Our latest NSW representative

Daniel McEwen (D2) this week played in the National Cricket Inclusion Championships (NCIC) in Queensland. I got the following message from his dad, Glenn:

“The other sides were quite strong and NSW are rebuilding. Dan’s contribution with the bat was opening twice and holding up the tail three times at no 5. He got three not outs. He bowled well kept the runs down and got a wicket. He was probably the best fielder in the team including throwing down the stumps from 30m out on one occasion to get an important run out.”

Thanks Glenn – we are all very proud of Daniel’s achievements.

Photo: Daniel batting in the NCIC Championship in Queensland – January 2024.

The Sting

To kick this one off – what better than the theme music from the classic move The Sting

Why the Sting? Because this high stakes bet got down to the last innings of 2023 and the ultimate winner, Ray Khamis, turned up to play despite being scheduled not to play, was under the weather and beat the favourite.

Before the season kicked off, two of our B2 stars had a bet or in the words of Ray Khamis ‘somewhat of a wager’– whoever had the lowest batting average by Christmas (minimum 4 innings) would have to do something truly awful to their hair.

For Ray, no shaving from the neck up for a week. For Adam van Sarloos, he had to shave from the neck up for the first time since he hit puberty.

Ray started the season with a good run of 30 and 40 odds and after his first 4 innings was averaging in the mid 30s, unfortunately for him his next two innings he would be bowled for a golden duck.

Adam then scored 30 odd not out which significantly boosted his chances of victory.

In the final round of the season Adam needed just 21 runs to surpass Ray’s average if he didn’t score anything. Unfortunately for Ray he had a beach wedding that weekend and was scheduled to have the week off.

Adam had his own fate in his hands.

With the Team short and being the Team man that he is, he drove down from Nelson Bay after a night of partying to open the batting. He ended up smashing the ball around for his “17^th x 30 odd of the season”.

Adam got bowled for single digits.

The result

Adam shaved his head much to his mother’s dismay. To quote Ray:

“Adam has now cemented himself as Captain of the WPHCCCCC ugly boy VI but we commend Adam for hiding his disgusting face under facial hair for so long. He had us fooled into thinking he was a handsome young boy for years.”

Photo: Adam (left) and Ray during the haircut – 9 January 2024.

Master Blaster GOAT

After watching Josh Brown in the BBL the question is who has hit the most 6’s in an innings for us, (Josh hit a BBL record 12 x 6’s in the game against the Strikers), to claim the title of WPHCCC Master Blaster GOAT.

The list of challengers is impressive. Here goes:

1. Ray Khamis (D1) hit 11 x 6’s in his innings of 98 Vs Normanhurst @ Fred Caterson 4 (9/1/2011)
2. Raynaldo Howard (C4) hit 10 x 6’s in his 131* Vs Castle Hill @ Caterson 4 (20/1/2024)
3. Alex Sutcliffe (D1) hit 10 x 6’s in his 132 Vs Berowra at Mimosa 21/3/1998
4. Russel Ingram (C2) hit 10 x 6’s & 25 x4’s in his innings of 211 Vs Berowra @ Mimosa Oval 24/10/2009
5. Russel Ingram (C2) hit 10 x 6’s & 32 x 4’s in his innings of 223 Vs Mt Colah @ Holland Rd 5/12/2009
6. Carl Madsen (U14 Red) hit 9 x 6’s in his 100 @ Edward Bennett Oval 12 November 2005

The record number of 6’s by a Team in an innings is 17 from the D1 Blues Vs Kenthurst @ Fred Caterson 2 on 19/2/2022.

Finally, the record number of 6’s hit in an over is also by our GOAT (Ray Khamis – B2) who hit 5 x 6’s in an over for C4 Grade Vs Kissing Point @ George Christie on 9/1/2016. The scoring sequence was: 6 (lost ball), 6, 6, 6, 6, bye.

So….the undisputed GOAT in terms of power hitting is Ray Khamis (B2).

Photo: as we already have a photo of Ray above, this photo is of the all-conquering D1 side that hit a record 17 x 6’s in an innings. From left to right: Brahadesh (Ram) Ramamurthy 4 x 6’s in his innings of 45; Happy Rana 4 x 6s (36); Vikas Goel 1 x 6 (23); Chetan Chandrasekhar 1 x 6 (12) & Jags Balakrishnan 7 x 6s (46) including 4 in one over – Vs Kenthurst @ Fred Caterson 4 – 19 February 2022

Friends in high places

Cameron Croucher (C3 Red) is easily the best connected player in our Club. For those who don’t know, Cameron runs a business that transports horses around the world – not just horses but thoroughbred owned by some of the richest people in the World – Queen Elizabeth, Sultan of Brunei, Thai Royal Family plus to Events such as the Olympics and Para-Olympics. He is also a horse owner and his racehorse “Magnus’ raced at Royal Ascot in 2008 (finished 4^th) and he joined the Queen and Duke in the enclosure – impressive.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, he is also best mates with Gerry Harvey (of Harvey Norman fame) due to the horse racing and breeding connection. Gerry is heavily connected with the Gold Coast ‘Magic Millions’ Event held on 7^th January 2024 – https://www.magicmillionspolo.com.au/

Gerry was keen to get the best polo competitors so puts the call out to Cameron to enter a Polo Team.

To cut a long story short, Cameron’s Team won the tournament. He also won the same tournament last year – so 2 x major Australian Polo Championships. You can only imagine that 1^st place in a tournament involving Gerry earned more than a warm handshake but we will leave that one to Cameron.

To top it off, Cameron’s family owns a brewery in New Zealand called ‘Croucher’.

Photo: Cameron with dual Olympian Shane Ross at the Tokyo Olympics 2022.

Space Cadet

First up our theme music for this sought after Award – Rocket Man

Our last Space Cadet awarded was in Round 9 – back on 6^th January but we have another worthy winner.

It gives me great pleasure to award this prestigious Award to one of our Club leaders – D1 Red Skipper and inspirational leader Ian ‘Diggers’ Digby. Coming into bat and needing a special innings to get his Team across the line Diggers strode out to the wicket all set to dominate. One problem, the Skipper forget to bring out his bat. After going back to get the weapon he strode to the wicket confident making an impact.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way with Diggers watching on from the non-strikers end and the final wicket falling without having to face a ball – maybe he knew something after-all.