Points Table (as at Round 14)

A Grade (Cam) – 2^nd (75 points)

A2 Grade (Campbell) – 3^rd (33 points)

B1 Red (Birdcage) – 4^th (60 points)

B1 Blue (Shomik) – 6^th (39 points)

B2 (Todd) – 1^st (63 points)

C1 (Kapil) – 5^th (50 points)

C2 Red (Indranil) – 5^th (45 points)

C2 Blue (Rob) – 6^th (43 points)

C3 Red (Cameron) – 3^rd (54points)

C3 Blue (Tarun) – 6^th (40 points)

C4 (Hiresh) – 6^th (44 points)

D1 Red (Diggers) – 5^th (51 points)

D1 Blue (Arun) – 9^th (36 points)

D2 (Ross S) – 4^th (61 points)

Match Reports – Semi Finals (Day 1)

A1 Grade

WPHC (Cam) (2^nd) 8/69 Vs Berowra White (3^rd) 81

Hello readers – I am again humbled to know another Opposition side reads this report each and every week.

Unfortunately I don’t know your names as well as I do the other Berowra side, but I will try my best to make you feel included. Smally said last week that Timmy Onions was only ever picked in his sides to write the match report. I always liked him – and got him out – so hopefully I can do his reports justice.

Before I begin, I want everyone to know that I did something I never, ever do. I scrolled down beyond re-reading my own article on the A1 match report and skimmed through the lower grades. I want to address the fact that Ross said, on record, that my match report isn’t the best – the fact that TWO Berowra teams read this shows the enormous traffic I bring to this website. No doubt we are taking advantage through our tracking and targeted ads.

We started early today. For some reason, the Association decides to throw the entire rule book out the window for the finals and play a completely different format – 90 overs. We were at Parklands and the pitch looked to have a bit of grass on it, maybe some life in it for the bowlers for once. It was a good toss to win.

We won the toss and bowled.

Krang stressed the importance of everyone taking note of the early time for the match to start. Everyone noted it with thanks, except for Ashane De Silva – he only realised we were meant to be at the ground when the team Instagram posted a video of Jackson Preedy.

For those that follow us, check that video out, it’s a classic. Wu and Gas turned up 10 minutes before the game. Krang complained about being sweaty pre game – Meiks noted it was 22 degrees, low humidity and he was inside the changerooms.

Despite dropping about 30 catches last week, we decided on no warm up. We walked onto the ground 10 mins before the game and had a chat.

Tiz and Lichaaa opened us up and the ball was hooping around early.

Lichaaa struck early with a great juggling catch at second slip by Sav “Eskimo Joe” Clarence. He was able to double down by getting Will Fielder bowled through the gate just a few overs later. Tiz joined in the party with a wicket, a blinder reflex catch taken by Meiks in the gully. Lichaaa was able to get another one LBW and very quickly, Berowra were 4/30 and in trouble.

The crowd slowly filtered in, highlighted with the attendance of club legend Ross Anderson. He stayed for 2 overs and left. Then came back later and left. Then came back again. Snip snap snip snap snip snap. It was great to see the legend himself. He asked whether Lichaaa can really swing it both ways. He didn’t believe Krang when he confirmed it. He must cut it, Ross said. No Ross, that’s swing – BOTH ways, on command.

Back to the cricket and wickets kept tumbling after lunch. Meiks, Sav and Krang joined in the wickets action – the highlight was Meiks taking another classic catch in the covers of Krang. We could have had more wickets – a dropped catch to Mao and one of the weirdest missed stumping off Billy you’ve ever seen. Billy took it clean down the leg side, had the guy out of his crease, went to take the bails off, missed completely and then celebrated like he had the wicket.

Anyway Lichaaa made it 5 when he picked up another caught behind – 5/18 off 15.1 and our clubs 864th 5fer. Berowra bowled out for 81.

We needed 82 to win on first innings and regular readers of this column would know that any side that puts 20+ runs on against us is in with a chance. Preeds and Wu opened us – Wu receiving a big round of applause when he got off the mark. It was short lived, caught LBW agaaaain.

Preeds was next to go – he bunted one to mid-wicket and took off. Mao sending him back down the other end and Preeds falling well short of his ground. 2/9 and a little bit of nervousness as we heading to tea.

Billy Gaunt was next and he left one on off stump – bowled first ball. Tony Gaunt very happy he had come up halfway to Newcastle to watch his son. He left immediately. 3/9.

Sav came in and boy did we need him. Him and Mao consolidated and batted well, using time to tick over the scoreboard. Mao especially looked good – until he was edged off. 4 down and still nervous.

Lichaa joined Sav for a mini consolidation but Berowra were bowling well. The ball was moving drastically and it was not easy to bat. As Lichaa found out when he also edged off. 5 down and in trouble. It was double trouble when Tommy Lav Hando knicked off as well for 1. 6 down and on life support.

Moods on the sidelines didn’t seem too bad though – Sav was in. Wu said that why on earth would he want to get better, when he knows Sav will save him every time. There is no incentive to improve, when Sav always saves us. He told Meiks that if he batted, at no 10, he knew it would be over.

Tiz joined Sav – 30 to get and an hour left. The two batted very well, especially Tiz – who Ross thinks name is Tim – supporting Sav gallantly. Tiz was out in the last over in the day, skying a hook shot to mid-on.

So here it is folks, the equation is 12 runs to win on first innings and 2 wickets in hand. It’ll be great first hour next week, and I’ll look forward to your company then. Good punting

A2 Grade

WPHC (Campbell) (3^rd) 3/61 Vs Glenorie (4^th) 114

Batters and bowlers. So often that’s what cricket is narrowed to.

“Are you a batsmen or a bowler?” a well-meaning acquaintance will ask when they hear you play cricket.

“Any wickets or runs this weekend?” another will pose. They don’t know the damage they’re doing.

This binary view. Two sides of a coin.

I ask you, “why does no-one ever think of the wicketkeepers?”

Today we acknowledge an outstanding performance with the gloves from Steve Rochow. When Glenorie were five wickets down, Rochow had all five catches.

The catches were an assortment of wicket-keeping mastery, diving one-handers and cat-like reflexes.

“Best keeper at the Club!” – a spectator.

“Billy Gaunt couldn’t catch that!” – a second spectator.

But of course, for these catches to be taken, the bowlers have to be finding the edges.

A terrific spell from Dean Carlin got us off to a flier, including his 200^th wicket for the club. Deano finished with 4 poles from a great spell.

We also welcomed back Matt “2 first names” Phillip after a long time out with a Club-inflicted broken hand (thank you to Michael Gunn if he’s reading).

Matty P hadn’t missed a beat, he picked up 2 wickets. In what was definitely our best session of the year, we took 7 Glenorie wickets before the first drinks, they were all out for 114.

To the batting.

For years now, there has been no cooler person at the club than Tanay Hira. The man oozes confidence, swagger in every stride as his chain bounces around his neck. A true swashbuckler.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is my most solemn duty to inform you that Tanay’s days as the King of Cool are over.

After a wardrobe malfunction, Tanay rocked up wearing a SYDNEY LIONS shirt. Hideous, repulsive and unbecoming. It would be like James Bond ditching his suit for a $2 Bintang singlet from Bali.

Despite his ghastly shirt, Tanay “Mufasa” Hira batted well, 20* at stumps. Would’ve been 50* in Ross-Anderson approved WPHCCC playing attire.

Campbell “no first names” Wallace, our privately educated Captain, closed out the day by picking a fight with a Glenorie fielder who has probably won more fights than 70kg Campbell has run marathons. And Campbell runs marathons for “fun”.

A Grand Final berth is ours for the taking.

B1 Grade

WPHC Red (Birdcage) (4^th) Vs Normanhurst (1^st) 5/207

The cricketing gods can be kind and they can be cruel. When we rocked up to Normo oval we thought they may have been kind to us.

They were not.

Full credit to the bowlers who toiled long and hard all day, Cam and Starry being the pick of the bowlers.

We end the day with a mountain to climb but the game is not quite out of reach with Normo just passing 200 for 5 wickets down.

Wish us luck.

B2 Grade

WPHC (Todd) (1^st) 3/131 Vs Sydney Lions (4^th)

Our loyal readers should remember the antics of our own Dylan Bish, who last week played a key role in dismissing a few of our batsmen, most infamously Connor Hindmarch.

This left the skipper with a difficult phone call to make during the week and drop Mr Bish due to poor attitude…. Dylan would decide to milk an ankle injury and claim this was the reason he was sitting out.

Lions would bring their specialist toss caller out to call the toss, and he’d call correctly, and we’d be sent into bat.

Connor Hindmarch and Michael ‘The Volcano’ Banner would open the batting and form a formidable partnership.

The parting words from the Skipper as they went out to bat was “see you lads at drinks” to which they would respond by returning at tea. Battling through some tight bowling from Lions they would battle hard. After tea Volc (52) would fall to a good sharp chance in close. Connor (25) would also fall a little later and was quite unlucky I must admit.

A tremendous opening stand with both last 3+ hours and setting up the day for us. The skipper would reward Volc with a well-earned piece of garlic bread back at the sporto.

Lachlan Edwards earned a well-deserved call up into the side after a stellar season with the bat and was unlucky but looked at home in B2s.

Chris Williamson (10*) batted 3 and battled for 2 hours occupying the crease in a vital partnership with Jude Boyle (34*) who’d see us from 3/89 through to 3/131 at drinks. Jude would launch 2 sixes into the bush at Greenway and showed great composure and positive intent in his innings.

We shall return next week, with a huge 70 overs awaiting, and a spot in the GF on the line. Everything to play for.

Thanks to those from the Club who came down to Greenway to show their support, much appreciated.

C3 Grade

WPHC Red (Cameron) (3^rd) Vs Kissing Point (2^nd) 141

Today Kissing Point won the toss and elected to bat first at Mimosa Oval which suited WPH as we were going to elect to bowl if the toss had gone our way.

During the week there was quite a bit of rain and the ground was fairly slow.

Our bowlers bowled extremely well today only conceding 3 boundaries all day on a small ground.

• Session one KP were 2/37
• Session 2 KP moved to 4/61
• Session 3 KP 7/101
• Finally all out with 2 overs left for the day at 141.

There were some smart catches and some quality fielding today but we dropped our intensity in the last session through tiredness and fatigue really started to take effect.

Genuinely the Opposition probably should have been kept to a total of around 110/ 115 but we conceded too many extras and gave away too many runs through simple misfields.

We have a shot at making the Grand Final next week and need 142 runs to do so. I would think that total is achievable on Mimosa providing our batsmen some the fortitude required to play with patience and determination.

Good job today!

D2 Grade

WPHC (Ross S) (4^th) Vs Beecroft (1^st) 6/165

Day 1 of a must win game for us as we finished in 4th place.

Skipper lost the toss and Beecroft decided to bat. Our new ball attack of Ram and Mridal started off strongly. It was clear the Opposition had no intention of trying to score runs from the outset. First 3 overs maidens. The breakthrough came in the 8^th over, another unplayable in-swinger from Mridal cleaned up the stumps…both Ram and Mridal bowling beautifully.

A wonderful piece of fielding by Gihan at mid-on, with a direct hit at the opposite end knocking out middle stump, saw the other stubborn opener dismissed. Beecroft 2/31 at the 20 over drinks break.

A change in bowling, first over after drinks Henry enticed the new batter to take a swipe and Ram taking a good catch at mid-on, 3/33 and we are right in it.

With the Beecroft batsmen not taking any chances, they were difficult to dislodge. A few balls in the air landing between fieldsmen and a few close LBW calls again not given were disappointing, but the batsmen were giving no chances.

We finally broke the 33 over partnership when Jake enticed the batsman to smash a ball directly to Mridal in the covers. A great catch. 92 run partnership was broken. Beecroft 4/123….drinks were taken at the 60 over mark….Beecroft intent on grinding 4/136….

What was really pleasing was the effort we put in over the last 15 overs….new ball taken after 65 overs and a 10 over hostile spell by Ram and Mridal, generating a number of chances, first over with the new ball, a wicket to Mridal, catch by Henry in mid-wicket to dismiss their top scorer.

Mridal was unlucky not to have more wickets to his tally with a few catches going down….Then finally an LBW to Ram in the last over. The longest deliberation I’ve ever encountered given middle stump would have cartwheeled…..Beecroft finished the day 6/165 off 75 overs.

Wickets to Mridal 2/23(16), Ram 1/32 (20), Henry 1/15 and Jake 1/23…catches to Ram & Henry, and a runout to Gihan.

Back next week with 4 wickets needed, before the chase can begin.

John Hayne Cup

Round 1

WPHC C3 109 lost to Hornsby C4 TBA

Montview Oval greeted us with a pitch comparable to thick carpet, as our stand-in skippers Will and Jack lost the toss against Hornsby and were sent in to bat.

Munish and our fill-in, Riley (6) opened up and got us off to a solid start, seeing off the new ball before Riley lost his wicket. Another fill-in, Ratul, formed a partnership with Munish as we made our way to 49 before Ratul was dismissed for 8.

The old adage 1 brings 2, came to fruition as Munish soon followed Ratul back to the sheds for 23. All of a sudden we were 3-50 and in some trouble, and unfortunately wickets continued to fall as Jay (4) and Jack (9) fell in quick succession to leave us at 5/71

Rommel and Tarun batted together for a while before Rommel was dismissed, sending Will to the crease, who batted time with Tarun as the total went past 100. Eventually, Will lost his wicket which, brought Michael West (who was supposed to do the match report) to the crease, only to walk back soon after arriving.

Tarun was running out of partners, but fortunately time was on our side, as the innings was drawing to a close. Pat also stayed in until the final over, scoring 5 and then yours truly (Nathan) came in with 3 balls left in the innings, I’ll set the scene for you:

• First ball. Swing. Miss.
• Second ball. Swing. Top edge. Sitter. Dropped. Tarun on strike.
• Final ball of the innings. Four runs.

Now the bowling, we were defending 109 runs to win. Pat (0-17) and Jay (1-10) took the new ball, unfortunately luck was not on our side as edges went over our head or dropped short. Top edges landed in gaps. It just was not our day. Riley and I (Nathan) came on and kept it tight with both of us finishing with 0-10 off our 3 overs.

Will and Ratul came on and kept applying the pressure that the bowlers before them had built up. Heading to drinks we had only conceded 45 runs in 18 overs, however we hadn’t taken a wicket yet. That all changed when Ratul took 2 in his first over after drinks, removing both of their openers. He finished with 2-10 from his 5 overs

Our co-captain, Jack came on to bowl and got straight into the action, taking 2 wickets in his first over. Jack was also on a hat-trick ball but much like the rest of our day, luck was not on our side. No hat-trick unfortunately.

Jack got another wicket, and was on fire, before Hornsby then stabilised and ended up getting the runs easy.

Another wicket fell to Jay as we kept playing on, but in the end, our batting was not quite up to scratch without our star opener, Lachlan Edwards. If we had a bit of luck on our side in the field, this game might have been a lot closer, but that’s cricket sometimes.

WPHC C2 Vs Glenorie C1 @ Dural Park

Details to come.