Randy Petes play in memory of Laura Hinds to help stop sarcoma

The annual Metro Cup Derby was played out between Randwick Petersham Cricket Club’s gold and green teams in honour of a special young lady.

Randwick Petersham club legend Denis Hinds with Randwick Petersham Green captain Alexis Coovre and Randwick Petersham Gold captain John Stewart. The teams played their Metro Cup derby game to raise money and awareness for Stop Sarcoma in the memory of Denis's Laura Hinds. Picture: Danny Aarons.

The annual Metro Cup Derby was played out between Randwick Petersham Cricket Club’s gold and green teams on Sunday, in honour of a special young lady.

Laura Hinds, daughter of club legend and umpire Denis Hinds, died last September aged 25 from sarcoma, a rare type of cancer which affects soft tissue and bone.

Mr Hinds officiated the match at Coogee Oval where approximately $500 was raised for the Stop Sarcoma foundation, which Laura established before she died.

Metro Cup manager Jeremy Jastrzab, a close friend of the Hinds family, organised the match, while Laura’s friends continue to run the foundation, which is linked to the research arm for the disease in Australia.

Gold team captain John Stewart said playing in Laura’s memory was an honour for all involved.

“Sarcoma isn’t a very well known cancer but it affects younger people,” Mr Stewart said. “When Laura passed away last year it really hit everyone at the club hard, especially since she was so young.

Randwick Petersham umpire Denis Hinds is a club legend, with the life member having taken over 1000 wickets and developed dozens of cricketers in the Metro Cup competition. Picture: Danny Aarons.

“A lot of people had played with Denis — he’s a life member and is a major driver for the Metro Cup competition, developing young cricketers right through from juniors to mens’.”

Gold looked in serious trouble after losing the first four wickets quickly for only eight runs, while young Green quick Alex Deller (4-30 off 10) continued to terrorise the batsmen for the remainder of his first spell.

At 6-36, the Golds looked like they were going to be defending a double-digits total, but a solid partnership between Pratoolya Kashyap (18) and Adam Lee (61) steadied the ship. This was followed by a brilliant innings from Green Shield player Ryan Connolly (55) and some cameos from the tail to bring the Gold side to a score of 208.

The Golds, led by seamer Hayden Fox (2-21 off 6) started shaky with the ball before clawing their way back. The spinners caused the trouble on a nice Coogee pitch however, with a return to form for off-spinner LJ O’Loughlin (3-20 off 10) and some superb efforts from a tired Ryan Connolly (2-6 off 6) allowed the Golds to prevail and bowl their opponents out for a low score of 95, claiming bonus points for their victory.

Randwick Petersham is now preparing to host a T20 game against Hong Kong’s Kowloon Cricket Club on January 27, fielding its next generation of under 20s talent. First grade are training for their One Day Cup quarterfinal against Northern Districts on January 29.

Match report written Liam O’Loughlin.