A1 Grade

WPHC 2/77 drew with Mt Colah 146 – back at the home of cricket we stepped on to a field that resembled deep square leg in Volc’s bedroom, damp under foot. The chat quickly moved from Pon jokes to horse racing to poorly remembered and exaggerated stories from the past. Of course Volc mentioned when he used to be fit.

Due to a mildly intoxicated deal the writer of this review is obligated to mention the great people at Magrow Racing Tips. They tip goodly and make dollars well. Luke “McDonald-Tippenhorsey” Herzog was asked to comment and stated “I just really like Steve Quanborough.”

Anyway, last week Castle Hill looked like most of them had just come from their morning Milo Cricket session and the new skills they’d learnt hadn’t quite sunk in. At 2:30 we called the game off and walked off victorious due to a first innings win. We wish Castle Hill the best of luck for the rest of the season, everyone has to start somewhere and despite some harsh sledging, Milo Cricket is a great program.

A2 Grade

Blue (Rick) 6/122 drew with Berowra 1/54 – a wet day at The Glade Oval reduced to a 30 overs a side. A full match report will follow.

Red (Simon) 4/169 defeated Castle Hill RSL 94 & 3/53 – no play due to the persistent wet weather but we will take 6 points from the game when no one else won.

B1 Grade

WPHC 6/223 drew with Castle Hill RSL – another washout with no result.

B2 Grade

Blue (Tim) 150 lost to Berowra 7/154 – starting the day 3/78 with Berowra chasing only 150, we toiled wilfully with James Reynolds (2/27 off 11) & Oliver Maybury (4/63 off 15) both bowling beautifully. Jayson Smart also picked up a wicket (1/8 off 6). Blue team are starting to gel, getting very close to a result. Blue team out.

Red (Rob) 5/313 defeated Lankan Islanders 194 & 4/41 – we resumed our run chase at 1/20 on a cold, wet Annangrove Park. Unfortunately we lost 3 quick wickets to find ourselves at 4/32. Another soon followed to see us fall to 5/65.

Brent Larkham was joined at the crease by Eric Junkkari.

The pair dug in and set about building a partnership. No one at the ground was prepared for what was to follow. Brent played a fantastic innings, picking gaps and finding the fence at will. Eric played a great roll and turned over the strike to leave the Opposition wanting.

Brent brought up his ton in 21 overs and saw us pass the Opposition’s total 1 over before tea. A quick crunch of the numbers and we decided to bat on for 10 overs and see where we were at. Brent and Eric were given free reign to open up and set a total to give us a shot at an unlikely Outright win.

The pair sent the bowlers to all parts of the ground. Eric brought up his 50 and Brent was in sight of his 200. Brent reached 200 with his signature cover drive to the boundary. Brent’s 2nd 100 runs came in just 9.1 overs. At the declaration Brent was 200*, our 467^th ton and only 6^th double) and Eric 57* (scoring his 5,000^th run in the process). The pair put on an unbeaten 248 run 6th wicket partnership! They also put on and Association and Club record 6^th wicket partnership record of 248* – full details in the Anecdotes section.

Their efforts gave us a 117 run lead and 31 overs to bowl out the Opposition.

Dean Carlin got the early breakthrough in the 2nd over with a great delivery that shot straight through the gate and knocked over middle stump. Matt Digby soon followed up with a wicket on his first delivery. Rob Knapman picked up a couple of quick wickets to have the opposition 4/23. The batsmen dug in and played with dead bats to see out the day. A great win on a cold, wet afternoon!

C1 Grade

WPHC 6/273 drew with Mt Colah – no play with Mt Ku-ring-gai oval a washout.

C2 Grade

WPHC 147 lost to Castle Hill RSL 3/148 – in between showers the Opposition knocked off their required 23 runs to claim first Innings points with Scott Chapman picking up the wicket to fall. We then sensibly called it a day. Onward to next round.

C3 Grade

WPHC 111 & 4/98 lost to Castle Hill RSL 4/273 dec. – we had hoped to provide a fight back in Week 2 and the rain did not help as it was a delayed start by 1 hour. The CHRSL team batted on with ease and our bowlers though bowling tight line and length could not get any breakthrough early.

Finally it was turn of Vishaal Nathan after a long gap to get his left arm swing and he made good use of the opportunity getting the opponent’s centurion clean bowed. CHRSL finally declared at tea with a good 160 runs lead.

It was our turn to bat 2^nd innings and all batsmen had to hang on and Ian Digby played his role staying not out till the end after given the opportunity to open with Anthony. Some wickets fell in the last hour but it was good sensible batting that saw us through the day denying an outright. Batters who were amongst the runs – Peza 15, Indranil 20 and Ian Digby 19 *.

Round 5 we are up against Hornsby who had an outright win in this round but we should back ourselves to play positively.

D1 Grade

WPHC 0/0 drew with Thornleigh 6/304 – no play with persistent wet weather at Thornleigh Oval.

D2 Grade

WPHC 2/253 defeated Thornleigh 242 – last week we bowled out Thornleigh for 242 runs. We had to bat for 15 overs and were 0/29 runs at the end of play on the first day. Ben Kinchington and Ian Williams managed to get through that period without loss against the top team in the D2 competition.

We arrived at Campbell Park to play the second day with light rain falling which delayed things for about ten minutes. However, Ben and Ian then got back into contention managing to take the runs to 33 before Ian attempted an ambitious sweep shot losing his middle stump.

It was at that stage that John Rose came into bat. John and Ben then started a fantastic partnership of 2^nd wicket partnership of 214 runs between them over the next three hours of play. John Rose hit 113 runs (our 468^th ton) before being bowled in the 68th over of the day. This was a Club 6^th wicket D2 record – full details in the Anecdotes section.

Ben Kinchington was 104 runs not out (our 469^th ton) at the end of play. This took us to 253 which overtook Thornleigh’s score to give us the win over the competition leader who until now have not lost a game.

A game of grit in difficult conditions with a very soggy ball that slowed up as it approached any boundary throughout the day leading to both Ben and John often having to runs twos when in dry conditions they would have hit that boundary.

John still managed to hit the boundary on 18 occasions and Ben on 9 occasions. So a remarkable partnership leading to a great result in this closely fought competition.

A big thank you to those players who came to watch and support our game today when theirs had already been drawn by agreement due to the rain and field conditions. It was much appreciated and showed the supportive spirit that exists in the Club.