Anecdotes – Round 14 (Day 2) – 9 February 2025

What it is all about

How good is this story.

Last weekend, Henry Kelly (C4 Red) played his last game for us before he heads off to the ANU to start his Uni career.

What makes this story extra special is shown in the photos below. Our website Photo Gallery has 4,623 photos and this sequence is one of my all-time favourites. To quote his Dad, Darren:

“Henry has played every season for the club since Kanga in 2011.

Since 2013 Raynaldo (our centurion today) and Henry have played every season together. This photo is from Pink Stumps Day in 2015, and recreated today (Feb 1 2025) exactly 10 years later on their last game together.”

This story is one of the drivers as to why Volunteers keep backing up and giving so much of their time – seeing our young players transition from Blast to Juniors and then Seniors and in the process building life-long friendships.

Let’s not forget that Henry is also a fantastic cricket talent. Since debuting in 2021/22 (C2) he has taken 53 wickets including a best of 7/41!

Thanks for the great memories Henry.

Photos:

1. Henry (left) and Raynaldo Howard together in the U9s in 2013.
2. Henry and Raynaldo in a re-created photo taken last weekend

While on Henry and Raynaldo

In Henry’s last C4 Red game last week with his best cricketing mate, Raynaldo Howard, Raynaldo scored a rapid-fire 140. What makes this amazing is that this is his 4^th century while still only 20 years of age.

To put this into an historical context, the rankings of our most prolific century scorers is:

1. Laurie Tuckerman (A1 – 1951/52 to 1952/53) – 7 tons (scored over 2 years)
2. Michael Banner (A2 – 1997/98 to current) – 7 centuries
3. Matt Venables (A2 – 1991/92 to 1998/99) – 6 centuries
4. Alex Connell (D1 to A1 – 2001/02 to 2019/20) – 6 centuries
5. Ranga Edriwickrama (A1 – 2004/05 to 2016/17) – 6 centuries

If Raynaldo keeps playing this record is at serious threat of being broken. Well done Raynaldo – one of our quiet high achievers!

Photo: Raynaldo (C4 Red) after scoring 140 No Vs Berowra @ Campbell Park last weekend.

Our latest female high achiever

West Penno is privileged to have had Denise Annetts & Lisa Stalhaker, two of the best Women players to have played the game as our Alumni. Add to this other outstanding female players; Lauren Kua (Australian U19, Manly Premier 1^st Grade Captain & current WBBL player), Dani Chivers, (Northern District Premier 1^st Grade) and most recently Trisha Yadav (Australian U14 Indoor All Stars).

In January, Denise was inducted into the Bradman Museum Hall of fame (‘The Unstoppables’) – a collection of the 12 most influential Women in Australia’s cricket history. The commentary on her listing reads:

“Denise Annetts is one of Australia’s all-time great batters. She captained the NSW Breakers and has represented Australia on the international stage. She holds the record for the highest batting average (81.9 runs per innings) in Women’s Test Cricket.

A right-handed batter, alongside Lindsay Reeler, she set a record 309-run partnership – still the highest for any game in Women’s Test Cricket.

She was the first Australian woman to score over 150 in a single innings with a score of 193. Denise represented Australia in 43 One Day Internationals and averaged 41.7 runs per innings”

Congratulations to all of our West Penno female high achievers and those in the pipeline waiting to make their mark.

Embedded link: Bradman Museum commentary – https://wphccc.com.au/app/uploads/2025/02/Annetts_portrait.pdf

Father & Sons

We have a great and long history of father and sons playing together throughout all Grades. This season, our C4 Red (Ross Smith’s team) is the standout. Just sharing this note from Ross about the Team this season:

“We also had 4 sets of father sons playing this year in C4 Red, (Smith’s, Howard’s, Kelley’s, Higham’s).

I’ve been playing with Jake for 17 seasons now (he started subbing at 14 and playing full time at 16), so I know the fond memories Darren and Raymond must share, having had the opportunity to play with their sons for the last 2 seasons…

Myself and Jake have also been playing with a number of guys (Ram, Muthindra, Gihan) since the 13/14 season and they continually remind me that the main reason they play is we because it’s a way to keep our friendship group together.

Another example of why community cricket is an important part of keeping people connected when we all have busy lives and competing family challenges. As an aside both Ram and Gihan have sons that may enter seniors over the next couple of years and I know they want to share a similar father son experience.”

Photo: Ross Smith’s D2 Semi Finalists last season: Back row: Mridul Das, Brahadesh Ramamurthy, Cory Brookhouse, Roger Friend. Front row: Sachman Maini, Jake Smith, Gihan Thebuwanage, Ross Smith (C), Muthindra Gunasekara, Raynaldo Howard, Henry Kelly. Cheltenham Oval – 4th & 11th March 2023.

What would your Decision be?

Question 1

As the ball comes into play, the striker advances down the pitch. The WK, who was initially positioned well back from the stumps, sees the striker moving and rushes towards the stumps, bringing them within reach. The striker plays the ball into the outfield and begins to run. Despite the WK’s movement, the striker has not been distracted in any way. What action, if any, is required and by which umpire?

Question 2

The bowler’s end umpire call and signals No ball which the striker shoulders arms to and makes no attempt to play at. The ball contacts the striker’s pad and deflects to a fielder positioned at backward point. The batters commence running and have crossed on their first run when a direct hit throw breaks the wicket at the bowler’s end with the striker short of her ground. What happens now?

Photo: Steve Burrows after winning the C3 Premiership – Peter Lee and Barry McDonald are the Umpires – 24 March 2019

What would your Decision be? The Answers.

Question 1

Either umpire upon seeing the contravention by the WK, shall immediately call and signal Dead ball. Bowlers End Umpire awards 5 Penalty runs to the batting side. The ball shall not count as one of the over. (Law 27.4) 1)

Question 2

The bowler’s end umpire shall give the striker Out, Run out and signal No ball to the scorers. Return the non-striker to her original end. The new batter shall face the next delivery. (Laws 21.18, 23.3, 38.1)