Sydney University Cricket Club members Nick Larkin and Scott Henry scored second innings centuries to rescue NSW’s hopes on day three of their Sheffield Shield match against South Australia at Adelaide Oval.
Opener Larkin scored his maiden century for NSW, a sparkling 130 with 15 boundaries and a six, to back up his 76 in the first innings. He made his NSW debut in the previous Shield match against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Henry, who bats at No.3 for NSW, backed up his first innings 56 with an unbeaten 107, which included eight boundaries and a six.
They shared a 110-run partnership in the NSW first innings of 230. South Australia replied with 293, which included a classy 121 from No.4 Tom Cooper, and NSW were 4-319 in their second innings at stumps last night, a lead of 256, with Larkin and Henry providing the bulk of the runs with a partnership of 154.
Quick runs this morning and a declaration could put NSW in contention for outright points.
Sydney University has four representatives in the NSW line-up, with opener Ryan Carters (15 and 36) and off-spinner Will Somerville, who finished with 0-32 off nine overs in South Australia’s first innings.
Larkin score 10 and 25 in his debut match against Victoria, who finished with a nine-wicket win over NSW. Carters scored 14 and 58 in that match, while the consistent Henry scored 63 and 52.
Somerville, who was also on debut against Victoria. Finished the first innings with 0-104 off 24 overs. Three Victorians cracked centuries – David Hussey 129, Peter Hanscombe 108, and Daniel Christian 105 not out – as the hosts rattled up 5-(dec)-507.
Meanwhile, Sydney University all-rounder Sean Abbott was a member of the Australian side that defeated South Africa by two wickets in the final of the T20 series played at ANZ Stadium on Sunday night.
Australia restricted South Africa to 6-145 (Abbott 0-14) and finished with 8-146 (Abbott 5) to win with a ball to spare.
And former Sydney University opener Ed Cowan posted 105 for Tasmania, in their Sheffield Shield match Victoria at Bellerive Oval yesterday.
On the women’s cricket front, Universities captain Alex Blackwell was a member of the Australian team that defeated West Indies three-nil in the T20 series that finished at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
During the second match, played at North Sydney Oval, Blackwell became the second Australian player, alongside Meg Lanning, to post 1000 runs in the short format of the game when she scored 11 off seven deliveries. Her 1000th run came up with a straight drive for a single.
Blackwell had been stranded in the 990s for five innings before her efforts at North Sydney Oval.
It turned into a double celebration for her, as she also eclipsed the great Lisa Sthalekar, a former Universities captain, to become Australia’s most capped women’s cricketer in her 190th match for the Southern Stars.
“I had no idea (I’d passed 1000 runs), just as I had no idea that I reached 190 games for Australia today, which is the most ever,” the modest Blackwell said. “That also shocked me, but it’s nice to be out there to see our young team and that was the best bowling and fielding effort that we’ve produced for a couple of years.”
