Justin Avendano Joins the 7,000 Club and Returns to the Merit XII
When Justin Avendano crossed from Gordon to North Sydney ahead of the 2012/13 season, the Bears knew they were signing a striker of rare ball-hitting ability. What they could not have known was that, more than a decade on, he would still be piling up runs at the top of the order and steadily rewriting the club's record books. The 2025/26 season delivered two more landmarks: Avendano sailed past 7,000 First Grade runs for UTS North Sydney, and he was named in the Sydney Cricket Association's First Grade Merit XII, the competition's official team of the year.
A rare club
Reaching 7,000 First Grade runs for a single club is the preserve of a select few, and Avendano's march to the figure has been both relentless and remarkably consistent. He brought up 4,000 with an unbeaten, match-winning 126 against Western Suburbs, becoming only the 20th Bear in the club's long history in grade cricket to reach that mark. He passed 5,000 during the 2021/22 season — the 12th North Sydney player to do so — in the middle of a sensational run of form, having opened that campaign with 294 runs in his first four innings. By the time he reached 6,000, in a T20 fixture against Sydney University, he had climbed to seventh on the club's all-time First Grade run-scoring list.
Having now stretched his tally to 7,323 First Grade runs, Avendano sits fourth on North Sydney's all-time list — a position that places him firmly among the most prolific batsmen ever to wear the Bears cap. It is a body of work built across more than 170 First Grade appearances and 20 career First Grade centuries (18 of which for the club) — the product of both longevity and an appetite for the big innings that has rarely dimmed. Each visit to the crease nudges him further up a list populated by genuine club greats.
Merit XII recognition
Selection in the SCA First Grade Merit XII is among the highest individual honours available in Sydney's premier club competition, recognising the standout performers across all twenty clubs over the course of a season. For Avendano, it is familiar territory: he was first named in the First Grade Merit XII back in 2021/22, a campaign in which he amassed 836 runs at an astonishing average of 76. To earn the honour again in 2025/26, several seasons later, speaks volumes about the durability of his output and his standing among the competition's elite batsmen. Few players sustain that level of performance over a single season, let alone return to the Merit XII years apart.
Going large
Avendano has always been a destructive batsman with a habit of "going large" once set. When he gets in, opposition bowlers tend to pay heavily. His top score of 190 came against Penrith in 2016/17, in a mammoth run chase in which the Bears fell agonisingly short. That same season produced one of the club's defining innings: his 176 against Manly-Warringah formed the backbone of a record-shattering chase of 444, anchored by a club-record 303-run third-wicket partnership with Anjan Oberai.
His big-match temperament has shown up in finals, too. In the rain-affected 2018/19 semi-final against Penrith, he made an undefeated 143 to give North Sydney a fighting chance in a shortened game. And for sheer power, few innings rival his 171 from 122 balls in 2021/22 — an exhibition of clean striking that featured 11 fours, 11 sixes and any number of balls lost beyond the boundary.
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Beyond First Grade
Avendano's value to the Bears extends well past his run tally. He captained the First Grade side for five seasons and was a member of the club's premiership-winning one-day cup outfit, contributing leadership and stability through a sustained period of success.
His talent has also been recognised at the professional level. A Big Bash League batter with both the Sydney Sixers and the Melbourne Stars, Avendano has played 19 BBL matches — including the 2022 Grand Final — and was part of back-to-back Sixers title triumphs. His reputation as one of the cleanest hitters in the country was sealed in a Sixers Academy match in November 2018, when he struck six sixes in a single over on his way to 122 from just 63 balls.
Averages and legacy
Across his First Grade career for North Sydney, Avendano now averages 39.80 — a figure that reflects not just the volume of his run-making but the rate at which it has come. He has long been a batsman opposition captains plan their innings around, and the numbers bear that out.
Now in his thirties, Avendano shows little sign of slowing. Every innings adds to a tally that already ranks among the very best in the club's history, and the Merit XII selection confirms he remains one of the most dangerous top-order batsmen in the competition. The Bears have been fortunate to watch one of NSW Premier Cricket’s most thrilling strikers ply his trade in their colours for well over a decade — and on current form, there are plenty more milestones still to come.