Wedding Bells
On 8 February, Brent Larkham (A2 Blue) married the love of his Life, Sammy, at Wandin Valley in the Hunter Valley.
Brent is a generational player who is one of our best Juniors over the last decade. He is also one of only 7 players in our 93 year history and at the time, the youngest player (17 years and 9 months) to have scored a double ton (200*)
Joining Brent and Sammy were Ryan Gunn (Best Man), Matt Digby (Groomsman) and Ray Khamis (MC). From all Reports, this is the first time that Ray’s commentary didn’t need to be censored – according to those present it was witty and classy.
Got to love these photos that show the ‘just married’ couple having fun and Sammy getting prepared to fill-in for the boys if they are short next season.
Well done Brent and Sammy we are proud of you both.
Photos: 1). Brent & Sammy; 2) What better way to celebrate a marriage than a game of cricket; 3) The Bridal Party: Matt Digby (B1 Red, Warren), Brent (A2 Blue & Sammy) & Ryan Gunn (kneeling).
Well done Dani Chivers
Congratulations to Danielle Chivers who played her 100th Premier Cricket game for Northern District CC last weekend (15/2) in Premier 1st & 2nd Grade – the level immediately below WBBL and NSW representation.
Dani is an opening biowler who has bowled 793 overs and taken 141 wickets at just 22.0 runs per wicket with a best of 5/18.
Dani is not only a West Penno Junior, having started in Kanga (Blast) and played right through our Club’s Girls Junior pathway. She is also a high achiever off the field.
Dani is our Blast Director and is doing great things at CNSW. In 2019/20 she won the prestigious CNSW and then Cricket Australia ‘Young Community Leader of the Year’. She also has a meeting room named after her at CNSW Cricket Central head office!
Back to last weekend. Dani took the field against Greater Hunter and was given a guard of honour by both sides plus the Umpires – says it all about the respect she is held in!
Congratulations Dani on yet another amazing achievement to the growing list.
Photos: 1) Dani Chivers bowling in the Northern District Brewer Rep side in 2018; 2) Dani with her Cricket Australia award for ‘Young Community Leader of the Year’; 3) Dani given a guard of honour by both her ND’s Team mates, the Opposition and Umpires last weekend.
Space Cadet
Our prestigious Space Cadet Awards are rare due to the hurdles that a player needs to go through to achieve this recognition of unrivalled brain power.
Our last winner was back in Round 11 (11 January) that went to the whole A2 Blue side. This nomination though is worth the wait.
Congratulations to Harry Hando (A1) who is our latest nomination. But first, our Space Cadet theme music – Calling Occupants from Interplanatary Craft by Klaatu
Harry has won this Award for leaving his spiked boots at home, made worse as we were bowling and he is a top order bowler. But wait, it gets worse as reported by the intrepid A1 Match Reporter (Michael Richards):
First up, for the benefit of our younger readers who have never heard of The Beatles: Let it Be
Note the reference to ‘Mother Mary’ in the original Beatles Version in recognition of ‘Mother Mary’ Hando:
I raised my voice, I wasn’t kind,
When I forgot my shoes behind.
I should’ve stayed calm, but I was mad,
And now I feel so bad, oh so bad.
(Chorus)
I’m sorry, I’m sorry,
For the words I didn’t mean.
Whisper words of wisdom,
And let it be, let it be.
Mother Mary, you’ve always been there,
I shouldn’t have spoken in despair.
I know it’s just shoes, a simple thing,
But I acted foolishly in everything.
(Chorus)
I’m sorry, I’m sorry,
For the words I didn’t mean.
Whisper words of wisdom,
And let it be, let it be.
I’ll do better next time, I swear,
And show you how much I care.
Whisper words of wisdom,
And let it be, let it be”
Forever Young
First up – the theme music for this Anecdote – Forever Young
During the week the Over 50’s State Championships were conducted at Albury.
Congratulations to James Makin (A2 Red & our Seniors Director) and Rick Turner (B1 Red) who were selected in the Sydney based Port Jackson Team – James in the 2nd Grade side and Rick in the 3rd Grade side (not bad as he has been injured for most of the season).
Also playing with James was Ben Frawley (A1 & A2 between 2006/07 & 2015/16).
How did the boys go? To quote James:
“Unfortunately Port Jackson didn’t do well overall. My team came 8th in Div 1 and Rick’s came 6th in Div 2.
I top-scored across the two Port Jackson teams in Div 1 for what it’s worth, but I was a bit slow.”
Well done boys.
Photos: 1) Ben Frawley & James Makin at the Over 50s NSW Championships last week; 2) Rick Turner (front row, 2nd left) at the Over 50’s NSW Championmships – all played at Albury.
Brothers in A1 Grade
During our now 60 years in A1, 50 years continuously, we have been privileged to have lots of brothers play together.
Since our first A1 Team in 1951/52 we have even had twins and a father and son combination playing. Over the last 2 years though we have had something special with 3 brothers playing A1 in the same game.
In 2023/24 we had various combinations of Hando’s (Sam, Tom. Jack and Harry) and Mc Brien’s (Cameron, Lachlan and James) play.
This season we have gone up a level with various combinations of the Hando & McBrien brothers playing.
The highlight though was in Round 13 (1st & 8th February) this season when there were 6 x brothers on the Team sheet who were meant to have played but Day 1 was unfortunately washed out. On Day 2, we had 2 x McBrien’s (Cameron & Lachlan) + 3 x Hando’s (Harry, Tom & Jack) actually play together which is an A1 record family involvement.
Let’s also not forget the 2020/21 B2 season when we were privileged to have all 5 x Hando’s playing and winning the Premiership – Phill (Dad), Harry, Jack, Sam & Tom. This is a Club record for family involvement in a single Team.
Congratulations to each of these players and a big thanks to their families who have both been amazing supporters of our Club and their sons over many years.
Photo: Harry Hando, Tom Hando, Cameron McBrien & Jack Hando – Berowra Oval – 22 February 2025
McGrath Foundation – Pink Stumps Day
One of the many great support initiatives West Penno provides to our Community is the long-term support of the McGrath Foundation.
Last weekend, our Girls ran their annual Festival of Cricket – Pink Stumps Day initiative. This is a fun day where our Girls host Opposition Teams with lots of pink and even more fun. Since we started Pink Stumps day in 2010/11 we have raised an amazing $66,399 to support the McGrath Foundation with more to come from this season’s Junior Presentation Day.
In 2021, the McGrath Foundation awarded us the ‘Pnk Stumps Award’ (see below) for being in the top 7 Community Clubs, Australia wide, for fund raising to the McGrath Foundation.
This is one of those ‘feel good’ stories that make it great to be part of a Club that cares about our Community.
Check out the photos to get a feel for the day and the great spirit from everyone involved.
Photo: Festival of Cricket & Pink Stumps Day – 15 February 2025
Our new website – insights
This is the last time we will share these stats with you but they provide a fascinating insight about the viewership of our new website that has been going now since 15 January – 5 weeks. Here goes:
Total views
- 5,583 views
- 4.04 minutes is the average session time
- 1.45 views / session
- With our views, 85% of all views are between 6.30 am and 12.30 pm every Sunday morning!
Most popular pages
- Home page (includes News)– 933 views
- Seniors Match report – 1,955 view
- Anecdotes – 1,395 views
- Club News – 583 views
Average dwell time
- Match Reports – 6.09 minutes / view
- Anecdotes – 5.56 minutes / view
- News – 2.35 minutes
Views around the world
- USA – 180 views (San Francisco, California, Virginia, New York, Iowa, Chicago, Florida)
- American Samoa – 144 views
- China – 21 views (Shanghai, Henan)
- United Kingdom – 12 views
- India – 16 views (Maharashtra, Delhi)
- Others (Fiji, New Zealand, Croatia, Spain, Nigeria, Japan, China, French Polynesia and Thailand)