AIC First XI cricket Players of the Week from stunning Round 3 action
Here’s all AIC First XI cricket hundred makers this decade, including two batsmen who also made our round 3 Team of the Week. Story here
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There have already been five AIC First XI cricket hundreds this season in an extraordinary summer, with two coming last weekend courtesy of the flashing blades of Villanova’s Finn Thallon and Marist Ashgrove’s Will Nickelson.
Those two elite performances ensured the boys were selection No. 1 and No. 2 in our Team of the Week featured below, milestone moments coming hot on the heels of recent centuries this season by Steve Hogan (St Patrick’s College), Zayne Thomas (Iona College) and Harley Malpass (Iona College).
But what about the competition’s recent history.
Here we take a trip down memory lane to recall the great AIC First XI hundreds since 2020.
HONOUR ROLL OF HUNDREDS
2021: Mitchell Yarrow (Iona College): Yarrow made 108 not out as his side successfully chased Padua’s 7-230. “It was great to watch and he produced every shot in the book,’’ said Iona College director of cricket Sean Devlin.
2021: George Kelsall (Padua College): Kelsall’s booming 124 not out came in a losing side. He had batted Padua to 4-226, tapping Iona bowler Seggar for a single to move to 99 before raising his 100 from just 127 deliveries (11 fours, one six).
2022: Ryan Pembroke (Padua): Against Villanova at Andrew Slack Oval, Pembroke evoked memories of two of the great comeback Test hundreds (by Englishmen Ian Botham and Ben Stokes) to score 165 not out in his team’s remarkable win. Pembroke scored 165 not out as Padua made 9-268 chasing 265 to win. It was extraordinary. Padua were 2-16 and 6-127 but like those great Test knocks by Botham and Stokes, Pembroke rallied his team from a seemingly impossible position. Scoring 165 not out from just 144 balls, he partnered with Braithyn Pecic (17) to carry the score to 7-197.
The most astonishing part of his performance was that Pembroke scored all but one run in the last wicket stand of 46.
2022: Steve Hogan (St Patrick’s College): In a sign of things to come, Hogan scored a superb century in AIC First XI cricket hundred as a Year 9 student against Padua College. A Sandgate-Redcliffe junior, Hogan amassed 128 from just 117 balls, taking his team to the high tide mark of 5-249.
2023: Zayne Thomas (Iona College) and Harley Malpass (Iona College)
The boys shared in an unbroken partnership of 317 as Thomas powered to 252 not out (169 balls) and Malpass to 116 not out (89 balls). Nothing like it has been seen in the history of AIC. Thomas is a stylish batsmen, and the tall Malpass, also a talented tennis player, one of the players of the season.
Footnotes:
+ Iona College’s Hunter Ellis teed off in a big way to hit 102 in the 2021 T20 competition match. In the true tradition of left handers, opener Ellis was Entertainment with a capital E.
+ Marist College Ashgrove First XI captain Jack O’Neill scored a sensational century in 2019, amassing a breathtaking 159 from just 102 deliveries. It was a stunning assault by O’Neill but it was not all bluster, with the batsman respecting good deliveries by defending 39 balls. 2019 Old Boy O’Neill has since taken his talents to Scottish club Forfarshire, where he has played a major role in the team’s ascension towards becoming the best cricket team in Scotland. Having won the Citylets Scottish Cup in 2022, O’Neill is staying put abroad as he and his side look to once again be crowned the best in the country.
+ And special mention to St Laurence’s College’s Oliver Lunt for his superb 91 from just 94 balls against Padua in 2021 that deserved a century. That performance was in a losing side and almost pulled off a come-from-behind win.
MEETING THE MIGHTY CAPTAINS HERE
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Will Nickelson (Ashgrove)
It’s not often you see someone make a century and it is not enough to grab a win. But, that was the case on Saturday when wicketkeeper batsmen Will Nickelson put on a clinic with an unbeaten 114 against Iona.
His innings was just beautiful to watch and he should hold his head high knowing he gave his all to give Ashgrove their best chance at a win.
Tom Wex and Ben Ferguson (Ashgrove)
Wex and Ferguson stepped up just as they were supposed to. Year 12 opener Wex played a nice innings to score 51, while Ferguson hit a quick 41 off 49 at No.4.
You had a sense he was just about to wind up and really start taking advantage of the short Davine Oval boundaries but his innings was cut short when Archer Anderson dismissed him cheaply.
Harley Malpass (Iona)
It’s hard to believe Malpass will be forgetting the past fortnight anytime soon. In round 2 the first drop batsmen scored 116 not out in a 317 run partnership with Zayne Thomas (252*) before scoring an unbeaten 87 in round 3 to clinch perhaps Iona’s most crucial win of the season.
With 272 required and wickets falling around him, Malpass never wavered, hitting 11 fours and a six on his way to a game-winning knock.
Adam Richter (Iona)
Richter relished his time at the batting crease like any other No. 8 batsmen would on the generous Davine Oval.
Given his chance to shine with the bat, Richter, who bowled 10 tight overs in the heat, stepped up to the plate and delivered an enormous 82 off 62 to win the match in the second last over.
He was a man possessed, hitting five sixes and six fours.
Lachlan Bragger and Hamish McKeon (Iona)
Bragger (31) and wicketkeeper batsmen McKeon (39) were just as important to Iona’s triumph as Malpass and Richter.
It required a true team effort to chase 273 and the pair’s ability to come to the crease and build an innings, enabled Malpass and Richter to finish the job.
They scored efficiently and without them the result is different.
ST PATRICK’S V ST PETERS
Lachlan Allen (St Patrick’s)
Allen played a classic opening bat role with a patient 55 off 123, seeing out the new ball and building partnerships with four different teammates. He was dismissed finally at 4-154, after a fifty run stand with Hogan, and a 46 run stand with Mitchell Hartshorn (28).
Steve Hogan (St Patrick’s)
Hogan is the name that has just kept popping up all summer. And this weekend, it was the same story again for the Year 10 all rounder who continues to take the AIC competition by storm.
This time around, it was his bowling efforts that helped get his side over the line. With figures of 4/29 off nine Hogan wiped through the St Peters batting order, making up for what he would consider a low scoring 34 run knock.
Mathew Harvie (St Peters)
Hats off to Harvie who claimed a terrific fifer bowling his, at times, unplayable leg spin.
Right arm pacemen Ashish Neredumilli and Nick Johnson also contributed with a wicket each but it was really a one man army who challenged the Paddies batsmen.
Worthy of a mention was Luke Dyer, who kept it tight when leaking just 18 runs in his seven overs.
VILLANOVA V LAURIE’S
Thomas Reick (Villanova)
The skipper came to play on his home ground, battering 41 off just 33.
With two sixes and five fours, Reick and partner in crime Finn Thallon had just the response for Laurie’s after they picked up both their openers for naught.
Coming in at 2-1, Reick could’ve panicked but that was the last thing he did. Instead, he played his game.
Finn Thallon (Villanova)
Thallon could get single digit scores for the rest of the season and still make our Team of the Year, that’s how good of a start he is off to.
In round three the No. 4 batsmen outdid himself with a game defining 101*, after beginning the year with scores of 59 and 54.
Henrik Frederiksen (Villanova)
Frederiksen left his imprint on the game at both the bowling and batting crease. After contributing nicely late in the innings with a speedy 22 off 27, he backed up with three wickets.
Thomas Stenhouse (Laurie’s)
No. 6 Thomas Stenhouse stood tall for Laurie’s as they hunted 242 for the win. With 57 off 49, he gave his team a fighting chance in the chase, before Frederiksen came and spoiled the party.
During his time at the crease, he cleared the rope twice and hit four fours.
ST EDMUND’S V PADUA
Braithyn Pecic (Padua)
Captain, wicketkeeper, batsmen and bowler Braithyn Pecic was peckish for some time out in the middle. And he got what he was after.
He opened the batting and lasted 63 deliveries, in that time scoring 51, with three fours and two sixes slashing the new ball around the Tivoli Fields.
Pacey Broadhurst, Henry Ainsworth, Ryan Out, and Nathan Black (Padua)
This awesome-foursome all got themselves off to a good start but failed to convert. Their contributions proved crucial in the end as Eddies’ nearly rose from the dead to claim victory.
Ainsworth and Black got 22, Out 21, and Broadhurst an entertaining 24. And, if it wasn’t for Out and Black wagging their tail to close out the innings, Eddies’ could have easily stolen it at the death.
Ben Naish (Eddies’)
Naish had his best hit out with the bat this season with a classy 44 off 59, combining well with C Costelo (32) to begin the run chase.
The pair put on 73 runs together, before Pat Albion and Fletcher Brown made things interesting.
Pat Albion and Fletcher Brown (Eddies’)
At 4-87 no one but the Eddies’ boys would have had the belief they could chase down 207. But the fourth wicket partnership inspired by Albion (27) and Brown (37) gave Padua a real fright, only to fall agonisingly short by seven runs.
Padua’s Cameron Plackett was the finisher, collecting four scalps late in the piece to secure the win.
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