A1 Grade

WPHC 177 Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee 2/6 – winning the toss on The Glade we elected to bat, on a wicket that we soon discovered was very bowler friendly. Jamaican and Philthy Wurth got off to a reasonable start in very tricky conditions.

Wickets then started to fall pretty consistently with Jamaican up the other end. The skipper dug deep and played a stand out innings of 51. Another highlight from the innings was Justina Paterson’s partnership with Bonga Miedler as they put on 66 for the last wicket to help the score to a solid 177. To put this in context, the partnership just missed the A1 Club record of 70 scored by Sam Baidya and Riley Miedler also scored at The Glade Oval on 19/10/2013. This is a very competitive score on a pitch that was testing to bat on. Well done to Mobbo Robertson as well for making his first A1 Grade run.

At the end of the day we had 10 overs at them. Jobbo and Bonga have taken a wicket each to leave us in a solid position going into day 2. Normo are 2/6 requiring a further 172 for victory. With the Glade pitch playing like, The Glade, it won’t get any better and if there is any weather during the week batting will be tough – we are in a good position.

A2 Grade

WPHC Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee 8/268 – only 1 game separated us in 3rd and Normo in 6th. Simon ‘Snumpty’ Smyth did what he does best, losing the toss, and we were asked to bowl. Luke ‘Zog’ Herzog and Darshan ‘Darsh’ Pandya put the pressure right on the Normo batsmen, bowling dot after dot. Darsh took 3 early poles, and when wickets fell to Rowan ‘Keats’ Keating and a run out to Snumpty/Michael ‘Richie’ Richards, we had Normo reeling at 5 for 70ish.

From there, Normo batsmen made use of the good batting conditions and fast outfield, to finish the day at 8/268. Wickets went to Darsh (4), Keats, Richie and Andy ‘Fernie’ Meikle, with Alex ‘Hooch’ Turner taking 2 catches, and Fernie, Alex ‘Robbo’ Robertson and James ‘Jimmy’ McBrien taking a snare each. In the field, Matheesha ‘Tux’ Gunaratne was again a gun.

Although Normo had a good second half of the day, our bowling was good all day in tough conditions. The true value of today’s score will be known after we bat next week.

B1 Grade

WPHC 194 Vs St Ives 1/19 – we started off by finally winning the toss and granting us the gift of batting first on Greenway. All did not go to plan as we were bowled out for 195 after 59 overs, which at Greenway, is definitely below par. However with our bowling attack we know we are able to defend this total, with Tis already taking a wicket and St Ives currently at 1/19.

With the bat, only two big highlights with Dan Costigan (60) keeping up his tremendous form, and Ashane De Silva (54*) keeping his average at over 150, also supported by C Breytenbach (22) with a solid knock in the middle overs.

B2 Grade

WPHC 0/11 Vs Beecroft 189 – Beecroft won the toss (we lost again) and chose to bat on a fast Glenorie No 2 oval. Beecroft lost an early wicket but then were scoring quickly on the fast oval racking up a quick 50 run partnership.

The change of bowling got the breakthrough with Captain Rick ‘Flair’ Turner getting wickets with his first 2 balls (on a hat trick – which was not to be). At the other end Nathaniel ‘Chopper’ Chidgey was bowling superbly beating the bat at will.

At the 20 over drinks break Beecroft were 4/74. Nathaniel took a wicket in the first over straight after drinks and we were on top. Another change of bowling and Prats Datar chipped in with 2 quick wickets. At tea Beecroft were 7/117 (off 35 overs). The next session belonged to Beecroft as our bowling got a bit wayward and we were a bit flat in the field. In the next 20 overs Beecroft piled on 62 runs off 20 overs and went to the drinks break 7/179 (off 55 overs).

A call for an increase in energy and enthusiasm after the break did the trick with Nathaniel and Rick cleaning up the last 3 wickets for the additional of just 10 more runs. Beecroft were all out for 189 off 67 overs. Best of the bowlers Nathaniel Chidgey 4/18 (off a brilliant 14 overs), Rick Turner 3/25, Prats Datar 2/9 and Anushka De Silva 1/30.

The day belonged to Nathaniel Chidgey making his B Grade debut – he bowled brilliantly and could have had more wickets but he did bring up his 100th wicket for WPH with his 4th wicket today. Well done Nathaniel.

C1 Grade

WPHC Vs Normanhurst Warrawee 9/244 – we were unsure if we would get a game at all when we arrived at Glenhaven to find the ground covered in thick smoke with the firies burning off immediately behind the boundary fence. To make matters worse, we lost the toss and found ourselves in the field. We got off to a great start with Rahul Mucherla (2/48) taking a wicket in his first over, but from there it was a long grind before we found success again. We toiled through the next 48 overs without a breakthrough, using 8 bowlers in the process.

A period of dropping 4 catches in fairly quick succession (most off Aaron Hawkins) saw us lose momentum. It wasn’t until we reintroduced opening bowler Ben O’Meara (2/29) for a 2nd spell that he was able to break the 144-run partnership, and then take a second wicket in the same over to lift our spirits.

Normanhurst consolidated to 3/195 at the final drinks break of the day and we knew we had to make a final charge to keep the game from getting away from us. It was Aaron Hawkins who rose to the occasion as he ripped through the middle order to get the game back on an even footing. He finished with 4/44 off 16 overs and was ably assisted by some improved catching, with Rohit Ninan & Andrew Fiedler taking 2 good snares each.

Ray Khamis continued his golden run of taking a sneaky wicket at the end of the day to leave Normanhurst at 9/244 – a score we think will be very gettable on a fast Glenhaven outfield.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue 187 Vs Kissing Point 0/27 – batting first we didn’t do ourselves justice and should have applied more pressure and resilience against what was at best a steady attack, however Raghu continued his good form to hold the top order effort together with 59, then despite the procession of wickets, Nikki O’Meara and Shankar Ravi came together for an awesome last wicket partnership of 35 that frustrated the opposition and added vital runs to put us in the hunt. Lots of work to do, but still in the game next week!

WPHC Red 1/38 Vs Normanhurst Warrawee 6/298 dec. – we won the toss and sent Normo into bat. Things got off to a bad start with the opposition openers putting on a 101 run stand, until Stu Fiedler (3/74) got the important breakthrough in the 19th over. We fought our way back into the match, taking another 3 quick wickets to have the Opposition 4/131. This included a fantastic run-out to Taki Manolelis at deep square leg. The batsmen then dug in and put on a 130 run stand until Rob Knapman (2/32) broke the partnership thanks to a sharp stumping by Andrew Morris. Our bowlers toiled hard all day on a tough Foxglove pitch, with many unlucky to walk away without a wicket.

Normo declared, leaving us 10 overs to see off. Joel Herzog (24) played a mature knock to see out the overs, leaving us 1/38 overnight. A special mention to Taki who filled in for us today and ran himself into the ground in the field! Taki chased down plenty of leather, but remained 100% committed all day.

C3 Grade

WPHC 9/359 Vs Hornsby ARL – we were facing the new league toppers who moved from D1 and the team was looking forward to a real competitive game. Hornsby won the toss and put us to bat on a dry Campbell park track, probably the only thing that stood out positive for them in the day.

Zac Turner had a new opening pair Asees Rajput and together put on a decent 34 runs in quick time. After fall of Asees wicket, Zac scored freely but got out just after the first drinks break scoring 36.

Then came the best partnership of the day between Perry Waldron (65) and Tarun Lath (68), for 99 runs and together they tired out the Hornsby fast bowlers. After Perry’s wicket, the 4th wicket partnership of 62 runs between Tarun and Indranil Mukherjee (20) took us past the 200 mark. In the last hour of play there was some big hitting from Rommel Pandey (30) which included 2 sixes over the hill and ensured we continue to climb up the run rate. Cameroon Bish was unlucky to miss out on a half century getting out at 49, but together with Ishaan Singh (29 not out) ensured that we got past the 350 mark and it was delight to see some excellent running between the wickets.

While Hornsby has a strong batting line up and expected to put up a strong fight, but we have runs on board and it will now left to our bowlers to put some pressure on Day 2.

D1 Grade

WPHC 298 Vs Hornsby – winning the toss we decided to bat against the ARL team that had moved down from C3s. ARL’s opening 3 bowlers bowled with B2 grade level pace but were wayward which allowed our patient openers the opportunity to set a 1st wicket platform of 60 runs – Pratah Sinnetamby (24) and Cody Waters (20). After the first drinks both fell but their solid contribution at the top protected our mid order which may have struggled against the new ball attack.

From here Pav Kozyrev (100 – our 455th century) batted beautifully for his first hundred with occupation at the other end from a few batters including strong partnerships of 76 with Amit Sen and 50 with Amith Ninan both playing their first D Grade game. Will Elborn (34) also had a 33 run stand with Pav and in so doing scored his highest ever score as well. A few runs from Steve Quanborough (23) at the death brought us to 298 all out off 73 overs.

Today was the Pav show and with his 89 runs in the previous game he really is having a great time after finishing his HSC earlier this month. Also our second highest scorer was Extras with 67.

Next week we get to see the ARL batting line-up and with a decent total on board we feel confident that if we bowl well we should have a strong chance of a win.

D2 Grade

WPHC 96 lost to Hornsby 6/115 – we lost the toss and were sent into bat. The humid conditions allowed the ball to swing quite a lot. As such, we struggled to hit the ball cleanly as it was moving up to 30 cm at times. Our openers did quite well initially and were 1 for 50 after 22 overs. The over rate was quite low as you can deduce. Luke Chrietensen hit 21 runs which was the highest score by any of our players.

Max Harkin hit 15 and Shaun Harkin 11 runs. After 40 overs we were all out for 96. They had two bowlers who took 4 wickets for 31 runs and 4 wickets for 25 runs. We knew we were in a difficult situation and that we could not afford too many sundries or poor bowling. We had to bowl 31 overs to finish up week 1.

Chris Bloom took the first wicket in the fourth over. Shaun Harkin took the second wicket in the tenth over and his brother Max took another wicket in the 11th over. Mike Kinchington then took two wickets in the 18th and 21st overs and Nick Clegg also took a wicket in the 22nd over.

We had three dropped catches but none of those were easy. Hornsby finished the day on 115 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. We will give it a good try next week to go for the remaining points on offer.