Ryan Gibson justified his recent selection in the Cricket NSW Futures XI when he treated the locals to a piece of history on Saturday at Raby.
The young Campbelltown Camden Ghosts batsman was again at his faultless and ruthless best as he piled 108 runs to add to his 83 from day one,to finish with 191.
Gibson’s century against Sutherland in round three of the Sydney Grade cricket competition was his third in row, which set a Ghosts benchmark.
In a chanceless innings, Gibson, who is just 20 years of age, sent the scorers running for the record books as he surpassed the first grade all time highest individual batting total, previously held by Paul Bourke, who posted 186 unbeaten runs against Hawkesbury in 1985.
Gibson now also leads the Bill O’Reilly Medal for the Sydney Cricket Association’s first grade player of the year.
And no wonder – his start to this summer’s Sydney season has been phenomenal.
So far he has scored 129, 115 and 191.
He also scored 67 for NSW 2nd XI against Victoria in between these innings.
Heading into day two, the Ghosts had already achieved first innings points against the Sharks the previous week. Campbelltown-Camden declared at 8-405 after Tom Rogers had also entertained the crowd with 86 runs from 66 balls.
Sutherland then proceeded to stonewall the Ghosts attack as the locals went about chasing an outright win. Captain Scott Coyte agreed to call it stumps when the visitors were 0-33 on a good Raby wicket.
Ghosts are now equal third on the ladder.
Second grade had a strong win at Glenn McGrath Oval winning by 182 runs. Defending 8 declared for 359, Tristan Muir took a brilliant 5-30 to set up the Ghosts win. Dan Constable finished with 2-18 in a match that saw Sutherland comprehensively beaten at home.
The Ghosts third grade, on Raby # 2 and defending 224 runs from the previous week, never really threatened the visitors, who seized the match from them five wickets down. Josh Appleton took three wickets on the traditionally flat Raby #2 pitch.
Two storm interruptions at Sutherland Oval were enough to deny the Ghosts fourth grade a good shot at hunting down the Shark’s total of 258. The match ended up a frustrating draw with the Ghosts finishing 7-202 from 82 overs. Ingleburn’s Braedyn Evans was unlucky to be dismissed leg before wicket for 97 runs.
Fifth grade captain Michael Strong led his team superbly with the ball taking 4-33 from 19 overs and setting up his team’s commanding victory. Sutherland were dismissed for 187 and a long way short of the Ghosts first innings total of 300.
Next week the Ghosts take on Sydney University with home matches again scheduled for Raby, with first grade play starting at 10.30.
