2008-09 - University of New South Wales Cricket Club

UNSW Cricket Club Annual ReportThird Grade ReportTHIRD GRADE REPORT3 rd Grade Team – Round 14 v ManlyStanding (L‐R): Scott Gray, Mark Hansen, James Brown, Alex Charlewood, Pradeep Widana‐Pathirana, Tom Atallah.The next era…Seated (L‐R): Andrew Julian, Chris O’Brien, Daniel Bowcock (c), Vince Mauric, Matthew Code.Third grade was somewhat inconsistent this season, we played poorly against Bankstown and NorthSydney whilst we let games against Wests and Blacktown slip away. Our three victories this yearagainst St George, Northern Districts and Randwick (all away) were fantastic and worthy of praise.We displayed some strong characteristics in these matches which should be further improved for2009/10.Some 35 players played a part in the third grade season. This is a amazing amount of turnover due tovarious factors. I have no doubt the side was always finding it difficult to have balance and structureto it with so many changes occurring throughout the season. To build a side and assist players togrow into roles within a team we obviously need to reduce unavailabilities not associated withinjuries.The positive from this is many players had the opportunity in higher grades with moderate success. Iwas particularly impressed with the seasons of Andrew Lambros, Alex Charlewood, DanielMulvenna and Pradeep Widana‐Pathirana (3rds Batsman of the Year) all of whom played acrossseveral grades and never got the opportunity to really settle in a side for an extended period. They allproved at various times in the year they were up to the tasks asked of them and with this seasonunder their belts should look to improve upon their results next season.We were also fortunate to add a little more depth to our experience when Eric Zehner (3rds Bowler ofthe Year) and Matthew Code made it into the side. Both played a good part of our season and reallyembraced 3rds and showed the side what is required to play the higher grades in Sydney. Both werefantastic to have around the next generation and were sorely missed when not in the side.Season 2008/2009 Page 45