T20 Grand Finals

2^nd Grade

WPHC Blue (Simon) 6/146 defeated Berowra 117 – the 2^nd Grade GF, and we were up and about, and rearing to go. Berowra Oval turned on the conditions, so Snumpty decided to lose the toss, and we were asked to bat (Snumpty told his team he won the toss, and we batted first).

We went out to bat, and Figgie ‘Sausage Dog’ Robertson hit 14 off the 1st over, on his way to a quick fire 27. Regular wickets then fell, until Ross ‘Dating The Better Scoular’ Holdman gave us momentum, flogging 18. The innings then gained more momentum, with Josh ‘Diddle’ Banner and Hedgey ‘No Spikes’ Bedi dominating the last 10 overs, to see us reach 6/146. Hedgey scored 26, with Didds hitting a 6 off the last ball, to finish on 48*. This was an innings that belied his years and calf size.

Thinking we were slightly short, on a road and fast outfield, we wanted a good start with the pill. Well, a caught behind off the first Gandis ‘Get There Vegan’ ball of the innings certainly helped. With Snumpty striking in the 2nd over, as he did another hamstring, and went off to drink beer, we were right on top. Jackson ‘Chest’ Preedy then executed a brilliant run out, which saw the continual fall of Berowra wickets.

Jimmy ‘Banking For Snump’ Mc took 4 fa off 3 overs, after taking 3 snares with the gloves, with Gandis and Fernie ‘$2 Late’ Meikle taking 2 fa. Rowan ‘Lovey’ Love bowled a great spell to support, and The Vegan took 3 superb catches, including the final one, to see us to victory.

A brilliant win, and a victory that showed our WPHC passion. A massive thanks to Raffa ‘99%’ Raffel, for leading our team home after the cripple left the field, and for Mobbo ‘Where’s My Undies’ Robertson for subbing in. We’d also love to thank all our supporters, including Ross, Wortho, Volc, Cambo, the Banner clan and Wifey.

Premiers!!!!!!! The whole T20 season of hard work was worth it.

3^rd Grade

WPHC Red (Rob) 4/98 defeated Berowra 7/89 – the boys were fired up after watching a great game where Buzz’s 4th Grade side had just beaten Berowra. Things kept going West Penno’s way as Naps won a rare toss. We went out to set Berowra a total on Greenway.

The innings got off to a shaky start, losing a wicket in the first over. Ray Khamis came to the crease and took the first ball straight in the face, just barely missing his faultless nose. Ray wouldn’t go off and continued to bat. Andrew Morris (20) and Ray (35) dug in and continued to put on runs despite some tough bowling from the opposition. Oliver Maybury (13), Brent Larkham (14*) and Zac Morris (9*) kept the run rate ticking along until rain stopped play after 13.1 overs.

The rain cleared and the pitch was swept and dried. Just over an hour was lost and the new equation was set. Berowra needed 91 runs from 12 overs for victory.

The fielding restrictions were now in place for the first 3 overs. Naps decided to open the bowling himself and took the first wicket in the first over thanks to a sharp stumping by Andrew behind the stumps. Dean Carlin continued the trend, taking a wicket in the next over. A wicket fell in each of the first 4 overs and 2 fell in the 5th over, to have Berowra at 6/31. Dean Carlin finished his spell with 2/18 and Naps finished with 4/15.

The opening bowlers were backed up by some fantastic efforts in the field. Including 2 great running/diving catches by Brent and Oliver.

The Opposition fought back and managed to get back to needing just 11 runs off the last over. Brent Larkham bowled a near perfect over, with the only blemish being a flying edge that ran away to a fine third man boundary. 4 runs were then required off the last ball. Brent kept the ball pitched up and the batsman only managed to squeeze it out to deep extra cover. The batsman was easily run out taking the 3rd run. A great win in a real nail biter! Thanks to the supporters for sticking around despite the weather!

4^th Grade

WPHC 4/140 defeated Berowra 8/134 – winning the toss we had no hesitation on batting first in perfect morning conditions at Greenway.

We lost an early wicket, but the next pair added 66 with some crisply timed shots from Will Harvey (34) and Indranil (38) keeping the scoreboard ticking over at better than a run a ball. Peter Lees and Nick Colley then combined to add a further 55 with Peter (32) and Nick (23*) taking us to a very competitive 140 after our allotted 20 overs.

In the field we leaked runs early with an aggressive start from the Opposition racing them to 2/88 after 10 overs and almost putting us out of the running.

But we knew we were still in the fight, and inspired spells from Scott and Murray Chapman, Amith Ninan and Buzz put the brakes on the scoring and picked up consistent wickets to ramp up the pressure and push the required rate to back over one a ball. Wickets shared between Amith (3/19), Murray (2/10) and Tanay (2/35).

An outstanding team effort to pick up 6/46 in our second 10 overs to close out a tight one and lift the trophy.

Congratulations on a fantastic team effort throughout the competition!

 Saturday Competition

A1 Grade

WPHC 5/190 defeated Glenorie 8/185 dec. – we had a tough and hard fought day in the field with Clenorie continuing to bat into the day and using the conditions to their benefit. They declared at Tea with 8/185, a tough chase. This left us with a tough but achievable target. Despite losing a couple of wickets, James Makin (87) and Josh Mathias (38) steadied the ship with some great batting.

This proved to be the winning partnership as we chased the runs down in a display of batting that that is sure to get us on a roll for the rest of the season. Nick Bennett hit a massive six to win the game in the last over.

This is a victory that will go down as one of the best –an amzing run chase in the scheme of things.

Batting:

• James Makin – 97
• Yoyo – 38

Bowling:

• Tim Scoular – 3/16 (12 overs)
• Justin Paterson – 3/48 (20)
• Justin Edwards got his first wicket in A1 Grade with a beauty of an LBW.

A2 Grade

Blue (Rick) 109 lost to Kenthurst 272 – we had the task of chasing a formidable 272 on a decent Greenway Park. Umi and Willy got us off to a solid start losing our first wicket at 42 runs and it was all downhill from there. We struggled to put any other partnerships together. A triple wicket maiden really put paid to our run chase going from 3/46 to 6/54 in a single over.

We scrimped and scraped but were bundled out for an ordinary 109. Best of our batting Umi 32, Fieds 27*, Willy 16 and Tom Hando 16. We need to improve our batting moving into the next round.

Red (Simon) 220- lost to ARL 9/243 – A2 “Those Red pricks” Red were sent in to chase 244 against an ageing ARL. Stanton “Pon” Tam set the standard early by providing a Hawaiian pizza, a cheesymite scroll and finger buns from our unofficial sponsor Bakers Delight. Volc “Volc” Volc then followed suit by smoking a quick fire 131 in about 4 hours, clearly moving on from his misfield in the first week of round 1. This was our 465^th ton and the 5^th overall this season. He was helped out by Tim “Muslim Beard” Leyshon after the Pon had to be cut out.

We fell about 25 runs short as our lower order performed like a lower order. There’s clearly been a miscommunication, the lower order needs to understand that in club cricket it’s not on the top order to score runs.

Keen for next week to come back to the home of Australian cricket, Greenway Park. Dan “Cardigan” Costigan has been tipped to score a classy 62 before being caught hooking at deep midwicket.

Luke “Vegan” Herzog was quoted after the game – “I like salad. I love Steve Quanborough.”

• 3 votes – Stanton “Pon” Tam
• 2 votes – Muslim Beard’s left testicle
• 1 vote – Volc’s cramping finger

B1 Grade

WPHC 148 lost to Kissing Point 7/153 – week 2 was always going to be a tough week, defending only 148. We started the day superbly bowling very tight lines from all bowlers! Going into the first drinks break Kissing Point were only 2/40 after 34 overs, with the breakthrough coming in Ravin Wijesuriya’s opening over, with a double wicket maiden!

Runs were hard to come by, with Kissing Point scoring only just over 1 and over through the majority of the game, however wickets were also a rarity through the middle session. Unfortunately with everyone bowling fantastic all through the game, we just didn’t have enough runs to defend, with Kissing Point chasing down the runs with 3 wickets to spare. But the team showed guts and fought right to the end!

The best of the bowlers were Nathaniel Chidgey with 3/42 off 20, Ravin Wijesuriya with 2/8 off 10, and Matt Watts 1/12 off 7.

B2 Grade

Blue (Tim) 137 lost to Kenthurst 3/275 – continuing on from last week’s 1-37 chasing 280 to win, Raghu Chary (40) & Oliver Maybury (17) batted well putting on a solid 39 run partnership till Oliver nicked one behind.

Cameron Bish (2) played a great support role to Raghu in soaking up some overs before spooning one close in. Raghu heard a few pops whilst running and started stretching his calf, nooooooooo!

Jayson Smart (24) batted assuredly with Raghu until the later succumbed lbw. Ruben Alexander came in and regularly turned over the strike, this pair were batting nicely until Jayson found a fielder caught. From here we lost 5-22 with scores between 0-5. Alas the tail didn’t wag and so we lost by 142 runs. With some more time spent in the middle and a few players getting over some injuries, the batting should improve in order to set our bowlers a target to work on. Special mention to Captain Wortho for bringing up his first runs of the season following 2 ducks!

Blue team onward and upward.

Red (Rob) 153 lost to Normanhurst 239 – we started the day with the full 75 overs to get the 240 runs required for the win. Unfortunately we lost our first wicket in the 8th over. Eric Junkkari (37) played a great knock, but with wickets falling regularly at the other end, he was unable to form a solid partnership.

Brent Larkham (69) came out with a positive mindset. Brent took to the bowlers, sending the ball to the fence all around the ground. As wickets fell at the other end, Brent switched gears as the objective then became seeing out the day and holding on for a draw. The boys knuckled down, with Rob Knapman batting for 26 overs for 10 runs and nearly putting the opposition to sleep (as well as his team mates). In the 67th over Normo got the final breakthrough.

C1 Grade

WPHC 257 defeated Normanhurst 130 – with clear/sunny conditions and smaller square boundaries, we needed to continue batting. Alex Chidgey and Stuwie Fiedler added 12 runs in 2.5 overs to overnight score of 245 before Stuwie was the last wicket to fall.

Our opening bowlers in Ryan Loveridge and Alex took control of the match early on. Alex got the first breakthrough with the Opposition main batsman caught of a loosener very first ball of the over. Ryan clean bowled other opener in the very next over. Both bowlers kept bowling in good areas.

Alex got the Opposition Captain in his 3rd over with a gem of a ball that hit top of stumps/bails and a bail was broken in the process. A 52 runs partnership for the 4th wicket followed which was broken by Stuwie in his very first over with a good catch from outstretched hand of Richard H behind the stumps.

There was another 52 runs partnership for the 5th wicket which was broken with brilliant throw from Pratah and Richard finishing the run-out in one clean fine touch. A direct hit run out to Mickey Fiedler got us 6th wicket in the 32nd over of the game. With opposition having only 8 players on the park, last wicket was deservedly taken by Harry Miedler into his 7th over.

Good team effort to get a win this round. Special thanks to Kishore Ramprasad, Harry Miedler and Avi Lath for helping us out in this match.

C2 Grade

WPHC 92 & 7/108 lost to Vs Kissing Point 9/301 – with the Opposition declaring at their overnight score, we had a big challenge to face. Unfortunately it was to be one of those days that we would rather forget! Hopefully we learnt from it and don’t have another this season!

We were rolled for 92 in our first innings right on the stroke of tea, with only Peter Lees and Dave Behlevanas offering any resistance (21 each).

Sent back in we were in trouble again early at 2/0 after 2 overs!

The positives out of the day were the efforts of Will Harvey who applied himself well to the task and showed how well he can play, along with a determined innings from Tanay Hira (both scoring 23) that ensured we avoided an outright loss.

This match placed our younger players in some of the toughest situations they will face and they will have many more productive days in the season having learnt from this.

C3 Grade

WPHC 150 lost to Kissing Point 9/365 (dec) – we started our batting after KP declared at the start of week 2. Some experimentation up the batting order, Manu and Anthony did not disappoint posting 37 runs in 15 overs. That was the best batting partnership of the day as we lost wickets at regular intervals from there on. Finally all out scoring 150 runs after 51 overs. Top scoring batsmen were Sreeni 26, Anthony 20, Manu 22, Rommel 19 and Agniva not out 16.

A bit of a disappointment from the team as we believed to bat out the day but getting out in a hara-kiri way. We hope to jump back next round against Castle Hill.

D1 Grade

WPHC 9/336 dec. defeated Castle Hill 179 & 242 – declaring at 9/336, the session started well with an early wicket falling to Dylan (1/23), but Castle Hill batted well for their 2nd wicket partnership to be on 75 before another wicket fell. From then on, Castle Hill lost 8 wickets for 44 runs, off the back of brilliant bowling from Roshan (5/38) (all 5 clean bowled) including a two wicket maidens and Sam (3/57) with some great fielding from Aden with 3 catches.

Managing to clean them up for 179 we put them back in for a second innings win, and it couldn’t have started better with 3 early wickets falling leaving Castle Hill on 3/18 with 2 in an over from David (2/64). Once again consistent wickets off great bowling from Dylan (4/42) and great fielding from Sam with 2 catches and Steve with a great one hander, left Castle Hill on 7/106 and then 8/134.

But a good 9th wicket partnership saw them reach 232 runs before a careless run out, and getting them all out for 242 with Steve getting 2/6 left only 2 or so overs left in the day. Castle Hill had batted well to save their innings.

In what ended up being a tiring day, there were great signs for the team looking forward, with solid fielding backing up good bowling allowing us to take 20 wickets in 74 overs.

D2 Grade

WPHC 6/213 drew with Kenthurst 7/339 – on Day 2 they decided to bat another 9 overs declaring at 7 for 339 after 79 overs. Captain Mike managed to trap their best player on 149 by bowling a little wider to allow Thiru to stump the batter who was out of his crease.

Ben Kinchington managed to get a run out off their sixth batter with the assistance of Simon Rahmani. Their seventh wicket was taken from a catch by Nerav Desai off the bowling of Ben K. Our best bowling figures were 2 for 39 runs off 19 overs by Ben Kinchington. Mike Kinchington also took 2 wickets and Nerav Desai took a wicket. The stumping and a run out took the total to 7 wickets.

Kenthurst probably should have declared at the end of Day 1 but were so concerned that they might be chased down that they decided to continue batting for another 9 overs on Day 2. That left 63 overs to achieve parity with the Kenthurst score. Captain Mike decided to play conservatively and to see where the score was at the end of the day. Captain Mike and Ian Williams opened the batting hitting 64 runs after 28 overs. This was due to the bowlers good line but also because the openers did not want to lose their wickets at an early stage as we were trying to force a draw at the very least. Ian Williams went on to hit 70 runs.

We lost our second wicket on the 140 run mark. Ben Kinchington as number 3 batter hit 49 runs and Brent Van Wck hit a quick 40 runs. We lost our third and fourth wickets on the 164 and 166 mark. At that point some 65 overs had been bowled by Kenthurst. We we also had to bat 20 overs between 5 and 6 pm.We lost 2 batters in two consecutive balls in the 73 over at the 212 mark.

Captain Mike instructed his remaining batters to play defensively to ensure a draw. This match had changed considerably from last week when it was bone dry with a fast outfield to today when it was soft and slow after all the rain yesterday. We managed to secure the draw after 76 overs. We frustrated the Opposition no end with our stubborn defensive play but it was the right approach in very different playing conditions.

Further, it left Kenthurst behind us on the competition tables. The patience and determination seen in today’s play by the WPHC team was outstanding and bodes well for future matches where these qualities may be needed.