Welcome back

It is always great to welcome back players who have been gone for a while and returned back to fold.

Daniel Anderson

DA (1^st Grade T20 – pictured during the A1 ‘Rofie’ Grand Final in 2011/12) last played in the 2011/12 A1 Grand Final as a 16 year-old which was one of the most famous Finals ever played in our Association. Apart from winning the first of our record 4 consecutive Premierships (Rofie’s) this Team came back against the 6 times Premiers ARL after being 7/51 with DA top scoring with 57 in a pressure cooker game.

Phil Hando

Phil (C / D Grades) last played C2 in 2006/07 as a star all-rounder. Phil went to work for British Tobacco in South Africa. Not only is Phil back but he brought along his 2 sons – Sam and Tom, so 3 Hando’s for the price of 1.

Daniel Heidegger

Daniel (A1) last played B1 in 2014/15 to give Grade Cricket a run. Trying to balance the demands of his medical studies he is back. Daniel is one of the best Juniors to have ever played for West Penno. Daniel scored 5 tons in Juniors to have the highest number of Junior tons in our history and is just 2 behind the Club record of 7 scored by the great Laurie Tuckerman (A1) in 1951/52.

Tony Mandile

Tony (C1 Grade) last played A2 way back in 2002/03 before going to Melbourne to follow the love of his life. One of Tony’s great achievement was coming into the B2 Final in 2000/01 as a replacement player. Tony ended up scoring 101* and won the match. The following extract from our History is a great story on this ton:

“The B2 Final 2000/01 at Berowra Oval will be remembered as Tony Mandile’s. Tony was brought into the side as a bowling all-rounder to replace an injured player (Ross Anderson) against the Minor Premiers at Berowra Oval. Coming in as night watchman he scored a whirlwind 101* (2 hours) that took the side to victory. On scoring the ton, he not only acknowledged the cheers but also threw his bat about 10 metres in to the air – narrowly missing himself and the close in fieldsmen.”

A1 Grade debuts

Congratulations to our latest A1 Grade players who are making their debut this season:

• Daniel Heidegger – Player Number 315
• Andy Meikle – 316
• Cameron McBrien – 317

This is a great achievement and the boys will be presented with their numbered playing shirts and baggy caps before the first game of the standard season.

A1 Grade first competed in 1951/52. Since 1966/67 we have entered A1 Grade in every season so this will be our 52^nd consecutive season in A1.

Double Break

It is bad enough to get a broken arm or leg but to have a double break is about as bad as it can get. We have 2 known cases of our players who have broken either both arms or both legs at the same time. The following examples come to mind:

Calvin Breytenbach (A2)

Calvin (pictured 4th from left) was going to be the star all-rounder in A2 this season pushing for an A1 spot – until a couple of weeks ago when he broke both ankles. We would ‘like’ to say that this was caused by a football injury during some heroic action but not to be – he did it jumping into a bush. The result, apart from a lot of pain – out for the season.

David Flook

David, father of B1 tearaway Peter, was coaching his Junior Team about 10 years ago when there were a number of cricket balls on the wire roof of the nets. David did the right thing and tried to get them down. Unfortunately, when he climbed onto the nets the roof gave away and down came David – breaking both arms. The sight of seeing David with both arms in casts was something to behold.

“Don’t tell Mel”

Simon Smyth (A2 Skipper pictured here with ‘Sophie’ – the SPL Premiership Shield) is one of our most passionate players – ever. After bowling 1,912 overs in a career that started in  1997/98, Simon’s idea of a Drinks break is to take a couple of Voltarin pain relief tablets to make it through the rest of the game. Understandably, Simon was keen to give the T20s a break to save the old body for the big games coming up.

Being a true Club Man, the call went out do play this weekend due to player shortages. Not only that but Simon had tickets for the Swans Finals at the SCG with free grog included.

So…Simon being Simon gave all this away to support the boys and play His only comment “Don’t tell Mel I knocked back free grog for the both of us.”