What might have been

A1 was scheduled to play a 2-day game this Round but wet weather saw the game abandoned without a ball being bowled.

What makes this special is not what happened but what might have happened if the game has started. On the Team sheets were 2 sets of 3 brothers – the Hando’s (Tom, Sam & Harry) and McBriens 3 McBrien brothers (Cam, Lachlan and James) who were scheduled to play. Had the game started, our best effort was having the 3 x Donaldson brothers (twins John & Ken, Jim) playing together during the 1960’s. To have 2 sets of 3 x brothers playing is something special and would have been a fantastic first for us.

Going right back to the early days of the Association the following extract from our Club history gives us an insight into what it was like to play in the 19^th Century (1850’s to 1890’s).

“In the early days, family teams were common. The South Colah Cricket Club had 18 sons of Patrick and John Duffy of Thornleigh, Dural CC was sustained by the seven sons of Thomas Best, Pennant Hills CC by the 10 sons of Arthur Thompson and Castle Hill CC by the eleven sons of John James (source: Claire Schofield: The Shaping of Hornsby Shire 1988 p86).”

So by today’s standards this is amazing but think about being in a Club with 18 of your brothers!

Photo: First Grade (A1) T20 Premiers. Back row: Jack Hando, Phil Wurth, Andy Meikle, Cameron McBrien (#25), Todd Hutchinson, Ashane De Silva, James Makin

Front row: Harry Hando, Tom Hando, Shaan Bakshi, Billy Gaunt, Ben Burrows – Normanhurst Oval – 27 October 2024

While on A1 Grade

So much for being in a dry spell with yet another weekend washout for most games. This Round only a handful of Teams got any cricket but spare a thought for A1 who have now played only 3 games in 7 Rounds for 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss.

The boys are sitting just 1 point outside the top 4 and 3 points off 3^rd spot so all they need to do is to get on the field so let’s hope the weather does what is forecast to do and stays dry, at least on weekend.

Photo: CNSW Community Cup – WPHC A1 Vs Lindfield 1st Grade Shires in the T20 knockout comp. The players from left to right are: Michael Richards, Billy Gaunt, Jackson Preedy, Ashane De Silva, Jude Boyle, Tanay hira, Campbell Wallace, Phil Wurth (with bat), Jack Hando, Harry Hando & Andy Meikle – Soldiers Memorial Oval – Sunday 10 November 2024.

D2 Grade by the numbers

This week we focus on D2 Grade – the last of our Grade by Grade reviews.

Some interesting insights into this Grade:

• 11 x times Grand Finalists with 6 x Premiers & 5 x Runners-up:
  • Our 1^st Premiership win was in 1979/80 with Tony Harris the Captain
  • Our most successful Captain is Nirav Desai who won back-to-back Premierships in 2021/22 & 20221/22
• Best bowling performance by an individual is by Michael Jenneke with 8/17 (1984/85 Vs Thornleigh
• Highest:
  • individual score is 172* by Leigh Van den Broeke in 2001/02
  • run scorer is Luke Christensen (2007/08 to 2022/23) with 1,671 runs @ 12.5
  • career wicket taker is Jon Burns with 144 wickets
  • season wicket taker is by Peter Sanders who took 80 wickets in 1983/84
  • season run aggregate is by Leigh Van den Broeke702 runs @ 63.8 (2001/02)
  • partnership – 263 for the 6^th wicket by Peter Baker (162) and Chris Kiley (103*) Vs St Ives 1994/95
  • we also hold 2 of the highest Association record D2 partnerships:
    • 6^th wicket – 263 runs 241 runs (above)
    • 8^th wicket – 203 runs (Josh Lovell & Alistair Rayment) 1997/98
• The most capped D2 player in our history is Luke Christensen with 153 innings
• Lowest score by our side is 14 runs Kenthurst @ Headen Park 28/2/2020
• Lowest score against us is 6 Vs Kissing Point @ Kenthurst Park 16/1/2021
• 68,548 runs have been scored @ an average of 15.7 runs / wicket
• 77,815 runs have been scored against us @ 18.6 runs / wicket taken

Photo: D2 – 2007-08 Vs Kenthurst @ Thornleigh 8th March 2008. (Back row – L to R): Jonathan Van Blerk, Shankar Ravi, Alok Pradhan, Ben Pilipowski, Bruce Caldwell, Roger Friend, Kedar Ballurkar, Luke Christensen. Front row (L to R): Daniel Anderson, Peter Westerberg, Claudio Van Blerk, Brannavan Ramachandran.

What would your Decision be?

Question 1

A ball delivered by the bowler bounces once on the pitch and a second time off the pitch but before the line of the popping crease. The striker steps across to reach the ball, partially removing himself from the pitch whilst hitting the ball along the ground to the boundary rope. What action shall the bowler’s end umpire take?

Question 2

In a one innings match Team A scored 236 runs. Team B is 9/236 with the striker on 98. The striker drives the next ball and completes three runs. What is the result of the match? What is the final score of the striker?