20 deliveries and bowled two wicketless overs for 18 runs during the Stars’ nine wicket loss at Sydney’s Howell Oval on Saturday.

The men’s Big Bash League gets underway on Tuesday and so Sussex’s three representatives in the competition were involved in warm-up matches last week. Hobart Hurricanes are blessed with two of Sussex’s fast bowlers in Jofra Archer and Tymal Mills and they both played in wins against Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars.

In the first match at Wollongong on Tuesday, Jofra hit 22 not out off 10 balls to get the Hurricanes up to 164-6. He and Tymal were then impressive with the ball, bowling in tandem at the death as the Sixers were restricted to 150-6. Tymal picked up a wicket from his four overs, which went for just 26 runs.

The Hurricanes obtained a second victory on Friday at Traralgon. Neither Jofra or Tymal were needed to bat as Hurricanes racked up 175-5. They both recorded identical figures of 1-4 from a single over each as the Stars were shot out for 64 runs.

Jofra’s wicket in this match was that of Sussex teammate Luke Wright, who is about to embark on his seventh Big Bash campaign for the Stars. Luke had made six off 12 balls, when Jofra had him caught at midwicket.

In Western Australia, George Garton impressed as England Lions’ Australian tour concluded with three T20 matches against Perth Scorchers. George was involved in the first ever match at the brand-new Perth stadium on Monday, taking 1-30 from four overs as the Lions won by 12 runs. He was the pick of the Lions bowlers as the tourists lost by 6 runs at the same venue on Wednesday taking 2-29, before finishing the tour with 1-20 off three overs as the Lions lost by six wickets at the Murdoch University Ground.

Finally for this edition of Winter Watch, we head to Sharjah where Chris Jordan has been breaking new cricketing ground by taking part in the T10 League. Representing Punjabi Legends in the three-day event, Chris started the tournament, with one not out and 0-22 from his allotted two overs as the Legends lost to Bengal Tigers by three wickets. Later on Friday, Chris picked up his first T10 wicket, taking 1-17 in a win against Kerala Kings. On day two, Chris’s figures were 1-28 as the Legends lost by 14 runs to Maratha Arabians. Despite the defeat, the Legends made it through to the last four on net run rate. Chris went wicketless in Sunday’s semi-final as the Legends hammered Pakhtoons by nine wickets to progress to the final. Chris was the most economical of the Legends bowlers in the final, going for just 16 runs in his two overs, but Kerala Kings reached their target with eight wickets to spare and took the inaugural T10 title.