A1 Grade

WPHC Vs Glenorie 6/82 – we won the toss in a delayed start against Glenorie and sent them in. The boys had a calm confidence this week at the ground and we were hungry for wickets. Tim Scoular got 3 top order wickets, Cam McBrien got 1 and JP 2.

Next week is looking like an important week as we are on top. We were called off early due to the wicket being unplayable. The boys are keen to get on next week and get our first victory of the season.

A2 Grade

Blue (Rick) Vs Kenthurst 272 – overcast and drizzly day all day at Greenway Park but the ground was very firm and very quick. We loss the toss (no surprise there) and the Kenthurst Captain had no hesitation in deciding to have a bat.

Bailey and Preeds took the new ball and we struck early with Preeds removing one of the openers (1/4). A change of bowling brought another wicket shortly afterwards from Keats (2/13) and we were feeling pretty good. Kenthurst dug in until drinks and we went in at 2/31 off 20 (we’d won the first session). We struck again straight after drinks with Flooky removing the other opener (3/31). From there the Kenthurst batsmen wrestled back control and a hundred partnership ensued.

Willy struck just before tea and Kenthurst were 4/142 off 39 at tea. We struck again straight after tea and grabbed another couple of wickets during the session to go to the final drinks break with Kenthurst at 7/190 off 55 overs. We struggled to break the next partnership but grafted away with a destroyed ball for the last 20 overs finally dismissing Kenthurst for 272 in the last over of the day.

Best of our bowling Keats 3/36 (16), Preeds 2/22 (16), Flooky 2/25 (5.3), Bails 1/51 (16) and Willy 1/54 (6). We’ll need to bring our best batting game next week if we’re to chase down this pretty impressive Kenthurst total.

Red (Simon) Vs ARL 8/222 – tough conditions met us at the Garden Of Headen, with a top of the table A2 clash awaiting. The boys thought it might be a good day to bat, so Snumpty ‘I’ve Won My Toss For The Year’ Smyth lost the toss, and we bowled. Wickets were hard to come by in the conditions, in fact, ARL were 1 fa in the 56th over, but we dug as deep as Pon in a finger bung bust, and finished the day having ARL 8/222.

Kitty ‘Tens’ Grover was again the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/37 off 15. What made this better, was the fact that the ball looked like a wounded testicle, and was as slippery as a Cam McBrien 21st invite. Costo ‘Thanks For The Lift’ Costigan (2/43 off 17), Gandis ‘I’ll Bag Mobbo, But Won’t Come To The Bowlo Myself’ Herzog (2/51 off 15) and Tis ‘I Got Out An Adult’ Mistry (1/31 off 9) were our other wicket takers.

In the field, Hollywood ‘Chaminda Vasectomy’ Leyshon put his balls on the line behind the stumps, and Pon ‘On The Rags’ Tam did a superb job all day, mimicking Faf de Pleussis’s ball tampering.

A really solid day, and our finish gives us a massive chance of chasing their runs next week.

Votes:

3 – Pon (rag work)

2 – Hollywood’s Left

1 – Hollywood’s Calf

B1 Grade

WPHC 148 Vs Kissing Point 0/18 – on a wet and miserable day at Gilroy College, of course with no cover what so ever, we lost the toss as planned and we were put into bat. With tough conditions and with the ball swinging harshly, we started off with a very promising start!

At the 20 over break we were sitting on 1/64, with 2 great partnerships of 37 between Aaron and Rohit, and 48 between Aaron and Dinesh. Unfortunately after that wickets fell at a steady rate and we fell short of a goal, finishing all out on 148 after 58 overs. Top scorers were Aaron Carlini 31, Dinesh De Silva 30 and Michael Gunn 16.

We then went out to bowl 14 overs at the end of the day, with all the bowlers keeping very tight and difficult lines, making it hard for Kissing Point. However their opening batters held on and the day ended on 0/18 after 14 overs.

B2 Grade

Blue (Tim) 1/37 Vs Kenthurst 3/275 – tough day in the field today with Captain Wortho losing the toss again! (Geoff Toovey-“there’s gotta be an investigation”) ringing in the ears of all teammates.

Kenthurst chose to bat, with early promising spells from Oliver Maybury (0-38) and Nick Duck (0-47) working hard and getting unrewarded. Sam Hando (1/25) came on bowled tight lines and was rewarded with a wicket. Later succumbing to an injured quad unfortunately limiting his days bowling to 4 overs. Enter our new man Ruben Alexander bowled superbly to get 2 wickets.

However, two Kenthurst batsman thwarted us for the remainder of the match with an impressive 4th wicket stand of 158 to finish at 3/279. We set out to keep wickets in hand with a tricky 16 overs to face. William Dearden and Raghu Chary playing steadily amongst some outstanding swing bowling. William (7) finally succumbed to an absolute peach (Glenn McGrath like) nipping the top of off stump and without further trouble Raghu Chary (18*) and Oliver Maybury (9*) guided us to stumps 1/37 with a big chase next week, we will be looking to be positive with the bat. Blue team over and out.

Red (Rob) Vs Normanhurst 239 – the Normanhurst Oval pitch needed a good sweep to clear the mud tracked on from the Juniors. It was a clear sign of things to come. The idea was to win the toss and bat out the day. Naps lost the toss and we found ourselves out in the field.

The drizzle had set in for the day so we knew we had to take early wickets before the ball became a bar of soap. Aaron Hawkins(1/37) got the first breakthrough in the 5th over thanks to a really sharp catch by Dean Carlin in the gully. Brent Larkham (1/9) followed it up with a great delivery knocking out the off stump. Rob Knapman (4/45) dismissed the Normo opener in the last over before drinks. Aseem Goswami (1/54) took the next wicket in the first over after the drinks break.

All the bowlers worked hard throughout the innings in tough bowling conditions. Everyone did well to control the slippery pill as well as they could. The wickets were shared amongst the bowlers with Dean Carlin (0/25) bowling really well without luck. Eric Junkkari 1/19, Matt Digby 1/26 and Ray Khamis 1/22.

It was a tough day in the field, but a total of 240 at a dry Normanhurst Oval next week is achievable.

C1 Grade

WPHC 9/245 Vs Normanhurst – wet ground and small square boundaries meant batting was an easy choice after winning toss. Pratah (21) and Richard got proceedings to a good start for us with pair putting on 39 runs for the opening wicket. At first drinks break we were 1/58.

After this we lost 3 wickets with addition of 18 runs only. Zac Turner joined Richard and both started the rebuilding effort. Pair put on 68 runs for the 5^th wicket before Zac (27) missed a straight one.

On the other hand was Richard playing a very patient game carefully picking up bowls to hit. This was against a very disciplined Normanhurst bowling. In partnership with Zac he completed his half century and kept us in the game. Young Avikshit Lath joined Richard in the middle and playing few confident shots on loose deliveries offered early on. He not only got some runs into the family contribution to the match (with not a single run from Dad), put on 64 runs partnership for the 6th wicket.

On the other side Richard was still hungry for that first hundred for the Club, which he got with a hit to boundary in 62nd over. A well compiled hundred! His innings ended with a mishit off a spinner after scoring 109 which was the only chance he gave off his bat all day – our 464^th century.

Ryan Loveridge continued on from where Richard left and contributed solid 36. We finished day on 9/245 which is a good accomplishment against a good bowling attack.

C2 Grade

WPHC Vs Kissing Point 9/301 – not a good day to lose the toss! A day of consistent drizzle that hardly let-up throughout, combined with a pitch surround which resembled the beach at Dunkirk in May 1940, we took to the field and did what we could to make the best of a difficult situation and play a game of cricket.

It was tough work for all the bowlers with the sand and moisture meaning the ball was ruined by the 6th over. Dave Behlevanas, strapped up like an Egyptian Mummy, bowled a lionhearted spell and was well rewarded with 4/39, Tanay Hira bowled his heart out for 16 overs and was desperately unlucky not to collect a wicket. Ravi Shankar found a good length despite bowling with a cake of soap and picked up 2/45, with Darcy Ward, Nick Sparks and Buzz chiming in with valuable breakthroughs to pick up one a piece.

Apparently we finished our allotted 67 (rain reduced) overs at 18:40pm (I only know this because I checked my watch by the light projected through the gloom by the headlights of passing cars!).

A great team spirit was a credit to the team for putting in constantly throughout what were the worst conditions experienced in recent memory. Next week is a new day, and we will look to continue with the same excellent spirit to chase the total down.

C3 Grade

WPHC Vs Kissing Point 9/365 – finally a toss won and looking at overcast conditions we fielded first. Our opening bowlers bowled a tight spell but wickets only came after first change, with Amith Ninan getting both the openers out in his 3^rd over. After that some missed chances and fielding lapses took Kissing Point to 3/146 at tea.

Some good hitting by our Opposition in the middle overs and a tiring bowling attack with a hard, wet ball. KP closed the day at 9/365. Amith Ninan was the pick of our bowlers getting 4/42 in his 14 overs. Sreeni Pillamarri 1/36, Cliff Greenhaigh 1/53, Peza 1/51, Rommel Pandey 1/51 were the other wicket takers.

The team should take confidence in chasing such mammoth totals taking in experience from earlier rounds. The game is not all lost, need to see if we can repeat the feat from Round 1 chasing 300+ runs.

D1 Grade

WPHC 9/336 Vs Castle Hill – being sent in to bat, Ian (11) and Sam (36) got us off to a good start with an opening stand of 39 runs. Dylan came in and batted well to score a solid 41. With the score at 5/147 Steve and Lindsay combined well to make sure a defend-able target was within reach. Steve batted effectively to achieve his maiden half century with a well deserved 70.

With consistent partnerships, scoring 30 runs or more, through good contributions from Lindsay (30), Aden (21), David (19) and getting 62 sundries we reached a total of 336 runs.

 

Having posted a good total on the board, it gives our bowlers something to defend next week.

D2 Grade

WPHC Vs Kenthurst 4/302 – I checked the weather report early Saturday morning which said that there was a 80% chance of light rain in Sydney. The consensus among the team was that we should bowl expect for Simon Friend who was adamant that we should bat. We won the toss and told Kenthurst to bat. Well we should have listened to Simon. There was not a single drop of rain throughout the match.

Kenthurst took a very conservative approach and left every ball that went towards the off stump and blocked the rest. It took 20 overs until they hit 50 runs. At the break we spoke about disciplined bowling. Captain Mike managed to get a run out off his bowling to take the first wicket with 62 runs from Kenthurst. He then took the next wicket on 63 runs. Ben Kinchington got a lbw against the third batsman so that after 28 overs we had Kenthurst at 3 for 63 runs.

The next Kenthurst player then hit 127 runs with his partner hitting 50 runs. John Rose managed to catch this centurion at the 215 mark off the bowling of Simon Rahmani. However, play continued to the 73 rd over without any further loss to Kenthurst who finished the day on 302 runs. We let ourselves down in the field by dropping catches. We dropped both openers early and the centurion on 70. So dropped catches were responsible for not bowling Kenthurst out for a reasonable score.

Agni Sen improved his bowling dramatically today and Simon Rahmani was a trooper in the field. The best figures were Ben Kinchington who got 1 for 30 off 16 overs with 5 maidens and Mike Kinchington who took 1 for 39 off 16 overs with 5 maidens plus a run out from his own bowling.

There was 31 sundries. So we need to learn a good lesson from watching the opposition bat today and play sensibly with little risk in order not to lose this match.