A1 Grade

WPHC 61 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee 7/70 – we lost the toss and were sent in to bat on a rain affected wicket at The Glade. There isn’t a lot top report on the bowling as we were rolled for 61.

With Normo having best use of a drying wicket we bowled really well. At one stage we had them 7/53. Unfortunately they finished at 7/70. Bailey took an impressive 4 wickets with a hostile spell, JP got and YoYo Mathias took 1 wicket. Despite going down this has been a great effort in defending a low score on worst use of the wicket.

A2 Grade

WPHC Red (Simon) 170 Vs Kenthurst 1/22 – A2 Red set new standard in fashion today, rocking up to play Kenthurst in our new ‘electric salmon’ team shirts. “Is that a finger bun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”

Simon ‘North should move to Tasmania’ Smyth earned a bank, adding to his deal with Mel, by winning his 5th toss in a row. We went in to bat and Jimmy Mac promptly got out so he could go and finish some work for the giants, in true cricketer form he was holding his rib and making excuses before the ball had been caught.

Daniel ‘I miss Wood’ Cardigan was caught cramping in both legs after taking a piss he described as, “I deadset could’ve poured a schooner. Head and all.” We eventually stumbled to 170 after Matt ‘Floppy Arms’ Scoular lead the tail.

In other news, with balls in hand, Josh ‘Overused Forearms’ Banner was working up quite a sweat when we came out with 7 overs to go in the day. Ankit ‘Nicole’ Kidman let down all her fans today as she failed to take a wicket in her first over. It led to quite a dramatic finish, but her performance will struggle to beat out Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour. If you don’t know who that is, make sure you don’t forget the ‘r’ in that name. I made that mistake once and jeez was I for a surprise…

Luke Herzog was caught stalking Steve Quanborough on Facebook this week, when asked he said “I was really just hoping for some beach holiday photos.”

WPHC Blue (Rick) 1/19 Vs SKLPS 228 – we are playing SKLPS at a horrible Dural Park. It’s been tilled during the week and so the bad surface was even worse.

Anyway to the cricket. Rick ‘Flair’ Turner wasted another 45 seconds with an ambitious plan to win a toss and failed again. SKLPS had no hesitation is batting. Our bowling started well with Justin ‘Clive’ Edwards and Tom ‘Jobbie’ Hando snagging early wickets and SKLPS were 2/13 after 5 overs.

SKLPS consolidated and went to the drinks break at 2/58. Immediately after the break Rowan ‘everything is sore’ Keating got a break through. SKLPS consolidated again before Alex ‘Hoot Hoot’ Turner grabbed a wicket with an absolute pie. Peter ‘Slender’ Flook grabbed a pole just before the tea break. SKLKPS 5/131 off 39 at tea.

Another good partnership ensured before Keats dismissed their high scoring batsman which slowed down their scoring rate. Jobbie picked up 2 more wickets before SKLPS decided to declare at 8/228 off 62 overs. Best of the bowling Jobbie 3/44, Keats 2/36, Clive 1/28, Slender 1/28 and Hoot Hoot 1/49.

We faced 11 overs to complete the days play with Clive and Matheesha ‘Tux’ Gunaratne looking solid until Tux got a good rock and nicked off. We finished the day at 1/19. This score is gettable if we bat well next week.

For reference:

• Rowan Keating = 23
• Chris Williamson = Willy
• Alex Turner = Hooch
• Jules Raffel = Sean Anthony
• Rick Turner = The Flair
• Nick Starr = Ivan
• Jackson Preedy = The Preedofile
• Taki Manolelis = Taki Manolelis
• Justin Edwards = Clive
• Peter Flook = Slender

B1 Grade

WPHC 5/200 Vs Kenthurst – showing up at Greenway Park, we won the toss and elected to bat due to our less than impressive record of chasing.

We started slowly but surely, with Aaron Carlini (45) avoiding a fine by actually batting himself in the top 3 this week. Him and Matt Watts (47) really dug in and batted well to get us to 1-104 at tea. The team was confused what to do from here, as the bowlers weren’t already padded up ready to revive a batting collapse of 5-50.

We then started to return to familiar patterns and everyone relaxed, losing 3-10 at one stage in the session post drinks. Of this mini collapse included some highlights from a 14 year old Kenthurst player who had far too much red cordial to drink before play today, and didn’t shut up the whole day.

After getting dropped twice in the previous over from the 14 year old leg spinner who reminded us of what it was like to actually be passionate to waste a Saturday afternoon at cricket, Az then proceeded to charge a full toss and get caught at mid off. $2 for getting out off a full toss, $2 for getting out to someone who hasn’t hit puberty yet. Thanks Az

Prats then followed a similar path, receiving a short ball from the leg spinner which he skilfully managed to hit straight up to the keeper, using a bat he stole at the nets on the previous day.

From here, play continued to be pretty boring, especially for Rohit’s girlfriend. Rohit Ninan (14) receiving a strong applause upon reaching double digits for the first time this year, with his girlfriend not believing her luck, begging for his dismissal so she could go home. The crowd attendance then dropped from 2 to 1, going wild when Ronic Bedi (31*) dispatched the 14 year old leggie for a one bounce 4 and then a 6 in consecutive deliveries, who closed out the day with the one-man team Ben Meikle (15*).

We finished the day with a score of 5-200 off 75 overs. Level in 4th with two other teams, we would’ve liked another 30-50 runs to our total. However, we are still in a good position against the 2nd place Kenthurst to get the much needed win next week with some quick early runs required.

B2 Grade

WPHC Red (Rob) 122 Vs ARL – we lost the toss and were sent in to bat on a large, slow NTRA. Our first wicket fell in the 7th over and the 2nd followed just 3 overs later. Andrew Morris (21) showed some resistance, but we soon found ourselves 6/55 after 30 overs.

Having lost 3 quick wickets Rob Knapman and Aaron Hawkins knuckled down to stop the rot and rebuild. The pair stuck around together for the next 35 overs and put on 63 runs to drag our score to 118. Aaron played his best knock of the season. He played with great patience to wait for the few bad balls that were bowled. Aaron finished with a very important 42. While Naps took just 43 overs to score his 13 runs……..

On a ground where boundaries are hard to come by, and with a bowling attack that is rolling along nicely, 122 is definitely defendable.

WPHC Blue (Tim) 8/223 Vs SKLPS – Les Shore No. 1 was the ground for the clash between SKLPS and WPHC-Blue. Wortho won the toss and we batted.

What ensued was a sensational opening partnership between Zac Turner (87) & Raghu Chary (53) of 109 a great start for the team putting us on the front foot early. Raghu’s innings built nicely with the usual fluency and sublime flicks through the leg slide and was finally out to a tired shot.

Zac Turner’s innings was built upon some lovely shots all around the ground but was unfortunately run-out with a hundred beckoning. Some valuable runs from the middle order with Matt Rashleigh (25), Ruben Alexander (16) & Nikki O’Meara (13) all with some cameos. Stumps day 1 we are 8-223, with James Reynolds (5no) & Wortho (8no), we can build upon this total next week with some quick runs and Sam Hando in the bank. Blue team onward & upward!

C1 Grade

WPHC 2/56 Vs ARL 201 – Tarun won the toss and sent ARL in to bat. The opening partnership made a positive start until a sharp catch by keeper Pratah brought about the first wicket. Wickets came in clumps through the afternoon until ARL finished on 201. Best of the bowlers was Keish Rampasad with 3 wickets, well supported by Asees Rajput with one and Avi Lath with two in his short spell.

Our turn to bat and despite the loss of a couple of wickets we ended the day in a strong position at 2/56; Arjun Kumar and T.Lath unbeaten on 26* and 20* respectively. Plenty of overs left to reach the total next week!

C2 Grade

WPHC 4/46 Vs Kenthurst 90 – despite the poor advice of his team mates to change his usual call, Buzz persevered with ‘heads’, and amazingly won the toss!

Needing to push for an outright win to keep our Semi chances alive, we bowled first on a spongey, slowish Kenthurst No.2.

Our young quicks (Tanay and Scott) set the tone with excellent opening spells to have the opposition losing regular wickets. After their first spell of 14 overs, the score stood at 4/16. Great back up from the other bowlers kept the wickets tumbling, but it was an outstanding performance from Tanay that saw him capture 5/25 to lead the attack. Other wicket takers were Jack Barry (1/9 from a great spell), Scott 1/11 (another fine piece of bowling) and Buzz 1/18.

Special mention goes to our Overseas professional George Everett who has bowled without luck in previous games, but finally snared his first wicket in Oz with a tight spell (1/11) – so great to see that our own Pommy import can go home and tell his mates how tough it is to take an Aussie wicket! Well deserved George!

Highlight of the fielding session though, was a brilliant stop in the gully and left-handed return to the keeper (not his preferred arm btw) from Ross Anderson to run out the opposition opening bat! Yet again RA showed us all the skills and that class always lasts!

Heading out to bat we faced some tight bowling and fielding which saw us at 3/19 at one stage. Will Harvey and Scott Chapman steadied the innings and took the score to 46 before we unfortunately lost Will to the last ball of the day for a well made 17.

With Scott 17* and plenty of batting in the shed, we should be able to work past the first innings win. We have a couple of gun junior bowlers filling in next week that will help us challenge and press for the outright. A good tight game today that leaves the door open for us to go for the outright.

C3 Grade

WPHC 7/258 dec Vs Kenthurst 0/9 – a must win game 3 Vs 5 and equipped with a bowling armory we wanted to make good use of the weather conditions. But we lost the toss and put to bat which went against our plan. The opening partnership did not click with some changes being made to have Cliff and Indranil open.

We lost some quick wickets before first drinks break and were struggling at 3/35. Then came an excellent partnership with Peza and Manu for 5^th wicket which took us to tea with 3/75. Peza got out on 34 and Manu continued with his sublime form to score another fifty getting out to a tiring shot on 58. Ramil was unlucky earlier not to get a long innings getting out on 19.

The best batting display came in the middle from Anthony Kwok who went down the order and showed his potential by scoring a quick fire 59. Together with Rommel 18, Rhino 27* and Amitava 10*, we declared the innings at the end of 69 overs scoring 258 runs giving the opposition to bat out 3 overs.

Rhino opened the bowling and was unlucky not to be given lbw on the first bowl which looked very plumb but the umpire did not think so. Some tight bowling and a difficult missed chance at the end, Kenthurst closed the day scoring 9 runs without losing any wickets.

A decent score put up by the team at Gilroy College grounds and having the bowling armory to make good use of the new ball it is set up for an interesting week 2.

D1 Grade

WPHC 2/49 Vs St Colah 124 – this game is important for us to win as it will keep us in the race for the Semis. We are looking for an outright to put us back in control of our semis chance.

The day started off well with Gautam winning the toss and with an outright win in mind we chose to bowl. Things started off very well with good tight bowling from Roshan (2/23) and Dylan (3/27).

Wickets fell regularly and we got to the first drinks break with St Colah at 4/35. The second spell bowlers, the Vink boys, continued the great bowling and kept things tight. Both Xander (2/30) and Paul (1/22) kept the wickets coming.

We went to the tea break with St Colah at 7/90 and things were looking good. Dave (1/11) and Roger (0/9) also kept the great bowling going. After a brilliant run out by Aden / Gautam we had them all out for 124 after 49 overs. A win was looking good and an outright win was still on the cards.

Now, time to chase down those runs as quickly as possible. Ian (16) and Aden (2) opened the batting but unfortunately Aden got out to a caught and bowled early on. Xander (17*) joined Ian at the crease and the pair consolidated well. Some bad luck saw Ian lose his wicket with a few overs left in the day.

Plenty to do next week to first get their runs, and then to get a good lead so we can attempt the outright win. But things are looking good.

D2 Grade

WPHC 1/21 Vs Hornsby 155 – this match involved us winning the toss (9 from 13) and deciding to bowl. Hornsby is the top of the ladder team playing our Team which is equal third on the ladder. The pitch at Samuel King is shaped like a dog bone with dead patches one end and bouncy points at the other. Hornsby opened with their two top batters in this grade.

We bowled a good line and length in the main but by the end of 10 overs they were 0 for 39 runs. Wanam Tamhankar got the first wicket with Captain Mike taking the catch at long off. This batsmen has hit close to 500 runs this season but was out for 17.

At the end of 20 overs Hornsby was 1 for 61 runs. Nirav Desai managed to snare a wicket in the 21st over with good direct bowling. However, the leading run getter in the D2 competition with over 680 runs was still in place which was causing us some concern. Captain Mike somehow managed to bowl the worlds slowest ball which this batter missed completely and took out the middle stump in the 26th over with this batter only scoring 47 runs (his average to date is 85). This meant that Hornsby was 3 for 75 runs.

By the end of the 40th over Nirav, Wanam, Captain Mike and Brent Van Wck had each taken a further wicket to have Hornsby at 7 for 111 runs. We managed to bowl out Hornsby for 155 by the 54.2 over. I think this is the lowest score from Hornsby this season.

There were 6 catches taken which was most gratifying. The best bowling figures were Captain Mike who took 3 for 32 off 11 overs, Wanam Tamhankar 2 for 30 off 9 overs and Nirav Desai 2 for 15 off 7 overs.

We than had to bat for 19 overs. By the end of play we were 1 for 21 and needing another 135 runs to win. Next week we have another 75 overs to play with. Hopefully we can be stubborn and find these runs to beat the top team. But no matter what we will have sent a real scare into the D2 competition.