From the vault: The Bears beat the Whales in a see-sawing contest in 2022

We’ve dug another match report out of the vault with Sarah Berman documenting a classic win for the Bears, over Mosman in Round 3 of 2022/23, inspired by James Campbell with the ball, and Jimmy Greenslade, James Rew and Robbie Aitken with the bat.

The Bears line up ahead of their first home match of the 2022/23 season

Back: Sarah Berman (scorer), Jimmy Greenslade, Sam Alexander, Matt Alexander, Justin Avendano, Olly Knight, James Rew, John Saint (coach)

Front: Mac Jenkins, Brent Atherton, Thomas Jagot (captain), James Campbell, Olly Knight

UTS North Sydney 6/321 (J Greenslade 118*, J Rew 91, R Aitken 52*) def Mosman 320 (J Campbell 6/55, O Knight 3/81)

Day 1

A tantalising contest is in store next Saturday after honours were shared on a see-sawing day at North Sydney Oval, and we have James Campbell to thank after one of his finest performances in Bears colours.

A rare pre-Christmas outing at the Home of Cricket around its numerous representative fixtures was quite the treat, and the day was a special one for two Bears in particular. Overseas signing and England Under-19 international, James Rew, made his debut for the club, and received cap number 682 from Olly Knight, himself celebrating his 100th First Grade appearance.

The celebrations were paused somewhat when Tom Jagot lost the toss for the first time this season and unsurprisingly Mosman elected for first use of the deck under glorious sunny skies with an outfield that promised to be rapid. Campbell and milestone man Knight shared the new ball and kept it very tight for the first five overs before three fours in Knight’s third over and one more in Campbell’s fourth pushed the score along to 24. But then Liam O’Farrell missed and Campbell hit, and the Bears were away. This brought Whales captain and NSW contracted player, Lachlan Hearne, to the crease. Hearne began watchfully while Stirling McAvoy at the other end took a liking to Matt Alexander’s first over of the season, racing along to 32 off his first 25 balls faced.

While Campbell bowled unchanged at the Southern end and the Mosman batters could barely lay a bat on it, Knight returned to the attack and got the prized scalp of Hearne, nicely caught by Justin Avendano at first slip with the score on 69. This triggered a collapse as Campbell racked up consecutive wicket maidens. The first was McAvoy, who’d looked like he was batting on a different deck from his team-mates but skied one on 49 and Rew ran round to take his first catch for the Bears, and the second the new man sent back lbw. Campbell finished an extraordinary spell with 12 overs, 6 maidens, 3 wickets for 19 after squeezing out one more over and being very unlucky not to get rid of Peter Forrest with three big shouts in the over.

The Alexander brothers replaced Campbell and Knight for an over each before lunch, and after 28 minutes without a run, the score advanced by three to 4/72 at the break.

It took just four balls after lunch for Knight to remove Forrest, thanks to Rew taking a superb catch down the leg side. Nathan Hinton at the other end got into his stride with some nice boundaries, but the dangerous Matt Moran’s stay at the crease was short-lived as Knight got one through for his third pole. At 6/111, the Bears were well on top, but Mosman aren’t defending champions for nothing, and showed that they bat all the way down with two 40s from the lower order, Crawford and Park forming partnerships of 76 for the seventh and 86 for the ninth wicket with the impressive Hinton, which steered the Whales to their eventual 320.

After a well-earned break after lunch, Campbell returned to the attack in the 51st over and removed Crawford lbw offering no shot, and sealed his ninth Fist Grade five-wicket haul with a catch to Mac Jenkins in the deep in the 61st over, his 18th of the day. The Bears’ three spinners were rotated by skipper Jagot: Sam Alexander was unlucky not to get in the wickets with a catch spilled during the afternoon session, while Jenkins bowled tightly with no reward, finishing his 13 overs with 0/19. Hinton brought up his hundred before the new ball was taken, and finally fell to a catch by Olly Knight off Matt Alexander for a chanceless 125. Park, who had scored just 6 off his first 56 balls, stepped up to rub salt into the Bears’ wounds and finished 40* when debutant Zac Hall was bowled by Campbell (who else?) in the 94th over.

James Campbell

A frustrating day, but 320 is probably only just par on one of Sydney’s best batting surfaces, so all to play for on day 2. And it should take nothing away from Campbell whose mammoth shift of 23 overs and his second-best career figures are all the more impressive given the almost complete absence of two-day cricket for the past 18 months.

Day 2

In last week’s report, we hinted at a tantalising contest in store for Day 2, and that is exactly what we got – one of the finest days’ cricket this correspondent has enjoyed in five seasons with the Bears. The ultimate win being thanks to a combination of two phenomenal young cricketers (with six seven First Grade caps between them) and Premier Cricket’s all-time most capped player (in his 513th First Grade appearance) is a delightful narrative for a very special day.

Like any good story, there were twists and turns along the way – more on those later – but the day began with more of a stutter with Brent Atherton bowled by the very first ball. Rain during the week meant there was a lot more life in the pitch than there had been the previous Saturday, and the Mosman opening quicks had their tails up after the early wicket. James Rew, in his long-awaited first showing with the bat in Bears colours, and Justin Avendano weathered the storm, patiently seeing off some testing bowling. After four successive maidens, the score was 1/13 off 9 overs, before Dean Crawford’s length strayed and Avendano took 15 off the over. Unfortunately, the high didn’t last, with Justin sent back lbw for 23 the next over. The Bears were 2/28 and Elijah Eales had the James Campbell-like figures of 2/5 off 6.

James Rew on the way to his 91 on debut

Tom Jagot came to the crease and Rew upped a gear, taking four fours off Eales’s next three overs, and a couple from the new bowler, Zac Hall, for good measure as his skipper too got into his work. A fluent partnership of 43 was brought to an end when Jagot was caught behind for 15, and Rew returned to watchful mode in the run-up to lunch and with Matt Moran giving little away as he entered the attack. We lost Jenkins just before the break to a brilliant caught and bowled by fellow left-arm spinner, Jayden Park, and little did we know as Jimmy Greenslade walked in that this was the beginning of a brilliant partnership. Moran practically sprinted back to his mark to get an extra over in before lunch, but the resolute defence of Rew held firm, Greenslade didn’t have to face a ball, and the session ended at 4/79 with Rew 39*. With Greenslade in just his second First Grade two-day innings and the lower order short of batting opportunity last season due to so much limited overs cricket, I don’t think I was the only Bears faithful a little concerned about the situation!

After lunch, it was a classic case of “start again” with the Whales bowlers rejuvenated by Kathy’s hamburgers and giving little away. In what ended up being a pivotal moment, Greenslade was dropped by Peter Forrest at short mid-wicket in the sixth over back, but that was the last mistake either young Bear made in the session, and the partnership blossomed. Rew brought up 50 off 117 balls with a beautiful lofted drive over mid-wicket, his ninth four, which seemed to super-charge the chase. From here, the runs flowed, in particular from Greenslade who hit 13 boundaries in the session, while Rew delighted his team-mates watching on with several reverse sweeps and the first six of the day. Mosman heads went down, and their scorer declared the game to be “slipping away”, as no matter what bowling combination was tried, the runs kept flowing. At tea, the score was 4/209, with 112 more required but 130 having been scored in the session with no loss.

And then the big twist, which made the target feel a very long way away – Rew adjudged lbw to Eales on the first ball back, followed by Knight edging behind two overs later. Eales, who was magnificent for the Whales (and eventually bowled a mammoth shift of 27 overs) had four poles, and Mosman were rampant knowing they were right back in the game. Enter Robbie Aitken, and we all know how it ends, but there was no shortage of nerves in the Bears’ camp when a big caught behind shout went up on 228. As players from other grades filed into North Sydney Oval after their own games ended early, and Greenslade closed in on three figures, Matt Alexander was shadow batting in front of the grandstand, wondering if and when he’d be called upon.

Jimmy Greenslade celebrates his maiden First Grade hundred with Robbie Aitken

But in the end, it all happened remarkably quickly. Greenslade smashed two bombs to get to 97, and punished a short, wide one from the tired Eales to bring up a hundred that nobody in the ground will ever forget, least of all Jimmy himself. Although the job wasn’t quite done – 25 to win so another wicket would certainly have kept the Whales interested – the momentum was all ours. Aitken too hit them beautifully, bringing up his own half century (his 40th for the club in First Grade!) in just 65 balls before Greenslade had the last laugh – four fours in quick succession to seal the win with 11 overs to spare in the day, a roar from the crowd and a song sung very loud and very proud.

The contribution of Rew, who kept us in the contest as wickets fell around him and deserved a ton for his masterclass in pacing an innings, will not be forgotten, and nor will James Campbell, who bowled his heart out on Day 1. But the day belonged to Greenslade – the statistics of 118 undefeated off 177 balls with 21 sixes and two fours (that’s over 80% in boundaries) and sharing two 100+ partnerships rather speak for themselves! To score your maiden ton in any senior form of cricket at North Sydney Oval, in front of half of the club and your parents, against your old club… does it get any better?!

All photos taken by Jeff Williamson.

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