The Blues are Back in town, and fittingly it is SIX big weeks of cricket that we need to be utilizing to get into finals in both the Ryobi Cup and Sheffield Shield Competitions.
SIX being the operative word because the KFC T20 Big Bash League is over and the Sydney Sixers have lived up to their ‘glamour’ status, coming up trumps in a great final at the WACA. My NSW and St. George teammate Moises Henriques was on fire in the final with 70 off 41 balls to win MOM.
Best performed cricketers of the BBL by way of runs / wickets amongst the NSW players were...
Nic Maddinson (Sydney 6'ers) 275 runs at 30.55
Phil Jaques (Hobart Hurricanes) 234 runs at 33.42
Moises Henriques (Sydney 6'ers) 232 runs at 29.00
Steve Smith (Sydney 6'ers) 166 runs at 23.71 & 6 wickets at 21.00
Mitchell Starc (Sydney 6'ers) 13 wickets at 13.53
Scott Coyte (Sydney Thunder) 8 wickets at 19.87
Brett Lee (Sydney 6'ers) 8 wickets at 27.00
Stuart MacGill (Sydney 6'ers) 7 wickets at 23. 71
Sean Abbott (Sydney Thunder) 7 wickets at 25.57
Dave Warner (Sydney Thunder) in his one game also deserves a mention with 102* from 51 balls his only innings. Fair to say he carried that form into the Test series against India, particularly at the WACA. Keep up the good work Bull.
A large portion of our NSW squad were part of that Sixers team and hopefully we can use that momentum to our advantage against Tasmania this coming week with white and red ball.
Another member of our NSW squad who recently made his debut in Blue colours in Timm Van Der Gugten has also been turning heads in cricket circles, not only for his ridiculous Barbados tan, but for his recent success with the Netherlands in a T20 tournament in the West Indies.
‘VanDer Gaga’ as we call him took 5/21 off four overs on debut against Sussex and went on to take 6 wickets at 16.5 in the tournament. He did also mention he got out on a Hat-Trick ball, but insisted he didn't know it was one so we should let him off this time. A great prospect not only for the NSW SpeedBlitz Blues in the future, but also the Netherlands at the T20 World Cup later this year.
So how do we all merge back in together after 7 weeks break scattered across the country?
For those of us who weren't involved in the BBL finals, we travelled to Canberra last week for a Three-Day and a One-Day match against the ACT. Fielding a very strong outfit for the first match with the likes of Captain Khawaja, Hauritz, Abbott, Cruickshank etc we asserted our dominance early and got the match practice we needed. Usman scored 134 and young Tristen McDonald got 88 not out on debut. Sean Abbott starred with the ball with 5 wickets on a flat wicket.
The fourth day of the tour was a One-Day match in which I was very honoured to have been given the opportunity to be Captain. Captaincy is something I very much enjoy doing and luckily we came up trumps bowling ACT out for 145 and chasing the runs two down in 26 overs. A very productive four days and hopefully not the last time I have the captaincy! To all the players who had to put up with captain grumpy... Well done!
This week everyone has been back on deck and no better way to start the week than with two legends of not only NSW and Australian cricket, but our sport in general - Greg Matthews and Mike Whitney, to come and address the group about the passion and pride that is the 'Baggy Blue'. After some very heartfelt words and some tears of pride, the message was across. To be a Blue, is among the most prestigious clubs in the world. The strongest cricketing state, province or territory in the world. And it is our job to uphold that reputation for the rest of this season and for years to come.
A big week of nets, centre wicket scenarios and fielding sessions await, and we are then off to Tasmania for our first game back on Saturday, with the Sheffield Shield match starting on Monday. Get behind us, I'm sure there are some big results coming in the next six weeks.
Until next time, go the SpeedBlitz Blues!
Copes