Records broken and approaching

A1 wickets taken

Last weekend, Michael Richards (pictured right with Andrew Fiedler) took the 7^th wicket to fall in the Berowra innings. This was also the 6,000^th A1 Grade Opposition wicket we have taken since our first game in A1 Grade in 1951/52 and 59 years in the top Grade.

Within the next 2 games, C2 will also likely break a record by taking their 7,000^th wicket which is the most taken by any Team. They are currently on 6,987 wickets.

C3 runs off an over

Last weekend Rommel Pandey and Ben Waldron scored 26 runs off an over. This is a new record for the highest number of runs off an over by a partnership (Rommel 21 and Ben Waldron 5). The highest number of runs by an individual is by Rommel when he scored 30 earlier this season.

The scoring sequence was – 4, 6, 6, 4, 1, 1NB+4, dot

Most catches

Nick Bennet (A2) is getting very close to a long standing record that will be broken soon. The ‘Holy Grail’ of dismissals (catches and stumpings) is 190 set by Dale ‘Merv’ Armstrong (1984/85 to 2000/01). After taking 6 catches last week, Nick is now sitting at 186 dismissals so he is just 5 short of breaking this record.

Iron Man

Most players have a drink of cold water at the breaks but Simon ‘Snumpty’ Smyth (A2 Skipper and pictured right with Rick Turner) overdoses on Voltarin pain relief tablets. During the working week most players relax or party but Simon is getting Rehab preparing for the next game. In Simon’s case, Rehab includes having a few recovery beers.

To cut a long story short, Snumpty tore a hammy back in October during the T20 GF with a bruise that turned his leg black. While most players would be out for the season, he was back playing in mid-December initially batting and then bowling in January on reduced duties. In the last 2 matches he has taken 6/17 in 9.5 overs including best figures of 4/8 last week. This just proves that while Snumpty has a hammy that was made in Taiwan he is one tough character.

Neatness

For those of us with teenage kids, are teenagers, or know teenagers, to be kind, they are generally slobs – at best. Rooms are a mess, cricket gear is left in kits from the week(s) before and they never put clothes away. Not our U16 Blues. This photo taken by Jane Bish of our U16 Blues at training during the week at John Purchase proves that this Team is one of a kind with all the neat kids in the District playing in the one Team.

The Umpire strikes back

Andrew Morris (B2 and pictured left with Zac) is one of our top bats who more often than not maul’s opposition bowlers. He also knows where his stumps are and rarely gets out LBW – not this the weekend. Andrew got hit on the pads and after a long deliberation was given out. While still coming to terms with being LB to a bowler who Andrew would normally like to face for net practice it was Andrew’s chance later in the day to umpire and you guessed it – one of our batsmen was hit on the pads and was fired.

Ankles Buzz

Got to hand it to Steve ‘Buzz’ Burrows (pictured holding the T20 Trophy aloft) – our mighty C2 Skipper, game changing bowler and match winning bat. With the boys after the final wicket one of those sitters went up that come down so slowly that Buzz had time to set the field before he caught it. When asked about it Buzz’s version is worth repeating:

“…after totally misjudging it I ended up flat on my back desperately trying/hoping that I could snatch it between my ankles!

Commitment

Bailey Miedler (A1 and pictured right with his brother Riley) is rapidly gaining a reputation as the new ‘Scott Henderson’ who terrorises players with pace and intent. On the weekend he managed to break a bat, hit a batsman on the helmet and generally shake the opposition up. Before the game started Bailey made it clear that he had to leave at 5.00 pm for a commitment. The problem was that he was causing so much damage and we were defending a low score Skipper James Makin kept asking for a little bit more.

Fast forward and it was now past 6.00 pm and Bailey ended up bowling the last over despite having to deal with the fallout of arriving late to a commitment – well done Bailey.