UTS North Sydney Bears men's 2025/26 half-season wrap
UTS North Sydney District Cricket Club | December 28, 2025
The Bears men sit eighth out of 20 in the NSW Premier Cricket club championship after a solid performance from all grades across the first 11 rounds of the season. Just five rounds remain, but all are two-dayers for First Grade and only one limited-overs match for lower grades, so plenty of opportunity for points and traditionally the format where the Bears play their best cricket. Read on to find out how our men’s grades are going so far.
First Grade sit 12th on 30 points after five wins, but just six points away from 8th and nine away from 6th and, perhaps most relevantly, three wins from four in the longer-form matches to date. Highlights so far were an 8-wicket win over Western Suburbs underpinned by a partnership of 166 between Tim Reynolds (104*) and Finn Nixon-Tomko (94), and beating local rivals, Mosman, by 142 runs at Bon Andrews. Top of the batting charts is Nixon-Tomko, who sits 13th overall in the Belvidere Cup aggregates with 447, followed closely by Reynolds with 392. With the ball, Jamieson Hedges leads the way with 17 poles, and Mac Jenkins, Hamish Reynolds and Fergus Fergusson have taken 15 each.
Finn Nixon-Tomko
Second Grade have produced rocks and diamonds, but more of the latter as they are well-placed on the ladder in 8th. In the last three rounds before Christmas, they have put 345 on the board against Fairfield-Liverpool and blown UNSW out for 97, demonstrating the side’s all-round talent. Robbie Aitken is leading from the front with 301 runs at over 50, while Dilraj Singh has made 323 runs at the top of the order. With the ball, Jaden Sequeira has taken 18 at 20 (including a superb 5-wicket haul against UNSW) and Luke Austin 17 at 21 including six against Randy Petes.
Third Grade also sit eighth with 32 points and five wins plus a dramatic tie against Fairfield-Liverpool where our chase was scuppered by wickets on the final two balls. A couple of weeks earlier, we chased 91 against Mosman 8 down so the boys are no strangers to tight finishes. The undoubted highlight of 3s’ season to date was running down Campbelltown Camden’s 321 in Round 4, underpinned by skipper John Nevell’s 120, Seb Linnitt’s 81 and Aaryan Dixit’s 62. All three have since gone on up the grades. Top of the batting aggregates for the Bears is the ever-consistent Ben Champion with 237 while James Edwards leads the way with the ball with 15 wickets at 16.7 (including five in Round 11 vs UNSW).
Ben Champion in action against Randwick Petersham
Shiv Vohra’s Fourth Grade team sits just one point outside the finals places, with 39 points and 7 wins. Before defeat in Round 11 (the less said about that one, the better), the boys had a run of four straight 50-over wins, including both a thrashing of Fairfield Liverpool and a nail-biting victory over Sydney by three wickets where it took an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 51 between Ryan Sood and Robin Atwal. Atwal and Vohra have been the star players so far, with 16 wickets each, and Vohra 161 runs to boot.
Fifth Grade are also seventh on the ladder, going into the break on the back of a thrilling 2-wicket win over UNSW. Their biggest win came over Mosman, blowing the Whales away for 116 and chasing it down within 26 overs, one wicket down thanks to captain Alex MacGill’s maiden grade 50. The team has also gutsed out two draws from difficult positions, including against Campbelltown thanks to Marcus Yagnamurthy, who made 41 off 131 on grade debut. Top of the run charts is Green Shield skipper, Ryan Sood, who has since moved up into 4s, and Daivik Saini has taken 19 impressive wickets at 18.
Daivik Sahni
This season, for the first time, we have a Sixth Grade side representing Roseville in the Shiires Fourth Grade competition. After a superb team win over Strathfield in Round 1, it’s been tough going, but we did secure a 32-run victory over Georges River in Round 5, and currently sit 11th out of 13 teams. Top performers to date are Aqib Zayan Choorapulakkal with 13 wickets and Rashedul Hasan with 12.
Our Poidevin-Gray Shield side has qualified for finals after a 6-wicket win over Blacktown just before Christmas. After a tough T20 loss to Manly in Round 1, the boys won the next three on the spin, before faltering against Gordon in Round 5. The highlight was a chase of 190 in a T20 against Mosman, underpinned by Hamish Reynolds’ phenomenal 104* off 55 balls. Reynolds has made 305 runs to date in the competition at an average of 61, topping the aggregates across all clubs, and has paired this with 10 wickets at under 20. We take on Sutherland, who topped the other pool, in a quarter-final at Sutherland Oval on 11 January.
Hamish Reynolds
