Sutherland DCC 5th Grade Premiers 1986-87
Sutherland District Cricket Club | June 24, 2025
Back row: Trent Woodhill, Jim Atkins, Derek Spencer, Col Christie, Craig Parsons, Matthew Brennan, Darren Holley, Chris O’Hara.
Front row: Robert Tully, Ted Behl, Craig Holden, Mick Jones (Captain), Kevin Rynne, Jeff Smith, Mathew Duff.
[Extract from 5th Grade team report in 1986-87 Annual Report]
Our semi-final against minor premiers North Sydney at North Sydney Oval No.2 was delayed due to wet weather. After losing the toss (my tenth in 12 games), to everyone’s surprise, the North Sydney captain elected to bat. At 3/0. They were in big trouble and were eventually bundled out for a meagre 69. It was an outstanding performance by the bowlers with Jeff Smith (3-14), Matthew Brennan (3-16) and Ted Behl (2-24) sharing the honours. Although Sutherland were dismissed for 111, we were never in real danger of defeat as North Sydney only managed 9/106 in their second innings, with Jeff Smith the destroyer, taking 5-30.
North Sydney 69 (J.Smith 3-14, M.Brennan 3-16, E.Behl 2-24) & 9/106 (J.Smith 5-30) lost to Sutherland 111.
That set the scene for the final against the old enemy, Randwick. Who had won the last two fifth grade finals (against Sutherland in 1984-85) and who were always going to be very hard to beat with their very strong line-up. After losing the toss (again), Randwick batted most of the day and were all out for 156 at 5.23pm. It was a great performance by all the bowlers, with Craig Parsons (3-25), Matthew Brennan (3-31) and Robert Tully (2-21) the main wicket-takers. Jeff Smith, whose bowling improved as the season went on, was the steadier with 1-55 from 36 overs.
The Sutherland innings saw one of the great performances of the season, when Mat Duff batted all day to be 68 not out when Sutherland passed Randwick seven wickets down. It was truly a great feeling to win the competition after losing the previous two finals I had played in.
BeaconPoint Club Clips - Phil Jaques on Batting: Mindset, Method and Making Runs
