Dogs start with a bark

Winning the toss, Captain Daniel Solway elected to bowl and hopefully take advantage of the moist conditions.
Making his debut for the Bulldogs, Ryan Felsch played many seasons at Sydney where he was always in the mix when opening batting as well as the bowling. And it only took him seven balls to make his mark with a sharp caught behind to diving wicketkeeper Ethan Deal.
After a near-50-run partnership, young Brad Simpson was on a hat-trick with the students going from 1 for 13 to 3 for 62.
Simpson bowled with genuine pace and guile and went for a miserly 30 runs off his allotted 10 overs. He had finished with four deserved wickets and was a real handful for the students with his sheer speed, although UNSW managed to steady their ship with a 72-run partnership.
The Dogs toiled away with good fielding and a run out to Felsch which was coupled with some very good bowling from another first grade debutante, former Bankstown Sports Club junior player Niran Wijewardene – who was unlucky not to snare a few wickets.
Finishing their innings at 8 for 212 after 50 overs, the students had set a target that would not be easy for the Dogs in the prevailing conditions.
With overs reduced to 48 due to rain, the Bulldogs’ revised target was now 209. Unfortunately, Felsch couldn’t maintain his impeccable match form and was run out early after calling his opening partner Solway for a quick single.
Solway and Zeeshaan Ahmed steadily built the innings with some deft shots and glances behind the wicket. They both warmed to the task and put on a 115-run partnership to get the Dogs barking.
With further breaks in the game due to rain, the Duckworth-Lewis calculation came into play, Fortunately, the Dogs were ahead of par at breaks and so when the game was finally abandoned due to rain, the Bulldogs were victorious at 1 for 122 after 28.3 overs. Solway scored 44 not out, and Ahmed with a great season opener of 57 not out.