Match Reports

Round 8 (Day 1)

 

A1 Grade

WPHC (Cam #25) Vs St Ives –Wahroonga

No play today at Parklands, Next week is played as a 1-Dayer. 1“`

A2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Birdcage) 194 drew with Kenthurst-Upper Hills 0/3

No play today at Kenthurst Park so points shared.

WPHC Red (Todd) 4/161 defeated Castle Hill RSL 150

“Hard to believe, but it’s game on at this stage” – Jamaican

“Ground is in good nick” – Volc

Yes, even after the weather of the past few days, a turf cricket ground seemed ready to play.

That was until we realised the covers had leaked, or someone – probably a particular Ben Burrows trying to sabotage the team after realising he wasn’t able to play this week (a lot (lot) more on this later) – had taken a leak right on a length at one end. So basically, it was nearing 1pm and there was a pretty decent-sized puddle right in the middle of the pitch which probably should’ve rendered the pitch unplayable.

Less than ideal.

But to our horror and Castle Hill’s delight, the umpires decided it was safe to play, so on Lachy and Ben went in search of the 150 run partnership Ben promised in last week’s match report to guide the team home…

The only very minor issue with this was that Ben hadn’t shown up.

The excuse? An elbow injury sustained during a clearly vigorous session on Wednesday, which is admittedly very impressive, so good on you Ben. However, he then went and ruined his moment of glory by claiming that he actually got hit in the elbow by Jamaican “bowling heat” in the nets. He must’ve had the wrong Makin, because Jamaican does not bowl heat (anymore?). In the words of Willy, who has never played a pull shot in his life: “just pull it”.

Anyway, this is particularly notable as Ben didn’t think to notify Todd he wasn’t going to show up because he couldn’t drive until most of the team had arrived at Storey Park. This then sparked much confusion over whether he would be retired hurt or retired out (the scorecard says retired hurt but for intents and purposes of this match report he is retired out for 0 off 4 balls – his 11^th duck of the season) and in the end, Preeds walked out with Lachy to deal with Castle Hill’s openers and That Ominous Puddle.

Most of the innings was rather uneventful – at no point did we ever appear in any real danger and with heaps of batting in the sheds, we were always comfortable. Even with play delayed by half an hour to help the pitch dry, Lachy and Preeds batted together for well over an hour to get on top before Lachy fell for 36 chasing runs with thunderstorms looming – I heard the Australian cricket team might be looking for a genuine opener? Give him a ring, he’s apparently promised someone somewhere a double century which the Aussies could definitely do with right about now.

Enter Billy, who for the second week running quickly began to anchor the innings, this time finishing unbeaten with a run a ball fifty as we passed the score three down. Well, three down at that stage, as we batted on to help the world’s most decentest bloke to that fifty (he was on 47 at the time) and lost “The Messiah” Ollie Makin for a quickfire 24 to a leggie probably bowling his first over in three years, so maybe he isn’t quite so decent anymore.

Preeds also made 38 for anyone wondering. Labuschagne replacement anyone?

Anyway, the rain held out and for the seventh time of trying this season, we put six precious points on the board and have some momentum going into the derby next week. Then Ben showed up and everyone’s day was ruined so that kind of sucked.

Also shout out Todd – best toss to lose ever (can I bowl next week?).

B1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Shomik) Vs ARL

Scores & match update not available.

WPHC Red (Warren) Vs Kissing Point

No play on Saturday so we play a 1-Day game next week.

C1 Grade

WPHC (Indranil) Vs St Ives-Wahroonga

No play today. We now play a 1-Dayer next weekend.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Hiresh) 117 Vs Hornsby Green 4/65

In a rainy and humid encounter at Headen Park, the WPHCCC Blues faced off against Hornsby after losing the toss (off course Hiresh called the wrong side), which saw Hornsby elect to bowl first. The Blues struggled with the bat, managing to post a total of just 117 runs.

Renesh was the standout performer scoring 2 runs which contributed heavily to the score total, whereas as Sparsh second to only Renesh top scored with 57 runs, while Mayank added a quick 25.

As the Blues took to the field, Mayank continued his strong performance with the ball, claiming 2 wickets. Ratul and John also contributed with 1 wicket each, helping to restrict Hornsby to 65 runs for 4 wickets by the end of the day. Hornsby now needs just 52 runs to win next week, setting the stage for an exciting finish.

The WPHCCC Blues will be eager to regroup and mount a comeback in the next match.

WPHC Red (Aniket) Vs Beecroft

No game on Saturday. We play a 1-Dayer next weekend.

C3 Grade

WPHC (Mick) Vs BYE

Next match we play Hornsby

C4 Grade

WPHC Red (Ross S) Vs Hornsby

No play possible at Mt Ku-ring-gai as pitch surrounds flooded. We play a 1-Dayer next week.

WPHC Blue (Rob) 148 Vs Beecroft 0/57

At 10:30am any chance of play looked pretty unlikely with all the rain, but when Buzz contacted the Beecroft Skipper he was told that the ground was OK and that we would need to rock up and assess conditions rather than have an early session at the Sports Club.

Indeed, Cheltenham Oval was actually completely fine, perhaps a bit damp, but playable, so on we went.

We won the toss and batted hoping the wetness that remained would take any sting out of the new ball. Kamran and Luke compiled a solid opening stand but after losing our first wicket we then started to lose them regularly with no batter being able to take full control and steady the ship. At 6/77 we were struggling a touch, but thankfully some determined late order batting took us to 9/101.

Arjun and Ryan then put themselves to the task of building a fantastic last wicket partnership with a combination of solid defence and scorching attacking shots to put together a 10^th wicket partnership of 47 (Arjun 26 & Ryan 17*).

At least 148 gave us something to work with heading out to bowl.

We probably had the worst of the conditions as it turned out, because after very little rain all day, a consistent light drizzle set in when we commenced our bowling innings, but we were determined to work through crappy run ups and a softening ball to make some inroads into the opposition batting line up. Lance bowled a fiery and accurate spell, Jake challenged the batters consistently and the Beecroft openers were never able to play an attacking shot. Arjun and Manu backed this up with controlled spells but just couldn’t get the breakthrough.

Our young pace bowling group of Lance, Ryan, Jake, Arjun and Manu continue to improve match after match. They created 5 chances today and the scorebook probably should have looked a lot better than it does. They have the ability to be the best attack in the comp.

We will need to hold our chances next week, but we have the bowling attack to keep ourselves in the winner’s circle. With runs on the board, we will fight hard for the win.

WPHC White (Agniva) Vs Thornleigh

No paly so a 1-Dayer next weekend.

D1 Grade

WPHC Red (Diggers) Vs Hornsby

No play at Campbell Park today so this becomes a 1-Dayer at Campbell Park.

WPHC Blue (Nirav) 9/206 Vs Castle Hill

Today was the first day of Round 8, and day 1 of a 2 day match between us and Castle Hill. It was a cloudy, rainy day yet the rain stayed away and allowed us to complete our innings.

Castle Hill won the toss and sent us in to bat. The openers Vikrant and Ravi walked onto the field with confidence, and the game had begun.

The first spell lasted for the full 18 overs until the drinks break, with each bowler bowling 9 overs with no breaks. Leading up to the break, the Castle Hill bowlers bowled very well and we were 4/38, yet our team remained calm as Waman approached the crease.

With 3 x 50’s in a row leading up to the game, Waman played with confidence, and, alongside Sahil, created a partnership of 62 runs, bringing us back into the game. Waman made his fourth half century in a row, with an impressive 54 off 81 balls.

After we lost a 6^th wicket, the young Samkit, an under 13’s player, entered the field with a confident stride. And before we knew it, him and Sahil had put on a 47 run stand. Then, Tushar and Jacques, both alongside Sahil, had a 20, and 9 run partnership respectively, before unfortunately losing their wickets, and so Mihir, the last batter, came to the crease.

With 8 overs left in the day, Mihir and Sahil put on 20 more runs, with a couple boundaries and good running between the wickets, and thus concluded the first day of the two day match.

In summary, it was a day of partnerships for our team, and a crucial innings from Sahil, who remains not out in 43, forming good partnerships and being an anchor for our batting.

We hope to add some more runs to our tally next week, and do well in the field to win the game.

D2 Grade

WPHC (Roger) defeated on forfeit Thornleigh

This is a big result with the scheduled game against 3^rd placed Thornleigh (26 points) playing our 5^th placed (18 points) side. This goes part of the way to offsetting the 2 close losses in recent games.

Next game (Round 8) we play 2^nd placed Kenthurst so a win in this game will move us into the top 4 after a slow start to the season.