A1 Grade

WPHC 90 lost to Hornsby 3/244 – we turned up with a positive attitude, looking to enjoy a fun-filled day at Turramurra.

Hornsby won the toss and chose to bat. They batted well and got 244 with wickets shared.

Chasing a big score we needed to get started with a flier. Unfortunately we did not. We lost consistent wickets and never really looked in the run chase. Jobbo batted really well scoring 39 but today was not to be.

Looking forward to a grand final rematch next game against Berowra.

A2 Grade

WPHC Red (Simon) 7/169 defeated SKLPS 59 – the boys were on tour today in the subcontinent. Kenthurst Arena was an absolute dustbowl, Daniel ‘Please Bowl Me Snump’ Cardigan thought it was the most spin friendly deck he’d ever seen. Please Bowl Me Snump then came in and took 8fa, was turning it at right angles and really just made everyone on the field better as a person. That was actually just what he said he would do, he didn’t bowl a single ball. Nor did he field a ball in the entire innings.

In case you didn’t know, Hell has frozen over, because Snump ‘Nervous about North’s season’ Simon won his 3rd toss on the Jonathon Trott. We went out to bat enjoying a nice dessert of absolute custard served up by the SKLPS openers. Effie ‘Far Kyare’ Banner hit a classy 49 in front of his missus, before gracelessly chopping on. Clearly just can’t get it (his bat) up around his girlfriend. Being 2 down at 30 overs meant we could slap around the last 10 and get a respectable score of 170 odd.

With ball in hand we started well by Ankit ‘Nicole Kitman’ Grover drawing bad shots out of the batsmen. Leaving the ball when it’s hitting leg is a really low percentage shot and was a silly choice so early in the innings. We then ripped through their middle order in what can only be described as ‘a’ spell of bowling.

Michael ‘Bowled a ball a foot down leg on a hat-trick’ Robertson led the bowling attack by taking 4fa with one of the most yuck spells you ever did see. My question is, if the bowler doesn’t know where it’s going, how can the batsmen? Really inspirational stuff from a West Pennant Hills stalwart, he’s definitely got my vote for life membership and to be honest, for Australian of the Year!

In short, we absolutely pantsed a team in finals contention. Oh and Nick Bennett is being considered for A Grade next week because he’s clearly not good enough to play the highest grade in the the HK&HDCA.

“Steve Quanborough is the vegetable of my heart.” – Luke Herzog

WPHC Blue (Rick) 138 lost to ARL 224 :

For reference:

• Rowan Keating = 23
• Chris Williamson = Willy
• Alex Turner = Hooch
• Jules Raffel = Sean Anthony
• Rick Turner = The Flair
• Nick Starr = Ivan
• Jackson Preedy = The Preedofile
• Taki Manolelis = Taki Manolelis
• Justin Edwards = Clive
• Peter Flook = Slender

ARL won the toss and elected to bat on a hot afternoon at a fast Headen Park. ARL started quickly out of the blocks and were 2/61 at the first drinks break (13 overs) with Preeds and Keats picking up poles.

After the break we had a good session bowling and fielding well. At the second break ARL were 4/139 (26 overs). Both wickets picked up by Jobbie. In the final session their Captain got away from us early with wickets falling at the other end. ARL ended being all out on the last over for 224. Best of the bowling Preeds 4/31, Jobbie 3/33, Keats 1/19 and Clive 1/40.

With our turn to bat our batting didn’t get going at all with lots of starts but nobody going on with it. Credit to ARL who bowled well. We were bundled out for a disappointing 138 off 34 overs. Best of our batting Bails 24, Flooky 17*, Preeds 14 and Hooch 12. We were poor with the bat and never really in the hunt to run down the ARL total. Onwards to next week.

B1 Grade

WPHC 5/65 defeated Hornsby 63 – going into the 2^nd last one dayer of the season, we were desperately in need for a win. We lost the toss and sent into the field to bowl first.

Batting conditions were surprisingly tough, and our bowling attack took advantage of that, taking 3 wickets in the first 3 overs! The pressure from us continued, with one of the best bowling efforts from the season from all! We rolled them in only 19 overs for 63 runs, which could have been less if we held onto all our catches!

Best bowling figures were Kristoff O’Meara 3/6 off 4 overs, Nathaniel Chidgey 2/8 off 4 overs and Ben Meikle 2/18 off 5 overs.

Our batting innings started in a very similar fashion. With Hornsby bowling very tight, runs were hard to come by, and our top order dropped pretty cheaply, and we were sitting 3/14 after 10 overs.

Then a 5^th wicket partnership by Ben Meikle and Michael Fiedler, made the difference for us! The two made the conditions look completely different as they batted with great concentration and patience with runs constantly flowing, which was a rare thing today. With a partnership of 39 runs, they were both there at the end and we chased down the runs with 5 wickets to spare.

Best of the batting were Michael Fiedler 18 n.o. and Ben Meikle 15 n.o.

B2 Grade

WPHC Red (Rob) 9/136 defeated SKLPS 132 – in a top of the table clash where both teams were equal 1st on points, the winner would move into outright first place.

The day started well with Naps winning the toss and electing to bat. A mix up in the 2nd over brought about an early run out. The next wicket fell in just the 5th over. We were sitting at 2/11 and in early trouble. Andrew Morris (41) and Phil Hayes (28) put on an important 52 run partnership. Wickets then fell quickly and we were 6/84. Ryan Gunn (26*) played a smart knock and batted through with the tail, including a 20 stand with Matt Digby (7) that saw our total move to 136.

Having defended 137 two matches ago, we knew that if we bowled well, we could once again bowl ourselves to victory.

The Opposition got off to steady start until Kyle Townsend (2/13) took the wicket of the dangerous opening batsman. We then took another 3 quick wickets to have the opposition 4/44. Matt Digby (2/29) had the ball swinging and cutting, finding the edge of the bat in quick succession with 2 catches through to the keeper.

The batsmen put on 53 runs before Eric Junkkari (3/34) got one through on to the stumps.

With the score at 5/97 and 14 overs remaining we brought back our main bowlers to try and take wickets. Kyle bowled 2 maidens, followed by a wicket maiden. 10 overs remaining and the score 6/105. Eric bowled well to pick up 2 quick wickets, including a sharp stumping by Andrew Morris. 8/126 with 3 overs to go. The tight bowing brought about a great run out by Matt Digby.

Having rolled the dice earlier to take wickets, it was left to Ray Khamis (0/6) and Rob Knapman (2/27) to bowl the last 2 overs. Rays over went for 6 runs and left the Opposition needing 5 runs off the last over with 1 wicket in hand. Naps then bowled the first ball of the over and the batsman skied it in the air with Kyle taking the catch calmly.

Once again an important win even though we weren’t at our best. Next time let’s try not to do it the hard way!!!

WPHC Blue (Tim) 71 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee 6/247 – C Williamson Captained B2 Blue today in Wortho’s absence (work commitments), and fitted in nicely losing the toss. Normo sent us in to bowl. Some really entertaining cricket ensued with Normo amassing 6-247 off 40.

Best of the bowling: Sam Hando bowled beautifully with control, aggression and rewarded with 3-31 with 1 maiden, accompanied by Napier Gryst with 1-41 with 2 maidens! (Lucky man) Raghu Chary landing his leggies and bowled well also! 1-47. Special mentions were Nicolas Sparks 0-25 (played well) & Yash Patel 0-26 (unbelievable run-out side on & bowled impressively especially his wrong uns.) unlucky bowlers included Phil Hando 0-33, Chris Williamson 0-15, Zac Turner 0-17.

In reply our batting showed similar stories from bygones past, all out in the 26th over for 71.

Raghu Chary top scored with 18 looked a million dollars as usual, supported by Pratah Sinnetamby 15 batted really nicely and Napier Gryst with 13 off as many balls. 8 other batsmen combined for 25 a worrying sign. Blue team looking to improve our batting for rest of the season.

C1 Grade

WPHC 74 lost to Hornsby 6/224 – another toss loss had us in the field first. Ryan Loveridge and Alex Chidgey started proceeding tightly. We had taken top three batsmen into the 7th over, with score on 28 and all three wickets going to Ryan.

After this their batsmen got in and at drinks break after 20 overs score was 3/82. We did not get another breakthrough till 24 over while one of the eventual century scorer batsman kept pressing foot on the gas paddle. There was some good catching with couple of catches from Alex Chidgey and Everest Matrose setting a very high standard, while other times we were poor with our ground fielding. In the end we had a big total of 224 runs to chase.

Our run chase did not start well with first wicket going down in the second over with score on 1. Will Coffey looked good playing some nice shots before he was run out with score on 15. After this we needed good partnerships which never happened. Only two batsmen (Father & Son Laths) got into double figures and we were all out for 74 into the 31st over. A lot of improvements needed to keep us competitive in upcoming matches.

C2 Grade

WPHC 9/110 lost to Glenorie 8/165 – Bet365 has Buzz odds on to not win another toss this season, especially on a hot day. If I were a betting man, I’d get in now!

Asked to bowl first, we did an excellent job in the heat. Tanay and Gian started well, and were well backed up by excellent catching and ground fielding throughout the Opposition innings. On a quick Campbell Park, we never let Glenorie get on top. Some very good spells of bowling from our young recruits kept them to about 4 an over, which at the break seemed below par.

Wickets were taken by Tanay (1/38), Xander Vink (1/15), Dave B (1/17), Jack Barry (1/34).

Best bowling came from another outstanding performance from Gian Gill with 3/10 off 8 overs.

An excellent effort in the field to leave us 166 to chase down.

Heading out to bat, we were short of a usual opener, and Dan Schwartzel volunteered to step up. He looked the goods before falling to an excellent catch, and that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the innings. A number of batsmen came and went, with most getting started, but unable to carry on to get us home. In the end the run rate climbed just too high for us, and despite some selfless batting from our young recruits, we were unable to chase down the score.

Despite the score line, we competed well for most of the match, and to see the efforts put in by our young players was particularly pleasing. Thanks again to Xander Vink, Jack Barry, the Schwartzer twins and Gian Gill for their efforts.

The future is bright for WPHCCC cricket with these young men coming through the ranks.

On to the next round, and a must win game, but with several players back from holidays, we will give it our best shot!

C3 Grade

WPHC 9/240 defeated Berowra 6/239 – what a game to win to stay in the top four, as usual team felt comfortable to chase in Greenup Park. We lost the toss and were put to field.

Right from the beginning Berowra were scoring runs and the initial breakthrough came when Sreeni Pillamarri bowled one of his best Overs and took two wickets. As usual our saga of dropping catches continued. It was Indranil who was able to take couple of good catches to stop the dropped catches by the team.

Amit Ninan was unfortunate to miss a wicket due to wrong umpire’s decision. Peza who was a bit easy on the field with the catches was able to make a great difference in the batting. Sreeni Pillamarri 2/31, Manu Varma 1/29, Romil Pandey 1/36, Cliff Greenhalgh 2/38.

We lost wickets early in the game which brought the best of the middle order to watch. Indranil Mukherjee 35, Manu Varma 36, Cliff 18, Perry Waldron 39, Romil Pandey 24, and Sreeni Pillamarri 20 not out was able to see through the game for us.

A good last ball win with one run one wicket and one ball in hand and the game has gone to the end of the wire and made us feel that as a team we can win matches. Next week we have to verse against Normanhurst.

D1 Grade

WPHC 2/216 defeated Berowra 6/113 – winning the toss and electing to bat saw us get off to a good start with steady runs before Connor was run out on 8. Brent (81) then came to the crease and quickly upped the run rate despatching the Berowra bowlers to all parts of the ground. The next and last wicket fell at 126, after which Aden (65*) and Gautam (42*) batted well to get our total up to 215.

Andrew took 2 early wickets which helped us get off to a great start. From then on the game was under control with Andrew ending up with 4/18, Roger took 1/10 and Dave with 1/18.

This win puts us back in the top 4 and hopefully some momentum going forward to help us reach the semis.

D2 Grade

WPHC 3/207 defeated St Ives 9/181 – St Ives won the toss and elected to bowl at Fred Caterson 4 field. There was a thick cover of grass with a sandy base which meant that you were likely to either hit a 1 or a 4.

We were shocked by our Opposing teams decision to bowl as it was already about 38 degrees at pitch level. Ben & Mike Kinchington opened the batting but only scoring 15 runs after 10 overs due to the heavy grass cover and very disciplined bowling. We upped the over rate to reach 64 runs after 20 overs. At 30 overs we were 121 without loss. We lost our first wicket when Ben Kinchington was run out in the 32nd over. We lost another wicket in the 34th over. That opening partnership was worth 125 runs.

John Rose came to the crease and hit a quick-fire 49 runs which included 4 fours and 5 sixes in 6 overs. Mike Kinchington eventually hit 67 runs not out and batted the entire 40 overs with the team reaching 207 runs.

St Ives openers hit 52 runs in their first 10 overs which was well beyond our total of 15 at the same stage. We struggled to bowl line and length.

Four of our bowlers toiled away but didn’t achieve a wicket. Mike Kinch ington came to bowl in the 15th over and bowled a spell of 6 overs taking 3 wickets for 26 runs with 2 maidens. Agni Sen took a spectacular catch off the last over of Mike’s spell running about 35 metres and taking a catch with his outstretched hands and the ball moving away from him.

After 20 overs St Ives were on 84 which was 20 ahead of us at the same stage. Parin Pillamarri also took 3 wickets for 35 runs off 8 overs which help to break the back of St Ives and after 30 overs they were 5 for 132 runs. At this stage we were into their less experienced batters. St Ives needed to hit 6 runs an over. However, they struggled to hit anywhere near that required run rate and with the fall of two further wickets by Thiru Pukazthenthi and another wicket by Agni Sen they fell short by some 26 runs giving us victory in this match.

A good effort all around but we still dropped 3 catches. So more work to do on our fielding but a pleasing result. A big thank you to Liz (Ben’s mum) who fielded for us as a substitute fielder when one of our players fell sick shortly before the match.