Child Genius

During the week, SBS ran a fascinating series on discovering Australia’s Child Genius for 2018. To qualify for entry people needed an IQ of 140 plus which is the top 2% of the whole population. The show had the smartest 19 young people (U13 years) in Australia.

Our own Sumedh Kundu (U13 Purple) was on the show and made it through to the Semi Finals – the final 8 across Australia! It was great to see Sumedh training at Greenway Park in his West Penno gear and mention when interviewed that he wouldn’t have gone on the show if it meant missing his weekend game of cricket. Sumedh plays in our Purple Team that is coming 4^th and he already has a top score of 63* this season.

We are all very proud of Sumedh and his wonderful family. If you missed the show, you can catch it via this link: here

Record number of Tons

Last weekend, 3 of our players scored tons – Josh Banner (A2) 123*, Nathan Fathers (C2) 118 and Josh Mathias (A1) 108. To cap off a great weekend, C1 and C2 both batted on and 2 more players scored tons:

• Matt Schwartzel 100* (C2 Blue) and our 481^st ton
• Nandu Ramesh 118* (C1) and our 482^nd

This brought to 5 the number of tons scored in the 1^st innings of a Round. The previous record was 3 which has been achieved on 5 other occasions.

The Wizard of Fieds

A morning walk on a lovely day with a sunny blue sky can make even the most hard-nosed captains soften up. All week Andrew Fiedler (C2 Blue Skipper) had decided to declare at the overnight score with 16 yo Matt Schwartzel undefeated on 98 – having given Matt the 20 minute warning prior to stumps on day 1.

He had filled in the scorebook (‘7 dec for 322’), entered the not out batsmen’s scores, completed the sundries column last Saturday night and put the scorebook away for the week. No turning back.

Time to enjoy and share the notoriety with such figures as Mike Atherton and WM Lawry and leave a batsman stranded in the 90’s when in search of a win. But for some reason during Fieds’ 11:30am Saturday walk prior to the game, he had a change of heart and decided C2 cricket is a little short of a test match – so let’s bat on for Matt’s ton.

This was followed by a hasty search for an eraser, a quick attack on the score book, and a text to Matt’s father to tell him to bring the family, a camera & enjoy the moment. Don’t know why he didn’t think of that earlier….to quote Dave Behlevanas:

‘Andrew, you have a heart after all’ …

Andrew’s comments on this one:

“hmmm – just don’t let anyone know…”

The Sting

For those who love great films there was beauty way back in 1973 called ‘The Sting’. We had our own version on the weekend.

With 20 overs to go in the A1 Grade game Vs ARL (@ The Glade) legendary Umpire Geoff Hasler called skipper Justin Paterson aside with one of his serious, unblinking conversations “We need to have a chat”.

At the end of the game,as the boys were walking off the field, Geoff called Justin and Phil Wurth (pictured right, with Rick Turner) aside to discuss something ‘very important’. Geoff advised the Skipper and Phil that we were at risk of losing 3 points for the match. The reason – Phil had his bright blue boots on and that they were not predominantly white – an Association requirement.

After thinking Geoff was joking he was met by Geoff’s unwavering stare and poker face.

Phil took great ownership of the situation and after a bit of thought blamed his Captain “JP didn’t tell me”.

Eventually Geoff offered Phil a compromise. He won’t pursue this as long as he brings along a lobster and a dozen oysters as a suitable bribe. Stung!

Another landmark

This has been an unusual season with a number of big Grade milestones being achieved. So far this season:

• B1 Grade scored its 140,000^th run
• C2 scored its 120^th run

Last weekend, B2 brought up its 100,000^th run Vs Berowra @ Warrina Street. We have had a Team in this Grade continuously since the 1973/74 season.

Next game, our A1 boys will bring up 120,000 runs when they reach 146 runs to complete the series of Team milestones.