Debutants star in 1st Grade
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | April 22, 2025
Austin Waugh and Eknoor Singh were new recruits in the 1st Grade team and both turned out to be major successes of the 2024-25 season. The pair shared six of the seven centuries scored by the team, while Waugh had some brilliant spells at the bowling crease. Their form was also recognised by State selectors with each playing Second XI cricket for NSW.
After three seasons with Sutherland, including a gap of four years when he didn’t play, Austin Waugh moved to Coogee Oval. He was well-known to Randwick Petersham supporters, having hit Dan Sams for six off the last over in 2018-19 to win a limited overs match for Sutherland, in front of a huge crowd at Coogee when David Warner, Steve Smith and Shane Watson played.
In the third match of the 1st Grade Belvidere Cup competition, the right-hander displayed his talent with a splendid century against Western Suburbs at Pratten Park, finishing with 121 off 212 balls hitting 13 fours and three sixes. He and Eknoor Singh put on 179 for the second wicket after he combined with regular partner, Blake Weymouth, to add 92 for the first.
In the fifth round of the Limited Overs Cup competition, Waugh recorded a second ton with a dashing 101 off 108 with seven fours and four sixes. Four matches later, he led the side to an emphatic win over University of NSW, ending with an unconquered 117* off 193 with 17 fours and a six. The very next day, he led the charge for a place in the Limited Overs Grand Final with a sensational 139 off 147 hitting 11 boundaries and five massive sixes at Coogee. He had scored 256 runs for once out in a 24-hour period. He was also just the fourth player for the club to score four centuries in a season.
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Austin Waugh finished the 2024-25 summer with 688 runs at the impressive average of 36.21. He passed 50 four times, going on to score a century in each of those innings. In the Limited Overs Cup competition, he was the leading runs-scorer with 313. During the season he hit 67 fours and was the team’s leading six-hitter, with 18. His season tally came close to his three-season career total of 837 runs scored prior to joining Randwick Petersham. His batting record now stands at 1,525 runs with five centuries.
Austin also had a great season with the ball, producing a remarkable statistic. When called upon to bowl, the right-arm medium-pacer took a wicket six times in his first over and three times in his second! In his first over for the club in a Twenty20 match against Bankstown at Bankstown Oval, he was hit for six first ball, bowled a wide, then got the edge for Anthony Sams to snap up the catch. Playing Manly-Warringah and Mosman he enticed a catch off the last ball of each of his first overs, while it was his third ball which brought the wicket against NDs. In the Limited Overs Cup qualifying final against Eastern Suburbs, he took a wicket in the first over of two spells which netted him 4-11 off 6.1 overs—his best figures. And despite missing first over wickets against Bankstown, University of NSW and Sydney University, he made up for it with a wicket each time in his second. He completed the season with 13 wickets at 25.08.
Eknoor Singh, selected in the SCA Merit Team of the Year for 2023-24 after scoring 883 runs, joined us from Blacktown. While he had played in four Twenty20 matches prior to the start of the Belvidere Cup season, Eknoor made his 1st Grade competition debut with the club in round 2 against Parramatta at Old Kings. Batting first drop, he came to the wicket at 1-15 and top-scored with 74 off 122 balls with 5 fours and a six. It was one of the better debut performances for the club in the top grade.
Two matches later, the 26-year-old displayed his quality, scoring an unconquered 135* off 241 balls hitting 15 boundaries along the way. He came to the wicket at 1-92 and was still there when a declaration was made at 5-375. Half-centuries followed against Hawkesbury (54), Northern District (64), Bankstown (70) and Penrith (68).
A brief loss of form followed, but that all changed in the Grand Final of the Limited Overs Cup against Parramatta at Old Kings. Coming in to bat in the fifth over with the score 1-15, Singh played superbly, scoring a brilliant 125 off 134 balls with 8 fours and three sixes. He brought up his 50 off 74 balls and his 100 off 121. When he was bowled from a tired shot in the 46th over, having taken 19 off the 45th, the score was a healthy 5-233. When Parramatta was dismissed for 226 in the 47th over chasing 270, the premiership was Randwick Petersham’s. Eknoor took out the Michael Bevan Medal as Player of the Match.
Eknoor Singh ended his first season with Randwick Petersham as the leading 1st Grade run-getter, finishing with 720 runs at 42.22. The last round was his 100th match in the top grade where he now has a career record of 2,810 runs at 30.21 with five centuries
