Match Report – Round 8 – 17 December 2016

Points table

After 8 Rounds and leading into the break we have 8 Teams in the top 4 with 4 Teams leading the Comp:

  • A1                   =2nd
  • A2                   3rd
  • B1                    =2nd
  • B2                    1st
  • C1                    1st
  • C2 Blue           4th
  • C2 Red            7th (6 points out of 4)
  • C3                    1st
  • D1                   1st
  • D2                   6th (1 point off 4th spot).

Match Results

A1 Grade

WPHC 93 lost to Berowra 8/94 – close game, went to the wire and was ultimately decided by the toss. We lost the toss and were sent in with a game reduced to 35 over per team. Batting was extremely difficult in our innings, The pick of the top order was Joshy Yoyo Mathais with a brilliant hard fought 43 coming in at 3, a real sensational knock under pressure. We were unable to build partnerships around Joshy but to our credit still ended up on 93.

Legend and multiple premiership club winner Ranga was back for a cameo innings in the difficult conditions. Even Matt Jobson and Hendo struggled with the bat. Some good classy shots from Riley Meidler at 11.

We started brilliantly with the ball. Champion A grade stalwart Matt Jobson began in brilliant fashion with another wicket in his first over. Plumb LBW and went on to take 4 wickets.

Competition leading wicket taker Riley Miedler bowled tight lines all day without luck. Hendo was superb as always with Darsh chiming in with a fine spell and took a vital wicket before drinks. JP also bowled well

To Berowra’s credit, we did have them 8 for 70 needing with them needing 24 to win, unfortunately our bowlers were unable to get the two wickets but a sensational effort from our bowlers as the wicket became a road as it dried out.

The feeling around the camp is extremelyy positive still and we are really looking forward to the remaining games of the season. We are all confident that we will be able to get on a roll and grab that first place spot leading into the semis.

A2 Grade

WPHC drew with Berowra – the boys were playing at The Glade Oval in a 3 Vs 7 play-off. The wicket was unplayable so we walk away with the 2 points.

B1 Grade

WPHC 5/102 defeated Castle Hill 101 – yet again we lost the toss and we’re conveniently sent in to bowl. Our bowlers struck with early wickets keeping them 4/48 after the first 20 overs. Castle Hill finished on 101 after being bowled out with stand-out performances from the recently promoted Chris “Akmal” Williamson (3/23 off 8) and the first bowling session of Andrew “Voice” Driscoll (2 wickets completing his 300th wicket for West Penno). This is a huge achievement with only 10 players having taken more wickets than Voice.

With a low score to chase our batsmen did the job in a big way with Ashane “Robber” De Silva (28), Chris “Wilbur” Williamson (28) and Daniel “Fids” Fiedler (30) each putting in an effort to secure our last 2016 win. This win should put us in a comfortable 2nd position on the ladder and brings Ashane to the top batsmen in the B1 competition.

B2 Grade

WPHC 6/114 defeated Berowra 110 – today’s game was at our home ground Greenway Park and it looked a treat with the rain during the week. The outfield was lush and playing a little slower than normal but it was in fabulous condition.

Skipper (Rick ‘Flair’ Turner) proceeded to lose the toss again (8 straight toss losses – why is he wasting his time taking the toss). The Berowra Captain had no hesitation in deciding to bat in good batting conditions. We got 2 breakthroughs in the first 10 overs (1 to Patrick Phillips and 1 to Flooky – his first wicket for the season despite bowling brilliantly). The change of bowlers brought more wickets with Dinuka Jayasuriya bagging himself 2 poles (both bowled) and Captain Rick Turner snagging one from the other end.

At the 20 over drinks break Berowra were 5/60 and we were in charge of the game. After the drinks break the skipper threw the ball to 13 year old Varun Ravindran (who plays in our U15 Gold team). This was Varun’s WPH seniors debut and he delighted everybody by bagging a wicket in his second over. Varun bowled a great spell of outies with excellent control and had a number of the Berowra batsmen playing and missing.  Ravin Wijesurya (1 wicket off 2 balls, rolling his ankle and escorted from the field) and Prats Datar cleaned up the tail and Berowra were all out for 110 (off 36.4 overs). Best of our bowlers Prats Datar 2/9 (5), Dinuka 2/9 (6), Flooky 2/17 (6.4), Rick 1/12 (6.4), Varun Ravindran 1/17 (4), Pat Phillips 1/29 (5) and Ravin 1/0 (0.2).

Our innings started as per normal with Dinesh smoking a couple of boundaries and then managing to find a way to get himself out early. Aaron got a good ball, Gunny went cheaply and Pat Philips played a handy inning but got himself out. Flooky chipped in with a cameo but at the 20 overs drinks break we were 5/84 but in control of the game. Rick Turner and Prats Datar took drinks and proceeded to peel off the remaining runs to win the game in the 28th over.

Best of our batting Rick Turner 25, Pat Phillips 23, Aaron Carlini 13 and Peter Flook 13. That’s 8 from 8 and we could not hope to deliver a better Christmas present to the club. We’re playing solid cricket but need to improve our batting in 2017. Let’s keep it going boys.

C1 Grade

WPHC 9/152 defeated Berowra 8/145 – we would loved to bat first today, but went back to our toss-losing-ways and had to bowl in the heat. We were fortunate that the opposition were missing a couple of their regulars today, so we were confident in keeping it tight and backing ourselves to chase down whatever total was posted.

Rob Hitchcock grabed an early wicket but broke down with a recurrence of old-mans-hammies after 3 overs so we had to try a few different things with our bowlers. With Berowra at 1/70 after 20 overs, we thought we could be staring down at a 200+ total, but the introduction of our spinners plus conjuring a few wickets with our fielding got us back in the contest. Ben O’Meara pulled off 2 great run outs, Mat Marsden (1/22) & Eric Junkkari (2/15) kept a lid on the run scoring and we were able to restrict Berowra to 8/145 at the close. Special mention to Semonn ‘Monster’ Oleksyn who bowled quickly and tightly as well as pulling off some brilliant saves in the field.

Ray Khamis (15) and Stanton Tam (32) got off us to a solid start before Ray fell, which start a mini-collapse, leaving us 3/29 in the 12th over. After seeing off the opening bowlers, Stanton and Mikey Fiedler (29) set about the bowlers, adding a quick fire 56, including 2 huge sixes to Mikey. Unfortunately they both fell in quick succession, with us needing 60 off the final 14 overs and 5-wickets in hand.

The game could have gone either way, but the Monster entered the fray and proceeded to belt a quick 45 runs in effortless fashion as we finished the chase with 4 overs up our sleeves. We now find ourselves at the top of the table and look forward to a well-earned Xmas break.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue 6/128 defeated WPHC Red 9/125 – surprisingly, winning the toss twice in a row, the Blues (Buzz) sent the Red’s (Knapper’s Team) into bat. Tight opening spells from Rash and Nikki (who has bowled the most maiden overs in the club this season) kept the Reds from scoring too freely. The change bowlers, Dave Behlevanas and Shankar Ravi produced a wonderful bowling partnership to achieve breakthroughs and pick up valuable wickets. The Blue’s fielding was slightly below par with a few dropped catches, but the tight bowling meant we weren’t to pay too high a price for the drops. The best of the bowlers were Nikki (3/31), Shankar (2/30), Dave B (1/20), Riley (1/4) and Buzz (1/9).

For the Red’s the best batting came from Richard Hughes (35), Andrew Morris 28 and Ian Paterson 20. The score of 128 was the equivalent to 150/160 on a very slow Glenhaven.

The Red’s bowled extremely well supported by quality catching throughout and pressed us all the way, but solid partnerships from Riley Behlevanas (32), Peter Lees (29), and Gopy Parathan (32) kept the runs ticking along as required. A confident and sensible effort from Matt Rashleigh (13*) and Dave B saw us home in the last over.

Always a tough game, and a highlight of the season to play against such a competitive and friendly side, and in true West Penno spirit, there was a great dissection of the match and a few laughs afterwards at the Club with Christmas drinks!

C3 Grade

WPHC 115 lost to Beecroft 9/119 – the day got off to a great start by finally winning a toss for the first time in weeks. We elected to bat at a ground that has become popular with the batsman of the team. However with a slower than usual outfield combined with the loss of early wickets we were quickly put on the back foot. A fighting 37 from our number 3 Asses Rajput kept us in the match. Unfortunately a pretty consistent loss of wickets meant that he struggled for partners with only 3 other boys getting into double figures, Rhys Flynn (13), Gautam Ayyar (19) and Rommel Pandey (17). A general failure to launch with the bat meant that we ended up all out for 115 after 37 overs.

Going into the second innings knowing that early wickets would be the key to defending our total, our opening bowler Ryan Loveridge provided with 2 spectacular wickets in his first 3 overs. With a great start to the bowling Ishan then continued to add pressure with very consistent bowling ending up with a well deserved 3 wicket haul. During the middle overs Rommel also did well blocking up an end and ending up with figures of 2/27.

An all around good bowling performance in the first 20 overs put us in with a chance at victory. With Asses taking the ball after drinks and getting around the wickets himself ending up with impressive figures of 2/18 we continued to stay in the game. With Beecroft tying the scores in the thirty first over we still needed 2 wickets however we had not given up on the possibility of a tie. Ishan cemented these hopes by taking a spectacular wicket the next over that involved some team work catching between himself and Ryan. With one run and one wicket the only things separating the 2 sides we brought the field in to give ourselves the best chance, unfortunately a flashy stroke by the number 11 dashed our hopes of pulling off the impossible.

Although disappointed by the loss the boys were happy with our bowling efforts and are ready to come back bigger and better in the New Year.

D1 Grade

WPHC 0/101 defeated Berowra 97 – Berowra chose to bat first which suited us fine as we were looking to bowl. 3 overs in our two opening bowlers – Amit Sen (2/13) and Amith Ninan (1/26) both had success and Amit took another 9 overs in having Berowra 3/27. At 20 overs while we had continued to bowl tightly the opposition reached 3/62 on the small Holland Reserve.

After the break wickets tumbled, firstly Steve Quanborough (2/22) removed the next two batsman supported by Sreeni Pillamarri (1/10) and we were now well on top. Dylan Bish (2/3) and Roger Friend (2/2) finished off the innings in fine style. Dylan took 2 in 2 balls with the hat-trick chance edged by the batsman just short of 3rd slip. 97 was the total which we felt was a hundred under par even in the slow outfield conditions.

Pratah Sinnetamby (72*) and Cody Waters (17*) started cautiously, mindful of setting a platform after our poor showing the bat last week. We were 23 without loss off 10 and then the hammer went down. The boys batted smartly putting the bad balls away and in the 21st over we cruised over the victory total.

A great result after 2 disappointed losses and with results going our way we move back Into top place over the Christmas break. Well done lads!

D2 Grade

WPHC 152 lost to Castle Hill 3/157 – after two days of rain we expected the pitch at Campbell Park to be sodden but it turned out to be quite good. We lost the toss and were sent into bat which was something we were happy to begin with. Our first three went cheaply for 7, 17 and 9 runs. After 20 overs we were 3 for 65 runs. Then came Ben Kinchington who hit 56 runs, John Rose hit 17 runs and Thiru Pakazenthi with 22 runs. We managed to stay-in and bat out the 40 overs for 152 runs. We thought that this would be a score that we might defend if our bowling was good enough in the second session.

However, Castle Hill sent in some young guns who thought they were playing a T20 match hitting 157 in 19 overs to take the match. One such young gun hit 94 runs off 51 balls. Dinal Silva took 2 wickets for 26 runs off 4 overs via two catches by Captain Mike and Michael Clipsham. Ben Kinchington took 1 wicket for 11 runs off 2 overs. Unfortunately, this was a day when the Castle Hill batters seemed to hit a groove where everything they hit went right and often to the boundary. They hit 21 fours and 4 sixes. Well, that’s cricket!! A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Elite performers – our top 5

After 8 Rounds our top performers are:

Top 5 batting

  1. Andrew Morris (C2 Red) – 516 runs @ 73.71
  2. Dan Costigan (B1) – 366 runs @ 45.75
  3. Ashane De Silva (B1) – 360 runs @ 72.00
  4. Joel Herzog (C2 Red) – 322 runs @ 40.25
  5. Asees Rajput (C3) – 310 runs @ 34.44

Top 5 bowling

  1. Ishaan Singh (C3) – 29 wickets @ 7.14
  2. Dan Costigan (B1) – 23 wickets @ 14.43
  3. Rob Knapman (C2 Red) – 23 wickets @ 14.65
  4. Riley Miedler (A1) – 21 wickets @ 12.86
  5. Nathaniel Chidgey (C2 Red) – 21 wickets @ 13.81

Top 5 fielders

  1. Riley Behlevanas (C2 Blue) – 14 (plus 2 w/k)
  2. Tarun Lath (C3) – 12 catches
  3. Stanton Tam (C1) – 10 catches
  4. Luke Herzog (A2) – 8
  5. Ben Meikle (B2) – 7

Top 3 wicket-keepers

  1. Joel Behlevanas (C2 Blue) – 10 catches + 2 stumpings
  2. Gautam Ayyar (C3) – 10 catches (plus 4 as a non-keeper)
  3. Nick Bennett (A1) – 10 catches.

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