The Bears First XI 2024/25
UTS North Sydney District Cricket Club | May 20, 2025
At the club’s Presentation Night on 12 April, UTS North Sydney named their First XI for 2024-25, including the Bevyn White Cricketer of the Year.
The First XI is made up of the top 11 performers of the season, based on points accrued for runs, wickets and fielding dismissals, on a per match basis.
Topping the list as Bevyn White Cricketer of the Year is Women’s Second Grade skipper and our first ever female overseas player, Bella Johnson. Bella led our young side to a Premiership many thought was unlikely, as well as finishing second in the competition batting aggregates and ninth in the bowling and taking an incredible 19 catches. Bella came into her own in the final rounds of the season, taking 5/12 against Parramatta and making our record women’s score of 107* against Sydney University in consecutive weekends. As well as cleaning up at the Bears’ Presentation Night, Bella was named the SCA’s Women’s Second Grade Player of the Year and Captain of the Year, and the Sydney Women’s Cricket Umpires’ Association Player of the Year.
The top order is made up of First Grade trio, Finn Nixon-Tomko, Addison Sherriff and Tim Reynolds.
Finn had an astonishing start to the season, making 207* in Second Grade’s Round 2 clash against Gordon – our highest ever Second Grade limited-overs score, and he ended up on the losing side! Finn was swiftly promoted to 1s, and made several contributions including a maiden 50 against Manly.
Addison reinforced his status as one of NSW’s brightest young stars with a hundred against both First Grade Grand Finallists and strong performances across both First Grade and PGs, racking up 525 runs and taking 10 wickets.
Tim was our top run-scorer at the top grade despite not playing after Christmas due to a knee injury sustained at the crease in Dubbo. He scored 652 runs across the three formats, making his second ton at the top grade against Hawkesbury and dominating the T20 competition including leading us to an extraordinary last-over win over Western Suburbs.
Our First XI contains three quality all-rounders, Mac Jenkins, Adam Thomas and Jamieson Hedges.
First Grade skipper, Mac, was our second highest wicket-taker across all grades. He took 40 poles with his left-arm spin and only went wicketless in two matches all season. This impressive consistency earned him a second successive Bradman Medal for the First Grade Player of the Year.
Adam joined us on the International Cricket Program and made quite the impact! He was our PGs player of the year with several match-winning performances including victory from the jaws of defeat against UNSW. This was supplemented with four Second Grade fifties and 110 for First Grade in Round 16, his second appearance at the top grade. Adam was also exceptional in the field, taking 10 catches and effecting a run out.
Jamieson was the Bradman Medal runner-up and had an amazing second half of the season taking 6/70 and 5/39 in successive First Grade outings, running Manly to the wire and inspiring a big win over Sutherland. Jamieson took 39 wickets including in PGs, where he skippered the Bears to finals, and made several valuable contributions with the bat.
In a great year for Bears’ spinners, three more feature in the First XI!
Shiv Vohra had an outstanding season across Fourth and Fifth Grade, in particular making his personal bests and our top 5s performances of the season with both bat and all –and 77 against Mosman and 7/53 against NDs a week later. This was enough for Shiv to be selected as Fifth Grade Player of the Year despite only having played five matches for the team. Shiv made his Second Grade debut in Round 16 and made 54, his second Premier Cricket fifty.
Harry Gardner returned to the Bears for a second season and was our top wicket-taker with an impressive 46 – 26 for Second Grade, 15 for PGs, and 5 for First Grade. He took two five-wicket hauls for 2s – 6/102 against Mosman and 5/63 against Sutherland, and picked up the side’s Player of the Year award.
The First XI is completed by Third Grade pair, Liam Whitaker, and Lachlan Spencer. Liam skippered the side to the semi-finals and was the sixth-highest wicket-taker across the competition with 29, including two five-wicket hauls. He supplemented this with a cheeky 5/50 in Fourth Grade and 4 poles in Second Grade.
Lachlan was one of the driving forces behind the amazing run to finals, taking 18 wickets across Rounds 15 and 16 – 6/18 and 4/39 against Sutherland followed by 6/23 and 2/39 against Fairfield-Liverpool to inspire us to successive outright wins and fourth place on the ladder.
- Sarah Berman.
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