NSW Premier Cricket: Sydney’s Ben Manenti tips three-club race in first grade finals series

BBL gun Ben Manenti believes three clubs are in the hot seat to battle for the Belvidere Cup in NSW Premier Cricket this season as the qualifying finals draw is revealed..

Ben Manenti celebrates after dismissing Sam Harper of the Renegades during the Big Bash League game in December.

Ben Manenti is forecasting the finals race for the Belvedere Cup will be a three-way battle in 2021.

But that’s not stopping him getting in some training with a man he fully expects to be facing at some stage during Sydney’s finals campaign.

Manenti said he has reached out to an old colleague at the Sydney Sixers to join him in some training sessions during the week.

Manenti rang Manly Warringah’s Steve O’Keefe to see if he would join him for batting practice before weekend games.

“I learned a lot from the guys in the bubble. The last two years I have just tried to learn as much as I could,’’ he said.

Manenti identified O’Keefe and Dan Christian as the men he had learned the most from this season.

Steve O'Keefe in action for the Sixers this season.

BBL GUNS TRAINING TOGETHER AHEAD OF QUALIFYING FINALS

“I spent a lot of time with Steve bowling and working on the red and white game. I’ve tried to learn from him even though there is a chance we will face each other in finals series,’’ he said.

“I appreciate he’s helping me out even though we might be facing each other in the finals series. I reached out to him. I like picking his brain.’’

Manenti, who has been with Sydney since his Green Shield days, played his 200th game for the club last weekend.

FAVOURITES FOR 2021 BELVIDERE CUP

The cricketer believes the top three clubs heading into the elimination finals are Sydney, Manly Warringah and Sydney University who finished top three after the rounds.

“Manly and Sydney Uni are the two teams to beat. There will be some high-quality games in coming weeks,’’ he said.

“I think one of these three teams will win the competition this year.

“Manly have a number of class players like Steve O’Keefe, Jack Edwards, Ollie Davies when he’s not playing with the Blues, Ryan and Hadley, Jay Lenton. On paper they are a better side.

“Sydney Uni have been there and done it all before. There is one, two, three and the rest at the moment.”

FIRST GRADE QUALIFYING FINALS DRAW MARCH 20-21, 2001

Sydney v St George at Drummoyne Oval, Sydney University v Northern District at University Oval, Manly-Warringah v Fairfield-Liverpool at Manly Oval.

NSW PREMIER CRICKET FIRST GRADE STANDINGS 2021

Sydney 73 Sydney University 72 Manly-Warringah 64 (1.4895) Fairfield-Liverpool 64 (1.2550) Northern District 63 St George 46 (1.0439) Eastern Suburbs 46 (0.9068) Gordon 44 UTS North Sydney 41 Randwick Petersham 40 Bankstown 40 Western Suburbs 38 Sutherland 32 Mosman 30 UNSW 29 Penrith 29 Parramatta 27 Campbelltown-Camden 26 Hawkesbury 10 Blacktown Mounties 1.

BEN MANENTI HELPS SYDNEY CRICKET TO TOP OF LADDER

Fresh off a season with the Sydney Sixers, Ben Manenti has bought memorable form back into NSW Premier Cricket in his 200th game for Sydney in a standout performance in a crucial round 14 of competition in early March.

The man with the famous moustache produced a blinder for the Sydney cricket club who sit at the top of the Belvidere Cup standings heading into the 15th round of the season despite their loss to Gordon.

The club cannot be beaten for a place in the elimination finals with Manenti taking 7/41 in a head-turning display in a milestone match.

Ben Manenti has bought top form back into NSW Premier Cricket.

It was his eighth five wicket performance and he followed it up with 75, the third highest of his 13 half-centuries.

“We had nothing to lose trying to send them back in, we can’t go any lower than second,’’ Manenti said.

SIXERS’ BEN MANENTI ON SYDNEY’S BID FOR BELVIDERE CUP

“The No. 1 goal for me now is to win the first grade competitions with Sydney and play in a couple more second X1 games, a bit more four day cricket.

“We have been chasing that (first grade win) for a few years now.

“We lost the final six years ago, it’s the goal this group has been chasing for a number of years.’’

Outstanding 🐯 Ben Manenti...7 / 41 off 17.4 overs v Gordon at Chatswood Oval pic.twitter.com/mbfIpGp9bk

— Michael Haire (@michaelhaire2) March 6, 2021

SYDNEY GRADE CRICKET PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Joining Sixers off-spinner Manenti as a Player of the Week is Jack Attenborough (UNSW) who completed a stunning reversal of fortune on Saturday.

After a golden duck in the first innings he scored his third century of the season – and his first-grade career – on Saturday.

Parramatta’s Ben Abbott also made a big impression, scoring a second innings century, the fourth century of his career in the match against Western Suburbs.

Sutherland’s Chris Williams scored his second 90 of the season and the sixth of his career.

Manenti’s teammate, fast bowler Nick Bills, took just 1-20, but it gave him 50 wickets for the season. He has taken 50 wickets in three of the last four seasons, missing in 2018-19 with 46.

Five wicket performances in the round: Lachlan Ford (Mosman) with his second, teenager Hunar Verma (Blacktown) and Aidan van der Nieuwboer (Bankstown) with their first.

Hunar Verma has been seen as a player to watch for some time.

SYDNEY FIRST GRADE CRICKET STANDINGS

Sydney University 72, Sydney 67, Manly-Warringah 58, Fairfield-Liverpool 57, Northern District 56, Gordon 44, Randwick Petersham 40, Eastern Suburbs 40, St George 39, Western Suburbs 38, UTS North Sydney 34 Bankstown 34 Sutherland 32 UNSW 29 Mosman 27 Parramatta 27 Penrith 26 Campbelltown-Camden 20 Hawkesbury 10 Blacktown Mounties 1.

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NSW PREMIER CRICKET ROUND 14 RESULTS

Mosman 3-149 (L Hearne 50no J Park 36 N Hinton 32 H Dalton 22no) bt UTS North Sydney 146 (T Jagot 33 M Jenkins 29 L Shelton 3-29 M Moran 2-21 T Elliott 2-41 D Crawford 2-44) at North Sydney Oval.

Penrith 9-141 (R Hackney 43 N Adams 41 H Verma 5-73 H Sandhu 3-46) bt Blacktown Mounties 123 (T Flynn-Duncombe 36 J DiBartolo 28 R Smith 4-46 K Balgowan 3-11 R Fletcher 2-53) at Joe McAleer Reserve.

UNSW 94 (M Gilkes 35 W Salzmann 3-14 S Skelly 3-30 B Larance 2-14) and 5 (dec)-198 (J Attenborough 105no E Jamieson 41 T Byrnes 22no B Patterson 2-29) bt Campbelltown-Camden 68 (N Appleton 20 H McLean 5-20 D White 3-22) and 8-80 (W Salzmann 27no D White 3-22 D Bloomfield 2-15) at Raby Oval.

Fairfield-Liverpool 224 (R Srivastava 61 A Nair 40 J Simmons 31 A Naqvi 25 L Ohrynowsky 20 Y Sharma 20 M Sarkies 3-65 M Atallah 2-39 R O’Beirne 2-50 N Rowe 2-51) bt Eastern Suburbs 134 (B Holt 27 C Sammut 4-29 J Burke 3-19 A Nair 2-47) at Rosedale Oval.

Gordon 90 (T Brar 27 T Crawford 23 B Manenti 7-41 J Nisbet 2-24) and 3-235 (N Doyle 87 D Hunter 48no T Brar 46 T Crawford 37no) bt Sydney 9 (dec)-103 (J Mosca 38 Q Titterton 5-29 J Saggers 2-26 D Hunter 2-28) and 6 (dec)-218 (B Manenti 75 A Mosca 46 J Mosca 36 B McClintock 25 A Premkumar 3-48) at Chatswood Oval.

Manly-Warringah 221 (T Kaye 45no R Farrell 44 B Bryant 28 J Lenton 25 S Gainsford 22 C Merchant 20 P Singh 4-61 T Garg 2-30 A Ritchie 2-44) bt Sutherland 215 (C Williams 97 E Deal 49 C Weatherall 20 M Morkel 4-44 R Hadley 2-9 T Kaye 2-37 J Edwards 2-39) at Manly Oval.

Northern District 4 (dec)-172 (C Miller 85 D Lowery 37 S Rodgie 24no P Francis 2-43) bt St George 152 (T Vane Tempest 37 B Macdonald 33 K Phillips 25 R Pawson 4-44 C Green 3-43 C Soper 2-20) and 3 -95 (T Engelbrecht 32 N Stapleton 27no M Hopkins 22) at Mark Taylor Oval, Randwick.

Petersham 9 (dec)-209 (J Eldridge 48 J Sangha 38no A Semple 34 D Singh 33 A Van Den Nieuwboer 5-79 J Wholohan 3-43) bt Hawkesbury 132 (R Hicks 42 R Mizzi 28 J Brett 21 A Semple 4-23 J Ralston 2-17 D Singh 2-24) and 5-179 (R Hicks 53 S McAvoy 51 C Mizzi 45no J Brett 20 C Maladay 3-32) at Coogee Oval.

Sydney University 234 (H Kerr 86no D Mortimer 48 T Cummins 37 B Taylor 5-73 D Heward 2-26) bt Bankstown 73 (N Carruthers 29 H Kerr 4-19 N Radhakrishnan 2-6 D Holloway 2-8 B Joy 2-29) and 3-131 (D Nicotra 48no N McAndrew 45no D Holloway 2-25) at University Oval.

Western Suburbs 252 (I Taylor 87no N Cutler 65 J Clarke 27 J Psarakis 26 M Ninneman 4-57 J Workman 2-33 H Goulstone 2-69) bt Parramatta 125 (M Ninneman 25no J Workman 23 S Copperfield 22 L Ford 5-32 O Oborn-Corby 3-53 T Brooks 2-9) and 0-166 (B Abbott 101no G Joseph 62no) at Pratten Park.

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