Brothers in arms

Over the years we have had some wonderful brothers play Seniors – mostly in the same Team but sometimes as Opponents. This season we again have 2 of our ‘quiet achievers’ playing in opposing Teams and doing great things.

Cameron Bish (C2 Red – opening bat & w/k) and Dylan Bish (C2 Blue – top order & medium pace bowler) are outstanding talents who are again quietly going about their games and making a statement in their Club batting rankings.

So far this season, Dylan has scored 237 runs @ 33.9 making him the 4^th highest run scorer in Seniors. Just behind him is Cameron with 235 runs @ 39.2 – our 5^th highest scorer. Last season, Dylan was the top run scorer in Seniors (380 runs @ 38.0).

Both players could comfortably play much higher but the desire to play with mates is too strong – for the moment. If both boys stay fit and keen, the day isn’t far away when we will see the 2 x Bish boys playing together in A1 and continuing our legacy of brothers playing together at the top level.

Photo: – Dylan bowling to Cameron in the Sheep Station Cup on 16 February 2021 @ Campbell Park

A mountain climbed

A great effort from Eric Junkkari (C2 Red) playing on the weekend. When Eric took his 2^nd wicket this was his 500^th career wicket – an amazing achievement. Eric is now the 3^rd highest wicket taker in our 91 year history.

To put this in context, Eric started playing C1 Grade in 1991/92 and has:

• Played in 361 matches
• Bowled 2,859 overs and a massive 918 maidens
• Best bowling in an innings 5/31
• Averages 17.32 / wicket

Only 2 other players have passed the 500 wicket mountain:

• David Carey with 623 (played between 1979 and 2001/02)
• Ray McDonald with 543 wickets (played between 1953 and 1979/80).

To add a bit of musical relief to all the words what better song than the classic by the Proclaimers – 500 miles

Well done Eric.

One man bands

The A2 boys had a big win on the weekend that put them a massive 13 points clear at the top of the table. Behind the result was a basting domination by Steve Rochow. The boys were chasing only 52 to win and did it in just 13 overs with Steve scoring 38* of our 55 runs. This is 69% of the total team runs. This is the 4^th best ratio of runs to a final team total in our history. The top 3 performances are:

1. Wally Howard (B1) Vs Perseverance @ Campbell Park – Grand Final in 1967/68. We were all out for 4 and Wally Howard scored the only scoring shot – a boundary. This is 100% of the total score.
2. Glenn O’Connor (C3 Blue Vs WPHC Red 31/10/2010 @ Campbell Park). In a team total of 191 Glenn belted 145. This included 25 fours, 1 six and another personal best – a 3 all run. An even better achievement is that this is 75.9% of the team total
3. Daniel Anderson (D2 and just 13 years old) Vs Kenthurst at Holland Road Oval on 20^th December 2008, 81* out of an innings team total of 112 (72.3% of the total score).

Cricket Australia recognition

Cricket Australia (CA) recently advised us that we were awarded a grant of $3,500 under the ‘Grassroots Cricket Fund’. We were also chosen by CA as one of 6 Clubs nationally and the representative from NSW to be the face of the program with a segment that that will run on Channel 7 plus CA Social Media. Why us? Our reputation is well known for what we do with Girls Cricket, Disability cricket and our policies of inclusion.

Anyway, Aliya and Trinity from our Girls U16s did a Zoom interview with CA on Wednesday and were joined in a surprise by Nathan Lyon and Alex Carey. Feedback from Cricket Australia was outstanding – “…the girls were great with Nathan, the CA rep was very impressed with their questions!”

Keep a lookout for the Girls on Channel 7. Well done Girls – we are really proud of you!

Photo: Aliya and Trinity during the Zoom meeting this week.

If only…..

Over the years we have done a number of stories on Cameron Croucher (C3 Red Skipper) who is rapidly becoming a headline act. Briefly, Cameron’s main claim to fame is that his family owns a successful commercial brewery in NZ – Croucher Brewing

Cameron also has an amazing job. He transports horses around the world with some famous owners – Queen Elizabeth, The Sheik of Dubai, Sultan of Brunei and Thai Royal Family! Recently, Cameron transported a number of horses competing in the Tokyo Olympics including medal winners Virgil & also Zidane.

What does Cameron do outside cricket – go to the races ofcourse. During the week I got this great note from Steve Quanborough:

“…Cameron Croucher is working up in Brisbane and the Gold Coast last week and this week.

 As we have 8 for next week the 22nd Jan, Cameron is at the races and schmoozing with the owners including Mark Waugh.

 Cameron asks Quan, can any one play unrated?… Lots of laughs.”

Photo: Cameron with Shane Ross (dual Olympian) at the Tokyo Olympics

What would your decision be?

Each month we run a couple questions on rule interpretations to get you thinking about how much you really do know about the rules. The Answers will be provided next. Here goes:

Question 1

A fielder realises that they will be unable to stop the batters from completing a fourth run and deliberately allows the ball to cross the boundary line in order to prevent a fifth run being taken. How many runs are scored?

Question 2

The batter on strike hits a fair delivery, the sixth of the over, and both batters run. A fielder deliberately kicks the ball into the boundary, at which point the batters have completed two runs and crossed on their third. How many runs are scored and who will face the next delivery?