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NSW Premier Cricket, formerly and still commonly known as Sydney Grade Cricket is a
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
competition played in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia, and is highest level club cricket competition in the state of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
The competition began in 1893 when a number of clubs that had been playing for many years on an ad hoc basis voted to create a formal competition structure. The NSW Premier Cricket competition is played on turf wickets, and is played on Saturdays and begins in mid-September and continues until the grand final is played on the first weekend of April. Spectators are mostly few and far between at matches, mostly family members, partners or club members. The exception to this is at T20 matches which can attract crowds into the hundreds and occasionally the low thousands. Generally, players for
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
are selected from the first-grade competition, and whilst modern day cricketers have few breaks outside the international calendar, when they do, NSW players will often return to play in the first-grade competition.


History


Origins

The origins of NSW Premier Cricket date back to April 1859, when a public advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald called on local social cricket clubs to convene with the goal of forming a formal association."Heroes of the Ages", Randwick Petersham Cricket Club. Available at: https://www.randwickpetershamcricket.com.au/heroes-of-the-ages/ This initiative led to the establishment of the
New South Wales Cricket Association Cricket NSW (officially known as the ''New South Wales Cricket Association'') is an Australian sporting association that administers cricket in New South Wales. It is based at the Sydney Olympic Park. The New South Wales Blues, the New South ...
in December 1859, with one of its principal aims being to organise local cricket more systematically to strengthen the colony's representative team, which had begun competing against Victoria in 1856. By the 1880s, a loosely structured Sydney club cricket competition had emerged. While some clubs were locality-based—such as Bathurst, Carlingford, Petersham, and Stanmore, the more dominant teams were non-localised, including Albert, Belvidere, Carlton, Incogniti, University, and Warwick. As Sydney’s population expanded and municipal councils developed new parks and sporting grounds in emerging suburbs, the infrastructure improved, allowing the NSWCA to further expand organised cricket. In response to continued growth and the desire for a more community-based structure, the NSWCA voted unanimously on 22 May 1893 to establish a new club competition based on electoral boundaries."Electoral Cricket in Sydney Begins", Sydney University Cricket Club, 2024. Available at: https://www.sydneyuniversitycricket.com.au/current-news/2024/2/27/electoral-cricket-in-sydney-begins This initiative marked the formal beginning of what was then known as 'Electoral Cricket' and later evolved into Sydney Grade Cricket, now known as NSW Premier Cricket, with the first matches beginning on 7 October 1893. The inaugural 1893/94 season featured eight teams: East Sydney, Glebe, Manly, Paddington, Sydney University, Central Cumberland, Redfern, and Canterbury. The first premiers East Sydney, winners of the 'Hordern Shield'. Although club boundaries were linked to
New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
electorates, Sydney University was allowed to participate despite lacking a corresponding electorate. The competition expanded rapidly, Four more clubs, Waverley, North Sydney, South Sydney, and Leichhardt, were added in the 1894–95 season, increasing the total to 12. The competition’s success led to the creation of a Second Grade in 1895–96 and a Third Grade in 1899–1900, laying the foundation for the modern multi-tiered structure of NSW Premier Cricket. Additionally, in 1921 the NSW Cricket Association decided to expand the first-grade competition to 16 teams with the admission of four news clubs, Marrickville, Mosman, Randwick and St George.


Later history

This competition has grown substantially since its formation and by 1985 the Sydney Grade Cricket Competition encompassed 20 clubs. Since the 1940s there had been a number of club mergers (Petersham with Marrickville and Glebe with South Sydney followed in 1965 by the forced merger of Paddington with Glebe-South Sydney to form Sydney District CC). In 1965 Sutherland joined the competition, followed by Nepean (now Penrith) and University of NSW in 1973. In 1985 Sydney District CC left the competition but 3 new clubs from the outer suburbs of Sydney joined - Fairfield, Campbelltown and Hawkesbury. In the late 1990s there was a push to remove some inner-city clubs from the competition, but although no clubs were forced out, in 2001 Randwick and Petersham-Marrickville (itself the product of a merger in 1951) decided to merge and formed the Randwick Petersham club. Some clubs were renamed to reflect their wider representation (Waverley renamed as Eastern Suburbs, Fairfield becoming Fairfield-Liverpool and Campbelltown becoming Campbelltown-Camden). Finally in 2002 Blacktown were promoted from the second-tier shires competition to bring the number of clubs back up to 20. Each of the 20 clubs fields a side in each of the five senior grades as well as a side in the Poidevin-Gray Shield and AW Green Shield junior competitions. In recent times some clubs have started broadcasting scorecards in real-time on the
Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...
website. Some clubs also have detailed video and photographs each weekend. Most but not all clubs actively update their website and have information across a variety of social media platforms. Sydney grade cricket also has a proud history of welcoming budding, current or former first-class and Test cricketers from around the world. Players are primarily sourced from England's county competition. In 2015/16, there were over 10 players in the competition plying their trade in the first-grade competition. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss amongst others played seasons in Sydney. Such is the strength of the competition that some well-known players have been known to play multiple matches in second grade. To address shortcomings in players making the transition from first-grade to State cricket, two seasons ago a different type of ball was introduced into the first-grade competition. This ball is the same used by state players but had not previously been used due to its cost (A$150 each). While the ball is still a four-piece ball, its seam is less pronounced and more difficult to swing. Bowlers, in particular fast bowlers, have had to work much harder at getting wickets. Since its introduction scores within the competition have increased. There have been higher team and individual scores (400+ scores by teams are not the rare occurrence they once were). In the 2016/17 season, the competition changed its name to NSW Premier Cricket. The name change was part of a
Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...
initiative to standardise the naming of the elite men's cricket competition within each state's capital city.


Clubs


Current clubs


Former clubs

Sydney's suburban sprawl over the past 120 years has seen the introduction of new outer-suburban clubs and the disappearance or mergers of some inner-city clubs. The most successful club no longer in the competition is Paddington which won 9 first grade titles between 1894/95 and 1953/54 before being forced to merge with Glebe-South Sydney to form the Sydney District CC in 1965 - this merged club later left the competition in 1985. Other ex-clubs include: * Canterbury District Cricket Club * East Sydney District Cricket Club (the inaugural first grade champion in 1893/94) * Glebe District Cricket Club (5 titles) * Leichhardt District Cricket Club * Marrickville District Cricket Club ^ * Middle Harbour District Cricket Club * Newtown District Cricket Club * Petersham District Cricket Club ^ * Redfern District Cricket Club * South Sydney District Cricket Club * Sydney District Cricket Club (original club) that won 3 titles ^ Marrickville District Cricket Club and Petersham District Cricket Club had each won a first grade title prior to merging to become Petersham-Marrickville District Cricket Club. They won 4 titles as a merged outfit before merging again with Randwick District Cricket Club, which had won 7 titles, to become Randwick-Petersham District Cricket Club.


Competition format

The competition consists of 20 clubs who field one side in each of the five grades. In the 1st Grade competition, each side plays every other side over a total of 19 rounds. All other grades play only 15 rounds, thus missing out on playing 4 teams each season. The additional 4 rounds that are played by the 1st Grade sides are generally one day matches that take place on Sundays (won by Sydney University in 2010/2011). The 2010/11 season, for all grades, included 10 two-day matches (generally played on two consecutive Saturdays), 4 one-day matches and 1 Twenty-20 match. The 1st Grade sides played an additional one-day match and 3 Twenty20 matches. The 1st Grade Draw can be found her

and the 2nd Grade draw, which is identical to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade draws, can be found her

The final series generally consists of Qualifying Finals, Semi-Finals and a Final. These matches are played over two days, with the First Grade Final being played over three days. In the Qualifying Finals, the 1st placed team plays the 6th placed team, 2nd plays 5th and 3rd plays 4th. The three winning teams (or better placed team in the case of a draw) and the best placed losing team go through to the Semi-Finals. Points are allocated to the teams according to the results of each match. These points go towards the Club Championship which is awarded at the end of the regular season. All of the current NSW first-class cricket players are selected from their performances in Premier Cricket. This includes those players who also represent Australia although the demands of the international schedule means the Australian players rarely get to play at grade level these days.


Premiers


Poidevin-Gray Shield

The Poidevin-Gray Shield, or PG's as it is more commonly known, comprises teams who represent their grade sides in an Under 21 competition. All points received in this competition go towards the Club Championship.


A W Green Shield

The A W Green Shield, or Greenies as it is more commonly known, comprises teams who represent their grade sides in an Under 16 competition consisting of 7 preliminary rounds, qualifying finals, semi-finals and a Final. , - , 2022/23 Parramatta


Club Championship

Won by the club with the highest competition points in aggregate across all 5 grades plus points from the PG and Green Shield competitions. Points are only accrued across round matches and do not include finals. For each club, each grades' points tally is multiplied by a factor for the purposes of calculating Club Championship points. A point in first grade is worth more than second grade and so on. Due to this system, the winner of the Club Championship usually comes from a club whose first-grade team is within the top 6. However, consistency across the top 3 grades in particular is important. Club Championship Factors First grade = 6 points per competition point, Second grade = 5, Third = 4, Fourth = 3, Fifth/PG/Green Shield = 2...


Records


Batting


Most Career Runs


Highest Career Average


Most Centuries in a Season


Most Runs in a Season


Highest Individual Innings


Highest Average in a Season


Highest Partnerships


Youngest to Score a First Grade Century


Oldest to Score a First Grade Century


Most Sixes in an Innings


Century in Each Innings of a Match


Bowling


Most Career Wickets


Lowest Career Average


Most Wickets in a Match


Most Wickets in a Season


Most Wickets in an Innings


Lowest Average in a Season


Youngest to Take 5 Wickets in an Innings


Oldest to Take 5 Wickets in an Innings


Double Hat Tricks


= Four Wickets in Four Balls

=


= Four Wickets in Five Balls

=


= Five Wickets in Six Balls

=


Wicket Keeping


Most Dismissals in a Season


Team Records


Highest Team Innings


Lowest Completed Team Innings


Other


Youngest First Grade Player on Debut


Brothers Taking All 10 Wickets in an Innings


Brothers Scoring a Century in the Same Innings


See also

* Sydney Shires Cricket *
Grade cricket Grade cricket (also known as premier cricket) is the name of the senior inter-club or district cricket competitions in each of the Australian states and territories. The term may refer to: *Victorian Premier Cricket * NSW Premier Cricket * Queens ...
for like competitions in other states *
Sport in Sydney Sport is a significant aspect of the Sydney lifestyle. Activities range from the occasional international event, annual competitions, competitive leagues and individual recreational pursuits. Sydney is the home of Australia's biggest sports leag ...


References

8. AW Green Shield Final scorecard. http://www.premier.nsw.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/match.aspx?matchID=3177634&entityID=4


External links

* *
Cricket NSW Official SiteBankstown District Cricket Club SiteBlacktown Grade Cricket Club SiteCampbelltown-Camden District Cricket Club SiteEastern Suburbs Cricket Club SiteFairfield-Liverpool Grade Cricket Club SiteGordon District Cricket Club SiteHawkesbury Grade Cricket Club SiteManly Warringah District Cricket Club SiteMosman Cricket Club SiteNorth Sydney District Cricket Club SiteNorthern District Cricket Club SiteParramatta District Cricket Club Inc. SitePenrith District Cricket Club SiteRandwick Petersham Cricket Club SiteSt George District Cricket Club Inc. SiteSutherland District Cricket Club SiteSydney University Cricket Club SiteUniversity of NSW Cricket Club SiteSydney Cricket Club SiteWestern Suburbs District Cricket Club Site
{{Cricket in Australia Cricket in Sydney Grade cricket competitions in Australia 1893 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 1893 Cricket in New South Wales