Headline achievements

• Best performances from Day 2 of Round 11 are:
  • Matt Marsden (C1) scored 102 – our 459^th ton and 14^th this season – well done Matt
  • We won 4 games, lost 3 and drew 3
  • Best bowler on Day 2 was:
    • Cameron McBrien 4/26 (B1).

A1 Grade

WPHC 106 lost to ARL 118 & 3/125 – resuming at 1/38 with 9 wickets to get the 81 runs required for victory it was a disappointing day in the office for the lads. Against a lesser opposition we struggled to create partnerships with the bat. Our deep batting order almost got the job done but we fell 12 runs short in the end. Philthy Phil top scored with a neat 23, Jobbo continued his good form with the bat as he scored 20.

We tried to force a second innings result but as the wicket flattened out it become very easy for the batsmen to keep us out. With results going our way, we still have a 9-point gap to 3^rd place but with this hiccup in our season we will bounce back next week in another crucial game for us against Normo who have slipped out of the top 4 in a tight competition.

A2 Grade

WPHC 9/228 drew with Kenthurst 235 – a hard fought day’s cricket between the 1st and 3rd teams in the competition. Through the first 2 sessions, Kenthurst were able to halt our run chase by taking wickets, leaving us at 5/95.

Alex ‘Robbo’ Robertson hit an exciting 36, before Anuj ‘Nuja’ Dhorajiwala and Allan ‘Raffa’ Raffel got together, to put on 62 for the 6th wicket, taking us to 6/157, and giving us a chance to win. Nuja was superb, striking the ball into gaps on his way to 44. Raffa played a vital role in consolidating our position, as he showed tremendous concentration in hot conditions, whilst compiling 39.

Raffa and Alex ‘Hooch’ Turner (24) then put on 40 for the 7th wicket, to get us closer to our target. After they both fell, Andy ‘Fernie’ Meikle and Luke ‘Gandis’ Herzog were joined, needing 34, with 2 wickets in hand. After Fernie was dismissed for a brisk 15, and with 16 needed off 23 balls, no risks were taken with the final wicket, and we fell 7 runs short, for the loss of 9 wickets.

Although we pushed hard for the win, a draw demonstrates that we will not be beaten, and that our team has wonderful character and spirit.

B1 Grade

B2 Grade

WPHC 97 & 2/47 lost to SKLPS 5/171 dec – we were on the end of a belting today. Unfortunately the grass had been cut at Gilroy College during the week and the hot weather had burned it dry so the ground was very fast compared to last week where the grass was very long.

We were never really in the game as the favourable batting conditions allowed SKLPS to score more freely and we were setting attacking fields as we needed to bowl them out. All of our bowlers gave a good account of themselves in the hot conditions and we took the chances that came our way.

SKLPS easily passed our total of 97 and decided to bat on to try to secure an outright. They declared at the tea break at 5/171. Best of our bowlers Patrick Phillips 1/50, Koby O’Meara 1/14, Anushka de Silva 1/41, Dinuka Jayasuriya 1/14 and Chris Williamson 1/10.

We batted steadily in our second dig and SKLPS never threatened or looked like securing the outright so the captains agreed to call the game at around 5:15. We were 2/47 off 22 overs. Sadly the game was materially impacted by significantly different conditions between the two weeks of play. Well done to SKLPS as they took full advantage of the situation and winning the toss of the coin. We’ll need to bounce back from this loss – a challenge the boys need to lift for next weekend.

C1 Grade

WPHC 8/222 dec defeated outright Lankan Islanders 89 & 45 – we started day 2 with a 26 run lead and 7 wickets up our sleeve and found Greenway oval looking about 40-50 runs quicker than day 1 (good luck to those who have remaining games there this season – it looks a belter).

Mat Marsden resumed on 49 and together with Mikey Fiedler, they set out establishing a big first innings lead. Mat had no trouble with the Lankan spinners and brought up his ton after just 17 overs into the day, and promptly celebrated Carlos Brathwaite style with the triple dab ($50 fine – a disgrace). To put further egg on his face, he then ran out his partner (Mikey) on 28 starting a mini collapse (no love here, Mat!). Mat finished on 102 (our 459^th century) and was the clear stand-out of the day, enjoying his verbal run-in with some lippy Lankan fielders, who well-and-truly came off second best.

We made a rather impromptu declaration at 3pm, leaving ourselves 44 overs to bowl out the Islanders with a lead of 133 and some severe heat to test out our young bowling attack. Kyle Townsend and Semonn Oleksyn formed a lethal opening attack, looking way too quick and classy for the Lankan top order.

After 10 overs, they had reduced them to 4/19, with 2 wickets a piece. All 4 catches were taken by ‘keeper Mikey. Ben O’Meara came on and knocked over the stumps twice, before Matty Marsden took a sneaky 1-0 off 2 overs. We had decimated the Lankans to 7/44 at the 20-over drinks break, and nothing was going to stop us completing a well-earned outright. Kyle returned to the bowling and quickly wrapped up the final wickets to finish with 4/15 off 8 overs.

This win will leave us in 1^st place with a lead of 2 matches over 2^nd place, so the minor premiership looks assured at this stage.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue 4/84 drew with St Ives 8/310 – St Ives must have been worried by our batting potential (we did score over 300 against them in the first round), resuming at 7/255, they chose to soak up more overs this week to take their total past 300. This effectively took the win out of our grasp, so we instead steeled ourselves to bat the remaining 67 minimum overs to secure a draw.

After a poor showing from our batsmen last match, they all applied themselves today batting solely for the team. (We missed the Semis by 1 point last year and this is again a very tight comp in C2 so every point is golden!).

Raghu and Joel opened up and saw out 23 overs before Raghu fell. A perfect start. Joel continued with awesome concentration showing us just how composed he is at the crease and ticked off 35 overs before falling to an excellent direct hit run out.

Peter Lees went against all his natural instincts to bat superbly and see off 30 overs. Gautam Aayar saw us out to the end, but the innings of the day came from Olly Mayberry.

Filling in from under 16’s, Olly played a superb knock, playing just as his Captain asked, looking comfortable throughout to the point that the opposition just didn’t have an answer for his solid defence. Coming in at 4, He saw out over 30 overs and got us safely to the draw, showing maturity beyond his years, and that he has the ability to go a long way with his cricket. A game played in excellent spirit and as skipper I was very pleased at the attitude of our batsmen to give all for the team.

2 points keeps us in the hunt, and if we can use this experience of batting out against the No.1 side and apply it to the next few games we are still in the race for the Semis.

WPHC Red 4/159 defeated Kenthurst 153 – a comfortable win over last placed Kenthurst played in sweltering conditions in great spirit. This is a game we should have won and did just after Tea. A full Match report will follow but good innings from Ian Patto who hit 44 before retiring for heat, Andrew Morris 36 and good contributions from Ryan Gunn (23) and Nathaniel Chidgey with 17*.

After this win we are sitting in 7^th spot but just 6 points off 4^th so next weekend’s 1-dayer against Normo is a big one and will determine if we can make the top 4.

C3 Grade

WPHC 6/196 defeated Kenthurst 194 – with a record of 4 people in the crowd, we rocked up to Campbell Park on a hot summers day following some brilliant performances from both Ishaan and Ryan with the ball both picking up 4 wickets and Zac(74) and Perry(22) with their opening stand of 46.

Both Asees and Zac started the batting and batted with extreme patience but were still aggressive putting away the bad balls. With some early sledging from the opposing team and boundaries galore both batsman looked steady at the break despite the heat and added on another 45 runs to the scorecard. Following the break both Zac and Asees started to free up a bit, scoring a couple of boundaries each before another big shot brought the downfall of Asees on 37. At this stage we were 2/113 with our captain Tarun coming into bat with his calm composure. From ball 1 Tarun was hitting the middle of the bat, while Zac kept on scoring from the other side building up his run to reach his 50.

Following Zac’s 50, both Tarun (24) and Ramil got out to some horrible balls, one which was a metre down leg and another which was a chest high full toss. Unlucky fellas.

At tea we were 4/171 with Zac and Rhys both blocking out the over’s before. Following the big break Zac came out firing scoring quick runs before a shot straight to mid-on brought about his wicket on 74. Zac opened the batting and survived the best part of 57 over’s allowing our team to have the win confirmed. Well batted Zac. After the wicket Rommal (8) came out for a quick slog before a top edge was caught again at mid-on. Rhys on the other end finished 6*.

With our top order firing again, we came not only with the win but much more confidence for future games. Sending a strong message for the rest of the teams.

D1 Grade

WPHC 231 lost to Kissing Point 7/240 – we started the day with a multitude of chances not taken which Kissing Point cashed in on early. In the 23rd over they brought up their hundred run stand and it was then that we turned it on. Sreeni Pillamarri (3/25) clean bowled openers in quick time while Dylan Bish (2/19) took a couple more with another to Sreeni to have KP 5/115.

Just after tea Roger Friend (1/23) took a wicket with a good stumping by Pratah Sinnetamby with Dan Waters (1/16) following up soon after and we looked in control of the match. Maybe we all took the foot of the pedal because unfortunately the opposition today did what we did to them last week with their 8th wicket stand of 110 to take the points.

Thanks to Raunak for fielding today from 2:30pm to help our injured or tired older brigade. Losing 5 out of our last 6 we all need a good hard look at ourselves to see if we deserve to be in the mix, it’s time to step it up.

D2 Grade

WPHC 2/143 defeated Kissing Point 126 – point batted another 23 overs on Day 2 looking to try to bat out as long as possible. We took the final 3 wickets for 18 runs over those 23 overs. It was the new ball that eventually helped us get these three wickets. In all, Kissing Point batted 98 overs leaving us some 50 overs to score the necessary runs.

We bowled 10 bowlers over the 98 completed overs which included 42 maidens. The best bowlers were John Rose who took 2 wickets for 12 runs off 16 overs with 9 maidens and Giam Gill who took 2 wickets for 20 runs off 15 overs. Michael Clipsham also took 2 for 23 off 9 overs. Paul Vick, Dinal Silva and Ben Kinchington each took a wicket.

Our batting openers were Giam Gill and Ben Kinchington who compiled a partnership of 108 runs with Gian scoring 56 runs not out and Ben scoring 46 runs by the 26th over. We managed to overcome the opposition score in the 30th over. John Rose and Dinal Silva completed the run chase.

A big thank you to Paul and Alexander Vink for helping out over the two days. This should take us to 4th position on the ladder.

Points table

After 11 Rounds we have 8 Teams in the top 4 with 3 Teams leading the Comp:

• A1                   2^nd
• A2                   3^rd
• B1                    2^nd
• B2                    1^st
• C1                    1^st
• C2 Blue           6^th
• C2 Red             7^th
• C3                    1^st
• D1                   4^th
• D2                   4^th

Elite performers

Our website has the latest stats on our Top Performers this season. We only use Seniors stats as with Juniors we promote Participation over Results.

The following information is on our top fielding performances as at the end of Day 1 of Round 11:

Top 5 fielders

1. Riley Behlevanas (C2 Blue) – 14 (plus 2 w/k)
2. Tarun Lath (C3) – 13 catches
3. Stanton Tam (C1) – 11
4. James McBrien (A2) – 10
5. Luke Herzog (A2) – 8
6. Alex Robertson )A2) – 8
7. Brent Larkham (C2) – 8
8. Justin Edwards (B1) – 8
9. Ryan Loveridge (C3) – 8

Top 3 wicket-keepers

1. Joel Behlevanas (C2 Blue) – 13 catches + 2 stumpings
2. Nick Bennett (A1) – 12 catches
3. Gautam Ayyar (C3) – 12 catches + 4 as a non-keeper.