Remaining Draw

There is now just 1 Round (2 weeks), remaining before the Semi Finals.

1. Round 11 – 27^th February & 6^th March
2. Semi Finals – 13^th & 20^th March
3. Final – 27^th & 28^th March

Check out the draw at the Association website – here

Match Reports

A1 Grade (Phil W)

WPHC 0/60 defeated St Ives 59

Welcome to the A Grade match report for yet another bumper week filled with thrills, spills and more stories of Phil’s Our match preparation started early with a collection of selfless acts from Krang, L Mac, Preeds and King Brown who went up early Saturday morning to take the covers off.

They met groundman Daggles and chewed the fat for 5-6 hrs before the rest of the team arrived. Really fine gentleman who should be honoured in some capacity at the WPHCCCCCCC awards ceremony. Ross, please jot that one down.

Umpire Ian “Ponytail” Lewis was the first person to join the boys and Daggles at the ground. The light cover was still on the main pitch, Lewis ignored that and went to inspect another, unprepared, green, over-grassed wicket. “Is this the one we are playing on?”

Lewis was relegated to cones duty as a result.

For those interested, Simon Moore was our other umpire, Simon fresh off a week of interrupted sleep after mysterious midweek phone calls at 1.30am.

The rest of the team rocked up at Storey around 11-11.15 for the 12pm sharp time, with one exception. Gas “MAMIL” Gandis decided to cycle 180kms in the morning and was LATE. He arrived just a mere 10 mins from start time, wheeling his Hyundai into a loading zone park, the only one available with a 5km radius of the ground. Wu, walking back to his car to retrieve a few things, noticed the car illegally parked and alerted the team.

Gas stood firm, telling Wu he didn’t care it was a loading zone. Wu threatened to call the Council and dob him in. Gas moved his car.

Wu won the toss and elected to bowl on a wicket that looked ok to the eye, but was very soft underneath. He gave a sterling speech to us pre-match, Presidential in nature. Wu was asserting his authority, he meant business and it certainly had us switched on.

He ended his speech by confirming all the rumours. Yes, Gav Taylor is retiring at the end of this season. A club stalwart for the better part of two decades, Gav was teary in the rooms but powered through to ask us all to send him out a winner. The retirement welcome news for our club salary cap and we all hope for an amicable outcome between Gav, the team and the Club.

To the cricket we go, this glorious madness. Tiz “King Brown” Brownie and Cam “Original Krangster” Krang kicked us off and the immediately the CLAMPS were applied, the pressure we have become famous for was at the fore and was supported with some top quality fielding. L Mac introduced the “clamp” song, to the tune of the Chicken Dance. Those lucky to be at the Club at 2.45pm saw it in full flight. Stay tuned for an interactive Wiggles style version to be released by the team shortly.

St Ives buckled under the pressure and Krang was able to snag his arch nemesis, Bargoti – caught by Taylor in the covers. It’s at this point I’d like to stop and pause and thank Gavin for everything. I’m not sure if you’ve heard but Gav is retiring at the end of this season. And we wish him well.

Back to the cricket and the clamps were applied further when Lichaaa was introduced into the attack. Krang chirped “Tim Love already has 3 today” and that annoyed Lichaaa, bowling fast and picking up his first scalp with an easy catch to Gas at point.

“Butch” Cassidy the first grader entered the wicket and Lichaaa went to work with a consistent line and length, setting him up for a shorter delivery. When Butch took the bait, and lollied one to Gandis at square leg, Lichaaa knew he had his man. But alas, the simple chance was squandered and Lichaaa was fuming. Fuming. Some choice words to the batsman and Lichaaa marched to square leg, cursing and wondering to himself “WHY DID GANDIS CYCLE THIS MORNING”

Next over and the plan was repeated. Butch, once again, took the bait and this time hit a high ball to Gandis. The silence as that ball descended was deafening. Lichaaa held his breath. Gandis held the catch. Relief and jubilation for all. Cue the clamp dance.

Lichaaa followed it up with another wicket the next ball, a wonderfully executed yorker which sent the stumps cartwheeling.

After a wonderful and luckless spell from King Brown, Gandis was called upon to continue to apply the already built up pressure. He did not oblige, bowling 70% of his balls down the leg side. When yet another ball sailed over Lichaaas head at square leg, he yelled out to Gandis “OFF STUMP”

Boy oh boy Gandis did not like that one. The next ball was a thunderbolt straight at the batman, hitting him square in the helmet. Everyone rushed to his aid, except Gandis, who marched back to his mark telling nearby fielders “**** Lichaaa”

Gandis then double downed and bowled a no ball resulting in a free hit. LoveGROVE edged the free hit ball through gully where L Mc Thudd chased, foxing and tempting the batsman to chance his arm. They did and L Mac whipped a ball in that Andrew Symonds would have been proud of, a thunderbolt over the stumps and B C Gaunt did the rest.

More stuff happened in the field but Ross is wrapping me up so I’ll quickly just summarise and say it was a wonderful cartel effort all round. Lichaaa finished with 5/5 off 8 overs, Cam 2/12 off 7, Gandis 1fer, L Mac run out and Wu cleaned up the tail for yet another prized scalp. St Ives all out for 59.

60 to get and Asssssssssman and Jamakin opened us up. Right from the get go, the pair looked completely at ease, scoring runs freely with wonderful shotmaking and selection. Assman was doing most of the heavy lifting, some of his sub continental flick of the wrists through mid wicket was sublime. A highlight of the chase was Jamakins free hit ball, which we all cheered as it sailed to the rope for 4.

On the sidelines, Effie provided KFC and Lichaaa provided donuts for the team to enjoy. Gav sat back with his feet up reading Chris Kenny’s column in the Weekend Australian. You know Gav is retiring?

0/60 – Ass 42* Jamakin 16*

We all headed to the Club to celebrate, even young Oliver Jamakin joined us for the party. Gav wore his spikes into the Club, what a swan song memory to cherish.

We have Berowra next week. Cheerio to the boys as I know they are all big fans of this column. See you next week at the slippery dip!

A2 Grade (Gunny)

WPHC 6/78 defeated Glenorie 9/77

Needing to get on and win to have any chance at finals, the BOM on Thursday suggested 10-25mm of rain for Friday and Saturday. All hope was lost. But not to be, as the cricket gods (thanks Don) came to our side and delivered two days of beautiful sunshine, as any potential rain would’ve resulted in The Glade being underwater.

We won the toss and bowled (obviously). Half the side questioned Gunny’s decision to bowl first, and were made to look very silly 10 overs in to the day. The pitch was causing absolute mayhem, with Matt ‘poor man’s Curtly’ Philip and Varun ‘wrong end’ Ravindran bowling excellent spells to have Glenorie 4/16 off 17 at drinks.

Matt had the popped collar, chest out with buttons undone, diamond earring along with a bad ass haircut. One can only assume this is why he bowled so well. I was scared of him standing at mid-off. He looked so cool too. Matt bowled 7 straight to start with and finished with 3/2. Wow. Note 50% of his runs conceded were wides. Fine.

Not just the bowlers were having a day of it though. Ray ‘champion player’ Khamis took the first catch of the game at point, as it was lobbed over his head he turn and ran back taking the catch over his shoulder. Knowing it was his day, we then chucked Ray into short leg who then took the next two catches to have 3 of the first 3.

After drinks, all the boys continued to bowl well with wickets well shared. Varun finished off another excellent bowling display with 2-12 off 7, with Sem ‘fake sickness’ and Benny ‘I hate Gunny for dropping a sitter’ Meikle picking up 1 each and Keats ‘no milestone’ Keats bowling an economical spell. Glenorie finished with 9/77 off their 35 overs.

Our turn with the bat and we knew runs were going to be hard to come by. Andrew ‘bully’ Morris (12) started strongly with two glorious lofted shots over the bowlers head but shortly after was dismissed. We found ourselves 4-25. Not uncommon, probably one of our better starts actually.

Ray then continued his day with a quick-fire 18 to put Glenorie on the back foot, with Keats following after with 11 leaving the job all but done as Gunny batted at the other end for 28*.

A win leaves us a mathematical chance to make finals, and we’ll give it everything we can needing an outright win next match. Looking forward to it!

B1 Grade

WPHC Red (Rick) 125 lost to St Ives 8/129

How firm are Willy’s buns? Peachy too. It is easy to see why Alexa has an unhealthy obsession with those bad boys, and Willy was parading them around in a fitted pair of gleaming white cricket pants. Talk about accentuating perfection – or as close to perfection as buns come.

Back to the cricket. Greenway was lush after the warm weather and recent rain. As lush as a pair of peachy buns in a pair of fitted cricket pants. The questions was would there be value for good cricket shots? Flair lost the toss and we were sent into bat. Things got off to a great start with Rock Rochow Rochow and M Volc Banner opening the innings and scoring at a good clip.

All was well until Volc ran two consecutive twos and decided he might attempt a heart attack. Whilst caring for his batting partner, Rochow forgot to hit one and was cleaned up by a good rock. 1/68 at drinks. The defibrillator was applied to Volc, he drank 3 litres of water and assorted other liquid and resumed at the crease. We marched along until over 24 before Volc decided he had enough and nicked off (2/92).

From here it all went to crap (enough said) and we were bowled out for 125.

St Ives came out determined to ice the game early. Well it didn’t go to plan. We bowled well, Willy’s buns were mobile in the covers and runs were hard to come by (excluding the few pies that were dispatched over the boundary).

At drinks St Ives were behind the game but had wickets in hand. At 3/98 they seemingly had the game under control until Willy’s buns were brought on. Clearly distracted by peachy firmness St Ives decided to start losing a wicket an over, heart rates went up, palpitations started and palms got sweaty.

All the while those globes of peachy firmness remained unmoved, unfazed, calm and collected. We took the last over. Bakshi v St Ives Captain Feather with 3 to get. They eek out the three required and scored are tied. Bakshi removes the Captain’s leg stump and things tighten a lot. The number 10 can’t hit it off the square. Sadly on the second last ball and inside edge and they scramble through for a single. We played the ball but the game was done.

Great game – we fought well – but just couldn’t get over the line. Willy’s chamida got the 3 votes.

We’ll be back again next week.

WPHC Blue (Napper) 0/69 defeated Normanhurst-Warrawee 67

We were up against the bottom side in Normo, and the message was to not take this game lightly.

Sitting in 3rd position and 1st and 2nd playing each other, we knew we could climb up to 2nd place with a win. The boys didn’t let up all day.

Naps won the toss and sent Normo in to bat. Our opening bowlers started with great spells. Anush Sharma bowled out his 7 overs without luck, going for just 8 runs. Tanay Hira bowled well from the other end finishing with 1/6.

Rob Knapman replaced Anush and took a wicket first ball thanks to a sharp catch by Ryan Gunn under the lid at short leg. Once the first wicket fell, the flood gates opened. The fielding was extremely solid with pressure constantly being built. There were no free runs!

Birdcage bowled beautifully nicking 2 batsmen off. Eric Junkkari snuck in for is standard 2 wickets in 2 overs. Nandu Ramesh then ripped off-stump out of the ground with an absolute seed. The constant pressure produced a runout by Birdcage after foxing the batsman with a dropped catch….

Nikhil Ninan and Nandu Ramesh went out with the goal of being at the crease when we passed the Normo total. The pair played a smart innings and saw us get the total without loss. Nik finish with 32* and Nandu 31*.

A solid statement as we head into the last round.

Our final match is a 1st vs 2nd clash and will decide the minor premiership.

B2 Grade (Phill)

WPHC 105 lost to Castle Hill 4/147

Report to come.

C1 (Joseph)

WPHC Vs Sydney Lions

Scores and Report not provided.

C2

WPHC Red (Fieds) 5/95 defeated St Ives 9/92

After a somewhat moist week, it was a nice surprise to get a full day of cricket in. After donating a meaningless win to the smaller team last round, the boys were all keen on proving that we are still the premium WPH C2 team.

Although Stu’s heroic winning streak of tosses has ended, he was able to muster up enough grit to pull himself out of a small losing streak and win yet another toss. Tails is never an option and you cannot change our mind.

We sent St Ives out to bat and with an early run out, we were looking in control. Waris was able to break his drought, knocking over all three stumps sending the other opening bat back to the sheds. With a handy wicket to Nikki and one to Craig right before drinks, we were looking well on top with St Ives on 4/49.

Craig took another wicket early after drinks, and finished his spell with a very impressive 2/15. With us well on top, it seemed only fitting to donate a few overs to the needy. In this case, it was Adam. He bowled an impressive 3 overs of short s***. He was soon replaced by a proper bowler.

Jack showed how bowling line and length was all that was required, picking up 4/9 off just four overs. This left St Ives at 9/92 after 35. I would also like to add that the ‘other’ WPH C2 side conceded 93 runs, proving that we are indeed, superior.

Our turn to bat, and as we wanted to make this a fair contest, we decided to throw our first 3 wickets to give the other side a bit of hope. Although it seemed all fun and games, it was soon over as Nick and Adam started scoring at a fast rate.

As we are a fair team, the mighty Duck decided to throw his wicket away last ball before drinks, so we were at 4/49, just like St Ives at their drink break.

Adam kept scoring runs, finishing with a moist 46* after a few massive sixes, and winning us the game in comfortable fashion.

Another win puts us 2nd on the ladder, and an easy entry into the finals.

WPHC Blue (Buzz) 3/95 defeated Hornsby 94

We were worried when the U14s game at our ground was running very late, that we wouldn’t get on in time, but at 1pm there were only 7 Opposition present so Buzz offered them the chance to bat first (as we wanted to bowl first anyway) and Hornsby agreed without having to toss the coin. Result!

Paul V and Callum opened with a great spell and Callum made the first breakthrough with only 7 runs on the board. Paul grabbed a 2nd wicket to have them 2/11. Some great bowling from Xander, Riley, Connor, and Buzz kept wickets falling consistently and a great late spell from Vink Snr ensured we rolled the opposition for only 94.

Best of the bowling from Paul 3/6, with Connor, Xander and Buzz picking up two a piece and Callum one.

Heading out to bat, Dylan and Hari saw off some tight bowling, always ensuring we were on track at the drinks break to bring it home for the win. After Dylan fell, it was a fantastic partnership from Paul and Hari, who injected new drive into the innings by cleverly taking quick singles to bring the field in, and then punching over the top to keep the opposition under pressure.

Their 60 run partnership saw us almost home before Paul holed out with only a couple of runs left to win, but having ensured there was no pressure for the incoming batsman. Hari showed true form to pace himself throughout his innings and fittingly finished things off with a spanking boundary to end up 47*.

With results coming through as I write this, we will be clearly top of the table heading into the final round. Great to see a few players get some time in the middle today with both bat and ball which should put us in a good place as we head to the Semis.

Just quietly, the highlight of today was that we managed to get a full day of cricket in!

C3 Grade (Indranil)

WPHC 6/101 defeated Mt Colah 9/94

Playing at Foxglove oval, a heavy rain shower 30 minutes before the start of play left the ground quite soggy at the time of the toss. Fortunately our Captain Indranil won the toss and elected to bowl first.

A change of tactic and a change of opening bowling with spinner Rommel Panday taking the new ball and finishing with a tidy 1-15 after 7 overs and well supported by left arm swing bowler Maz Saikia who also bowled tidy with 1-14. At the drinks break the Opposition were 3 for 50 after 18 overs.

Post drinks, we bowled very well with tight bowling spells from Sreeni Pillamari 0/7 and Amit Sen 2-14 from one end while spin bowling continued to reduce the scoring with fine spells from Shanka Ravi 3-22 and Vedant Virmani 2-9.

At the end of the 35^th over we had restricted the scoring with a steady flow of wickets to have the opposition at 9-94.

Some changes to the regular batting order saw some nice innings by a number of batsmen with Vedant Virmani top scoring with a handy and aggressive 29. A highlight was when the scores were level and Sreeni Pillamarri bought home the win with a maximum – 6 straight down the ground, finishing unbeaten on 18.

It was a very nice win which I’m sure all the boys enjoyed since it has been over 3 months since a victory was had. One game to go for the season and whilst the Semi’s are out of reach for us, it is time that we enjoy our cricket and hopefully finish of the season with some nice personal contributions and hopefully another win to lift the spirits of the team.

C4 Grade (Rob)

WPHC 6/159 defeated Kissing Point 141

Rolling up to Auluba this afternoon, we were all just praying that the rain would stay away and we would get a game in. Luckily the weather played its part!

Retiring from doing the toss, given his abysmal efforts through the season, Capt. Rob decided to get Rob FC (at least he has a cool first name) to do the toss for the team. Rob FC also lost….so sacked for the finals. We were batting (which given the hot humid conditions ended up being a good thing).

Batting started very positively, but then 3 quick wickets and we were staring at a low total. But this just brought the fantastic, fabulous Fullerton boys together.

Time to sit back and watch a true batting masterclass. Both started slowly, but were just getting their eyes in. Then hell broke loose. They put on 98 runs in the 13 overs after the drinks break, until Luke (exhausted) finally lost his wicket. What a wonderful partnership of 115 in total that set up our whole innings. Luke got 60 runs and Al ended 63 no. Some late hitting saw our total get to 6/159 before our 35 overs were up.

So out to bowl and field. We started brilliantly and kept the runs very tight. And as a result the wickets started to fall. At the drinks break, KP were 4/32 after 18 overs. After the break we continued with tight bowling, but KP started to pick things up.

In the end we bowled them out for 141 in the last over…..and if it wasn’t for an excellent lone hand from one of their batters (89 runs), the game would have been over much earlier. Great bowling all round – Rey (2/24), Luke (1/8), Mudi (2/22), Rob FC (1/29), Zia (1/14) and Al (2/32).

So with that win we remain in the lead, and with a bye next week, we should end up Minor Premiers of C4.

Great effort all season boys……and well deserved after a disappointing ending to last season.

D1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Ross S) 1/105 defeated Kissing Point 7/98

A good win and consolidates a semi final spot for us……

After an early week switch of grounds from Arcadia to Northholm we were looking forward to a fair game that was not challenged by poor conditions. Northholm was in a wonderful state when we turned up. A heavy shower just before we started had us a little concerned but with warm conditions things dried up with no impact on the pitch or field.

Winning the toss we had no hesitation bowling first, given the humid conditions and with rain being forecast in the afternoon. We were happy to be set a target if rain was to come……As it turned out the afternoon was humid and sunny with no sign of rain, and a great day to play cricket.

The Kissing point openers came out with intent from the first ball. We bowled really well, with the ball swing just too much. With some edges and little luck, After 10 overs Kp were 0/31.

A bowling change then saw our Junior super sub Daniel Vink dismiss both openers in the space of two overs. Some great swing bowling.

I have to say though our first wicket was somewhat astounding, given we have dropped more catches than we have taken this year. A skied ball so high to mid-off that several players could have got to the ball, Gihan unfazed positioned himself under the ball and took a great catch….With continued good bowling and fielding had Kp 3/59 at drinks. Ani taking a wicket second last ball before drinks.

After the drinks break things slowed down as we bowled and fielded really well having KP 6/66 at one stage. Some big hitting and lucky edges saw a 7th wicket partnership of 29 off the last 8 overs. We managed a final wicket just before the innings closed to have Kp with a final score of 7/98.

Wickets to Happy (1-18 off 5), Ani (1-16 off 6), Sach (1-10 off 6), Aayush (2-18 off 6) and Daniel (2-15 off 4).

Ram (0-5 of 5) bowled without luck having a couple of chances put down early. Only concern was sundries of 24 including 17 wides, however a wildly swinging ball contributed significantly to the total.

Chasing a small total can often be a challenge, so instructions were clear.

Let’s play positively.

Ani and Jake started off well both hitting boundaries, before Jake unluckily managed to pick out the only fielder on the boundary 1-18. From that point it was the Aniket show, well supported by Waman. Some great running between wickets and some big hitting from Ani. At the first drinks break we were 1/75, with Ani 50 not out…..needing another 24 runs to win.

After the break, Ani and Waman played without any risk, still with some big hitting we managed to pass the KP score in 4 overs, finishing on 1/105. Ani making a brilliant 76 no ( 9 x 4s and 3 x 6s) and Waman 16 no.

An important win for us, playing to our potential, and consolidating a semi final spot. With 1 regular season game to go, the minor premiership is still up for grabs.

A big win in the last round gives us a shot at one of the top 2 places.

WPHC Red (Diggers) 4/123 lost to Hornsby 5/125

A good win last round saw us in second spot on quotient in a very tight six team comp. Another win would seal a finals spot. The washout last week wasn’t great for us as the one-day games haven’t really gone our way over the past couple of seasons.

Nevertheless we were confident of giving it a good crack and, after winning another toss, decided to bat first.

We batted reasonably well with partnerships of 18, 25, 21, 22 and finally an unbeaten 37 saw us finish at 4/124.

Not a bad effort but probably had in the back of our minds that another 20 or so would have been handy. Best of batting was Ramil 28, Papa Diggs 23, Manoj 23no and Lachlan 18no including a ramp shot for 4 off Hornsby’s best bowler…crazy kids today.

Onto our turn in the field and we bowled really well, and whilst not getting many wickets early, had them at 1/40 after 18. Our fielding was once again very good and we took most of our limited chances and saved plenty of runs.

Unfortunately Hornsby passed us 5 wickets down with 7 balls left.

Connor finished with 2/20, Rushab 1/19, Disco 1/25, Lachlan 1/20 and Mitch who finished with a strong couple of overs but without success.

Anyway, over to Snives next week, knowing that a win over the team at the top of the table will secure a finals spot.

D2 Grade (Nirav)

WPHC 2/78 defeated Kissing Point Red 77

It was a perfect day to play a game of cricket on one of the best grounds, Howson Oval. We won the toss and put KP to bat first.

All of us bowled very tight spells throughout the game and kept score in control. Amith and Parin got their openers out and at drink KP was 2-35. It was a very slow out field to score easy runs. We continued bowling a good line and length after the drinks and kept getting wickets.

Only a couple of KP batsmen got a double digit score. We dropped a few catches but it didn’t cost us too much. Amith got 3 wickets, Parin 2, Praneel and Nirav got one each. At the end of 35 overs KP managed to score 77 runs.

Arun and Agni opened the batting and played really well till the end of the game and had a partnership of 66 runs to secure the win. Praneel and Laksha completed the job.

KP team showed great sportsmanship by allowing Simon Friend to bat for a few overs after scoring the winning runs.

With this win we have secured the minor premiership. One more round before the Semi-Final.

Well done guys, great effort again by everyone.