A2 Grade by the numbers

Last week we kicked off a statistical insight into A1 Grade. This week we are doing A2 Grade and next week, B1 Grade:

We first competed in the A2 Grade competition in 1971/72 and have played there continuously – 53 seasons consecutively. Some interesting facts, by the numbers:

• 13 x times Grand Finalists
• 7 x Premiership wins:
  • Our first Premiership was in 1988/89 with Ross A the Captain
  • Matt Jobson is our most successful A2 Captain, winning 2 Premierships
• Best bowling performance by an individual is 9/36 taken by Amir Marzouk in 2000/01 at The Glade
• Highest individual score is 172 by Chris Turner in 1974/75 Vs New Line
• Highest partnership – 284 runs (Jim Fuggle 135* & Ray Hewson 135) for the 1^st wicket Vs Normanhurst 1971/72
• The most capped A2 player in our history is Michael Banner with 136 innings and with more to come as he is playing A2 again this season
• 95,328 runs have been scored @ an average of 18.5 runs / wicket
• 97,361 runs have been scored against us @ 19.5 runs / wicket taken

Photo: A2 Premiers 2006-07 @ Parklands Oval. Back row: Scott Henderson, Ranga Edwirikrama, Brad Hingle, Martin (Chopper) Boon, Leigh van Den Broeke, Matt Jobson, Michael Banner, Sean Doohan. Front row: Steve Quanborough, Andrew Driscoll, Michael McDowell, James Makin (Capt), Tim Leyshon.

‘Man of Steel’

How about Harry Whitehouse (U15 Blue & C3). There are those players who find a reason not to play, or pull out at short notice. Then there are those who play whenever a Team is in need. Enter Harry Whitehouse who is the type of player that you build successful Teams around.

During the week I got this great note from James Makin, our Seniors Director:

“…future A-grade star Harry Whitehouse…played juniors on Sat morning and scored a century. Backed that up with 70 overs for his C3 team in the afternoon. Then on Sunday we were in dire straits with T20 numbers – Harry to the rescue. Filled in for Aniket’s C2 team, then again for Birdcage’s A2. What a weekend!!!!

 And some more stats from Harry’s big weekend …

280 overs played

40 batting

80 wicket keeping”

Take a bow Harry!

As for theme music – what else that the theme from Superman

Photo: Harry Whitehouse with Kookaburra @ Samuel King Oval – 13^th October 2024

Feels like Home

At the risk of being indulgent as this is about your friendly author’s son but it is a great story worth sharing.

Last weekend, Daniel Anderson (DA and left) played in the 1^st Grade T20 Semi Final @ Mt Ku-ring-gai Oval. What makes this story so interesting is that DA is the youngest player ever to play in the 99 year history of our Association. How? The story is that in the B1 Semi-Final played at Mt Ku-ring-gai Oval on 11 March 1995, the Team had an injury and were fielding with only 10 players.

Looking on was DA’s mother (Denise Annetts, Australian cricket great) who could not watch a Team playing with only 10 players in such an important game. So…..she came on as a substitute fielder, 7 months pregnant. This means that DA took the field 2 months prior to birth at the same ground he played on last weekend.

So how did he go? He took 3 catches, broke a finger in the process and scored 19 runs with the broken finger. Importantly, the boys won the game and play in the GF next weekend.

Also playing in the 1994/95 Semi Final was Bill Peterkin (centre) who played in the T20 Semi Final! For those present it was a special experience.

The theme Music says it all – Martha Marlow’s version on Coming Home

Photo: DA (left) with Bill Peterkin (centre) & James Makin at the 1st Grade T20 Semi Final @ Mt-Ku-ring-gai Oval – 13^th October 2024

The records keep coming

While on T20’s, four (4) players stand out as the most capped players for Grand Final appearances in our history:

1. James Makin – 20 (11 wins & 9 losses).
2. Andrew Fiedler 16 (11 wins & 5 losses)
3. Simon Smyth 12 (7 wins & 5 losses)
4. Michael Banner 10 (7 wins & 3 losses)

Next weekend, the legendary James Makin, our Seniors Director plays in the 1^st Grade T20 Grand Final making this his 21^st Grand Final appearance as a player. Of the 20 appearances to date, 7 wins has been as a Captain and 1 win (2^nd Grade) was as a T20 Captain.

So whatever happens next weekend James will stride our Club’s records like none before him.

Photo: James Makin with Fiona, Oliver and Jack with the T E Rofe (‘Rofie’) Challenge Shield @ Asquith Oval, 29th March 2015.

The ultimate Sheep Station Trophy

We have covered off the history of our Sheep Station Trophy in previous updates – 2 West Penno Teams playing against each other.

The upcoming 3^rd Grade T20 Grand Final takes this a step further – it is an all-West Penno game with the Reds (Aniket) playing the Whites (Indranil) – the venue and times are yet to be advised. So far we have played 40 Sheep Station games and only once before have we had 2 Teams play each other in a Final.

The first time was back in 2011/12 when our 1^st Grade side (James Makin) played the Minor Premier of our 2^nd Grade side (Tim Leyshon). The game was played at Bannockburn Oval on 16 October 2011.

How did the game go? Our 1^st Grade boys scored 5/145 in their 20 overs and our A2’s finished at 122 all out. A1 (5/145) Vs A2 (122). Of more significance this was the start of our best A1 Grade winning streak. Over the next 4 years, our 1^st Grade / A1 side went on to win:

• 4 consecutive A1 Rofe Shield (‘Rofie’) Premierships
• 3 x T20 Premierships (2011/12; 2012/13 & 2014/15)

Photo: our 1^st & 2^nd Grade T20 sides in the 2011/12 Grand Final. Players are, from left to right: Barry McDonald (umpire left), Darren Morrow, Julian Raffel, Sol Tomlinson, Matt Spalding, Scott Henderson, Rowan, Nick Bennett, Matt Jobson, Ranga Ediriwickrama, Leigh Van den Broeke, Ben McNamara, Peter Stott, Simon Smyth, Tim Creamer (Umpire).

Front row – Allan Raffel, Gavin Taylor, Tim Rae, Tim Leyshon (A2 Captain), James Makin (A1 Captain), Daniel Anderson, Sid Shankar, Sid Sethi – Bannockburn Oval 16 October 2011.