Riley Ayre: Randwick Petersham Player of the Season
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | May 18, 2025
Riley Ayre is Randwick Petersham’s Player of the 2024-25 Season. It is the third time he has won the award while he has been runner-up, three times as well. He is one of the best all-rounders to have played with Randwick Petersham and after the season he has just had, he is quickly carving a reputation, through weight of performances, to be one of the top 80 or so, to have played Sydney 1st Grade cricket.
This season, Riley Ayre completed the summer with a haul of 55 1st Grade wickets. It is the second highest season tally for the club behind right-arm fast bowler Adam Warren, who took 63 in the club’s first season in 2021-02. A left-arm orthodox spin bowler, Riley took at least one wicket in 18 of the 22 matches in which he made a trip to the bowling crease. He took a five-wicket haul on three occasions with his amazing 8-29 against Sutherland at Sutherland Oval a new record. At season’s end he was named in the SCA 1st Grade Merit XII team. Riley was also runner-up to Josh Clarke from Western Suburbs DCC in the O’Reilly Medal Player of the Season.
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In the Sutherland match, Ayre reduced the Sharks from 1-31 to a lunch score of 5-44 after taking 4-9 from seven overs. Shortly after the break, he had 6-10 from 8.4 before the innings was completed at 117 with Riley setting a new club innings record. From a dazzling 17.4 overs, of which 8 were maidens, Riley’s 8-29 were the best bowling figures for the club in 1st Grade. The previous record of 7-35 was held jointly by England fast bowler Jon Lewis, who had a season with us in 2003-04 and Angus McTaggart who equalled those figures last season. Riley also took 5-16 against Wests and 5-107 playing Penrith.
Unlike recent seasons, Ayre did not have a great summer with the bat, despite scoring 421 runs—the fourth highest aggregate in the team. Over his career, a feature of his batting has been his ability to perform in pressure situations. Against Penrith, he batted at no. 4 and was 49* off 133 balls when the innings folded at 154. And in the final round of the season playing Gordon at Chatswood, he scored his third century with a neat 100* off 198 balls, to be there when stumps were drawn and record an honourable draw, with his team 8-299 chasing a mammoth 407.
A highlight of his season was undoubtedly, captaining the team to victory in the Limited Overs competition. He was in his second season as skipper, having tasted success in his first by leading the side to win the Twenty20 Cup competition. Two premierships in two seasons emphasises his ability as a leader and an on-field strategist. An example of that quality was displayed in the Limited Overs Grand Final this season when he brought himself back into the attack, bowling to a batter who had previously and unmercifully, hit him to all parts of the field. But within a few balls, Riley had him caught for 96, enabling the innings to be wrapped up and the win secured.
Riley’s impressive 2024-25 season led to a number of milestones. With Randwick Petersham, the left-hander brought up 4,000 runs, finishing with 4,156. He also achieved two milestones for the club with his bowling—firstly passing 200 wickets and then 250, to complete the season with 251. And to top that off, the third of his catches in the innings against Sydney University, gave him 100 for the club–mainly in the slips where he excels.
Riley joined us in 2017-18 from the Sutherland club, where he had played three seasons. With the addition of his performances during that time, he has now passed the career 4,500 1st Grade runs mark to tally 4,558, while his wickets have reached 307. He also has a career record of 120 catches.
Born in Denman, in the NSW Hunter Valley on 2 April 1996, the 28-year-old Riley Ross Ayre, has a mountain of cricket ahead of him. He played a Sheffield Shield match in 2021-22 for NSW and has participated in Second XI cricket for the State and NSW/ACT country teams. State selectors need to give him more than a cursory glance when figuring out ways to win future first-class cricket matches.
Lyall Gardner
Randwick Petersham Cricket Historian
