Match Reports for Round 14 (Day 1)
Competition Tables
The table after Round 13 (25/1/2025) is:
- A1 (Cam #25) – 2nd (52 points)
- A2:
- Blue (Ryan) – 4th (45 points)
- Red (Todd) – 6th (24 points)
- B1:
- Blue (Shomik) – =2nd (46 points)
- Red (Warren) – =2nd (46 points)
- C1 (Indranil) – 2nd (56 points)
- C2:
- Blue (Hiresh) – 4th (49 points)
- Red (Aniket) – 6th (41 points)
- C3 (Mick) – 4th (49 points)
- C4:
- Blue (Rob) – 3rd (53 points)
- White (Agniva) – 1st (62 points)
- Red (Ross S) – 5th (51 points)
- D1:
- Blue (Nirav) – 2nd (57 points)
- Red (Diggers) – 7th (42 points)
- D2 (Roger) – 6th (36 points)
Match Reports
A1 Grade
WPHC (Cam #25) 9 dec 101 Vs Hornsby Gold 4/25
Welcome to Round 13, our 6th game of the season with the news that we are back to the test matches. Captain K wielded the axe this week, sensationally dropping Gas despite his constant apologies for narkiness a few weeks ago.
It was a reminder to everyone that under K’s reign, it is not a democracy – he is the Club Captain for a reason and he will enforce his power when and where appropriate.
Brent Larkham’s wedding caused availability headaches through the top grades this week, but I for one welcome the upcoming nuptials. And I’m certain that Rockin’ Ray Khamis will have the crowd eating out of his every word as the esteemed Master of Ceremonies.
Back to the cricket, this glorious madness.
Mass debate raged between team members on the way to the ground as the rain fell – it looked doomed to another washout. But alas, a green and only mildly wet deck greeted us. Play was delayed an hour. K lost the toss, we were sent in to bat.
Wu and K opened us up, Wu immediately taken aback for how wet the pitch was when he marked centre. He lasted only two balls before he was marching back to the pavilion, head bowed depressed in another missed opportunity to secure a finals berth.
Preeds joined K looking for 4 50s in a row and the two consolidated on what was proving to be a tough deck to bat on.
I took Wu to the shops to buy some beer to stop him being so depressed. While we are gone, K and Billy got out – Billy with his third golden duck for the season which has to be some sort of record. I’ll defer to Ross who will add in some commentary here [Ross to add information xxxxxxx].
Things went from bad to apocalyptically bad when the future, Harry Hando also walked off for a duck.
4/25 and L Mac joined the form man P at the crease and both played incredibly well for a vital partnership. The pitch was becoming more and more unplayable as moon like craters scattered the surface. Full bulls were turning into bounces, Daggles had surprisingly prepared a pitch for the bowlers. L Mac and P were great and their individual scores merits far more than they actually got.
The tail didn’t give much, except for Meiks who fought well for an important cameo at the end. Shocking absolutely everyone at the ground, K whistled out to the umpires 9/101 – we were declaring.
An aggressive declaration but we loved it. We knew the pitch was impossible and 15 overs at the Charlotte Hornets at the end of the day were vital.
We needed early wix and K turned to the leadership squadron – Lichaa and himself truly. The pitch was all over the place and Lichaa was able to get some early momentum – courtesy of some sharp catches from K and Meiks. But it was the third wicket which caused the most buzz. Buzz burrows.
Lichaaa encouraged the drive and with Wu at a short cover point, the ball flew in his direction. With the ball almost behind him, Wu stuck out the left mit and it stuck. The team went nuts. Wu was no longer depressed. He will play forever.
Meiks was deadly at the end and was able to get a fourth wicket in the final over, Tommy Hando taking another great catch. 4/25 the Hornets and the game is well and truly on.
Test cricket really is the best.
A2 Grade
WPHC Blue (Birdcage) 89 Vs Berowra 3/64
A warm welcome and hello to all long term readers of the A2 Blue Match Report
Today is a day where you really start to evaluate every life decision you’ve made around cricket and regret ever picking up a bat and ball in kanga cricket as children (Shoutout to Club Icon John Coulthard) especially when everything goes against you like it did to us today
We arrived at Storey Park to the curator rolling out a very very green but shiny and damp wicket packed full of moisture, combined with dark, gloomy overhead sky’s and it was a perfect day to get red cherry in hand and bowl…..
Guess What! An 8th Toss lost this season and a time to wack on the pads and bat on this deck with all odds stacked against us….
It was a difficult start to the innings with a few early wickets due to some difficult deliveries and then our Number 3 Shaan “Yokey” Bakshi shelling a half tracker from a pie chucking “offie” straight down short fine legs throat. 3/31 bad start
Our Resident Cougar Lover Tanay was brilliant with bat in hand today cracking boundaries deluxe and pumping runs around the field, unfortunately for the blues he was just one of two batsmen to crack double digits
A few more eye raising decisions and tricky deliveries to handle had us all out for 89 and reeling but confident in our bowling abilities that we could produce something great and shred Berowra.
However during the time we batted the sun had proceeded to come out and bake the moisture out of the deck and make it a nice batting track for our northern opposition not great but we move forward
Our bowling innings begun and never fear Cam Northrop was here was in full effect, Throbbie had the ball going round corners and produced a fantastic spell of bowling with 2/23 off 8 overs including the wicket of a A Grader mysteriously getting a game in A2….
Fair to say this particular burglar gave plenty of lip in the field but when push came to shove when it was his time to bat he didn’t like anything back. Classic Victim Mentality from our northern neighbours
As we continued on with our bowling innings in fading light “Glade Boy” Carlin and “Cougar Lover” Hira bowled with great lines and lengths and dried up the runs with the latter of the two picking up a good wicket including a one handed diving slips catch by Kyle “No Hammy” Townsend
Unfortunately for us that was our day done and slowly the game dribbled out to stumps on day 1
A difficult day for the blues with a lot going against us and bad luck with a loss of the toss but we battle on and won’t give in
Given the rollercoaster that our season has become there’s anything that could happen to begin next weekend and we will begin with full intent to rip apart those victims from Berowra and claim the first innings points.
A Few Mentions before we go
- A massive thank you to ex player Semonn who filled in for us after a call up about 2 mins before the toss and with a couple of runs with the bat and good fielding efforts he was massively needed today. Plenty of notches on the WPHCCC culture the last few weeks
- One last congratulations to Mr Brent Larkham before his nuptials next weekend, we wish him all the best in his future. Maybe marriage will help him not pull out on the Friday before a game 2 straight weeks leaving us with 10.
- To the sniper in the bushes at Storey Park we will find you, if any one has any information please contact Kyle Townsend and his left hamstring #ICEUP
Before we go I’ll leave with some wise words once told to me by a WPHCCC Legend
Whether you Win, Lose or Draw at WPHCCC you’ll always be apart of the greatest club on earth and no matter what happens in life you’ll never ever have to subject yourself and lower yourself to the level of certain Teams.
Till next Week!
WPHC Red (Todd) 97 Vs Glenorie 1/48
Wph red 97 Glenorie 1/47
Every week a team has to come in second place, and it sucks. We’ve experienced it a lot this season and such have committed to ensure no other team has to feel such sorrows. We rocked up to the glade and were presented with a wicket so green the grinch wanted to shag it.
Couple this with the overcast, it was unanimously decided to be a day for bowling. And once the Glenorie captain showed up at 12:50, we were excited to see Todd break his tossing losing streak.
Unfortunately, Todd couldn’t win a toss to save his life.
Todd’s win loss ratio at the toss is only rivalled by our teams win loss ratio and Lachy’s drop catch ratio. So we were sent in to bat. In a first innings that encapsulates our season, we found ourselves 2-2 to start. Then Volc had a great spell of no runs from 30 balls. Unfortunately he was batting and not bowling. Then Ollie “Bairstow” Makin got stumped off a pacer, not returning to his crease after opting to bat outside of it.
Jude and Jamaican combined for a good partnership until Jude walked on a caught behind after being given not out. Clearly he wanted to earn us a moral victory, well done Jude. Not much else to our innings, Aaron got bounced out by a spinner, that was probably the highlight of our lower order.
Eventually rolled for 97, we needed early wickets. But apart from a dubious lbw off Ben’s bowling dismissing one of the Glenorie openers we could not find an opening. Ollie bowled very well, and after dropping a very tough caught and bowled chance, bowled quite possibly the two quickest balls of the season.
The Glenorie skipper was later playing them than he was arriving to the ground. The Other highlight of our fielding innings was Michael “The Panther” banner, who after previously talking about how bad his arm was, somehow managed to intimidate the Glenorie batters into denying any runs to the leg side,
B1 Grade
WPHC Blue (Shomik) Vs St Ives-Wahroonga 7/230
It was befitting of the team to head to Greenway on Saturday as we eyed off an exciting two-dayer against St. Ives. Not having batted or bowled for that length of time; a test (Yes Patrick and Mohsin, that’s probably how test matches got their name) of patience and skill lay ahead.
Whisperings of the A-Grade game being postponed; St. Ives received some higher reinforcements. BUT even the best of us can underestimate the supple tones of the synthetic surface.
A shaky start for the bowlers, having been sent in, St. Ives made quick work of the new ball, challenging the line and length of the fast bowlers. The had make 80 in the first twenty and easily made it to 120 for no wickets lost. However, what many fail to consider is Amit “I was a gun player in my prime” Singh. Brought on from the cricket nets end,
Amit brought bounce, dip and turn to the formidable St. Ives line-up. Beginning just after the first lunch break, he bowled 23 or 24 overs on the trot, taking 5 wickets. Along with some park cricket catching, Amit was unfortunately not able to take any more, although he should’ve gotten 8 or 9 in my book.
Patty also got a wonderful taste of the test experience, bowling his share of also 23 ish overs. With Patty going for minimal runs, these two put on an outstanding partnership of bowling and well backed up in the diving, body on the line fielding.
Having been 0/120 and wrangling it back to 7/230 at Greenway, we feel like it can go both ways.
So, tune in for the eventual wrap up of the St. Ives innings and the great chase of the West Penno Boys.
WPHC Red (Warren) 6/70 Vs Berowra 86
Welcome back our loyal West Penno readers to the pointy end of the season. To secure our top spot as no.2 as we are heading into the finals, we needed a win against our club rivals, Berowra in this 2-day match.
After the dramatic loss last week, we were edging to get on the field and get some wickets on an overcast day.
Because of some overnight rain, Warrina Street Oval, a large circular field, was wet, making it hard to score any runs. The pitch was relatively dry (though we had a few bowling slips) but resembled a day 4 MCG wicket, suited for bowling. After winning the toss, we opted to bowl.
We ripped into them with some great team bowling. The openers were dumbfounded to Dan’s opening spell, beaten by swing, pace and bounce. Rob continued to put pressure on them with some great spin bowling and secured a wicket on the boundary, which was caught between the legs.
Yet the stand-out bowlers for the day were the Schwartzel brothers. Daniel taking 3-13 off 9 overs and Matthew taking 4-11 off 6, all bowled. Nathaniel also chipped in with a wicket of his own. Berowra all bowled out for 86 in 35overs.
Chasing down 87 runs with 32 overs left in the days play (not to mention the entire second innings), it seemed an easy game to win…but cricket is a strange game.
It was a very shaky start with two quick wickets in the 2nd and 3rd overs.
Enter batting stabiliser Cameron and Pratts. They batted well with some classy drives and lofted shots before being dismissed in the 19th over. 2 overs later, the 20th over, we were 5 down requiring 41 runs. Then 6 down on the 29th over, requiring 23 runs to win. Buzz and Nick managed to bat out the days play to start again next week.
West Pennant Hills 6/70 at stumps.
The game is not yet over and is doubtless to be an exciting innings next week.
C1 Grade
WPHC (Indranil) Vs Sydney Lions 189
With a win needed to consolidate our position in the finals, we trudged out to a HUMID Annangrove Park to take on Sydney Lions.
Skipper Indi won the toss, with West Penno bowling first. A 40-minute rain delay meant that play didn’t begin. That didn’t phase us because Ben Waldron grabbed the first two early in his spell.
Reyhan from the other end was unfortunate not to get one in his first spell but bowled very well.
In his first game back, Vishnu came on first change and swung the ball brilliantly, posing a real challenge for the Sydney Lions batsmen. He soon grabbed the third wicket with a top catch from Ben Waldron again.
Nic Price would grab the fourth right on Tea. Good bowling from Dan Vink, who would’ve had a bag if Indi and Will could catch the ball in the slips. Sydney Lions were 4-79 at Tea.
Yasith and Cameron also rolled the arm over as the No.4 and No.6 deadbatted most of the second session. Well, Reyhan got a wicket caught behind, but the Sydney Lions bat didn’t walk, and the umpire said the ball didn’t touch the bat. What was the noise then, mate?
Ben Waldron then grabbed the bloke a few overs later with Sydney Lions 5 down for 115 at the last drinks break.
A run out courtesy of an Aden stop and a Rey throw and Cam finish meant a sixth wicket fell quickly. The seventh a few overs later off a top catch from Aden at cover, giving Dan Vink a good reward for his hard work with the ball.
Rey then finally grabbed a wicket and another in quick succession, and both bowled. A couple of overs later, he finished off the game with the no.4 finally slicing one straight up and Dan Vink catching it at mid-off.
Sydney Lions ended up all out for 189, with their no.4, who allegedly bats 8, grabbing 76.
Highlights of the day included our opening bowlers sharing the spoils with three a piece, Ben. W 3-46 off 13 and Rey 3-34 off 12.3.
Vishnu returned after a long UK/Europe holiday and grabbed a wicket. His sunnies were rusty, though, constantly falling off his hat when the clouds came on and he dived to field the ball.
Will broke the record for the word “Wowzers” being said in innings, much to the disdain of Dan Vink and Aden, who stood next to him for most of the day.
Onwards and upward next week, where we chase down 190.
C2 Grade
WPHC Blue (Hiresh) 123 Vs Berowra 1/53
It was a nice sunny day, an hour away from the nearest civilization. Everyone arrived on time, and the picturesque ground looked like a good omen for a great game—but the slow outfield made sure runs had to be earned the hard way.
In Day 1 of what was a 2-day content, Hiresh ‘toss loser’ de Silva continued proceeding as expected by losing the toss. We were batting first. Despite the tricky conditions the openers lasted 8 overs highlighted by great knock from Hiresh making 22 before getting out in unlucky fashion.
Losing 2 quick ones Rudhra and Ratul carried us through to Lunch, steadying the ship with a classy knock of 34 from Rudhra and counter-attacking stroke play from Ratul posting 16.
Meet and John chipped in with handy runs at the end to push the total to a competitive score. Rudhra looked particularly fluent, timing the ball sweetly, though the sluggish outfield meant boundaries were hard to come by. Blues all out for 112.
With the ball, we were shit in the field. Dropping catching and letting balls go straight past us we let Berowra slip to 1-53 at the end of days play. With the ball, Mayank provided the only breakthrough, taking the lone wicket of the innings so far.
Rudhra, who bowled a fiery spell, beating the bat multiple times but walking away unlucky without a wicket to his name.
WPHC Red (Aniket) 148 Vs Hornsby Gold
It was a perfect day for cricket, with ideal weather conditions and win from the last week had everyone excited. The overcast skies made it a bowler-friendly day skipper was keen to win the toss and bowl. Unfortunately for us, the Hornsby skipper had the same idea and won the toss, sending us in to bat.
Amit and Chetan opened the batting for us, with both looking determined to set a solid foundation for the team. The first run came in the 4th over and from there it was a slow but steady start.
The pair were playing as if they were in a real 5 day test match, showing patience and focus. However, Chetan soon fell victim to one of Hornsby’s opening bowlers, who was consistent with his line and length and made it difficult for our batsmen to score freely.
Brij joined Amit in the middle, and the two built a solid partnership. Though the run rate was slow, they showed great discipline, ensuring no rash shots and keeping Hornsby’s bowlers under control. By the first drinks break, the scoreboard read 1-8 after 18 overs, a testament to the challenging conditions.
Unfortunately, Brij was dismissed in the 25th over, attempting a quick single. Hari then came in, looking to keep the scoreboard ticking. The first boundary of the day came in the 26th over, but soon after that, we lost Hari, followed by Amit and Mohan. At this stage, we were struggling at 5-51 in the 39th over.
With the pressure mounting, Lakshya and Blake came together and looked composed. They worked well to counter the Hornsby bowlers, building a valuable partnership of 30 runs. However, disaster struck when Blake was run out after a mix-up with Lakshya. Just six runs later, Lakshya followed him back to the pavilion, dismissed by a simple return catch to the bowler.
Mufi and Shakeel then came to the rescue, building a crucial partnership of 45 runs. Unfortunately, Shakeel also became a victim of a run-out, marking the third run out of the day for our side. With the tail wagging, Saurabh joined Mufi, and together they batted sensibly, taking us to a total of 8-148 by the end of the day’s play.
While 148 is not a massive total, it is a respectable one considering the conditions. Out of the 148 runs, only 32 came from boundaries, reflecting the hard work and determination of our batsmen.
Every run was earned, with small but crucial partnerships being built throughout the innings. The team showed great resilience and intent, never giving up despite the tough circumstances.
Next week, we’ll look to build on this total and put Hornsby under pressure with the ball. Our bowlers will need to work hard, maintain discipline, and make Hornsby earn every run.
The fight continues, and we are confident we can come out on top.
C3 Grade
WPHC (Mick) 62 lost to Berowra 73
The heavens opened half n hour before kick off. We were sent in and the ball did more than we have seen all year. Berowra did a great job of bowling stump to stump and fluent cover drives pulled up in the cow paddock that is Caddies creek.
We battled hard but kept losing wickets.
The sun was now beating down. The pitch dried up and the outfield now resembled bondi beach. More sand than my previous week at Flynns beach.
The ball got chewed up.
Thus restricting Berowra to 7/73 was a great effort and turned what could have been a demoralising defeat against the front runners into what Ben Stokes would label a “moral victory”
I won’t go that far but we can believe if we meet this mob in the semis.
Undoudtedly the highlight of the day nay season, was Luke Palmer (Heady) taking a screamer at long off.
Onya Heady!
C4 Grade
WPHC Red (Ross S) 8/257 Vs Beecroft
Back at the home of cricket, grass cut but clippings everywhere and a very slow outfield.
Starting the round in 5th place just 2 points from 3rd, a really important game for us against a team just behind us, with teams above us playing against each other. A possible 4th spot up for grabs.
After our great bowling and fielding performance last match, the humid conditions and noting the opposition have been scoring low, skipper was hoping to win the toss and field. But he didn’t and we were asked to bat.
Sandeep and Raynaldo opening against some very tight bowling….an early wicket with Sandeep caught behind..1/6 in the 3rd over.
Mridal joins Raynaldo and a wonderful partnership ensues. Mridal playing an anchor role, whilst Raynaldo plays a little more aggressively putting the bad ball away, both playing cautiously to the good ball. First drinks break 1/50….
First two overs after drinks 24 runs , Raynaldo bring up his 50, with a flurry of 4s and a huge 6 onto the hill. The next 12 overs until tea both batted beautifully…plenty of ones and twos, several 4’s and a couple of majors. Again Raynaldo the aggressor and Mridal turning over the strike. Both batters deserved to be not out at the Tea break, but with 2 balls to go Mridal gets loopy full toss, missed and was given out LBW for a patient 27…….2/134 at tea, and a second wicket partnership of 128 from 34 overs….Raynaldo not out 95…
After the break, it did not take long for Raynaldo to bring up his 100, despatching a full toss 1/2 way up the hill, same over 1 more onto the hill…..and another boundary.
Photo: Raynaldo after scoring 140, our 550th century and Raynaldo’s 4th in Seniors
With Muthindra playing aggressively too with several boundaries the score quickly moves along. Beecroft getting very frustrated, catch off a no ball…but it It takes a well directed neck high bouncer from their opening bowler to break the partnership Muthindra gloving to gully for 17….a 63 run partnership 3/197.
After his heroics last match Gihan joins Raynaldo looking to build another big partnership and things were looking that way with both hitting boundaries. Raynaldo motoring toward 150, but it took just a moment of brilliance in the gully, smashed and reflex catch taken , Raynaldo finally dismissed for 142 (19*4, 6*6)…4/215. His 4th seniors century and highest today (see below)
With Gihan (24), Henry(10), Raymond, Paul and Darren all contributing to our final score, Skipper declares on 8/257 giving us 6 overs at the Beecroft openers.
I just need to digress a little now.
Today was the last week of cricket for Henry Kelly at WPH. Henry is moving to Canberra to attend ANU for the next few years….a special note from his Dad
“Henry has played every season for the club since since Kanga in 2011. Since 2013 Raynaldo (our centurion today) and Henry have played every season together. This photo is from Pink Stumps Day in 2015, and recreated today (Feb 1 2025) exactly 10 years later on their last game together”
So back to the game and the final 6 overs…..Henry opens the bowling with Mridal, and then Gihan…..unfortunately he does not get to take his 97th seniors wicket, however a good catch behind by Raynaldo of Gihan is exactly what we hoped for. Beecroft 1/13 at stumps.
Henry has been a wonderful team mate, playing with us for 4 seasons, and starting whilst still in juniors. He will be missed by all of us. We all wish him great success in the future.
Hoping for a win next week, and other results going our way we might slip into the top 4 with 1 game remaining….and a final showdown against the Blues for a spot in the semis.
WPHC Blue (Rob) Vs ARL
Report not to hand
WPHC White (Agniva) 9/245 Vs Berowra
And we were back for another action packed round 14.
Having demolished Beecroft in the previous game, spirits were high – as was the team at the top of the table.
That feeling however was somewhat short lived when we found out we were playing at our “favourite” ground , Foxglove, where the pitch and the outfield are merged as one.
Chintan and Arun started things off and were looking solid until Arun fell to a catch at mid-off quite early on.
Chintan was then joined by Suf , who together built a good partnership until suf was caught at first slip off a brilliant outswing delivery.
Chintan continued to score freely , but was caught off a slow short pitched delivery at point, falling just short of what should have been a well deserved half century
Anubhav was next to get out, off a top edge to the keeper.
Enter the man of the moment – Sayan , who along with Sitabja started to set the tone of what was left to come for the day.
Sitabja fell to an inswinging full toss , out lbw.
Another couple of quick wickets had us at trouble at 91/6 at tea, with the Berowra captain making a few cheeky comments about “wrapping it up early” …. famous last words as they say.
What we witnessed in the next session was what we love this game of Test cricket.
Agniva and Sayan frustrated the berowra bowlers, respecting the good balls, and punishing the bad one, and hardly gave any chance to the opposition to take their wickets.
They batted almost the entire session, until Agniva fell just 8 minutes short of the break. In his own words, “I’ve batted more this game than I have in the entire season combined”. Well played skipper! That’s what we needed today!
Vinodh and Mridul did not trouble the scorers much (Mridul not at all in fact ;) ), and both fell within a few balls apart.
9 down now, maybe the berowra skipper was hoping for a quick “wrap-up” , and was proven wrong once again.
We very rarely get to witness two brilliant partnerships in a day, and this was one of those days!
Pritam walks in and straightaway gets into T20 mode !
Punishing each and every bowler to all parts of the ground, along with the ever reliable “Wall” of our team, Sayan, played brilliantly to take the score to 245!
Pritam , unbelievably bringing up his 50 in style with a 6.. hitting the same shot on the next ball , he was miraculously dropped !
One would think with 3 balls to go , you would just see it through, but not Pritam, who went for consecutive boundaries !!
17 runs off the last over.
We will be back next week hungry for a few more runs and all 10 wickets !
Key performances from the day
1. Pritam Dhamija 62 not out batting at number 11
2. Sayantan Sen 58 not out and being the backbone of our inning.
3. Pritam & Sayan putting up an 80 run 10th wicket partnership. This is a new Club and Association C4 Grade 10th wicket record. Beating the previous record of 48 by Robert Fynes-Clinton (22*) & Muditha Dissanayake (22) Vs Castle Hill @ Fred Caterson 4; 21/11/2020
4. Chintan Shah’s 44 setting the tone for our inning.
5. Agni & Sayan’s 67 run partnership for the 7th wicket.
Photo: (L-R): Sayantan Sen (58*); Pritam Dhamija (62*); Chintan Shah (44) & Agniva
D1 Grade
WPHC Red (Diggers) Vs BYE
No game this week with our next and last game of the season Vs Castle Hill RSL
WPHC Blue (Nirav) 118 Vs St Ives-Wahroonga 0/2
St Ives won the toss and with overcast conditions, unsurprisingly chose to bowl (side note – we would’ve done the same).
Their opening attack bowled with good pace, bounce and swing but Vikrant & Sahil were up to the task. Keeping the team strategy in mind, they took us through to the 1st drinks break, without losing a wicket and 20 runs on the board; a relatively slow, but steady start.
After the break, unfortunately Vikranth attempted a cut shot of a ball which was possibly too close to him, missed it and the ball crashed on to the top off. This brought Waman to the crease who started confidently, but after playing some beautiful shots, mis-hit 1 and was caught by mid on for a well made 17. We were 60-2, a decent position but this is where our middle order got caught in a blaze of amazing left arm swing bowling, when St Ives brought their opening bowler (Tim) back for a 2nd spell. We lost 4 quick wickets to be 65-6 and Tim got a well deserved hat trick along the way.
None the less captain Nirav & Sahil commenced a rebuild but after being at the crease for 40 odd overs, a lapse in concentration led Sahil to playing a lazy shot and was out for a solid 23.
The lower order showed some good resistance with Amith, Tushar and Aakash playing smart cricket, supporting the captain and taking the team to a well fought 118 after 65 overs.
The 2 overs we bowled at them towards the end yielded a few edges.
While these fell short of fielders, they’re very positive signs which we will take into Day 2 next week.
D2 Grade
WPHC (Roger) Vs BYE.
Our next game is against ARL