Points Table

Standings after 12 Rounds follow. This will be refreshed early in the week as results come through across the Association:

• A1 Grade – =5^th (5^th on quotient)
• A2 – 1^st
• B1:
  • Blue (Rick) – 8^th (13 points off 4^th spot)
  • Red (Gunny) – 1^st
• B2 – 4^th
• C1 – 6^th (2 points off 4^th spot)
• C2:
  • Blue (Fieds) – 1^st
  • Red (Indranil) – 5^th (7 points off 4^th spot)
• C3 – 1^st
• D1 – 1^st
• D2 – 6^th

Match Reports

A Grade 130 Vs St Ives 1/27 – another must win game for WPHCCCC as they arrived at a bright and sunny Turramurra oval. The smell of the change rooms meant that all players actually wanted to warm up today. We hit a few catches, had a few laughs and were ready to go. JP losing the toss and electing to bat.

The Jenga boys were 1-2-3 today and that was almost the amount of collective runs they put on the scoreboard between them. Preeds enjoyed his last stint opening the batting, cleaned all ends up by Eric Banner. Lichaaaa went shortly after, unluckily caught down the leg side to some freak ass catch that Adam Gilchrist would have been proud of.

Wu finished off the failure for the trio, trapped plumb in front – his record of swooning umpires intimately before the game to get them on side NOT working today. Scotty Reid still laughing after he built up the suspense by waiting for the appeal to finish then BANG goneski.

Alex “Captain of the Costa Concordia” Robertson was the next unlucky batsman to be dismissed, creaming one of his pads straight to square leg. WPHCCCCCC, just like Lohnro in 2004 Australian Cup, were jn desperate trouble.

And the trouble continued when Ashane “First mate of the Costa Concordia” holed out down the ground in his first appearance back on Australian shores. Nick Maxim Bennett joined Jamakin at the crease, with the side is dismal trouble at 5/30.

They say experience is the most undervalued asset in sport and that reigned true today. Maxim and Jamakin as cool as a couple of cucumbers in resurrecting us from the collapse, batting smartly throughout the middle overs.

Maxim was striking the ball sweetly all over the ground, Jamakin the cool head down the other end that held it all together. The wonderful partnership got us back in the game, Maxim converting to a well made 50 and Jamakin carrying us for the rest of the innings – just as Wu had predicted to 3 of the guys in a 20 minute spill just a few short hours earlier.

Cameos from JP and Bailey helped us get to 131, a somewhat defendable total.

We bowled for a session in the late arvo and were able to pick up one scalp, courtesy of a very angry Lichaaa. 1/28 at stumps and those runs are a longgggg way away for St Ives.

Before we go, a big congratulations from all of us in A Grade to our fearless president Andrew “Rodney Jenkins” Miedler who starts a new job in Regents Park on Monday!!

A2 Grade Vs Kissing Point – a wet The Glade oval geeted the boys in this 1 Vs 4 game. We play a 1-Dayer next weekend.

B1 Blue (Rick) 4/164 Vs Castle Hill Green – we arrived at the home of cricket (Greenway Park) to find warm and humid conditions and a very lush and slow ground.

We won the toss and elected to bat. Things were slow from the outset as Castle Hill bowled good lines, to their field and with not many bad balls. We lost our first wicket Julian Raffel in the 13th over 1/13. Willy joined Ollie Maybury at the crease. We went to the 20 over drinks break at 1/18.

Willy was caught and bowled in the 18th over and we were 2/30. It was hard work batting. Zac Turner joined Ollie and they continued to show patience and graft away. At the tea break we were 2/46 off 44 overs. After tea we decided to play with more risks and put more pressure on the Castle Hill fielding with quick running.

Ollie was caught in the 50th over 3/61 and Zac went the next over 4/63 after 51 overs. Rowan ‘Keats’ Keating and Cooper ‘Coops’ Goddard then imposed themselves on the game with an unbroken 101 run partnership.

Coops depositing the Castle Hill bowlers over the rope 4 times and Keats once as we upped the ante with much more aggressive batting. Castle Hill lost 2 balls including their second new ball (which was only 1 over old) – what a shame.

Castle Hill slowed the game only bowling 9 overs in the last hour. We finished at 4/164 off 71 overs at the end of the days play. The 164 is a good score considering the conditions and is worth 30-40 runs more. Keats finished 37 not out and Coops 64 not out.

We will bat on for a few overs next week to set an imposing total before getting stuck into the Castle Hill batting line up. We are in good shape in this game.

WPHC Red (Gunny) 9/264 Vs Berowra – it has been a turbulent season for our opening batsmen, Stanton “Shane Watson” Tam and Michael “Hands raised please” Gunn. They’d had their run outs, their disputes over whose fault it was, seemingly endless low scores and the looming threat of losing their place at the top of the order.

At Dural Park, against second place Berowra, their couples counselling finally paid off and they blossomed. A 107 run opening stand included the first half centuries of the season for both players before Gunn’s was dismissed on 60. Stanton then decided he was bored of playing like an opener and started to hit bad balls for four instead.

The spectators welcomed this change of heart. Stanton was feeling unwell but he assured his teammates it was because of a fever and not the large double cheeseburger meal and hot dog he’d consumed on the way to the ground.

On 99, Stanton got a good ball on the top of off stump and couldn’t keep it out. He has now made a 97 and a 99 but is yet to break the hundred barrier. Some are saying this was an intentional move and he can now score a maiden hundred in the finals.

The Reds finished the day on 9/264 but we will need to bowl well against a team who bats far better than they bowl.

B2 5/205 Vs Kenthurst – the day got underway as usual, with Naps losing the toss. We were asked to bat. In a Comp that has 2nd and 6th separated by 7 points, this 5^th Vs 6^th clash is an extremely important one. The winner will likely move into the top 4.

Zac Morris and Eric Junkkari opened the batting and got us off to a solid start, seeing us through to drinks without loss. Runs were hard to come by early and pair battled to 33 at the break. We knew we needed to up the run rate, but also we didn’t want to throw wickets away. Zac and Eric then doubled our score in the next 6 overs, before Eric was dismissed for 25.

Macca joined Zac at the crease and they continued to push the runs. Zac was eventually dismissed for 53 after a great knock that set the tone for our innings. Macca upped the tempo before he fell for 32.

Raghu Chary and Ryan Gunn batted well to build a 70 run partnership. Gunny was dismissed for 37 in the 71st over trying to hit out in the final overs.

Raghu fell for 42 on the last ball of the day. We lost just 5 wickets today, and our lowest scoring batsman was 25. A great team innings.

A great day of tough cricket, with runs hard to come by and wickets not given up cheaply. Now to back it up with a solid day 2!!!

C1 3/60 Vs Sydney Lions 81 – it was the much eagerly awaited 3^rd Vs 6^th clash against Sydney Lions, being played at Les Shore no.2 ground. Losing the toss we were sent out to bowl on a lush spongy outfield. What transpired next was amazing 4 bowlers used with Lions bowled out in the 38th over for 81 (2×4 & 1×6).

Stars with the ball Sam Hando (11 overs 1 maiden 4-27), Napier Gryst (10.2 overs 1 maiden 2-24), Waris Trehan (8 overs 3 maidens 2-8), & Nandu Ramesh (8 overs 3 maidens 2-14.

All our bowlers bowled with a controlled aggression, at times unplayable swing and great partnerships to build up pressure from both ends.

Our turn to bat, with 29 overs to face we made it to 3-60, Richard Hughes continued his impressive season compiling a patient 34, with 7 wickets in the bank we hope to score quick runs and go for the 10 points.

C2 Blue (Fieds) 7/164 Vs St Ives – to quote the ‘80’s master of English Benny Elias, “it was a battle of nutrition today”. Perhaps no one indulged in the fodder more than Pratah ‘Pedro’ Sinnetamby.

After losing the toss and being sent in, Papa and son Schwartzel opened the batting together, and were looking really good – until they both got out. Cricket’s like that. Papa Warren’s 23 ended up being the day’s 2nd top score.

Winds started to strengthen and the ball was swinging all over the place, but Pedro played a wonderfully disciplined innings of 77, batting all but 10 overs of the day. He was well supported by cameos by Avi Lath (15), Papa Lath (12) and Other-Son-Schwartzel (12no).

We may or may not bat on next week – but the feeling is we may have enough runs already on a very slow outfield. Something to ponder.

C2 Red (Indranil) Vs Castle Hill 158 – a must win game to make it to the top 4 and winning the toss we decided to bowl first. Castle Hill started off cautiously as Amitava and Jack bowled a tight opening spell. We got an early break through but after that wickets were hard to come by as the opposition started to just block. Good spells from Amith (0/15), Nikki (0/19) and Sreeni (0/16) to contain the batsmen.

At tea they were at 1/72 and the 2^nd wicket stand was looking ominous. Just after tea, with bowling change we started to get wickets and kept the pressure on right till the end. We got the last 2 wickets on the last over the day, Castle Hill reaching 158.

Bowlers amongst the wickets, Amitava (5/27) earned a well-deserved 5-wicket haul, followed by Shanks (4/49) and Vinod (1/11). Not to forget Indy, team keeper had a good outing with 4 catches and a stumping – not many chances dropped either.

Thanks to Connor from D1 who had to fill in as a fielder due to a bowler being injured and taking 2 great catches. Next week, simple job for the team, bat long and deep and get the target. Top 4 still in sight.

C3 257 Vs Castle Hill 0/3 – when the Opposition Captain found out that Patto and Rosey (our two top batsmen so far this season) weren’t playing today, he decided to send us in when he won the toss. Little did he know how much depth this team has!

Our openers worked solidly for the first ten overs and weathered the best of their bowling. We lost a couple of quick wickets, but this brought Will Harvey and Dylan Bish to the crease who added a solid partnership of 62 with Will scoring a well made 34. When Buzz joined Dylan they went about stabilising the innings and added another partnership of 60.

It was then that the fireworks started with Brent carving out a scintillating 70 (7×4 & 4×6!) an amazing partnership of 95 in super quick time. A fantastic effort from Brent that capitalised on our game position and had the opposition with heads down after this onslaught!

Dylan eventually fell after one of the best innings of the season, full of aggressive attack and measured defence at all the right times and being so unlucky not to notch up a ton, but he showed his class and ability with an excellent 86.

A great team effort again and just showing that there’s a number of batsmen in this team who will step up and score runs when needed.

Castle Hill managed to see out 6 challenging overs to be 0/3 at stumps.

We’re hoping that this score will be more than enough with our strong bowling attack, so we’ll look forward to next week to continue our strong form heading into the Semis.

D1 7/128 Vs Hornsby – D1s lost the toss once again and were put in to bat, Aden was meant to open with Ian but decided junior games were more important and forced Connor to open after a valiant 48* the week before.

Moving at an immense one run an over we were setting ourselves for a huge target and a hope of getting triple digit figures.

Connor batted out the opening overs well but was once again caught, the same as every other innings. Aden knocked a four on his first ball to Connors frustration and formed a solid partnership with Ian. The partnership fell short when Aden eyed a six over square leg, but didn’t get enough of it.

Stand in Captain Steve arrived on the crease failing to middle anything and once again edging all his runs. Ian’s luck ran eventually ran out of luck and popped one up to after a well deserved 37 with the team 3/81.

Rob came undone quickly, which meant a solid partnership between Josh and Steve was vital. Josh misjudged a ball that smashed into middle stump, which meant it was the turn of the rocket to make some quick runs, however, he didn’t take off today after he popped one up to be dismissed for a globe. Mitch Keetels score a brisk 12 which included his first ever 6, well done chick magnet!

Steve continued his skilful batting to see out the rest of the day on 30* with the team having a lot of work to do at 7 for 128.

D2 79 Vs Hornsby 0/4 – we won the toss and batted at Foxglove Oval on a thick grass covering and a very narrow pitch. It was very difficult to score with 4 boundaries only seen all day.

We batted from 1 pm to 5.45 pm before losing our last wicket in the 62nd over and had to bowl 6 overs. The opposition bowled only 5 of their players with 21 maidens which was a third of their total overs. So anything can happen next week.

The highest scorer was sundries at 22 followed by Praneel Singh on 20 and Luke Christensen on 16.