Points table (as at Round 7)

A Grade Red (Cam) – 1^st (44 points)

A Grade Blue (Campbell) – 8^th (14 points)

B1 Red (Birdcage) – =2^nd (31 points)

B1 Blue (Shomik) – = 4^th (21 points)

B2 (Todd) –= 1^st (34 points)

C1 (Kapil) – 2^nd (29 points)

C2 Red (Indranil) – =2^nd (26 points)

C2 Blue (Rob) – 1^st (28 points)

C3 Red (Cameron) – 8^th (15 points)

C3 Blue (Tarun) – 5^th (23 points)

C4 (Hiresh) – = 4^th (26 points)

D1 Red (Diggers) – 4^th (32 points)

D1 Blue (Arun) – = 8^th (18 points)

D2 (Ross S) – 1^st (40 points)

Match Reports – Round 7 (Day 2)

A1 Grade

WPHC Red (Cam) 9/275 defeated Glenorie 274

One of the most overused words in sports, guys, is incredible.

Not since Rocky Balboa pushed Mason “The Line” Dixon to 15 rounds back in 2005 have I been able to use the phrase since. But today, loyal readers, today was incredible.

Last placed Glenorie Gittens decided to bat on from their overnight score of 6/245, much to the delight of YOUR WPHCCCCC A1 side. Whilst donning the whites, Captain Krang was discussed his favourite take out options – GYG topped the list which surprised me. Krang also outlined his love for pizza, four of them in one sitting – Sav’s face turned to horror. Krang continued. “I was hungry when I got home last night, but I had a couple of beers and I wasn’t hungry anymore”. Sav’ face twisted in horror.

Another interesting development in the overnight proceedings was that Captain Krang had stuffed up the team sheet, he had written Tiz’s name down twice. The missing player – Billy “Bruce Wood” Gaunt.

Considering the association don’t fund a match referee for all A grade games, Krang had to ask the Glenorie Captain for a reprieve – and ask if he was ok for Billy to bat this week – he was very gracious in accepting.

No David Boon, no worries. When Sav learned about the news, his face went back to its horror state. He said an Opposition Captain in Grade cricket would never let Billy bat. He also said a team sheet mistake would never happen. Sav had an enlightening day today filled with horror, disgust and shock.

To the cricket we go, this glorious madness.

We learned our lesson from the smacking we got last week in the field and decided to kick the footy around for 2-3 minutes as our warmup. We started with 10 on the field, as Ashane “Mohammed” Assman was late from a romantic weekend away in the Blue Mountains. Michael Gunn wasn’t present, he was at a boys to men finance weekend away. Gas wasn’t invited. Jackson Preedy was racing at Rosehill Gardens. L Mac and Tiz were back into the side.

Glenorie wanted 300 but Lichaaa and Tiz bowed well enough to hold them to 274. 4 wickets for about 30 runs in the morning session – not a bad effort. 275 to chase and a minimum of 54 overs to do it – not impossible but far from realistic. Krang decided there was only one man to save the day. He elevated himself from 11 to no 1, and opened the batting with Jamaican. It was WPHCCCCC executive royalty STRIDING to the crease.

The chase got off to the worst possible start, Jamaican copping a popping ball and was dismissed for a golden. Rome burned brightly when Sav was dismissed shortly thereafter. Billy Gaunt came to the crease, but exited shortly thereafter, poking at one outside off stump. More time for swiping on his fetish on Hinge. Ask him what that fetish is.

3/30 and only our no11, Krang, was left standing. It prompted Gas to note “it’s the loss we had to have”. It was dire but we still felt there was a pulse.

Lower grader Dylan “George W” Bish came to the crease and didn’t look out of place. Runs began to tick over slowly. Krang notched him his highest A grade score of 18. Just when the tables were turning, Dylan and Krang were dismissed just prior to the 15:15 tea break. 5/80 and the champions were in desperate trouble.

L Mac joined Assman post the tea break, fresh from a cortisone injection on his feet midweek. The injection gave him no favours, he triggered the injury again and fell shortly thereafter. Vets have advised L Mac will now be spelled. Lichaaa joined Assman at 6/90. 6/90 chasing 275 and at 3.45pm. We were long odds. It was the loss we needed to have.

Lichaaa and Assman began to build a partnership, runs were ticking over. Just when the tables were turning, Lichaaa fell to his old tricks – stumped trying to hit a spinner out of the park. He left Ass stranded. The game was gone… or was it?

Jack Hando joined Assman and rebuilt the foundation. Assman was whacking them to all parts, a couple of crafty inside out lofts over extra cover was the highlight. Jack Hando had a handy cameo, but he left Ass stranded. 8 down and the life support was about to be turned off.

Tiz was next in and he asked Krang on departure, what is the plan?

Krang said keep the foot down, as long as Ass is in there, we were a chance. He was right. Assman continued to play smart cricket and his brilliance was rewarded – bringing up our 509^th Club hundred and his first in A Grade. It’s the first since Gav Taylor many moon ago. Assman removing the helmet, his bandana glistening in the sun, he kissed the turf. Sav noted how cool it was Tiz was there with him – because they are “good friends”.

We needed 6 an over for the last 18 overs and Assman and Tiz just knocked them off efficiently. We had it down to 7 off 9, Assman couldn’t get the job complete though. He holed out to deep midwicket for 131, one of the great knocks in association history. 9 down, 7 to get and Gas joined Tiz at the wicket.

5 off 6 became 4 off 4 became 1 off 1.

Men crowded around the bat, Tiz bunted one to cover and him and Gas scampered through for 1. We won. 6/90 and the referee had counted 9. Assman had got us off the canvas and had won us the fight. Tiz finished 32 not out, a timeless supporting act.

I have been in A Grade for many seasons now and I have not witnessed a better win.

One of the most boring games turned into a classic – and we turned a game which was impossible to win, into reality. We bowed for over 100 overs, then came out and chased a huge total which guts and determination. Michael Holding would be proud of Assman for all his “runs”.

WPHC Blue (Campbell) 138 & TBA lost outright to Kenthurst 3/302 dec

I am currently writing this as I’ve just watched Scott Boland take a 3 wicket maiden and jeez I would’ve done a lot of rogue things to start our day off like that today.

We were back at Kenthurst for week 2 after already losing on first innings. And sure enough the boundaries had not gotten any larger and conditions were still phenomenal for batting as the opposition showed.

But let’s forget about the cricket for a moment.

As mentioned in last week’s report, unfortunately some of Tanay’s aura did not rub off onto Campbell and despite some solid groundwork being laid. It was not a fruitful night. However, we can only assume some other members of the team in Tanay himself and argyle local Shaan did hit the spot. Great to see some off field success to balance out our last month’s on field performances.

Back to the cricket now. And I’ll keep this brief cause there’s not much to report on. Kenthurst started the day 0-142 (leading by 4 runs). Our fearsome Club Captain Cam’s good mate Billy toned up with his opening partner scoring 81. Next was their number 3 who was out for 97. They might’ve been 3-302 but we’ll take the little wins of preventing another century. Credit to the bowlers who toiled hard all innings.

Now it was our turn to bat and it was like we were on a different pitch. Some some good bowling, poor shot selection and bad luck meant we were all out for 65, losing outright. Despite this result and some recent results, it‘s good to see that with the rising interest rates and cost of living, us boys in A2’s are getting value for money this season by batting twice every game.

“Bat short, bowl long” is the mantra we’ve been going with this year. With a new year’s resolution to hopefully flip that around, we’re looking forward to one more game to end out the year on a high.

Ps. on behalf of the A2’s side we all wish our left arm friend in A1’s the best of luck reading the signs in the coming weeks

B1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Shomik) 125 & 6/176 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee 206 & 5/115

We started from 68 with three wickets down to chase 206. However, it was not as smooth as well finished last week and there was a landslide of wickets and we finished at 125. Amanpreet was the only standout with 63 runs.

We were asked to field again and they quickly gather 115 runs within 15 overs. Mohsin took 3 wickets while Shomik grabbed 2 wickets.

We had 29overs and to chase 196 run, which even though looked impossible still achievable.

The start was straight from third gear and Amanpreet started from where he left. His quick 21 gave us confidence and platform to charge this impossible target. At one point it seemed the win is knocking the door. A firey knock of 66 from Jay changed the mood of the game which was well supported by Alec (50 not out).

Overs ran out, and we fell sort of just 20 runs.

WPHC Red (Birdcage) /243 defeated Sydney Lions 242

Here at the WPHCCC B Grade match report we are all about reporting the facts, whether it falls into our narrative or not.

With this being said we have excellent news about A Grade keeper batsmen, shit-test bloke at the Club, Grand Wizard Billy Gaunt. Over the weekend Billy Gaunt did a thing a good bloke would do. Very rare. It is our job to report it. After a few of us went into the city to cheer on our mighty Socceroos we decided to soak up the beers with a breakfast yum cha. Ray paid and Billy promptly transferred the money to Ray without being asked. Ladies and gentlemen there is a first for everything.

Alas though it didn’t take long for Bill to turn it around and true to form said something that only the most terrible person in the world would say. To be fair we all think questionable things but to say them out loud, with reckless regard is something only Billy Gaunt would do.

I will preface this news by saying that this country and club was built on multiculturalism, we all embrace it and love it. Not our boy Billy Gaunt, oh no sir.

Okay now to the cricket:

There are talks within the team of Birdcage going mad with power, there are numerous instances of this but we won’t get into that now.

Birdcage confirmed this however by giving Ray ‘swing king ahmed Khamis’ the brand new shiny Kooka. After going for a couple of boundaries this was looking like as stupid an idea as it sounds. Birdcage knew something that everyone else should know by now. Big Ray CAN swing a ball. Just ask their number 8 who had his off stump cartwheeled out of the ground with a hooping in swinging yorker. Birdcage then came in and did the same to their number 11.

After a long 80 overs bowled we finally had a chance to bat. Ryan ‘can’t believe he’s scored runs again’ Birdcage and DJ ‘the petrol bowser’ Garrett got us off with our first 100 run partnership of the season for us.

Cage dug in and played his game whilst DJ looked really shit until he passed about 20, thereafter despatching the ball to all parts. It’s a real shame his dad wasn’t there to watch. Billy Garrett if you’re reading this you are more than welcome to our games, you’re just not allowed to talk.

We then lost both openers (Birdcage 60 odd and DJ 47), enter Mikey ‘the gun show’ Fiedler and Brent ‘still rhe stupidest bloke on earth’ Larkham. Mikey manipulated the ball and ran hard for a solid 30 odd whilst Brent was slowly building a match winning innings.

The chase never looked in doubt with Brent out in the middle. He finished on 70 not out and saw us home with time to spare.

This was a particularly good win considering how the Swahili Lions conducted themselves during the game. Countless appeals, time wasting, whinging and whining.

I reiterate that the energy in the team is infectious. So long as we keep Billy Gaunt and Billy Garrett out of the team circle we will let the good vibes roll and finish off what has been an excellent season of cricket. Well done lads.

Big shout out to Mikey and Gunny for coming in and fulfilling their roles within the team. Big boo to Kapil who organised a fill in for us last week but they did not come, leaving us with 10 men.

Other news

• Mama diggs bringing some delicious pineapple for the boys
• We are excited for Campbell to join us in B grade for the new year
• Bill also cheated on trivia
• UPDATE it isn’t coming home 🙁
• Ray is now to be known as Ray Ahmed, Rosco please update the club database
• Dinesh, Rob and Anooshis are in a 3 way battle for clubs shittest driver. Stay tuned.

B2 Grade

WPHC (Todd) 5/291 dec defeated Beecroft 166

We returned to Cheltenham for week 2, with discussions of whether to bat on or declare, we decide to bat on the hunt for quick runs despite Volc telling me “you’d hate to have them 8fa at stumps.” Rick (65*) and Jude (48) would return to the crease and tick things along nicely to nudge our score up to 291, Jude unfortunately BBQ’d himself on the last ball before the declaration which did save me calling him in 2 runs shy of his 50 and being that bloke.

Paul (0-18) and Todd (3-29) would open the bowling, with Todd being given a gift first ball with their opener leaving one which would bowl him middle stump first. Their number 3 would come out aggressive before snicking off the Sam who kept brilliantly yet again. Beecroft would begin to form a good partnership but bowling change in drinks would bring about the wicket with Xander Vink (2-25) bowling their good bat with the first ball he’s bowled for the season. Post drinks Xander would claim another with a sharp catch in the slips from Craig Hutchinson.

Jack Hutchinson (1-15) bowled a very tight line and would finally be rewarded, bowling their opener who was hanging around and beginning to cause a nuisance. Craig Hutchinson (1-33) would also claim a wicket and things were looking good at 6/81

However, Beecroft would fight and form a good 7^th wicket partnerships and Volcs words of “you’d hate to have the 8fa at stumps” were bouncing around my head. But thankfully Chris “Willy” Williamson (3-18) would come on and claim the breakthrough giving the poor bloke a send-off… Willy really dislikes guys or hack and don’t play ‘good cricket shots’ if you guys didn’t know.

The skipper would bring himself back on and claim the wicket of their skipper with a short ball skied to square leg with Jack taking a good solid catch. Willy would make no troubles cleaning up the table and giving us the win with 18 overs still spare.

Overall our most complete team performance of the season and a great team win.

Sunday game for C1 Grade 3^rd & 10^th December 2022

C1 Grade

WPHC (Kapil) 8/189 defeated Hornsby 188

On a hot Sunday afternoon at Montview Oval we needed 148 Runs to win the game with our opening two batsmen from last week not available. Thus we started the day at 2/41.

We unfortunately lost two quick wickets and found ourselves at 4/49 with some work to do. By drinks we had lost three more wickets to some good bowling and were in trouble at 7/77.

Dan and Prashant steadied the ship and then the runs started to flow with both bring up 50’s in style. Prashant fell in the last over before tea for a well-played 65 with the 8th wicket partnership yielding 107 runs. It took just 9 balls after tea for Dan to hit the winning runs and be not out on 59 with us ending 8/189.

Due to a technicality of using to many new batsmen this week that did not play last week, Hornsby raised a protest which will likely see the result been overturned.

Nevertheless the better team won today and go into the final game of the year high on confidence after a really good team effort.

C2 Grade

WPHC Red (Indranil) 6/318 dec defeated Thornleigh 169 & 5/tba

It is mandatory to watch this (with headphones on preferably) before reading the match report.

Wide World of Sports theme music

It was a one to watch at Thornleigh Oval.

Overall, it was one of the best games that I’ve had the pleasure of participating in. We bowled them out for 169 last week and started this week on 3 for 122.

Cam and Tejas played themselves in well but couldn’t convert unfortunately. Huge congrats to Vishnu on his 54 and Akith on his 74*. Obviously, nobody wanted to stick around to play for the outright win. But sincere thanks to Indy for forcing us to keep going. Real test match vibes began to set in.

Apparently, the groundsmen was watching the soccer last night and he slept through the morning. By the time he got to the ground, we had already started playing. We didn’t want to stop for him to put in the drop in turf. But yeah, otherwise it really felt like a classic India vs Australia test match. By the way, I would proudly wear the team name of C2 Brown if we could maybe swap to it? Hahahaha, sorry Cam.

All jokes aside, they had did have a Dravid on their team. Another mandatory Youtube clip 🙂 – The Wall

This guy was just not getting out. He was a nice guy who was up for some friendly banter. We tried everything. We bowled 9 bowlers, and nobody was close to getting him out. At that stage, we should have completed the bowling attack by giving Indy and Cam a bowl.

Unfortunately, this guy was the rock in Thornleigh’s batting for this week, and we weren’t able to bowl them out.

After today, Thornleigh definitely makes it in my list of good sports. Good chat and friendly banter was there throughout the day, and I definitely had a great time playing with them. I’m sure everybody else would agree.

It was the perfect cricket match. No need for beer (or coke for the juniors) to drown sorrows because there were no sorrows. Everybody played their part, and it was good to come off it with a win.

WPHC Blue (Rob) 6/208 drew with Glenorie 9/244 dec

Day 2 and we were not entirely sure what Glenorie would do.

They were 7-201 after week 1. It already started poorly for us mid-week, when run machine, Will, let us know he had Covid and couldn’t play.

We were soon notified that they are going to continue to bat, so we expected a quick burst of 6-8 overs of quick runs. But we were wrong… More plotting along for 14 overs before they finally declared on 244. This left us 53 overs minimum to chase down 245 runs. A very tall order.

‘Marnus’ and ‘Smudge’ opened the bat confidently, and put on 15 runs until Dan got caught in the gully to an excellent catch. This brought the Fullerton twins together, and they went about putting together an excellent partnership of 71 runs.

Al unfortunately was out LBW to probably the worst ball bowled all day. A shame because he was looking in good nick. Riley then strode to the crease and batted well until he misjudged the pace of the ball and popped one up to short cover. Huge thanks Riley on helping us out today on short notice, happy to have you back anytime!

Next batter up was Aden, who has been down on confidence lately due a dry spell of runs. An excellent partnership of 64 with Luke saw us looking in a reasonable position at the final drinks break. We now needed 108 runs off 18 overs.

Unfortunately Luke started to tire and brought his innings of 75 to an end. Excellent batting Luke. From here the game fizzled out to a draw. We ended on 6-208, 30 odd runs short. So a draw. A great knock of 69 not to Aden.

C3 Grade

WPHC Blue (Tarun) 6/245 dec drew with WPHC Red (Cameron) 7/163

Another beautiful day for cricket at Home of cricket Greenway Park.

The C3 Sheep Station Trophy was the prize that awaited the victorious team. Given the importance of the occasion, the Blue team decided to add some quick runs to day1 score of 4/207. Jay Nanda started on 88 with Ron Marsden replacing Jack on other end, who is missing day2 with well-deserved schoolies break after HSC exams.

Amit Sen and John Rose started with tight line and length. Ron pushing for quick runs was first wicket to fall. Jay reached his maiden ton with a flick to boundary – our 508^th ton. A well compiled century playing his first season in seniors!

2 and 4 in next two balls was followed by a brilliant catch by Vinod to dismiss Jay and declaration of Blues batting innings. Shakeel Mistry made handy contribution of 15 runs from 14 balls. A target of 246 in 61 on fast Greenway was set for Reds to chase.

Vinod and Rohit started proceedings for Reds in a solid manner. A wicket did not look like coming despite Blues bowlers trying different things. In 15^th over Rohit decided to guide a ball past gully bit uppishly. Ron dived full stretch forward to take a stunning catch to get Blues first breakthrough.

Next batter in Saurabh played the way opposition expected, scoring 16 quick runs. Jay was too good in the end to get through his defences. Ron ended Vinod’s very patient innings just at the stroke of tea break with score at 3/56 after 20 overs.

Next 20 overs produced 48 runs with loss of two Reds wickets. Mukund played a very different patient innings to one expected by Blues holding one end. Brilliance of Josh Elliot was required to get Mukund’s wicket with score on 6/99 in 43 overs.

Different bowlers were tried but Reds batsmen dug deep. Brent who is known to have played many epic innings at Greenway to take matches and a grand final away from oppositions, showed a different flavour to his batting.

A very patient innings to make sure Blues were trying different things in pursuit of wickets. In the end Brent and Amit finished with unbeaten partnership of 36 runs and denying Blues claiming C3 Sheep Station trophy.

Day’s play was played in great spirit with both teams helping each other with fielders when short. A decisive next meeting in new year will now decide C3 sheep station cup bragging rights.

Thanks to Josh Elliot and Cliff Greenhalgh for helping Blues with numbers on day2 while few of regular HSC finishing boys are away enjoying schoolies.

C4 Grade

WPHC (Hiresh) 139 & 6/133 dec defeated Glenorie 95 & 3/149

After setting up our bowling innings superbly on Day 1 by holding Glenorie hostage at 7/62, the boys were excited and desperate to finish the innings off quickly to hopefully secure our 3rd game on the trot.

With only 2 wickets in hand (a batter had to retire out), Glenorie had a respectable start to the day, with one of their day 2 players scoring a pretty quick 21 before falling to the smarts and expertise of Meet Vyas. The next wicket fell soon after, with their set batsmen from the previous week chopping one on to Meet’s bowling once again.

Thrilled by the win, but hungry for more, WPHCCC C4 decided to go for the outright.

With a plan to play positively, Hiresh and Sparsh put up an opening partnership of 61 in the first 15 overs. Hiresh had Sparsh running a marathon as he looked to run on anything off the bat. In one instance, he ran all the way up the pitch and was sent back down, with a big skin-ripping dive to save a run-out. Eventually he fell with just 12 off the bat, and was replaced by Meet.

Sparsh the legendary, ultimately ended up scoring his 2nd half-ton of the match (and season), ending up on 63 before getting caught out following the wicket of Meet. Meet and Jags both fell before we reached 97, scoring 5 each. Mahesh then came in to hit a quick-fire 21, with handy contributions all round until our 6th wicket partnership, where we would soon declare for 133/6 off 33 overs, requiring Glenorie to chase 178.

Opening the bowling, Shashank surprisingly got through more than 2 overs without injuring his shoulder (although this happened in his 3rd). However, the big quick managed to snag his first wicket of the season with a top edge that was skied towards gully.

Towards the end of the day, it was looking a bit difficult for us to get the outright victory, so we opted to save the runs instead as we had not previously protected the woeful run rate. As their keeper arrived to bat, Renesh was desperate to show him who the real boss wicky was after he was lightly sledged for his first innings keeping performance.

We eventually were able to pick up 2 wickets through Jags and Meet, who knocked up 5 wickets for the game to equal our team’s highest wicket-taker for the season Sparsh, with both currently sitting on 12. In the last few overs we just looked to have a bit of fun, with Sparsh bowling some of his 6for worthy off-spin, which eventually got called for chucking and forcing him to bowl leggies instead.

Unfortunately, the 2nd innings ended up being closer than we would’ve liked as Glenorie ended up 3/149, but everyone is still stoked with the win as we now look to make it 4 in 4.

D1 Grade

WPHC Red (Diggers) 7/302 dec defeated Kenthurst 169

Perfect weather conditions to declare overnight and back our bowling to defend 302 at Annangrove. After a couple of tough games where wickets had been hard to come by, the boys were on fire early.

After an over from Connor and Parin we had them reeling at 2 for 3 with a ridiculous A grade catch at first slip by none other than Rommel diving parallel to his right low down. The introduction of Marcus had immediate results with a wicket caught behind by fill-in keeper junior Zack Gerber and Connor clean bowling another bat the very next over.

Before the drinks break Gus ‘where is the next ball going’ Greenhalgh continued the wicket in the first over trend with a fine catch taken at square by Zack Van Dolder and Marcus took another caught by Gus. Kenthurst 6 for 69 at drinks.

Between drinks and tea Kenthurst put on 70 and the quick finish was off the cards.

A break does funny things and it was the Zac Attack combo with a caught behind by junior Gerber of Zack Van Dolder breaking the partnership and Rommel taking the other set bat brilliantly caught diving at gully by none other than Ross an inch off the ground.

The smile was infectious from all on the field but none other than our Director of Operations!

Rommel continued to toil away with celebrity bowling at the other end including Ramil De Silva who was impressive. Rommel clean bowled a bat for the 9th and player of the match Grant Gerber fittingly got amongst the wickets caught by Rommel in close to finish the game. 7 catches by our team today!

A big win for our team who stayed in the top 4 and looking for another good performance against 3rd placed St Ives in the 1 dayer before Xmas.

WPHC Blue (Arun) 137 lost to St Ives-Wahroonga 9/198

With 105 more runs to defend and missing out on a couple of key opening bowlers, we arrived at George Christie with the hope of making things really difficult for St Ives to chase it down. Praneel Singh tried hard to sell his rave party tickets on gumtree, but seems like inflation has really hit us hard.

Amith Ninan resumed the bowling along with Agniva from the other end and what eventuated in the first 10 overs was something no one saw coming. With successive good bowling apart from a few full tosses here and there, St Ives were 5 wickets down with still about 75 odd runs to chase down with 2 each going to Amith & Agni.

They struggled with the spin and Agni, Nirav and Chintan kept pushing their limits from one end till a couple of the St Ives batters decided to drop the anchor, however at the same time made sure they send the bad balls to where it deserved on the incredibly short squares.

They chased down the target 7 down but what was promising was that this very team was scoring 250+ every game before meeting our bowling attack. The captains decided to call it a day at drinks with St Ives at 9/198. Wickets – Amith (3); Agni (2), 1 each to Chintan, Ravi & Siby.

While not the result anyone wanted, we should be proud of the way we tried to defend the game, probably another 50 odd runs for us and it may have been a different scenario.

Another positive was the St Ives batter who have been hitting centuries for fun this season walk up to Nirav and Agni and mention how difficult they were to face.

On to the one dayers now which means shift of momentum and we as a unit look forward to get back to the winning ways. As Ross mentioned at the Club yesterday, we do have a decent team, time to rise and shine as a unit.

D2 Grade

WPHC (Ross S) 8/307 dec defeated Kenthurst Upper Hills 198

Day 2, another opportunity to see if the team is good enough to battle it out with the top rated team in the comp.

Weather was mild, and the temperature was just right for a good (long) day of cricket. The cloud cover was thick but there was no risk of rain. All the usual suspects you expect to see well before the start time were there today as well.

Ross and Jake set the sumps up and the score books were ready. Mick was ready to do his magic with the score books even though  it was not our turn to score. (Thanks Mick).

Gihan was running late and Ram had to drop his offspring to another cricket game at 1.30 PM.. Game started as planned. The Kenthurst team was in no rush to score runs. There were a few chances that went past us, but the hands weren’t ready to catch them.

The batters were slowly adding to the score until Mridal managed to upset the stumps of the set batter Kyle. The score was 34 and that was the 3rd wicket. Then it was Rogers’ chance to see what he could do with the ball. As you would expect from years of experience, Roger did his magic to get his first wicket and the 4^th Kenthurst wicket when the scores were 76.

There were a few bowling changes on the other end with Muthindra rolling his arm to see if it was his day to get a wicket. Roger was putting his master plans to use when the Kenthurst skipper decided to leave the ball.

Result is simple, Roger clean bowled him.

Now Roger was becoming the GOAT ! Now Roger is becoming our strike bowler. Next wicket came around not too soon, as expected Bowled Roger Caught Ghan. Now that is 5 down for Kenthurst. This is when the story line changed and the plot thickened. The opposition decided that it was now their responsibility to make us work extra hard for their wickets.

They were in no mood to score runs. It was evident that they refuse to take runs even when the ball goes closer to the boundary. Plan was simple, they were going to hang in there for good.

There were multiple bowling changes with no luck going our way. Finally, Gihan decided to do his leg spin bowling to see what he could do to break the partnership. After a 29 over partnership, Ben was out caught by Henry in the slips, bowled Gihan.

That was the wicket we were waiting for hours. Now the gates are open for us to go get the next wicket (Kenthurst were 2 players short). The score was 165/7 when their last batsman joined the crease. After 5 PM drinks, Ram decided it was time to go home. Last batsman’s middle stump flew off the ground giving us the victory. Final score 8/198.

Well done to the Kenhurst team for giving an unbelievable fight to keep the game alive. But as the saying goes, it was the survival of the fittest. (I know it sounds funny when we say “fittest” because you hardly find many in the team belonging to that category).

Besides that, another victory for the team and now we are at the top of the table. Bring on the last game before the Christmas holidays. Now the waiting game begins, 7 more days before we can get on the cricket field again.