Congratulations – Cory & Daniel
The CA National Cricket Inclusion Championships (NCIC) starts tomorrow (Monday 12 January). We have 2 players in the NSW Team that takes on WA in the opening Round.
Congratulations to Cory Brookhouse & Daniel McEwen who will be representing NSW. Both Cory and Daniel play D1 with our Blue Team.
The games and the results can be viewed in play HQ by adding “Cricket Australia state competitions”/ NCIC / Cricketers with an intellectual Disability to their progress. Streaming is also available.
Good luck fellas.
Season highlights…so far
The Christmas / New break marks the run-in to the end of Season with the Grand Finals scheduled for the 10th & 11th March – just 10 weeks away!
It is interesting to look-back on the season, so far, on the season highlights:
Personal achievements
Most runs
Luke Tabone (C4 Blue) has the highest season aggregate with 656 runs @ 109.3. The record number of runs scored in a season is by Laurie Tuckerman (A1) who scored 1,361 runs in the 1951/52 season. The next best is 973 runs scored by A Parker (B1) in 1958/59
Highest score
Luke Tabone (C4 Clue Vs Berowra @ Montview Oval West) scored 200* to be just our 8th double ton in our history.
Centuries
When Raymond Howard (D2) scored 108* in the last Round it was our 12th century of the season. In 2024/25 there were 15 scored all season. The all-time record is 23 in a season scored in 2012/13.
Most wickets
Tanay Hira (A2 Blue) is our highest wicket taker with 20 so far
Best bowling performance
- Saurabh Kapoor (C1) with 6/30 is the best so far this season
- Vikrant Sundale (C3 Blue) has taken to only hat-trick of the season with 4/9 – just the 52nd in our history
Top wicket-keeper
Cameron Bish (A2 Red & B1 Red) has15 dismissals (14 catches & 1 stumping)
Team performances
Highest Team total
C4 Blue hammered 5/369 Vs Berowra @ Montview Oval West (8/11)
Lowset Team total
In a ‘rocks & diamonds’ season, C4 Blue also had the lowest Team total of the season with 45 Vs Berowra @ Greenway Park 21/12). This is also the lowest Club C4 score in our history.
A stinker
The Association decision to cancel all Saturday games this weekend is just the 3rd time this has been done since the heatwave in 2017 and then followed by ground closures in 2019 due to bushfire threat.
Some insights into the 2017 cancellation, the first in our History are interesting:
- Sydney had a record breaking 3-successive days of high temperatures with Friday 45 degrees, 44 on Saturday and 45 degrees on Sunday. Sydney’s West also recorded its hottest-ever day, hitting 46.9 degrees at Penrith, while Richmond touched the 47-degree mark
- In the Hornsby area temperatures peaked at 44.5 degrees on the Saturday
- The Sydney Cricket Association, that administers the Premier Grade Competition, abandoned all competition due to heat– the first time since being established in 1853.
The 2nd instance of a Round being cancelled was on 21st December 2019 when combined with predicted temperatures of 43-44 degrees and ‘Catastrophic’ fire rating, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai & the Hills Shire Councils closed all grounds with no play possible – see the fire map below from December 2019.
Father & son first
We have a long history of having father / son combinations playing together and one day the achievement of a mother / daughter combination would be a further highlight.
Our latest father & son team is Gihan & Thenuk Thebuwanage (U14) who played D2 Vs St. Ives on 20th December.
Well done Gihan and Thenuk on a priceless family achievement.
What West Penno people do outside cricket
How good is this one.
Graham Chivers, our Director Blast Cricket, represented us at The Ashes. To quote Graham:
“I was fortunate to be invited to be part of the opening ceremony on day 1 of the SCG Test match wearing my WPHCCC shirt. Terrific experience being so close to the players especially the first responder’s element.”
You only get these opportunities by being an outstanding Volunteer and Graham is one of those worthy recipients.
Well done Graham.
Thoughts according to Jack H
All of our weekly Match Reports are worth reading read and they are all unique. One of our ‘most’ unique’ is the A2 Red and now B1 Red Reports that are written by Todd Hutchinson. Todd show that he is at an intellectual level above we mere mortals. Check out these Match Report opening paragraphs for starters:
Round 3 (18/10)
“One day, a group of mischievous Modenese soldiers snuck into Bologna after a skirmish.
Passing through the city’s main square, they spotted a wooden bucket hanging from a well near the town hall. Ordinary to everyone else — but to them, it was treasure.
They stole it, and a ridiculous war began.
Fast forward 700 years to Greenway Oval, and history repeated itself. The Sydney Lions didn’t steal a bucket, but they did take something just as precious — the toss.”
Round 8 (13/12)
“In physics, a phase transition happens when a system is pushed past a critical point — water becomes steam, solids melt, and things generally end up somewhere they weren’t planning to be.
This weekend, we experienced our own transition, after being promoted in the wrong direction.
On paper, not much had changed: same players, same gear, same questionable catching. But from the first ball, it was clear the laws had shifted.
The pace felt different, expectations recalibrated, and we suddenly found ourselves in a phase of cricket where we were expected to win.”
Round 9 (20/12)
“Saudi Arabia has poured tens of billions of dollars into global sport over the past decade as part of its Vision 2030 strategy.
Since around 2016, an estimated $50 billion+ has gone into football, motorsport, golf, boxing, and major event hosting, using sport as a tool for economic diversification and international influence.”
Now, you might be thinking this is a match report, not a financial briefing — but I include this because I’m increasingly convinced Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is attempting a hostile takeover of the HK&HDCA.
The evidence?
Dural Park had 20 tonnes of sand dumped on it this week. Clearly, we’re being prepared for cricket in desert conditions.
