T20 Grand Finalists

Congratulations to our T20 Semi-Finalists on Sunday – 1^st & 5^th Grades who played a double header at Greenway Park.

First Grade won through to the Grand Final to be played on 8^th October 2023.

In the 14 years since the first T20 Comp was started in 2009/10 we have won 5 Premierships and been runner up once. So this is our 7^th Grand Final appearance. There is one constant in these appearances – James Makin. James has played in every premiership! It also means that James will be playing in his 21^st Premiership decider for West Penno. Of the 20 played so far, he has won 11 Premierships (8 as Captain) and lost 9 (3 as Captain).

Next on the list of Premiership heavyweights is Andrew Fiedler (15), Simon Smyth (12) & Michael Banner (10).

Photo: Our 1^st Grade T20 Premiers last season – aiming to go back to back.

Space Cadet

First up though, we always open this segment with an appropriate theme song in acknowledgement of its significance – what better than Space Oddity – Space Oddity

Last week, the mighty C4’s were our first Space Cadets with the impressive performance of going to the wrong Campbell Park for their game. This time an individual has achieved this significant award – Daanish Mahmud from D1 Red.

During the T20 game last weekend and while we were batting, Daanish counted the number of players on the sideline plus the 2 batters and came up with only 9 players and asked how come we only had 9 players for the game. Problem is, he forgot to count two 2 umpires.

Well done Daanish for this outstanding achievement.

Well done Daanish for this outstanding achievement.

89 not outs

Last weekend, Steve Quanborough finished with 52 not out in the 5^th Grade T20 game. This was Quan’s 89^th career not outs which is the most in our history.

For info, the Leader Board for not-outs is:

1. Steve Quanborough (D1) – 89
2. Ross A (D1) – 59
3. Tim Leyshon (SPL) – 50
4. James Makin (A1) – 48
5. Andrew Fiedler (C3) – 50
6. Eric Junkkari (C3) – 43

Photo: Quan after scoring 2,000 career runs Vs St Ives @ Mimisa Oval – 12 January 2019

A long time in the making

Way back in 1999/2000, David Carey (623 wickets) made his A1 debut after a 20 year apprenticeship and being our highest ever wicket taker. This is the longest apprenticeship in our history.

On the weekend, Rick Turner played his first game in the top Grade to cover for Team shortages during the Grand Final (NRL & AFL) weekend. Rick made his Club debut in in 2011/12 playing D1 Grade and has played & Captained most Grades up to A2.

While Dave Carey has the record apprenticeship, Rick’s debut is up there. When you think about it, Rick has scored over 3,000 runs @ 28 so this is an achievement that offers no surprises. Well done Rick.

Photo: Rick Turner at Greenway Park – 24^th November 2018.

Famous last words

TeamApp is the real-time score update tool, we use in all Senior Grades. Last week alone we had over 8,000 view on the live scores. TeamApp though is an interim solution until PlayHQ live scoring is adopted across the Association.

Last weekend, the A1 Grade boys were using the PlayHQ live scoring app and James Makin confidently reported on TeamApp:

“No TeamApp updates today – live scoring is ALIVE! Checkout PlayHQ for ball-by-ball updates. How good – what will they think of next!”

That was the last update we got – Live scoring died for the rest of the game.

Photo: James Makin in Bermuda – 15 July 2023

Tons

After just 2 x T20 Rounds plus Round 2 of the main comp we have now scored 4 x tons – Ray Howard C4 (102*); Kapil Shukla C2 Red (131*), Vedant Virmani C1 (113*) & Oliver Linschoten C1 (117*). There have now been 524 tons scored in our history.

The record number of tons scored in a season is 23, scored in 2012/13. With this start to the season we are on track to giving the existing record a good run.

Photo: Kapil Shukla after scoring 131*, our 522^nd century for C2 last weekend (23 September 2023).

What is your decision?

Each month we ask some questions to test your Umpiring skills. Here is the 1^st of the new season follow:

Scenario

Facing a short pitched ball, the striker misses a pull shot and is struck on the helmet. The blow forces the protective neck guard attached to the back of the helmet to fall off and dislodge a bail from the top of the stumps. The fielding side appeal. What is your response?