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 – Round 14 (Day 2)

 

A1 Grade

WPHC Red (Cam) 9/210 drew with Berowra Maroon 5 down

Well that’s the regular season done and dusted and what a day to finish it than on World Pride Mardi Gras.

Billy and Mao celebrated by going to an all-male housewarming party on Satdee night near the City. I think some of the lower graders went so you can read about that party in more detail down below somewhere.

We arrived at Tuzza Muzza after they received 102mm of rain during the week to find a pitch that was reminiscent of something that would be dished up in Lahore. Funnily enough, both Berowra A grade teams – the playing team and the spectating team – arrived at the ground before most of our squad. I proudly arrived at 12.45. We were 6 down overnight, Krang decided to bat on.

Sav was 58* and it was decided we would bat for a few overs and try and put 20-30 more runs on the board. I joked with Sav that he would be a chance for his 100, he laughed me off but I knew he would be keen. And couldn’t you tell it from ball 1. He dispatched McNay all around the park and hit one of the cleanest, most effortless 6s I’ve ever seen off Collier. It was a batting Masterclass.

But Sav was running out of partners. Tommy Lav Hando couldn’t continue his brilliance from last week, Tiz got one of the greatest ducks I’ve ever seen (he was out there for 4 balls and should have been out all 4 times), Meiks got a diamond duck – all trying to get Sav to his 100.

9 down and Krang waddled wandered to the crease to join Sav, stranded down the other end on 99. Krang wanted a single, but astutely played and missed 5 of the 6 balls in the Collier over to give Sav a chance. As JP Smallhorn noted, he’s climbed some mountains in his time our Sav, but he’s never, never got an A Grade hundred before.

99 not out, 9 down. Sav tips one to mid-off and takes off for a suicidal single. A clean pick up and he’s out – fortunately that was not the case. Sav bringing up our second ton of the year and the Clubs 637^th overall. It was accompanied with one of the mutest celebrations – a half bat raise to the crowd and a small shrug of the shoulders. I’ve celebrated singles in a more enthusiastic way before.

I want to pause here because I asked Sav about this celebration at the pub after the game. And boy was I put back in my box quick smart.

Sav’s greatest 100 was against St George where the bowling attack included Copeland, Hazelwood and Henriques – and some leg spinner called Liam Zamitt who seemed pretty cool. That was a day he celebrated. “Must have been small boundaries” said Thomas Lav Hando. Sav’s face lit up “have you played there, at Hurstville oval!?” No Sav, out Mecca is our home ground ffs – Berowra Oval. I suppose McNay isn’t in the same league as a Liam Zammit…

Anyway back to the cricket, this glorious madness.

We put on 44, Sav 42 of them to finish 9/210ish. When Sav heard this, he complimented himself “what a superstar”. We had about 60 overs to bowl Berowra out.

We started ok with the ball but Berowra batted very well, very disciplined and didn’t give us much to work with. Griffin – who up until today we last got out in the summer of 97/98 – was his standard stalwart self – and it raised questions amongst the team and how on earth we would get him out. The brains trust came up with a solution – a leg side stumping. Billy Gaunt quick as a flash with the gloves off Sav. Richard Johnson got out in this time too but must have been uneventful because I cannot for the life of me remember how or who or what or why.

Maybe it’s the Goose I’m sipping on. Yes, you can taste the difference.

Berowra consolidated and they were batting time, locking us out of the game. We were bowling well, just couldn’t get the breakthrough. Until Lichaaa came back for his second spell and was able to give us a pulse, trapping Davenport in front LBW.

Berowra bat deep, they have a strong line-up. A glitter filled middle order with the likes of Rayner, Fullagar and Smallhorn. Which is why eyebrows were raised when McNay came out at no4. The captain elevating himself in the order and taking matters in his own hands.

It didn’t last long.

Lichaaa first ball trapping him plumb – and I’m talking plumb as plumb as plumb. You couldn’t not give it out, hitting the base of middle stump which probably would have cartwheeled like Simone Biles doing Vault. McNay wasn’t happy, trudging off and HURLING gear into the rooms which was met with wry cheers from those on the field.

Now the proper middle order came to the crease and they began to offer us some chances. Unfortunately most of those went to Assman D’Fielder who clearly still had his coconut sunscreen lotion on his hands. We just weren’t able to hold on to any, time began to tick.

Rayner and Fullager were batting well, and we were running out of time. Lichaaa was recalled and bowled Rayner in his first over but that’s where the life support ended. Smallhorn and Fullagar guiding Berowra to a draw and allowing them to hold onto the minor premiership.

We were close, but just weren’t able to get the job done.

Regardless it was a great match – high quality and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Our thanks to L Mac, Gas, Jamakin, Jed Rhodes, Joe, Hollywood, Jes, Emma Payne (please stop emailing me), Rory, Charlie the little gay dog, Luna and Geoff Hasler for coming to watch us.

A2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Campbell) 6/163 defeated ARL 159

Those who read last week’s column will remember the praise showered on young Harry Hando, who delivered an angelic, almost heavenly spell of bowling that was described as a spiritual experience by his teammates.

Well this week Harry Hando proved he was in fact human and not a God-like figure by contracting covid.

With our sub Andrew Morris in, we set about the chase of 160 at the Garden of Headen. The outfield had slowed considerably since last week, if it was any slower it would’ve been challenging Dean in an IQ test.

Alas, with World Pride in Sydney, it was obvious what we needed to do. Bat with some Pride. Something that’s been lacking this year.

After 2 balls we were 1 for 0. In the third over we were 2 for 2. No Pride just yet.

Our second wicket to fall was that of Soham who was trapped LBW and insisted on waiting for the umpire’s decision OUTSIDE of his crease. This resulted in the stumps being thrown down, both the standing umpire and the square leg umpire raising their finger in unison to give Soham out twice in the one ball. While some might say this is laziness or a freak incident, Soham is cleverer than that.

He’s given the opposition two for the price of one. The cricket universe will remember such generosity and repay him in due course.

At 4 for 41, we were in a spot of bother. But Shaan and Campbell had come together.

A match so perfect, it may as well have been made at Mardi Gras. Shaan- the strokeplayer, fluid and crisp in every shot, a certain panache and flair that only he can conjure. Campbell- the unyielding fighter, unorthodox but extremely effective and unrelenting in pursuit of the target.

Two very different men, coming together in a united force, helping each other achieve and making each other happy. You ask yourself, isn’t THIS what Pride is all about?

An 88-run partnership that set us on the course for victory. They hit just 4 boundaries between them, which shows you just how difficult they were to come by. Lucky Shaan and Campbell love running between the wickets, some other team members would have struggled.

Shaan made 50, while Campbell guided us home with 69*. To quote Campbell – “that’s just my first 69 of the day”. Go on son. You deserve it. See you on Oxford Street.

Campbell’s night almost ended very early though. Our skipper narrowly avoided driving straight into young Soham’s mother’s car. Improve for next time.

Big thanks to the excellent contributions from Jed and Rochow, both of whom made classy ducks and didn’t bowl. Can’t have done it without you.

A spot in the Grand Final goes on the line next week. We. Are. Ready.

B1 Grade

WPHC Red (Birdcage) drew with Normanhurst-Warrawee 5/219

Match report not received.

WPHC Blue (Shomik) 8/155 drew with Castle Hill 203

Even though our chances of making the postseason were slim to none, it was an exciting end to the season.

With only two wickets required, it was a simple wrap-up. However, thinking that the batsman coming in at number 11 is a tail-ender in park cricket is foolish, to say the least. It took an extra 20 overs for the final two wickets to fall, all but ending our chances of winning.

Today belonged to Shomik; his batting finesse and raw hitting power stood firm. I had the privilege of being in the middle, batting with Shomik; no part of the ground could hold this man. He saw the kookaburra like a beach ball and toyed with the bowlers and their lines and lengths.

After the game, Shomik, and I quote, said, “After that over, he signalled to his captain that he didn’t want to bowl anymore.” With boundary after boundary, there was a glimmer of hope that he would carry us to victory. Still, unfortunately, a lack of field restrictions brought his innings to a bittersweet end. With what I could count on the sideline, there were 8 fielders boundary riding. A crunching lofted on-drive was caught by a diving fielder; I don’t think he could’ve picked a more athletic fielder to hit.

An agonising 91 on the verge of the team’s maiden 100 for the season was so sad; everyone was glued to the field, just waiting for what part of the ground he would access next. When enjoying beers and pizza post-game, you could not see any sadness or disappointment from Shomik. He was so excited to have played such a dominant inning.

Back to the story, there was more to the excellent batting at the pointy end of the team’s innings. Shomik had departed with 15 overs to spare and left the final 5 to save the game, and when one brought two, West Penno only had two wickets remaining. A blockathon ensued; the Castle Hill attack could not shake this impenetrable wall. Mohsin and Amit played outstanding cricket, leading to a close draw. I’ll briefly describe two of the classiest shots I have seen from these two.

After being peppered by the opening bowler in the second last over, there was a last-ditch effort to create a chance. Coming around the wicket and aiming for Amit’s stumps, Amit clipped the ball off of his pads for a boundary, a loud and deserving cheer in that high-pressure moment.

The best way to end the season came from Mohsin; fielders were crowding around, and every dot ball brought oohs and ahhs from all 22 players. Knowing that only two wickets and one ball remained, Mohsin spanked the opening bowler in a lofted cover drive for a fantastic four.

A game of back and forth, hope and despair, Mohsin being Mohsin, you felt that every over would bring something special. I know we could not end the season with a win, but the joy and comradery afterwards really displayed how far we have come.

Writing these reports has been a pleasure, and I want to thank all the boys for their efforts this year.

B2 Grade

WPHC (Todd) 7/152 defeated St Ives Wahroonga 62 & 2/72

I want to keep this short and sweet, and highlight a story that will define Dylan Bish…

After Dylan Bish’s awful 4 runs in which he was bowled going for a ball his teammates warned him about. He took to the stands to film a batting masterclass, Connor Hindmarch. Connor battled his way to 48* before Dylan Bish took it upon himself to film the moment of Connor bringing up his 50. He was of course bowled on 48 and the Dylan Bish curse lives on this season. As he continues to jinx and terrorise our top order batters we sit here and wonder if he’s really FAG quality.

Thanks to a handy contribution form Josh Banner 20 and a brilliant partnership from Jude Boyle 47 (dismissal: jinxed Dylan Bish) and Connor Hindmarch 48 (dismissal: jinxed Dylan Bish) we’d make our way to 152, sailing last St Ives 62, and claim the Minor Premiership.

We’d attempt an outright which didn’t get much momentum but was highlighted by Xander Vink bowling an amazing 8 over spell taking 2-14.

On to next week, where an important semi final awaits!

C1 Grade

WPHC (Kapil) 115 & 7/118 lost to Kissing Point 6/142

Day 2 scores and match report not received.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Rob) 8/229 drew with Hornsby 3/109

Match report to come. We understand that Will scored 100* – his first ton and our 516^th.  More to come.

WPHC Red (Indranil) 139 lost to Castle Hill 7/142

The team had lot of expectations going into Week 2 and came with a positive frame of mind.

However, at the end of the day the results did not go our way but before closing the curtains to the season, it should be described as a season which showed lot of potential in the initial rounds, a bit of down curve in the middle of the season and then in the end some good knocks showed what the team could have achieved.

But getting on what happened today, we lost the last 2 wickets with not much addition to week 1 score. We toiled with our bowling the 1^st 20 overs only getting 1 wicket. And then the team fought back with intent and chipped away CHRSL wickets.

A big call out to Rizul who showed why he is known as “Braveheart” Gulati, bowling 17 overs in the day finishing 3/48. Also great show of bowling from Vishnu, Riley, Haseeb (1/9), Inam, Aayush (1/9), Amrit (1/12) and Ansh.

You don’t get so many accurate bowlers in one team, and all of them gave their best.

With not many runs on board to defend, CHRSL chased down the total in the last 15 mins of play. We wish all the finalists “Best of Luck” and commiserations to the teams who were unable to make it.

Sadly, the Blue team drew their game so no WPH team representation in the C2 grade. We should have had one combined team across the pool which would have realized a different outcome. Towards the next season then….

C3 Grade

WPHC Blue (Tarun) 126 lost to St Ives Wahroonga 211

Welcome back to the latest episode of FantasC3’s and if you captained Lachlan Edwards, or St. Ives’ “Deano” and Chris Kok you are happy this fine Sunday morning, if you play for the WPH C3 Blue’s you are feeling the complete opposite. Despite coming into the season optimistic about a finals berth, today marked the end of the road for us, losing the only way we know how to – tragically.

Last week’s effort in the field restricted top of the table St. Ives to 211. Confident in chasing it down we got off to the most horrific start possible, losing Munish early due to a Justin Langer clicky bat handle situation, but instead with his lid. The cricketing god’s sent down another middle finger as Jay was run out after he was confused on which of the 18 million line markings on the pitch was the actual crease. The subsequent scenes after old mate at point got his first run out in 45 years of cricket has been taken up with the match review committee and he has been charged with Grade 3 Carry On.

Lachie scored 64.

In other news the sky is blue. Along with Pete, the two consolidated with a decent partnership of 40 odd. Lachie did what he does best, plenty of eloquent stroke making whilst Pete fashioned some nice shots of his own. Both batsmen were not rewarded for their batting as the boundary seemed to have been switched out from last week (just like the Nagpur wicket between innings), forcing Pete to run more 3’s today than he would’ve hoped for.

After the tea break the inevitable happened and we collapsed.

Pete fell cheap, Mao Mao “was in a hurry”, Jack’s ego was bruised and Lach was dismissed, finishing the season with a total of 596 runs (28.89% of our team total) for the season @ 49.67 (not good enough – maybe try and get 600 next season champion). All jokes aside we love you Lachie and pls don’t play B Grade next year.

Not much to write about in the cricketing department as Shaq was dismissed for a patient 8, leaving myself and Pat to put on 100 for the win – considering we bat 9 & 10 we were impressed by our heroic 25 run stand. Pat batted nicely, flexing a few shots in his repertoire, staying in for more than 2 balls scoring a nice 12*. At the other end however I finally played an attacking stroke hitting a short ball for 4 with a shot critics are calling “the best they’ve ever seen”. To be honest I don’t agree with that, I’d say it was better than how they described it. I was so excited by it however I lost my off stump next ball for 8 (30).

To put the season in review it wasn’t the best for the team but there’s plenty to build on.

There were lots of highlights for every player and the season could’ve ended a lot better if we were able to put those highlights together more consistently. In the big moments we couldn’t withstand the pressure, dropping a catch when defending a total or throwing our wicket away cheaply chasing a total. However, when asked at the Club by Captain Tarun what we could’ve done better this season Lachlan simply answered “scored more runs and taken more wickets”…cricket is a simple game.

Although the results weren’t great on the field, off the field, club legend Ross Anderson was able to safely say that our match report quality was the highest standard in the Club.

So to Michael Richards – step it up next year.

WPHC Red (Cameron) 173 defeated St Ives104

The win today puts us clearly into the semi finals with WPH Red either finishing 2^nd or 3^rd depending on the results from other matches.

The day started with WPH on 8/141 after batting the entire day during the heatwave of last weekend it what was a very slow field with long grass. During the week the Council mowed the field giving a clear advantage to the team batting second.

Instructions for WPH was simple – bat a further maximum of 15 overs and score 40 runs. Well this was nearly achieved with a quick fire 24 from Brent Van Wyk and we ending the innings being all out on 173, leaving a further minimum 58 overs to play.

Our bowling was exceptional and at the first drinks break we had the opposition at 0/14 of 13 overs. This meant the pressure was mounting and despite Beecroft’s 2 openers showing some resistance, bowling changes and careful field placements saw the wickets starts to tumble.

It was evident that with one over left to play, Beecroft were playing for a draw. However Makund had different ideas and came on for his second spell and took 3/18 off 10 overs.

With 4 overs left in the game and Beecroft at 9/96 we knew it wasn’t runs we were defending but clearly 1 wicket to get.

Saurabh Kapoor bowling from one end and Aniket Mahindre from the other, we were desperately trying to get the final wicket.

That wicket came on the first ball of the last over with an absolute ripper of a deliver from Saurabh and a very smart catch taken at first slip by Rohit Bhulla sealed the victory.

Well done boys – the victory was sweet but each of you should be proud of your personal contributions and self belief which has really made us very competitive this season. Semi finals – here we come!

C4 Grade

WPHC (Hiresh) 277 drew with St Ives Wahroonga 5/143

What an eventful way to end our season. A bit hard to describe in a match report, but I’ll try my best to include the important parts. Although not what we had hoped for, it seemed almost fitting to end in such a way.

With 6 wickets in hand, we planned to go hard for approximately 15 overs before attempting to bowl St Ives out. We didn’t get off to a great start with Jagbir (86) bowled in the 2^nd over of the day and Renesh (3) out LBW 3 balls later. Jags put on a quick-fire 31 from 16 featuring 2 sixes and 4 fours in a row. Unfortunately he was caught in the deep off a short ball, Hiresh (4) following him to the sheds the next over. Fill-in Murali (7) and Shanks (9*) made handy contributions and the end before we were all out for 277 after a total 79.2 overs as Jerry (4) was bowled trying to hack the ball in our last over before declaration.

Bala got an early rock, tearing their opener’s stumps out of the ground with a beautiful delivery. From there Jerry got warned for “dangerous bowling” following 2 full tosses and Sparsh was suspended from bowling pace after getting a wicket due to him supposedly chucking the ball with video evidence.

Anyways, from there our energy seemed to have dropped as we struggled to break a partnership between their Captain and their COVID replacement. Eventually we broke the partnership through a stunning catch by Bala running in from the long-on boundary off Ratul’s bowling. From there, we trekked through the remaining overs, rotating our bowlers and trying to enjoy our last session as a team for the year. Shanks was able to pick up the wicket of their skipper, while Jerry finished it off with the 5th wicket, where we decided to end the game in a draw after 47.4 overs, St Ives Wahroonga 5/143.

In the end it was all smiles, as we happily shook hands with our opposition and wished them luck for the finals.

Note: A highlight from today is that we bowled no wides for the first time.

Our day ended with us forcing Shanks to walk through a guard of honour to commemorate his last full season before his potential sabbatical, although Ratul has been tasked with messaging him everyday to convince him to play next season.

We couldn’t have asked for a better season (except for maybe a couple more wins), being the first seniors season for many of us.

And with that we say goodbye to the 2022/2023 season, ready to gear up and bring on 2023/2024.

D1 Grade

WPHC Red (Diggers) 80 lost to Hornsby 4/255 dec

To make the finals we needed to finish the game with at least a Draw (although a win would be better). When we arrived at Les Shore 1, Hornsby decided to continue batting and resumed the day at 3/205 looking to make quick runs. Unfortunately we were two players down in the field and Hornsby took full advantage, batting with clear intent. The only positive from the session was Connor taking another wicket, caught by Gus as replacement wicket keeper (and maybe his future position after doing a great job on a number of occasions).

Hornsby were able to score quickly and declared at 4/255, which meant we had to face a minimum of 62 overs. Luckily our two late players had arrived and we had a full batting line-up. We started well with Cliff (18) and Quan (13) opening the batting and putting on solid opening stance. Quan got a good ball that swung in, which brought Ramil to the crease but he didn’t stay long. Just before the drinks break Cliff also fell and we were starting to get nervous at 3/35.

Connor and Harry (our star U13 player of the future), steadied the ship after drinks and looked like getting us to the tea break without any further loss. However just before drinks Connor was out caught and we went to tea at 4/46 after 32 overs.

Needing to face another 30 overs to save the Draw, we went back out after the tea break with clear intent, but unfortunately Hornsby was bowling straight an accurate and a steady procession of wickets fell. Rommel (21*) proved the only resistance as we were bowled out for 80 (including 6 bowled and 2 lbw) in the 40^th over. Not the way we wanted to finish the regular season and unless some results go our way (although highly unlikely), it’s likely we will miss the finals.

Some special call outs for the season are Diggers for again putting his hand up to Captain; Cliff and Gus for initially registering as fill-ins and ending up being key regular players in the team; Connor for his all round performance batting and bowling; Grant for his fantastic century (the last one scored for our team was our previous Captain, Guatam, about 5 seasons ago); Quan’s batting and fielding efforts despite being injured for most of the season; and our U13 players and their families (especially Harry and Ben).

Overall a sincere thanks again to all the players and supporters in making it an enjoyable season and I look forward to the next season!

WPHC Blue (Arun) 176 defeated Normanhurst-Warrawee 95 & 4/35

Last day of the season 2022-23 for the D1 Blue and felt like things normalized for us right at the end.

Carrying on from last week’s score of 0-4 chasing down Normo’s 95, openers Arun and Sahil commenced cautiously trying to see off their solid pace attack. One of their seamers, a left-armer was bowling with incredible pace and accuracy which did force us to a slow start and eventually got a top edge of Sahil’s bat at square leg.

Arun and Anubhav then anchored the innings, scoring with sheer flamboyance all around the park and things started to look up till Arun fell to another blinder of a delivery and catching by the keeper. After a couple of quick dismissals and still about 60 odd to get, Ravi joined Anubhav in the middle and what then evolved was a knock of pure grit and determination from both the batter.

While Ravi kept things tight at one end, Anubhav played the knock of this season and bolted to 77 which sixes all around the park. The team now know how big a fan of Shahrukh Khan

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Rukh_Khan) ANubhab is and whenever we need him to score, we try and remind him that he walks like SRK just to boost up his morale.

We finished our innings at 176 with a 81 run lead and with still about 90 mins left in the days play, Arun decided to send Normo back in for their second innings and our first ever chance this season for an outright. With a minimu of 18 overs overs in the days play, Mridul & Praneel fired up again carrying in the form from last week but it was the first change in Ravi which got us a breakthrough. What then happened with the next change in Siby has everyone rolling on the floor laughing. 2 extremely short & bad balls came in as tempters and the consecutive batters decided to have a swing at them and got out pretty much in similar fashion. Normo ended the day at 4-35 but this win in the last game of the season meant a lot to us.

All up a great season with some incredible memories made and we look forward to coming back stronger in a few months’ time.

Good luck to all the finalists and we cannot wait to see some if not all of these teams lift their respective cups. Go West Penno!!!!

D2 Grade

WPHC (Ross S) 7/172 drew with Thornleigh 195

So to recap after week 1. 4^th place us Vs 2^nd place Thornleigh who have only lost 1 game all season. With a semi spot confirmed a win here would put us into 3^rd place and a draw with enough quotient increase only 0.066 between us and third place would also leap frog us into 3rd place.

With 9 wickets down Thornleigh continued to bat with their skipper unbeaten. So we went into the field hoping to take the final wicket quickly. Henry opened the bowling with spin. First ball a single to their captain. Second ball a stumping by Ray. Thornleigh all out 195, 67 overs to bat. Henry finishing with 3/34.

Whilst 195 was within our capabilities the field was really slow (in the end only 13 *4 from 8 batters, noting Ray hit 11 of them), and given string of poor batting performances since before Christmas, all the skipper wanted was us to have application in our batting in anticipation of the semis to give us a shot at 3^rd place.

Ross and Ray opened the batting and it was our best opening partnership of the season, before Ross was deceived by a slow one in the 20^th over….1/35. Whist scoring was slow it set the tone for our batting innings.

Our second wicket then did not fall until the 43^rd over just before the tea break.

A really solid partnership between Ray and Mridal. At tea 2/92…with Ray contributing over ½ of the runs….the loss of another wicket just after tea, saw Sach join Ray to put together another partnership of 35, with Ray reaching another 50. At 3/141 needing another 55 runs off 20 overs the target was well in reach, just but before the final drinks break we lost Sach…4/142 with Ray no on 92…..

18 overs to go and 54 needed. Unfortunately 2 quick wickets and some very accurate bowling made run scoring very difficult…10 overs to go 40 needed…still an opportunity…..the skippers words were simple. Hit the bad ball but don’t get out….if we get the runs great, but with an eye on the quotient a draw would probably get us through. Unfortunately the very next over, Ray on 98 got an unplayable delivery that bounced no more than ankle high on a length and was bowled. If anyone ever deserved a hundred it was Ray today, opening the batting and taking us through to the 66^th over….unfortunately not his day,  but a great innings in difficult batting conditions.

With 8 overs left and 33 needed, it looked like we might just sneak through into 3^rd on quotient, so we shut shop…..Ram and Henry taking us to 7/172 at stumps and a draw….

At the time of writing this report I am just not sure if we did enough to get the small quotient boost….never the less we made the semis and winning the next 2 games irrespective of who we play is our aim.

A really great effort from the team today and exactly what is needed in the finals…