Match Reports

Round 10 (1-Dayer)

 

A1 Grade

WPHC (Cam #25) 188 defeated Kissing Point 9/145

Welcome loyal readers to Turramurra – Captain K had wielded the axe this week.

Wu was dropped to A2s in a shock move that raised eyebrows considering that Wu was “like this” with the captain. Tiz was also dropped, he is in Sri Lanka even though he is Indian. Or Bangladeshi. Or Nepalese.

Speaking of Tiz, Assman was full of compliments to Captain K when he opened the batting and started to hit some wonderful leg glances – “he looks like Brian Lara out there”. K and Gunny put on 15 for the first stand, Gunny contributing 100% of those runs before he departed to a beautiful TA Love delivery.

Now this is where you loyal readers would normally read me write about how TA Love ONCE AGAIN dismissed Jackson Preedy. But alas, the demons were conquered today. Preeds had worked hard on his mental preparation during the week. He decided to use his bat against the TA Love inswinger, normally he shoulders arm and lets the ball cannon into the stumps.

But P is a new man.

He has new confidence. A swagger about him. And he converted again for his second A Grade 50 in as many weeks. He has stepped up in the absence of Sav to lead the batting bridge to new heights. From the cusps of the lower grades, to the jewel of the A grade competition. It’s a story of redemption. It’s a story of hope for us all.

A story of no hope was for Billy Gaunt. He copped a peach first ball and was out for a golden duck. He was wildly hungover and had a wonky nose after Rockin Ray Khamis planted one square on his beak the night before. He trudged off and sat in his whites for the next 90 minutes.

The highlight of the batting innings was the late order pinch hitting from Tom Hando.

Two weeks in a row, he has given us a strong boost at the end of the innings with some power strokes all around the ground. His 30-35 was in invaluable to getting us to 185ish.

Time to bowl and Jack Hando and the new man Jackson opened us up. Jack was deadly with his pace, he bowled some of the quickest balls I’ve seen in A Grade and picked up two wickets with pace and bounce and pace. I especially liked his field of two leg slips, two slips and gully. He was well supported by Preeds down the other end. When it rains, it pours and Preeds was on fire – picking up a couple for his troubles.

The rest of the bowling was pretty good – wickets were shared between Meiks, birthday boy and my favourite Hando, Harry, Lichaaa and K. Kissing Point were 9 down and gone with about an hour to play, so they decided to block out the final 10 overs and prolong the inevitable.

L Mac took three brilliant catches too. Harry was fantastic in the field giving it to his brothers for poor fielding and K for poor field placements. He really is the protege of Lichaa

Special thanks to Mary and Phill Hando for putting on a Xmas bbq for us at the end of the match. They are most loyal of fans, every game they come to watch us – no matter what. We greatly appreciate you and your wonderful family.

As Tiz would say, Feliz Navidad everyone. Now let’s read on to see if Wu got any runs in the lower grades……

A2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Birdcage) 9/161 defeated Berowra 7/155

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls and children of all ages welcome to the reading of the A2 Blue Match report, now sit back relax and enjoy the tale of one of the best and worst performances you’ll hear in many a time.

The day begun at Warrina Street against our northern neighbours in what would be one of the battles for the ages between good and evil (all of us WPHCCC colours are always the good).

With the toss done and finally won for the first time in 10 rounds the decision was made to bowl first with a full bowling cartel to work with and pressure to pile on we began our journey towards a potential victory.

Now for all those who love and play cricket we all know that it’s a game played by 11 players in the field and with the bat, well today that wasn’t the case due to 1 player being late by 2 and a bit hours (Not good enough Spread) We bowled 33 of 35 overs in the field down a man but that didn’t stop our pressure and onslaught with tight bowling and great fielding (at times).

We restricted the maroon bunch to a competitive 7/155 off 35 overs with the wickets shared around between Pipes Hira, Cougar Lover Hira, Cameron “Throbby” Northrop and Dean “Derrick” Carlin. A special extra mention to our Throbby Northrop who chipped in with 2 run outs both all done by himself.

What follows next in the WPHCCC batting innings is both some amazing cricket and some of the worse cricket you’ll ever read about so sit back relax and enjoy what is about to come – (viewer Discretion is Heavily Advised)

Chasing 156 to win on a fast outfield we started off with 2 quick and swashbuckling innings from Cougar Lover Hira and Kyle “Fake Hundred” Townsend hitting the ball to all parts of the outfield and getting us to a fantastic start.

At 2/60 now comes the big show and the partnership of the season for us A2 Blues.

Shaan “Purple Groin” Bakshi and Zac “Nickname TBC” Turner combined for a fantastic 80 run partnership at a run a ball dispatching each and every ball bowled to all parts and a putting us in a dominant and commanding position.

Now it’s at this point in the match report the regular readers are starting to scratch their heads and ponder what has happened to the regular Blues who collapse and fall apart at the seams every single game.

Well ladies and gentlemen you’ve reached the piece de resistance of A2 Blue which is a collapse so big it makes the Berlin Wall falling apart in 1989 look like kid’s play.

Reader Discretion now Advised.

You see with only 16 runs needed for victory off 9 overs the WPHCCC Blue team decided to break club history and have the worse collapse of all time, no need for our source Ross Anderson this time to confirm the record we all knew it was record breaking.

WPHCCC Blue lost 7 Wickets for 7 runs in 7 Overs

That’s right, don’t scratch your eyes the Blues lost a whopping 7/7 in an earth shattering disaster never before seen.

Now 9 wickets down and needing 9 runs off 2 overs to win it was time for your humble match report writer Dean “I’m sick of batting” Carlin to stroll to the middle and met a man that makes me feel safe and secure in all forms of cricket because he’s our Throbby.

With 4 runs scored of the penultimate over WPHCCC needed 5 to win, a dodgy single from Carlin left Our Hero Northrop on strike and he followed it up with a swashbuckling 4 to win the game.

You beauty, you ripper, how good is beating Berowra, I love Throbby and in the words of Bill Lawry “Get him up here I want to boof him”

We had pulled of the greatest of all great escapes from being so far in front it’s not funny. However the books weren’t right and we still needed 1 to win.

Never Fear Cam Northrop is here and with one swing of the bat smashed a 6 straight down the ground and into the bush to seal a famous victory, one of which will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.

After all was said and done the mighty blues had yet again for the 2^nd time this season beaten the maroon’s lot in the final over of the game.

It was just one of those days for the Blues which is part of the rollercoaster that is our A2 season when you never know what’s going to happen next, so strap in and enjoy the ride.

I’d like to wish all of our loyal readers a very very Merry Christmas and safe and happy new year and I hope Santa brings you all you’ve ever wanted.

I’m going to ask that Santa brings the A2 Blue no more collapses and a stable and sound middle order in 2025

Up the Mighty Blues

WPHC Red (Todd) 150 lost to Glenorie (score tba)

Today a modern day Christmas miracle happened.

No we didn’t win, I said miracle not dark magic. And no I’m not referring to Lachy taking  a catch while filling in for B1s (although good job mate, just a shame about the six you dropped before it).

No, today a beautiful, beautiful man got to live out his boyhood dreams.

The week saw the nation-wide news of the dropping of a prominent opening batter in Australian cricket. Fans and pundits alike were disgusted with selectors calls. Nathan McSweeney was also dropped.

But the big news was that Phillipé Wurth was demoted to A2s after scandalous rumours from press that he was only being selected for the A grade side because of his relationship with Captain Krang.

Now he was fired up and ready to prove the haters wrong.

Captain “sucks at tossing” Todd was delayed by a tow truck taking up the street and as such club legend and great tosser James Makin stood in and won the toss electing to bat, Todd arrived shortly after and expressed his desire to bowl (sorry mate)

Phil ‘Wu tang man’ Wurtho strolled out to the middle with a positive attitude and a fire under his ass. He quickly went to work dispatching the Glenorie bowlers to all parts of the ground making it to 20 before mistiming a pull and looping it up to the mid-wicket fielder, who preceded to make a meal of one of the easiest catches I have ever seen. Wu man group claimed to have put some spin on the ball to make it swirl, but this isn’t the MCG mate and it’s ok to say you got lucky.

As wickets fell all around him, Sensei Wu continued belting the Glenorie attack, joined eventually by lovely bloke Josh Banner, and ended up on 74 before his body gave out and spooned one up in the air, this time taken.

Josh batted in a way that looked sexy. Unfortunately as he brought up his fifty he mistakenly thought we were clapping him off and decided to get out the next ball. Shout out to Willy, who set about building an innings with three overs to go and managed to score more than double his season tally of runs with a lovely score of 7. Keep it going Wilbur!

Aided by a lovely 0(0) from Ben Burrows we made it to 159? (Somewhere around there). Which was very defendable.

We started out pretty well with the ball with Ollie ‘Moises’ Makin taking an early wicket, backed up by a great spell from brother Jack who picked up the scalp of the Glenorie skipper.

However we then took a bit of stick and heads started to drop, until uncle Volc called out to the scorers “bowler is P.Wuth!!!”.

What I thought was an unusually timed practical joke, was really a shed of brilliance.

Wu took control of the game, the atmosphere changed, and this man looked in his element. And quickly managed to pick up an important wicket. This only lifted the Wu Kong higher. He moved his field every ball, and started talking to the batter giving him advice.

In a moment reminiscent of the late great Shane Warne telling Brian Macmillan what he would bowl to him. Wu confronted the batter “I think you’re going to have to go over the top here” before bowling a length ball that the batter was unable to get under, and spooned to Jamaican senior at cover.

Had he not been cooked from his batting marathon I fear he may have done a lap of the Glade. Apologies to the A grade side who will have to hear about this performance for years to come. But I will say after this second wicket he went for two fours off his next two balls. Do with that info as you will.

Another wicket from Todd was not enough as Glenorie chased our total with two overs to spare.

From A2 Reds I would like to say a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Enjoy the break and have a wonderful holiday. See you all next year

B1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Shomik) 5/123 defeated Berowra 121

With the last game of the year against Berowra, everyone was keen to square the series after our disappointing defeat earlier in the season. Did Harsh win the toss? Who would choose to field in such blistering heat? Maybe he did win the toss; I’m sure he’ll confirm well after this report is published.

Mohsin got the team off to a flyer, taking wickets in the first over.

He channelled his inner Mitchell Starc, bowling the first ball of the innings for a wicket. I replayed that iconic “OH, BOWLED HIM, FIRST BALL” (Starc to Burns) moment in my head for most of the innings. Mohsin was blessed with another golden duck when the strike rotated—two wickets in the first over.

The Berowra innings never recovered. A strong all-round effort from the bowlers and sharp fielding kept the pressure on. I’m sure we saved 10–20 runs with our urgency, not just by cutting off runs but by chasing loose deliveries and turning potential twos into singles. Returning to off-spin, Jaka picked up two wickets, as did Amit. Alec, Dinesh, and Patrick chipped in with one each, strangling Berowra to 121. A few boundaries were hit late in the innings, and with slightly tighter bowling, we might’ve kept them under 100. But considering the heat, it was a strong showing.

The batting was even better. Amanpreet and Alec did most of the damage. After an early wobble at 1-11 (6), with Alec coming to the crease, Preet took charge. His 33 was a bludgeoning knock, particularly in the later stages, bringing the total to 2-70 (13).Preet displayed patience during the new-ball spell and cashed in once the pressure eased.

Unfortunately, we lost Harsh and Anubhav before the drinks break, leaving us at 4-87, but with the game still in our hands.

After the break, Alec and Dinesh agreed to “work for singles” and “slowly whittle down the target” of 40 odd. If by “singles” you mean boundaries and by “slowly” you mean 4 overs, then yes, they stuck to the plan. Alec fell for 55, just four runs shy of the target, but the game was already done and dusted.

It felt great to get one back on Berowra and end the year on a high note. Amit, Patrick, and Mohsin were probably just as pleased not to have to pad up and could enjoy watching the game from the sidelines.

The competition ladder is getting tighter every week, and a win like this could make all the difference in the long run.

WPHC Red (Warren) 5/140 defeated ARL 8/138

Welcome back loyal West Pennant Hills readers to our last game for the year, a boxing day clash against Asquith Rugby League club (Magpies) at the home of cricket, Greenway Park.  After a bit of a tumultuous journey over the past couple of weeks, we needed a win today more than ever to catch up to Saint Ives.

We opted to bowl after winning the toss.

Our bowlers had strong performances to cage the Pies.

Pratts (Prathamesh Datar) the greatest fill in of all time  (source Sir Ross Anderson), took 3 catches in the deep, one of them flying through the air, and 3 of his own wickets in his own bowling effort. There was even an almost hat-trick to spice things up. Bob ‘Ferrari’ Knapman took 3/13 off 6 overs to keep the pressure on the pies. They did get a bit away in the end with some good batting, and some dropped catches leaving us to chase down 138 off 35.

Innings summary; 1-33 off 11 overs, 6-59 off 21 and 8-138 off 35overs.

A good opening innings by Matt S helped lay a strong foundation to build our innings around with him top scoring on 43 runs. After two quick wickets.

Ray came to the crease and got straight into business with a pivotal 18 runs in  the 12^th  over  (his first over)

Ray’s first five balls  went  as follows; LBW appeal, 6,2,4,6. Ray ended up scoring a better than a run a ball 36. We soon chased down the runs with  Raph  (Allen Raffel)  and  Game sealer Dannos (Dan)  scoring the winning runs with 5 overs to spare.

Innings summary; 1-29 off 10 overs, 3-94 off 20 and 5-138 off 31.

Great team effort on the field with some good end of year drinks at the Sporto. Have a Merry Christmas and see you next year.

Notable mentions 

• Raph  (Allen) got 4000 career runs after being stranded on 3999 for a while. Congrats mate, great achievement! Official cricket  retirement pending.
• Grant, Matt ‘diggers’brother-in-law, was our first international player, travelling 998393339km from country NSW. Thanks, Grant, for the effort!
• Rob dropped a catch, then another and then he took a screamer of a catch in the slips which Steve Smith would have been envious of.
• We are 2^ndon the ladder having equal points to West Penno Blues. Some friendly advice to the Blues, It’s all about the quotient  B1 Red Mantra).

C1 Grade

WPHC (Indranil) 6/161 defeated Sydney Lions 8/158

Last game for 2024, a one-day game at Les Shores (No2), with conditions hot and a dry outfield. Sydney Lions won the toss and elected to bowl first

WPHC, batting first in challenging hot conditions, got off to a promising start with openers Aden and Indranil making solid contributions before getting out. Despite most of the top-order batsmen, including Ben, Cam, Will, Adi, and Yasith, making good starts, they were primarily playing a supporting role to Oli.

Oli anchored the innings brilliantly, scoring an unbeaten 59, which formed the backbone of WPHC’s total of 161 for the loss of 6 wickets in our allotted overs.

The team felt we had posted a competitive total but were aware that we needed to bowl and field well against a Sydney Lions side that had been in good form recently.

Chasing 162, the Sydney Lions’ openers came out aggressively, getting off to a fast start. However, Reyhan turned the game around with back-to-back wickets and nearly clinched a hat-trick, breaking the momentum of the Lions’ innings. Despite another partnership that kept the Lions on track, tight bowling from Paul, Cam, and Daniel applied pressure. Daniel’s two crucial wickets shifted the momentum further in WPHC’s favour, while Cameron also contributed with a couple of valuable wickets from a very economical spell.

As the match reached its climax, Reyhan and Paul were tasked with defending the remaining runs. Both bowlers picked up late wickets, and Reyhan bowled a match-winning final over to secure a narrow victory for WPHC by 3 runs. The fielding effort was outstanding, led by keeper Aden, who took a superb catch and effected a run-out, and Oli, who took three catches.

Every player contributed to the win, making it a memorable game and the best birthday present for Will.

Well done to the entire team for an exceptional performance, showing true grit and teamwork to clinch a hard-fought victory.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Hiresh) 1/117 defeated Berowra 116

On a nice sunny day at Headen Park, we lost the toss and were sent in to bowl, which wasn’t the worst outcome given that we’re a better chasing side, however a very last minute pull-out from one of the fill-ins left us with 10 players.

Our openers John Koleth and fill-in Michael got us off to a great start, getting a wicket each to dismiss both openers for 0. Michael managed to get another before our next pace bowling partnership was quickly brought on due to hot weather.

Sparsh and Mayank kept it pretty tight, with managing to pick up a wicket. The spinners then came on and did well, with Shanks managing to pick up 3 wickets in his 7 overs again. One of the batters had done some damage reading the ball well when bowled into his body, but Michael managed to dismiss him and one of the tail-enders before Mayank finished it off, leaving them at 116. Michael finished 4/22 from 5 overs.

Our openers got us off to a nice steady start as we as we got to the first shortened drinks break (12 overs) at 36 without loss.

Fill-in Ed batted very well but departed half way through the innings for 23 and a 64 run opening stand. From there Sparsh and Hiresh were able to finish the game off with 4.2 overs to spare, an emphatic 9-wicket victory even when down to 10 players. Sparsh finishing on 25* while Hiresh was 61*.

WPHC Red (Aniket) 142 lost to Hornsby Gold (score tba)

The team lost the toss and was sent in to bat by Hornsby, a decision that aligned with our preferred approach.

Rohit and Saurabh opened the innings, but we suffered an early setback as Saurabh fell in the very first over.

This brought Mohan, who has been in excellent form, to the crease. He showed promise with solid defensive shots, but both Mohan and Rohit were soon dismissed by Hornsby’s disciplined opening bowlers.

Despite the early losses, the team’s depth in batting provided hope. Hari and Lakshya steadied the innings, forging a 71-run partnership that looked promising. Unfortunately, Hari was dismissed after missing a cut shot, bringing Vinod, a replacement from C4, to the middle. Vinod played gracefully, but Lakshya was dismissed not long after.

Aniket joined Vinod at the crease, and they focused on rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard moving. Aniket had two chances when catches at mid-on and long-on were dropped. However, his luck eventually ran out as he was run out with a direct hit.

The wickets of Brijesh, Rahul, and Vinod followed in quick succession, but Amitava provided a late boost with a magnificent 18 runs off quick strokes. Mustafa was the last wicket to fall with just two balls remaining. The team finished with 142 runs, around 40–45 runs short of what was initially considered a competitive total.

Hornsby’s chase was calculated and steady. Despite tight bowling and strong fielding efforts, their batters maintained a scoring rate of 3.5–4 runs per over.

While boundaries were rare, they rotated the strike effectively, keeping the scoreboard ticking. Hornsby’s first wicket fell in the 14^th over with the score at 53, but their consistent 20–30-run partnerships ensured they remained in control.

Ultimately, Hornsby secured the win in the 30^th over.

Key Observations:

• The team continues to struggle with building partnerships and losing wickets in quick succession while batting.
• Early breakthroughs with the ball remain elusive, allowing opponents to establish a foothold.

The break provides an opportunity to reflect and work on these areas, and the team is optimistic about achieving better outcomes in the new year.

C3 Grade

WPHC (Mick) 140 lost to Berowra (score tba)

A disappointing day for the lads as we felt like with a few dropped chances and balls that just fell in the gap going our way in the field we would have done the job against the number 1 team in the C3 comp.

We started off batting with Harry W and Jimmy W opening.

Early though, we lost both. Lennox S and Dom R were in and Len had a shaky start as it was one of his first good bats for the season. He composed quickly though and got into his routine of getting singles off the good balls and smacking fours off the bad ones. Dom departed not too long after the two openers and Patty R followed Dom being dismissed.

In came Dan F who formed a nice partnership with Lennox hitting some beautiful cover drives for four.

This partnership took us to drinks at 4-59. The second half of our batting went sour early as we lost Dan F, Will D and James D in pretty quick fashion although James showed some nice stroke play scoring a few runs for the total. Karl E then came in to try and steady the ship with Lennox who had stayed in through all the carnage. These two put on a nice partnership but then Lennox got out to a peach that swung a mile.

Luke P was next in and he showed some good defence, nice shots and great running. Karl and Luke got us up to about 90 when Luke got out which was a good effort but not enough yet. With a lot of pressure riding on Nick D and Karl’s 10^th wicket partnership they batted superbly smashing fours and a six or two to get us up to 140 after 35 overs which the team was over the moon with considering how the top to middle order batted.

With the momentum with us, we started bowling with Len bowling rockets and Will P putting it on a spot keeping it tight. We took the first wicket early when Harry knocked down the stumps for a great run out which the lads were pretty happy about. The second wicket was a plumb LBW from Wil P who was bowling so consistently and the batter couldn’t get him away.

Dan F and Jimmy W bowled next. They bowled pretty well but the Berowra batter was smashing balls all around the park. He got dropped multiple times and he was very lucky other times with the balls just missing the stumps and balls landing away from the fielders. Mick W also bowled in just before drinks and got very unlucky with plenty of chances not going to hand. At drinks Berowra was 2-80.

We knew for these next 17 overs there was not much margin for error.

After drinks Nick and Karl bowled with more chances not going to hand and more balls just missing the stumps. Lennox came on to bowl and the Berowra batter to edge to the keeper and Karl wasn’t far behind giving the other batter the same treatment.

Edged to the keeper. Karl and Lennox bowled very well to get Berowra to face 31 overs in the end but our batting and bowling before drinks just wasn’t good enough to get the job done today.

C4 Grade

WPHC Red (Ross S) 7/210 tied with ARL 9/210

After a 186 run last ball tie in round 1 with ARL and after 2 losses in the last 2 overs in the last   2 games, playing at Foxglove against ARL again, desperately hoping for a win.

Skipper loses the toss and we field in the heat.

Our early bowling again was great, with Ram, Anand and Gihan bowling well. An early breakthrough good catch by Alex drilled head high to point off Anand,  followed by Gihan taking out the stumps of the new batter,   then  a good outfield catch by Mridal off Gihan and then  Mridal ripping out middle stump next over….Arl 4/40 after 13.

A few wayward overs   saw the run rate accelerate,   but just before drinks a good catch by Gihan off Henry, ARL  5/77 at the 18 over drinks break.

After Drinks the Arl batters started hitting out.  With a Dangerous partnership building, Ram back for a second spell to try break it.  4th ball middle stump flys….ARL 6/102 off 23.  Reds hoping to wrap things up quickly.

Things   could have been so much better at 6/107  if a solid edge off Ram to the keeper, taken one handed on a first slip position was given out.  Everyone except the umpire heard and saw the deflection.    Batter coy saying he hit the pitch which is laughable  on a big swish.  Disappointing.

We then lost  our way after that, somewhat combined with the heat, with the partnership putting on another 70 runs,  before Anand castled that batter – 7/175.   A few more lusty hits before Ram cleaned up ARLs highest scorer,   next ball Ram drops a caught and bowled before redeeming himself knocking out middle stump….Arl finishing 9/201.

Wickets to Ram 3/24 (7), Anand 2/35(7), Gihan 2/26 (5), Henry 1/26(4), Mridal 1/46(6)..catches to Alex, Mridal, and Gihan.

Our turn to bat 202 needed.  A big change to our batting order to given everyone a go.  Paul and Jake opening.  A good first over 9 off set the tone of our innings.  Unfortunately we lost Jake early having a go,  enter Ram making his intent very clear. 5 boundaries in 3 overs before popping a catch to the only fielder within 20 metres of the bat for 24.  2/36 off 5 overs. Darren and Paul at the crease.  Some sensible batting before Paul (14) snicks off to slip. 3/51 (9).

Mridal and Darren playing sensibly against some very good bowling, before Darren loses his wicket in the last over before drinks for a solid 27.  At drinks 4/87, needing another 115 off 17 overs. Gihan joining Mridal.

The ARL bowling was pretty good, although the slow over rate was so frustrating as field placing during and after overs involving up to 5 players, ridiculous noting the last 17 overs took almost 1 3/4 hours….

Mridal was dismissed hitting out for 29 at the 26 over mark 5/127.  Reds needing 75 off the last 9 overs.

With the fielders spread all around the boundary Gihan and Henry set about taking 2s and 3s with the occasional boundary taking us to 175 in the 32nd over where we lost Henry for 29.  27 needed off 3 overs with Anand and Gihan together.

At this point of the game 8 fielders on the boundary, yet the lads were still able to get a few 4s, taking us to the last over with 8 needed.  A dot first ball then a quick single to short cover and an overthrow brings up Gihans 50,  another single …..5 needed off 3 balls…….Anand facing a great shot square for 3 and a single to Gihan .  Scores are tied .    One ball left…..fielders in stopping the single.  Anand facing….

 

So at ths point I want to go back to round 1 when scores are tied with ARL, us at 9/186, Anand facing…blocks out 3 balls and we tie, we don’t want that again ….  Gihan says to Anand we run no matter what.  Anand (13) pushes the ball into short cover, and the fielder takes a 1 handed specky diving to his right.   Reds 201… match tied. Gihan 51 no.

Everyone shakes their heads and can’t believe it.  Twice in the same season against the same team….gotta be an unwanted record of sorts.

No cricket for a month now as we have a bye after Christmas.

WPHC Blue (Rob) 162 defeated Thornleigh 140

Weather was lovely, the skies clear and a slight breeze to mask the warm 34 degree high of the day.

The toss went our way too to start us off well. Batting first, the boys started off slow yet strong, losing a few crucial wickets but holding steadfast. Jake showed his form of late with a great knock (62) while Manu backed him up beautifully with a flashy 37. A few more wickets but ended up on a respectable total of 162 to defend after a quick cameo from Arjan.

Confidence was not flowing through the team with the small boundaries and a quick outfield, but Lance Tabone, the man himself, turned it around within the first over. Back to back wickets to take out some heavy hitters set us up for a stellar start to the innings. Mala bowled tight and clean overs, helped at the other end of the pitch by Arjan doing much the same.

Jake bowled an interesting delivery, cramping the batsman and forcing a nick for an easy catch to the keeper. Ryan bowled tight but with a few loose ones, before Zia and Mudi came in to clean up the middle order with 2 and 3 wickets respectfully. Manu took an absolute screamer of a catch at mid-wicket, with exceptional fielding and catching from all the team to keep the scoring low and the pressure on Thornleigh constantly.

Lance came back on to rip through the final batsman with a pop up caught comfortably by Steve to end the game.

WPHC White (Agniva) Vs BYE

Our next game is against Hornsby after the break

D1 Grade

WPHC Red (Diggers) 4/142 lost to Mt Colah 6/147

After a good win against Glenorie last week, we were keen to keep the momentum going against Mt Colah at Holland Reserve, Glenhaven.

We arrived at Holland Reserve on another 30+ degree day and luckily Diggers won the toss and elected to bat (second week in a row!).

Ross (0) and Cliff (25) opened the batting, but Mt Colah bowled good lines and length (without express pace) and the runs were hard to come by. After Ross’ early departure, Grant (52) joined Cliff and steadied the ship and put on a great partnership of 76 before Cliff fell and we were 2/80 after 27 overs.

Grant and Cliff laid a great platform and when Gus (23*) and Zac (36) came to the crease – welcome back Zac!! – they were able to accelerate and lift the run rate with some fantastic hitting and great running between the wicket to get us to a defendable total of 4/142.

Although we thought the score might be a bit below par at Holland, we were confident with our bowling attack. Manraj (1/24) opened the bowling with Nandit (1/24) and on the 3rd ball bowled, Mt Colah’s young opener sent the new ball out of the ground and into the bushes and lost – sorry Ross!

Mt Colah’s top order continued to score shots all around the ground despite the change in bowling with Disco (0/23) and Farjad (1/30). At the drinks break Mt Colah were 3/105 and cruising.

After drinks, Diggers decided to change the bowling and give young fill in junior player, Bhargav (2/5 off 3) and Zac (1/33) the ball to make some inroads. The change worked wonders and at one stage we thought there may be a chance to pull off an unlikely victory. However Mt Colah’s Captain continued to score around the ground and chased down the total in the 27^th over.

WPHC Blue (Nirav) 156 lost to Berowra 9/160

Ravi had to rely on 5 former D1 players, who were more than happy to oblige.Enter Agniva, Praneel, Suf, Arun and Mridul. Lost the toss and were put in to bowl. Ravi and Mridul got things going and kept the score in check.

Ravi struck first getting the opener bowled in the 3^rd over. Mridul followed up with a beautiful set-up of a few short balls followed by a Yorker which almost sent the middle stump to the boundary. Dhiren commenced with spin and struck in the first over. Siby then followed with a brilliant spell where he was denied a bowled (bails were dislodged but the umpire attributed it to a “gust of wind”. Doesn’t matter, he got him clean bowled within a few balls. Berowra middle order had a couple of batsman who got things going and we did leak quite a few runs, before Amith got the key wicket of the half centurion. Dhiren had another wicket off another caught and bowled and the brakes were on the scoring again. Suf joined amith and bowled brilliantly, picking up a wicket courtesy of a cool calm and collected catch by skipper Ravi.

Ravi then turned to Mridul to wrap things up, who didn’t disappoint picking up a wicket each in his remaining two overs, both bowled

Team had a great start thanks to Ravi and Vikrant, and they got to 49/0. Things were looking good and the team was in talks of wrapping up early and hitting the pub for some celebrations . If only life, and cricket matches were this simple.

What followed was our biggest nightmare, slow bowling.

Wickets kept falling at regular intervals, and suddenly we were in trouble at 105/6. Mridul provided some support to Suf and Sahil but with partners running out at the other end, unfortunately fell to a good shot which was hit straight down the fielders throat.

A few more wickets tumbled and we were 9 down with 20 to get. Not great.

Dhiren and Siby got in a few good shots and equation stood at 8 to win off 11.

The continued slow bowling did not help us.

We now needed 7 off the last over. First ball went high up in the air a straight catch for the keeper and he dropped it.

5 off 4 now – the stress levels hit an all-time high.

Alas it was not to be – a beautiful in swinging Yorker had us just miss the target.

An exciting finish , unfortunately we were at the wrong end of it.

As always, a lot of positives and lessons to learn

Merry Christmas to all our club members and have a safe and happy New Year !

D2 Grade

WPHC (Roger) 3/209 defeated Kissing Point 6/152

WPHCCC won the toss and elected to bat.

A steady start formed the foundation of the innings enabling us to gradually increase the scoring rate with the side ending the 35 overs just 3 down for 209. Our most successful batters were Shehan Fernando 58(rth), Sandeep Pathak 27, Vinoth Sambasivam 52*, Hiren Pathak 24.

Kissing Point made 152 for the loss of 6 wickets in their 35 overs. Hiren Pathak led the way for our bowlers with 3 for 8 off his 5 overs.  Daniel McEwen 1/18 off 7 overs, Glenn McEwen 1/14 off 6 overs and Cory Brockhouse 1/28 off 7 overs were our other wicket takers.

Our first one day win since the core of the team formed at the start of last season. We have been getting very close this year and it’s great to finally get over the line.