Seniors Match Report – Round 1 (Day 1) – 27 September 2025

Competition Tables

As at Round 1 (27/9/2025)

PlayHQ link – Draw & Competition Table

• A1 (Cam #25) – =1^st (6 points)
• A2:
  • Blue (Warren) – =1^st (6 points)
  • Red (Todd) – =5^th (1 point)
• B1 (Prats) – =1^st (6 points)
• B2 (Sparsh) – =5^th (1 point)
• C1 (Aniket) – =5^th (1 point)
• C2 (Indranil) – =5^th (1 point)
• C3:
  • Blue (Chintan) – =1^st (6 points)
  • Red (Karl) – =5^th (1 point)
• C4:
  • Blue (Rob) – =1^st (6 points)
  • Red (Agniva) – =1^st (6 points)
• D1:
  • Blue (Roger) – =5^th (1 point)
  • Red (Diggers) – =1^st (6 point)
• D2 (Ross S) – =1^st (6 points)

Match Reports

A1 Grade

WPHC (Cam #25) 3/155 defeated ARL 153

In a fitting finish to his editorial-ship, despite rumours of returns to Kissing Point our former Chief Editor sailed off into the sunset after last year’s Grand Final.

Speaking of that day, 6 months later I still don’t think they had enough.

Anyway, big shoes to fill.

And you know what they say about big shoes, although we may never know despite many calls going unheard for it to be seen. Regardless, I digress and welcome a new match report editor and wish him the best for all future reports.

We were back to cricket today and boy how good it is to be back. Up the M1 to Parklands and we had lots of welcomes. In no particular order:

1. Welcome back to our avid readers. Without you all, there would be no reports.
2. Welcome to our new A graders. Congratulations to Oli, Ben and Shaan and welcome to A grade. Great blokes, great for DEI and the future of this club. Please none of you ever go to grade.
3. Welcome to the A1 competition ARL. Still confused why you have Rugby League in the name, but welcome nevertheless.
4. Sav was also back, playing for ARL and looking as jacked as ever.
5. Wu was back from his deathbed looking fitter then ever – Ozempic really does wonders.

Onto the game.

We lost the toss a bowled first, which was a good result for those wanting to tune in and watch the AFL grand final later in the day.

For those interested in attending and to our own team, we start A grade at 12pm. Tis/Ass/Shaan (UNSURE) but one of them was late and we started with 10. However, we might as well have been fielding with no one as we put on one of the worst fielding displays in A grade history. Drop catch after drop catch, with Belly providing one of the worst ever.

Anyway, with some solid bowling from our youngsters who took the fielders out of the equation (congratulations to Oli and Ben for their first A grade wickets), alongside K, Tis, Harry, Jack and Billy. Yes, you read that right, BCG took the red leather for a 22-yard ride, we managed to have ARL all out for 153.

Now batting and Cam led from the front.

For those who have played with Cam before, he often has trouble when the ball is anywhere near the stumps. Fortunately, ARL decided to try and become the West Indies of the 1990’s and begin a bumper barrage. Little did they know, that length plays right into his arc, as Cam set the platform and dispatched the bowlers to all parts of Parklands Oval, as he brought up his first ever A Grade (and maybe cricket) 50, ending with a 69.

So much was K’s leadership out there, he signalled T to pad up by pointing to his black arm sleeve (very clear instructions – thank you skip), prior to T needing to head off to the AFL Grand Final to welcome everyone down there. P chipped in with a 40 odd, before Harry and Billy steered us home, 3 down with a couple overs to spare. A 1-0 to start the season, and currently the ONLY, yes, I said ONLY A1s team to not lose a game in the 2025 calendar year.

If you are still with me, new for this year is the editors Brownlow, affectionately known as the Richards Memorial Medal. An award which really has no basis other than my own opinion but is one that will be held with great significance within the Club and Association. The votes this week go to:

• 3 votes – Captain K
• 2 votes – Big O (Oli)
• 1 vote – P

Speaking of P, if anyone has seen Jackson’s cricket shoes, size 13 (refer to the saying above – HORSE), please return them ASAP.

Thank you and we look forward to Hornsby, green, yellow, brown or whatever next weekend, which will hopefully be streamed live via the frog box, pending some technical complications to be sorted throughout the week.

Photo: Our A1 debutants: Oliver Makin (#338); Shanna Bakashi (#336) & Ben Burrows (#339). Missing is Jude Boyle (#337) who was away for the first game.

A2 Grade

A2 Blue (Warren) 195 defeated Kissing Point 74

Welcome all, welcome.

Another season is upon us and it is my absolute pleasure to talk you all through today’s wonderful game. 

We rocked up to your average looking The Glade pitch, a touch soft with plenty of green. Alas, we lost the toss and were sent into bat. 

Zach Turnstile and Katie walked out to start our innings. Zach fell early, probably thinking about how over 1 million years ago homo erectus utilised the natural phenomenon of fire, caught behind for 8 and Katie kept the run rate chugging along. Matty Schwartzel chipped in with 15, also caught behind. This brought Brent to the crease, and boy he made the pitch look like 1978 Jamaica.

He also got hit in the crown jewels, so that was funny.

Anyways, he stayed put and Katie and Brent put on 47 together, Katie falling for a swashbuckling 82 including 11 fours and 2 sixes, making the pitch look like 2024 Multan. 

Brent really needed to drop the kids off at the pool, so he got out for a solid 28 while Tanay (19), Lakshan (17) also chipped in, taking us to a solid score of 195, on the glade. A fantastic effort of a pitch that still had plenty of juice left in it. 

Riken and Schlumps started our bowling innings, with Schlumps taking a wicket in his first over, a fantastic catch by Matty Schartzelmeister, son of Warren Schwartzel,  at cover. While their opener was swinging wildly at every ball, wickets fell consistently around him.

All the bowlers chipped in, Riken 0/17, Shlumps 2/5, Knaps 2/13, Matty Schwartznugget 1/3, Diggers 1/16 Tanay was the pick of the bowlers with 3/15 and a runout. Kissing Point all out for 75 and Brent can finally go drop a log in the amazing glade facilities. 

An awesome start to the season by the A2 blues, laying the foundations to an exciting season. 

A2 Red (Todd) 8/152 lost to St Ives-Wahroonga 6/153

 And we’re back at the best Sports Club in the universe, and what a fine day to be back on the field.

With only around half of the team from last season who won just one game in about fifteen remaining, there were plenty of new faces around to get to know, and big holes to fill with the departure of our three best players and Ben Burrows, relegated to A1. New heroes, new villains, and a surely more successful season than the last.

It all started so brightly, too, before a ball was even bowled.

After winning about the same number of tosses as games last season, Todd really emphasised the saying “new year, new me” and called correctly for once. Back at the Club, he reportedly downed a dozen beers in celebration, which is quite equivalent to the amount of tosses he lost last season. Now imagine the scenes when we finally win a game because spoilers, we didn’t.

But that wasn’t it, because instead of electing to bowl and leaving our batters having to scrape out a tense chase in the dark like last season, Todd chose to bat.

No, that is not a typo. Carry on.

And so Lachy and Az walked out at Hassall Park, equipped with freshly mown grass and boundaries still long as ever to kick off the new season. And kick off the new season they did, pouncing on some typical start of season average bowling, pummelling the St Ives quicks to all parts of the ground as we raced along to 0-65 inside just 12 overs as a mammoth score beckoned.

But from here on out, things began to feel awfully familiar again.

A typical A2 Red collapse, catalysed by Lachy trying one flashy cover drive too many, some very poor running between the wickets by Az, Volc and Shomik and some questionable shot selections – long story short, 0-65 after 12 became 5-95 after 22 and we were back at square one.

Ultimately, rear-guard action from Sagnik and Arjun kept us rolling on as we finished at what we thought was about a par score at 8-152, Lachy top scoring with 29 while Az, Sagnik and Arjun also all reached the twenties. Also shout out to our good friends’ extras with their handy contribution.

With the ball, though, we mostly got unlucky. Despite good opening spells from both Hutchinson’s which saw Jack take our first pole of the season with a yorker to their hack of an opener, a true pitch and a quick outfield got the better of us as their other opener and number three, swinging and connecting with almost everything. And as usual, everything that wasn’t hit properly fell just out of reach of a fielder.

Even with a late fightback that saw us get them six down and bring it down to the 31^st over from 1-105 after 20, it wasn’t quite enough at the end of the day.

With the ball, Jack led the way with 2-21, while Dan (2-31), Willy (1-29) and Amit (1-18) all picked up wickets to keep the pressure on St Ives as they approached the target, never letting our heads drop in the field even when things weren’t going our way. Shout out to Alec for two catches as well.

And with some of the cobwebs brushed off, we go again next week at Storey Park against Kissing Point, on turf for the first time this season.

B1 Grade

WPHC (Prats) 7/146 defeated Beecroft 8/139

A warm welcome and hello to all long term and new readers of the B1 Match Report for the beginning of the 2025/26 season

After a triumph victory in the B1 premiership last season and subsequent promotion to a better Grade, this B1 side is under new management of Prats “Mr Cricket” Datar for this season and has become a melting pot of former A2,B1 and C1 players 

Not only is the side under new management but the trusty and heavily censored B1 Match reports is under new ownership with Rockin Ray Khamis hanging up his bat and gloves and we wish him the best in his future endeavours, I can only hope that I’m censored by head of the WPHCCCP Iron First Anderson to the degree of Mr Khamis 

We began our day assembling and getting ready for the day up ahead and boy oh boy were we keen…. Aden Hanich was having the breakfast of champions – Maccas, Will “Try Hard” McLennan was decked out head to toe in his new club training gear – Rosco eat your heart out son and Blissy was envisioning spinning up a storm as our sole “spin” bowler for the match 

As new Captain Mr Cricket Prats was expected to know his WPHCCC history and traditions and the most important one is losing the toss and he passed with flying colours, called wrong and we will put on the pads

Aden “Breakfast of Champions” Hanich and Cam “2 Schooners” Bliss got us off to a cracking start, both men settled in quickly and punished some loose bowling

Back for Part 2 of tradition in WPHCCC culture is the art of losing wickets for not a whole lot of runs and during the middle part of our innings we had gone from 0/47 to 6/110 with Oli holding the ship steady with a solid 23 

With 7 overs to go it was time to finish the innings strong with Dean “how’s he batting 8” joining the steady and reliable Rick “BDR” Turner and both men combined to put on a quick fire 36 run partnership off 7 overs to end the Innings at 7/146 but not before a last ball barbecue of Rick by Dean…. Good to ruin the average after round 1

Now time for our bowling innings and our new man Patty “Hot Take” Watkins was on from ball 1, a serious spell of bowling in tribute to his cricketing hero Tom Rogers from the Renegades

At the other end Biggggggggggggggggggggggg Ben Waldron bowled with great heat and snagged his first wicket of the year after a fantastic grab down the leg side from Aden

Plenty of ebbs and flows followed throughout the middle part of the innings with Rehan and Dean picking up a wicket apiece whilst building pressure and slowing down the run rate

Somehow it took Beecroft about 15-20 overs to get the memo on what a true one-dayer was and finally sent in 2 bats who could get it off the square and subsequently momentum swung back there way but never fear when 2 Schooners Bliss and Mr Cricket Prats are here with both men taking 2 wickets each to have the game hanging in the balance

3 overs remained and 15 runs to defend the pressure was well and truly on WPHCCC to get in the winner’s tally

“I’m sorry who’s skipper next week” Carlin and “Hot Take” Patty bowled 2 extremely tight overs and left Beecroft with a hell of mountain to climb needing 8 to win in the final over…

A fantastic bit of work from Ben “Cement Head ” Dunkerley on ball 1 with a ricochet of the non-striker’s stumps resulting in shouts going left right and centre before a loud calm scream of KEEPER!!! rung out across Dural and we had Beecroft’s one set man run out for 60 odd and his team now in all sorts

5 subsequent dot balls ensued from Carlin and B1 had gotten up for Round 1 of the season is a tight and nail-biting affair that was way too close for comfort….

We go again next week on the road in Mount Ku-ring-gai with troops down for the long weekend & 2 missing senior leaders the B1’s are preparing for what’s being called the most controversial and shocking captaincy appointment in club and maybe world history… 

Stay tuned for next week’s must-read match report and for the conclusion of the saga that is B1 Captaincy hot seat.

B2 Grade

WPHC (Sparsh) 159 lost to Hornsby Gold 6/206

Report not received

C1 Grade

WPHC (Aniket) 9/179 lost to CHRSL 2/183

It was an early start for the boys, with both sides keen to get a full game in. We began at 12:45pm, setting up for a 35-over contest. Skipper Aniket won the toss and chose to bat first, wisely looking to avoid any late-afternoon light issues.

Saurabh and Amitava opened the batting with intent, finding the boundary early and putting pressure on the bowlers. Amitava looked in good touch before edging a sharp delivery for 16. Eamon followed, but his promising start ended with a catch at mid-off.

Mohan then joined Saurabh, and the pair steadied the innings nicely. With the sun beating down, both batsmen and fielders were pushed hard — plenty of threes (and even a four!) kept the scoreboard ticking. Saurabh eventually departed for a well-made 41, setting a strong platform.

Mridul chipped in with 18 before Lakshya and the middle order carried things forward. Lakshya’s composed 35, supported by handy runs from Ram and Muffy, gave us momentum. In the closing overs, Aniket and Anand hustled between the wickets to push the total to 179/9 after 35 overs — a fighting score against strong opposition.

Defending, our quicks came in hard but struggled for consistency, with a few leg-side deliveries punished by Castle Hill’s openers. Aniket and Anand tightened things up with a disciplined spell, but the batsmen were patient, waiting for anything loose.

Saurabh’s spin was thrown into the mix, while Lakshya’s persistence finally brought a breakthrough — Amitava holding onto a catch to dismiss one of the set batsmen. The highlight of the innings came from Mridul, whose sharp throw from the field ran out the other opener on 90 (off 63 balls).

Despite our efforts and constant bowling changes, Castle Hill’s strong batting line-up proved too steady, and they chased the target with wickets in hand.

It was a tough result, but plenty of positives to take away — from the fight shown with the bat to the energy in the field. With a little more discipline in our line and length, we’ll be right in the contest next week.

C2 Grade

WPHC (Indranil) 9/185 lost to Kissing Point 4/205

Start of the season and the 2 x warm-up games still left a lot of doubt on the captain of the players skills, as many of the core players yet to have a game . It’s a fresh team and whether fit for C2 grade or not, the jury is still out till we get few more rounds underway.

WPH won the toss and decided to bowl first. Our bowling was good and accurate but the KP batsman played good shots. The scoring was quick at a fast Caddies Creek outfield.

We got our first break after drinks and it was junior Aarush who took 2 wickets in the same over. Lots of bowling options tried out but the runs continued to flow. After 32 overs KP scored 205 healthy runs. 

When we batted, Divit and Mukund Venkat opened the innings. Divit played by hitting two four’s and rotating the strike. After Divit, skipper Indranil and Mukund steadied the innings and moved up to 50 runs. Indranil got put at 30 and then Prashant played a great innings 88*. We lost wickets at every interval but came close to KP target but eventually lost by 20 runs.

Even though we lost, we did very good bowling, fielding and batting against our opponent. Hopefully on our next game we will do better as a team and win.

C3 Grade

WPHC Blue (Chintan) 4/263 defeated Sydney Lions 78

Would you believe it — after all those countdown reminders in Ross’ emails, a new season is finally here!

To be honest, with the number of winter training sessions (and a couple of “friendly” games), it never really felt like we were off cricket. Sure, we had a few sheep-station matches over the past weeks, but these are the games that really matter. 😉

This season brings a few changes: a new name (formerly WPHCCC Whites), a step up in grade (C4 → C3), and a couple of fresh faces joining the squad. And why wouldn’t they? Who wouldn’t want to play for the team that’s won back-to-back premierships for the club! (Alright, flex over 😎)

We began by celebrating Pritam’s birthday with a quick cake-cutting ceremony before Chintan strode out to the middle, hoping to start the season with a winning toss streak. Perhaps the birthday luck rubbed off, because our new skipper won the toss and, unsurprisingly, chose to bat first.

After a quick pep talk from Chintan, Vikrant wasted no time showing intent, cracking a boundary off the very first ball. He had a bit of luck the next delivery with a mistimed shot falling safely into no man’s land. A few extras and another boundary in the following over kept the scoreboard ticking.

Vikrant found a few more boundaries before falling to a leading edge — caught and bowled. Arun almost followed suit first ball, but thankfully his leading edge also landed safely. That turned out to be the only real hiccup early on, as Chintan and Arun soon settled in, seeing the ball beautifully and scoring freely all around the ground.

Both batsmen brought up their fifties in style with boundaries, and the runs continued to flow. Chintan eventually fell for a well-made 78, stumped while looking to push on. His dismissal didn’t slow things down, though — Anubhav joined the party with some beautifully timed strokes, while Arun continued his fine knock before falling just 12 runs short of a century.

We finished with an imposing 263/4 off 32 overs

(Chintan 78, Arun 88, Anubhav 45*). A tough target for Sydney Lions.

Mridul opened the bowling but was greeted with two boundaries in his first four balls. He responded perfectly on the fifth, clean bowling the batsman — the middle stump almost ending up in the keeper’s gloves.

Adi took the new ball from the other end and struck soon after, smartly setting up the batter with a few short balls before nailing a yorker. He picked up another wicket shortly after to have the Lions three down in no time. Brilliant stuff!

First change saw Manraj and Suf come into the attack, both keeping things tight. Manraj struck with a clean bowled, then followed it up with two more wickets to break the back of the chase. Suf and Praneel chipped in with a wicket each, and birthday boy Pritam grabbed two as well, rounding off a clinical performance.

Sydney Lions were bundled out for 78, sealing a dominant win for WPHCCC Blue. 🟦

Couldn’t have asked for a better way to kick off the season.

Happy Birthday, Pritam — and Go Blues! 💪🎉

Photos: 1) Chintan Shah – 78 runs – C3 Blue Vs Sydney Lions – Glenhaven; 2) C3 Blue team Vs Sydney Lions 3). Arun Chaudhuri – 88 runs – C3 Blue Vs Sydney Lions

WPHC Blue (Karl) 9/159 lost to ARL Lions 8/162

Report not received

C4 Grade

WPHC Blue (Rob) 6/212 defeated Hornsby 143

First up, how bloody good is that cricket is back?

Weather was perfect and playing at the junior home of cricket (Campbell Park) made it even more perfecterer.  The ground looked lightning quick and proved to be so.  

We won the toss and chose to bat.  Luke and Kamran went out bat and from the outset had the game in control.  Campbell Park was giving maximum value for shots.  Pierce the infield and a 4 was yours. 

A brilliant opening partnership put 162 on the board and set up a big innings score.  Kamran batted well for 57.  And Luke batted brilliantly for an unbeaten 133n.o. 

Luke’s ton was the 1^st of the season and the 540^th for our Club.

Must be an early season thing.  Luke scored a good century in the opening match last season.  The rest of the team struggled to get going with not many balls left, but the score got to 212 after our 32 overs.

A special mention for the Hornsby young gun Jahaan, who picked up a hat trick while bowling…..all bowled!

So, time to defend.  212 looked like a good score, but on a super-fast deck, we needed to keep it tight.  Ryan and Lance started the bowling and initially the batters liked the pace. 

Edges were flying to boundary.  But once we took the pace off the ball it all started to change.  Great catching from the whole team and we rolled Hornsby for 143 in the 26^th over.

Huge contributions from Lance 3/38, Kaushal 3/21 and Zia 2/7.   And a “missed by that much” moment from Direin (2/30) who was on a hat trick but just missed out.

Great start to the season and on to next week (where it seems most of the team is on holidays).

WPHC Red (Ravi) 4/168 defeated CHRSL 164

A warm and breezy day welcomed us for the season opener. C4 Reds lost the toss and were put to field on a ground with short boundaries and fast outfield. 

The stage was set for a high scoring belter, but Reds’ openers Ravi and Praveg kept it tight all along the opening spell. The first boundary only came after 6th over and mounting pressure meant one of their openers trying a wild slog only to get clean bowled. 

Change up bowlers Siby and Amith too kept batsmen guessing with their cutters, but their No.3 decided to play his shots. 

A timely stumping off Amith and another quick wicket pulled Castle Hill back into defence. 

Anant was introduced to unleash his leggies with turn and bounce and soon struck with another wicket before break. Score at halfway was 76/4. 

The period after break was good for Castle Hill with runs coming steadily and Fawad helping himself for a well-made half century. Some tight spell from Vishnu, Nirav and Praveg at the death meant Castle hill couldn’t build on their momentum and eventually bowled out for 164 before their quota of 32 overs was up.

C4 Reds openers Vishnu and Jassi started off briskly at more than a run a ball. Vishnu fell cheaply for 17, with score reading 33/1 in 5 overs. Waman came and joined Jassi to keep runs flowing with wonderful stroke play on both sides of wicket. Waman got out for a well-made 25 but more importantly a partnership of 57 meant run rate was never a concern. Though Jassi was looking rock solid and looked good see things off, he unfortunately had to retire due to untimely cramps. 

Arindam came in played with no loss in momentum and with able support from Sahil and Praveg, comfortably capped off the chase with more than 10 overs to spare. 

It was an all-round team effort with good catching, disciplined bowling and smart batting, setting the template on how we should play in the games ahead.

D1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Roger) 6/161 lost to CHRSL 7/162

D1 WPHCCC Blue vs Castle Hill RSL was played at Greenup Park which has become a favoured venue for us. The Castle Hill team won the toss and put us into bat. 

By the 12^th over we were in some trouble at 34/5 with only the Opener Mahesh Shinde reaching double figures (11) by then. From this point Malinda Dharmadasa 55 (55 balls)  and Bala Raghuraman 51 N.O (48 balls) put on a 91-run partnership. We reached 161 for 6 off the allotted 32 overs, with Navneet Singh chipping in with a useful 13 N.O at the end.

We had Castle Hill in a spot of bother with 3 wickets down for 3 at one point with Daniel McEwan taking two wickets in the first over and a well-executed run out between Shehan Fernando and Sandeep Pathak (WC).

Castle Hill however managed to recover from this and keep the scoreboard ticking. David Tanna was on a hat trick at one point – both wickets bowled middle stump with his trade mark accuracy. Other wicket takers were Mahesh Shinde and Niranjan Kumar Suruliaopan who both managed to contribute two economical spells. 

Castle Hill eventually prevailed to chase down the target for the loss of 7 wickets. 

Photos: 1). Malinda Dharmadasa (55) & Bala Baghuraman (51) – half century & 91 run partnership; 2) David Tanna and Daniel McEwan – 2 wickets each

WPHC Red (Diggers) 3/107 defeated Berowra 103

After a couple of warm-up games, we were all keen to start the comp. We arrived at Arcadia Oval and were surprised to see the ground was surprisingly reasonable to play on. The pitch looked good and the outfield mown recently.

Our competition was a father-and-son team from Berowra.

Diggers quickly lost the toss and we were put into the field. Disco (1/24) and Parin (1/15) opened the bowling and both took an early wicket.

The first change saw Bhargav (3/8) and Sarthak 1/14) take over and remove Berowra’s middle order. It was Bhargav’s best bowling performance in seniors. Diggers’ used seven bowlers with the wickets spread across six of the bowlers, including great spells from Buzz (1/9) and Zac (2/18). Kiran also bowled good lines.

Some great catching was also on display from Gus, Grant, Cliff and Zac.

Except for a couple of Berowra’s big hitters, the tight bowling kept the scoring to a minimum and Berowra finished their innings at 9/103 off 30 overs. 

Ross (2) and Cliff (5) opened the batting to start the runs chase.

Ross was extremely unlucky to get out to a ball which came off his thigh guard going down leg, but somehow the ball spun back off the pitch and clipped his stumps. 

Cliff showed good resolve before falling to a good catch. This brought father and son to the crease, Grant (16*) and Zac (43) at 2/20. 

Zac immediately took to the Berowra bowlers striking 43 off 30 balls including four x 4s and two x 6’s.

When Zac was stumped with the score at 3/63, Gus (34*) came in and took over the big hitting and quick scoring.

Gus and Grant quickly chased down the runs and we finished 3/107 with 8 overs to spare.

A great first up win. 

Next week we have the local derby at Campbell Park.

Photo: Dave Larkham – record 140th wickets – D1 Grade

D2 Grade

WPHC (Ross S) 3/160 defeated Kenthurst 4/91

After 2 disappointing losses in our trial games as well as 2 lost tosses, it was still great to go  into Round 1 with confidence and a good understanding of our bowling and fielding capabilities.

A Sunday game and a nice ground to play on at Kenthurst no 2, playing last years D2 Grand finalists so a good chance to look at our capabilities.   Skipper won the toss and had no hesitation batting.

Sandeep and Santhosh opened the batting against some wayward bowling from one end and good bowling from the other.   Sensible batting with sundries, a sprinkling of boundaries and 4 dropped catches kept the score ticking over.   After 10 overs a healthy 0/53.     

Things were looking really good until Santhosh twisted his knee and had to retire hurt for the second time this season…..a well made 45 no.    A 65 odd run opening partnership…At drinks 0/81 with Ross and Sandeep at the crease.

After the drinks break two of the Kenthurst bowlers in tandem made it very difficult to score.   At the 21 over mark, we lost Sandeep to a smart catch at mid on for 34.  1/91.    

Enter Gihan .  

Some very lusty blows to get the score moving along….but with the score at 106,  Gihan smashed a ball to mid off where the fielder stuck out his hand and it just stuck…so an unlucky Gihan 15.    Raymond and Ross then pushed the score along…Raymond a couple of sixes and 4 fours, before one of Kenthurst’s young fielder took a one hand catch on the boundary ( was over the boundary by some way, with fielder reasoning that the boundary was round between the cones, not a straight line).    After some debate we agreed the benefit of the doubt,  Raymond a well made 26. At the conclusion of our innings 3/160 with Ross 22no.

Our bowling innings got off to a good start, with Sandeep (4 – 2/12) and Gihan 5 – 0/21) keeping things very  tight.  Gihan was very unlucky with 3 catches going down of his 5 overs.   Nevertheless with the score at 20,  Santhosh took a screamer in the gully off Sandeep,  then 2 overs later Sandeep cleaned up the stumps.  Kenthurst 2/27 off 7 overs.   At 16 over drinks Kenthurst 2/52….

A really good spell of bowling from both ends  just before and after the drinks break,  completely  tied up the batters. Raymond (4 – 0/10),  Muthindra (7 – 0/21) and Jaques 6 –  1/12.  Only 1 boundary in 17 overs between them.  A brilliant effort.   A good catch by Muthindra off Jacques the only wicket to fall,  but plenty of chances generated , we just could not convert, also a couple of missed runout opportunities where we panicked in the field, with very wide throws to the bowler and keeper.  Something to improve on .

With 8 overs to go quite apparent the batters had no intention of scoring.   A change of bowling with Santhosh (3.1 – 1/2) and a first ball plumb lbw….before being helped off the field after twisting his knee again.  2 overs to Lachlan J (0/3) bounce and spin.  One ball   hitting poor Alf James on the knuckles and bringing blood…..Alf never bats in gloves and said its only the second time in 50 years he has been hit…..and now its a spinner…

At the completion of 32 overs Kenthurst 4/91 scoring just  2/39 off 16 over after drinks.   A really good effort.  A win to us.

This was a really good way to start our season.  Our ground fielding was pretty good with great enthusiasm from the start and our bowling effort was a big improvement from the trial games. Just have to work on some catching and throwing back to the keeper and bowler from the field.