Anecdotes – Round 3 (Day 2) – 19 October 2025

Congratulations to our latest high achievers

Congratulations to our latest high achievers on their selection in NSW sides.

Lauren Kua

Congratulations also to Lauren on her selection in the Sydney Sixers WBBL squad for this season. Lauren is also one of our Club coaches and does a lot of work with our Academy. Well done Lauren.

Corey Brookhouse & Daniel McEwen

Daniel and Cory  D1 team this week have been reselected to play for NSW in the National Cricket Inclusion Championships to be held in Perth over 12th to 18th January next year. It is Daniel’s 4^th Blues Cap and Cory’s second cap.

Well done Cory and Daniel – we are very proud of both of you.

Space Cadet

First up – our theme Music for this important Award – Rocket Man

Our spotters across the Club are always alert to acts of sheer ‘brilliance’ that demand induction into our Space Cadet ‘Hall of Fame’.

Congratulations to our 2^nd inductee this season – Aden Hanich (B1) who has now figured twice in this prestigious group. In the words of one of Aden’s colleagues:

“B1’s resident wicketkeeper and heir to the seniors fixturing committee throne Aden Hanich pulled of one of the great feats of not using your brain on Saturday…

Usually hydration is key in cricket so plenty of cold water is needed for a day in the field

Not to Aden, he decided to arrive at cricket with a large water bottle filled up with Hot Water straight from the tap at home

Usually the word cold on the taps at home clearly indicate the temperature of the water you want, Aden clearly decided to ignore that advice and cements himself into Space Cadet Folklore”

Well done Aden. One more appearance in this category will put uoiu in the Grand Final of the most inducted Space Cadets in our History – something to aspire to.

Did you know

We have had Girls-only Teams since 1996/97 and this season have registered our 1,284^th female player.

West Penno players also rank among the greatest to have played the game – globally.

When you see the girls playing next it is worth thinking about some pf the major innovations in the game that we just take for granted that were started by Women. Here goes:

• Invented over-arm bowling in 1827 when Christiana Willes bowled over-arm due to the voluminous skirts worn in the Victorian era. Previously, all bowling was underarm
• The first Women’s World Cup was played in 1973 – 2 years before the men played their first ODI World Cup
• Were the first to wear numbers and then names of playing shirts
• Played ODI’s with shorter boundaries that have been copied by the men

So when you next see a Girls game think about the players as being part of a long dynasty of innovators who have changed the game we know today – for the better.

Photo: our outstanding Stage 3 Girls (15 & 16 years) in 2025/26

10/569

In last weekend’s A1 Match Report, there was a great comment:

“Side note: Congratulations to Kenthurst for doing what no team could do this year and getting us 4 down, making our 6^th batsman go out to the middle. We were now all out for 569 for the season.

As background, in the three completed games this season our A1 boys have scored:

1. Round 1 – 3/154 (35 overs)
2. Round 2 – 3/104 (27)
3. Round 3 – 4/311 (63)

This is a total of 10/569 scored in 125 overs @ 4.6 runs / over.

The batting strength of this side is scary. One of our best , Campbell ‘FAC’ Wallace (FAC = Future A Grade Captain) has yet to bat and has a highest score of 176*!

Photo: Jackson Preedy and Billy Gaunt – 2 of our elite A Grade-players in the Competition.

Father & son A1 players

While on A1 Grade, in Round 3, James (A1 player # 187) & Oliver Makin (#338) took the field to be just our 5^th father and son combination to play A1 in the 66 years, 58 years continuously, we have competed in this Grade.

Since our first A1 game back in 1951/52 there have been just 339 players to be selected in A1 – about 3.5% of our playing base. To be a father & son combination in the top Grade is a rare achievement.

The other father & son combinations to play for us are:

Donaldson family

Don (A1 # 30) with twin sons John (#31) & Ken (#32). The Donaldson’s were our first father & son combination and played together in 1963/64. Both John and Ken have also Captained A1 sides – the only brothers to do do!

Photo: John (1st left) and Ken Donaldson (2nd left) at the Sports Club 23 April 2024

Fiedler family

Greg (#119) & James (#298)

Photos: 1) Greg Fiedler at Storey Park in 1986 & 2) James Fiedler 2nd left, front row with the D1 Premiers of 2003/04

McDonald family

Barry (#109) & Peter (#158)

Photo: 1). Barry McDonald (right) with John Coulthard

Anderson family

Ross (#96) with Daniel (#302) & John (#333)

Photo: 1). Ross A (3rd left, back row) 2). Daniel (left) & John Anderson (right) with John Coulthard at a Premier 1st Grade game in 2018.

Records by Grade – bowling

Last week we focused on the Batting records for each Grade. This week we look at Bowling records. Finally, next week we look at Fielding & w/k records.

Grade	Highest wickets	Player	When	Current player nearest the record
A1	364	Ray McDonald	1966/67 to 1979/80	No close competitor
A2	179	Rowan Keating	2006/07 to current	Rowan Keating 179
B1	296	Wally Howard	1960/61 to 1971/72	No close competitor
B2	149	Eric Junkkari	1994/95 to 2019/20	No close competitor
C1	233	Eric Junkkari	1991/92 to 2016/17	No close competitor
C2	295	David Carey	1982/83 to 1999/2000	No close competitor
C3	69	John Rose	2018/19 to 2023/24	No close competitor
C4	45	Brahadesh Ramamurthy	2023/24 to 2024/25	Zia Ahmed 19
D1	140	David Larkham	2017/18 to current	Dave Larkham 140 Roger Friend 139
D2	144	Jon Burns	1993/94 to 2001/02	Jacques Visser 21

This is how it is done

Our Team Managers & Seniors Captains do a great job in getting Teams on the field each week plus doing all the administrative work that those of us who just turn up each week don’t see. One of our best Captains in the all-important ‘off-field’ responsibilities is Chintan Shah, our C3 Blue Captain – they also just happen to be leading the Comp!

I got this great email from Chintan during the week that gives an insight explaining how everything comes together so well. In the words of Chintan:

“We have divided work into 4 categories across the team:

1. Grounds leader (for setup)

2. Report leader 

3. Cheer leader and 

4. Beer leader 😅

All working and coming together in tandem 😇”

Some good insights into how to manage both the challenging on-field responsibilities and off-field responsibilities.