Seniors Match Report – Round 6 (Day 2) – 29 November 2025

Competition Tables

Table after Round 6, (29/11/2025) is:

PlayHQ link – Draw & Competition Table

• A1 (Cam #25) – 2^nd (33 points)
• A2:
  • Blue (Warren) – =4^th (20 points)
  • Red (Todd) – 8^th (8 points)
• B1 (Prats) – 2^nd (28 points)
• B2 (Sparsh) – 2^nd (26 points)
• C1 (Aniket) – 6^th (15 points)
• C2 (Indranil) – 7^th (13 points)
• C3:
  • Blue (Chintan) – 1^st (33 points)
  • Red (Karl) – 4^th (21 points)
• C4:
  • Blue (Rob) – 2^nd (28 points)
  • Red (Ravi) – 1^st (33 points)
• D1: Note: 1-day competition (Round 9)
  • Blue (Roger) – 1^st (50 points)
  • Red (Diggers) – =4^th (37 points)
• D2 (Ross S) – 5^th (20 points)

Match Reports

A1 Grade

WPHC (Cam #25) 4/197 dec drew with Kissing Point 7/177

Before I talk about the cricket there are a couple housekeeping matters. Firstly, I must make an apology as I forgot to mention that Mieks’ wicket last round was an international cricketer from Serbia. Was also good to see the batsman make no effort to cover the badge, not that anyone actually knew what the Serbian cricket logo looked like.

Secondly, there has been some confusion thoughout the year around who is who in the team so I have sought to clarify this below:

– Shaan: Batsman, doctor, Australian accent and big muscles.
– Tisver: Bowler, hung(over) most weekends, attractive and South African.
– Ashane: Batsman, red shoes, ass man and lots of money/leave.

With that sorted onto week 2 and T was in whilst Ass was dropped (I think or was it the other way around) as K continued to strictly enforce the team’s very black and white DE&I policy. Also in great news for those wanting to view our games live. In what’s taken Juw 5 unsuccessful rounds, Jack managed to fix in two minutes as he got the frog box operational. Maybe he is the true engineer of the family after all?

Now onto the cricket and we probably played as well as we could have without getting across the line. Some quick runs brought up another 50 for Jim (10 runs away from 7000 runs now) and Juw with a 70* as he is still yet to be dismissed in A grade.

A declaration at 4/200, we bowled really well without any luck – a few touch and go LBW calls and the bails hit and falling out of the grove without coming off summed up the day.

Anyway, the game ended in a draw with Kissing (SIX) Point (s) celebrating more than we did post GF. There’s levels to this so never fear cause we’ll see them again in Jan/Feb but definitely not March cause that’s well into their off season.

I did learn three things today in the field though:
1. The Makins are clearly the best father/son duo in the comp.
2. Despite being told he’s only in the team for chat, Belly would waltz into the St Ives side and bat 3. Unfortunately, he enjoys playing cricket in March (which they don’t do) so he’s assured me he is staying put.

With a timely rivalry round in the college football this weekend to get us in the mood, next round we head up the highway to play that team up north in what should be a cracker unless any rain is around and someone “accidentally” slips over again.

Richard’s memorial medal votes this round go to:

3 – Juw
2 – Jamaican
1 – J

A2 Grade

A2 Blue (Warren) 5/178 drew with Castle Hill 5/248

Good morning and welcome back to all loyal A2 Blue match report readers.

Following a lengthy day last Saturday foraging for wickets deep in the Fred Caterson 2 jungle to little avail (with Castle Hill being 5/248 overnight), we arrived to the ground thinking it was now our turn to bat only to be told that Castle Hill were still deciding if they had declared.

Did they not think 248 was enough on an outfield thicker than Rob Knapman’s booty?

Was batting on simply a psyop to have us finally quit cricket like we all want to?

Mercifully, the declaration came prior to the start of the day and we set about our innings.

We all knew what was required to dead-bat the entire day to salvage a draw, and Zac “zazu” Turner and Rohan “LMS” Arora went out to open.

After Rohan departed early, Zazu and Riken “Rick” Hira steadied us to bring us to 1-38 at drinks. We then had a mini collapse with Rick, Rohan “Arora” Asija and Nick “buckets” Duck all departing in relatively quick succession to leave us 4/55.

Meanwhile, Zac was quietly playing the innings of a lifetime at the other end, taking a rare break from regurgitating old Chris Hansen quotes to actually spend his Saturday playing cricket, with Zac asking the Castle Hill attack to take a seat and advising them that he had the transcripts.

From here, Zazu and Tanay “nickname pending” Hira batted all the way through to the final hour, casting aside the Castle Hill attack as if they were Billy Gaunt after being advised it’s his turn to buy a round of drinks. 

Zac finally was dismissed for 86, with Tanay 43* and Warren “Mao Zedong” Schwartzel 10* seeing us to the end of the day.

With 3 overs left and the bag of lollies sitting by the scorebooks having been entirely consumed, the teams were keen to shake hands and call it a draw.

The points were shared following a lifeless draw that would make a soccer fan blush, and the team finally, mercifully got to go home and enjoy their weekends, only about 5 hours after we all wanted to.

How good is cricket?

A2 Red (Todd) 8/165 lost toBerowra 7/166

Why do we play cricket? Is it because we’re good at it? Is it because it’s fun? There are so many good reasons to play this beautiful game.

Unfortunately, your WPHCCCCCCCCCC A2 Red team is pretty short on reasons right now. And one thing is for certain, sometimes we are NOT having fun.

Long story short, we lost again.

This time to the old enemy, and once again it was a nail-biter. The day we get over the line in a close game is still yet to come, but mark my words, it WILL. 

After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, the first 18 was all Az and Arjun after Lachy was dismissed early by an absolute screamer of a catch from Berowra’s oldest bloke, but Shomik stole the show after drinks against some tiring bowlers, hitting to the short boundaries at Greenway but also straight down the ground with some lovely shots.

Seven games into the season, Shomik finally brought up our first fifty as a team. This is a pretty embarrassing statistic I will not be elaborating on, especially considering your match report writer is a guilty member of the batting party. 

We finished 8 down for 165, which is about par for Greenway.

Shomik led the way with a blistering 54 off just 41 balls, while Az (23) and Arjun (42) set the platform for him. Dan also added some blows at the end with 18 not out, leaving us pretty confident of our chances with a good bowling and fielding performance, which to be fair, has not been our weakness at all this season. 

But once again, it was like we almost found a way to lose.

They got away from us early and although some tight bowling led by Willy brought us back into the game from a tricky position, it was too little too late as they chased down our total seven wickets down with three balls remaining.

Arjun bowled brilliantly at the death with 2/16 from 4.4 overs, while wickets also went the way of Todd, Keats and Willy, and Dan went wicketless despite an incredible second spell that kept us well and truly in the game.

Despite the result, there were plenty of positives to take from the game, least of all some confidence amongst the batters to take into next week at The Glade against Castle Hill. 

Notes:

– First time stand in tosser Az will be relieved of his duties in the future, calling incorrectly and letting Berowra send us in first (we wanted to bat anyway)

– Bishy got out playing a ramp shot ($2 fine)

– Willy called Bishy “Dyl” which is blatantly rude (he recovered and ensured that Cam knew he was the better Bish, which really isn’t much of a feat) ($2 fine)

– Don’t bowl short at Greenway.

B1 Grade

WPHC (Prats) 5/183 defeated Glenorie 178

A warm welcome and hello to all long-term and new readers of the famed B1 match report, sit back relax and enjoy the tales of why we agree with 10cc when they sung “They don’t like cricket oh no they LOVEEEE IT”

The team arrived at a sun baked even sun scorched Lord’s Shore Reserve 1 with a simple yet somewhat dangerous task ahead… Chase down the remaining 161 runs and secure a 4^th victory on the season…. Easier said than done right…. Not today for B1 as things become very easy very quickly 

Walking to the crease to commence proceedings Oli “Big O” Linschoten and Aden “Ronnie” Hanich made themselves at home on the Les Shore SLOPE, slowly but surely winning the game of attrition against Glenorie despite some below par sledging that would have weakened mere mortal men

Not for Big O and Ronnie who were going nowhere anytime soon both chipping away at the total with 1s,2s and 4’s scattered throughout a beautiful 132 run 2nd wicket partnership with both mean crossing off a 50 with relative ease and comfort

And don’t both men LOVEEEEE scoring runs…. Oli loves it as much as throwing the ball with his bung shoulder and Ronnie loves it as much as he loves his dear Saturday McDonald’s hence the newly minted nickname

Unfortunately, both men lost their wickets prior to passing the total with Ronnie’s wicket summoning Double Socks Dunkerley to the crease who looked right at home from Ball 1 lifting the run rate and getting us oh so close to the total (actually got us past the score) before shelling out to deep midwicket…. More on this specific wicket later

With just 6 runs to get for what was a cruisy and easy victory the mighty B1 decided to summon up the courage and attitude of Bazball and throw away wickets for little to no reason with a 3/9 collapse towards the back end of the game curtailing a seriously large rise to the almighty quotation…. Will “McKenzie” McLennan and the Big O unfortunately departing in this sequence..

Nevertheless the mighty and triumphant B1 were as the name suggested today…. Triumphant!!

An easy 5 wicket victory to add the season win tally after a shaky couple of weeks in B1 land and with a series of 1 dayers before the Xmas break this humble match reporter would like to warn the competition…. Don’t let us get hot!!

Before we head off and say goodbye to the shortest and most pointless match report to date this season a few SHOUTOUTS!!

– Poor Dunks!!! Unfortunately his average took a large dent this match after this humble match reporter wanted to make sure the books where correct after passing the opposition score… My Bad Double Socks

– Nathan Watkins who was unavailable/sick and unable to attend this game to support his teammates…. Speculation is rife that 3 kids & a Mortgage Watkins faked a food bug to get out of family dinner….

A fairly easy and cruisy Saturday for the mighty B1 who will yet again travel as the road team next week to the cow paddock at Caterson, we look forward to seeing you all there for more trials and tribulations of Seniors cricket premier grade – B1 

Till Next Time!!

B2 Grade

WPHC (Sparsh) 198 defeated Castle Hill 159

Day 2 began in unique fashion: Corbs delivered an early spray to the team for not packing the esky properly, then immediately switched into his real role for the day, relentless sledging from batsmen 1 through 11. From ball one to the final wicket, his commentary never stopped, landing more blows than our own bowlers.

Before play resumed, it’s worth acknowledging the foundation of the match: Rishab’s brilliant hundred from last week, which single handedly held our innings together and gave us something meaningful to defend.

Unfortunately for him, it did not get the recognition it deserved, as Mayank the clown forgot to write the match report last week.

Out in the middle, Renesh and John carried on from last week and added a steady 20 runs before the innings wrapped up, leaving Castle Hill 198 to chase on a day that felt hotter by the minute.

With the temperature pushing 34 degrees, early wickets were hard to find.

But MJ cracked things open, trapping both openers LBW in quick succession. Castle Hill’s best batter and captain, who had been in strong form this season, walked in at first drop. Maz went straight to Manas “the ice man” Dhargalkar, who set him up beautifully. The shot flew to Mayank, who somehow took the catch despite clearly daydreaming about why he is still playing cricket while Rudhra is away.

On the sideline, co captain Sparsh made an appearance, “sick” enough not to play but healthy enough to turn up in a bright pink linen shirt that looked like it came straight from a Double Bay yacht party. A classic old money cameo from the skipper to impress both players and WAGs.

At Tea, West Penno needed seven more wickets.

After the break, Shanks powered through what became a marathon 15 over spell while Mayank pushed from the other end. The wickets did come, but not before a few memorable moments.

Meet attempted a dramatic slide to save a boundary and instead executed a perfect slide tackle into the rope, gifting four. Mukund then picked up a fake finger injury in the outfield while singing his favourite Tamil songs and not paying attention to the uneven bounce. Not to be outdone, Hiresh collected his second injury of the season, overshadowing his much anticipated return to dropping catches.

Looks like he will be back as team photographer and slow dancing with his partner while his team are slogging in the field. Wishing you a speedy recovery and a safe trip with your family visiting Bonnie Blue in the Gold Coast, Hiresh.

Back to Shanks.

A series of chances went down, meaning fines were piling up: Vishaal, Mike and Maz all dropping sitters. John’s chance, to be fair, would have required superpowers to catch.

Despite the drops, the wickets kept coming. Mayank picked 2 wickets, Shanks finally broke through with another sharp catch from Manas, and John collected two more, both caught by yes you guessed it Manas, who this season has looked like a Jadeja and Glenn Phillips hybrid the way he has been catching.

A standout moment came from Renesh (Temu Manas) earlier in the game. Often self-comparing his mentality, batting and keeping to MS Dhoni but execution and performance closer to KS Bharat, he finally called for a high ball, backed himself in, and completed the catch ‘cleanly’ while giving his whole team a heart attack in the process (the catch went 5 metres in the air) A small milestone, but a well-earned one that gives his team hope going into future games for now…until Hiresh is fully fit again.

Castle Hill were nine down with an hour left before the match slipped into a draw. After the final drinks break, the boys stayed optimistic even as the clock ran down. Eventually, after a nervous 45 minutes where the last wicket partnership dug in, many thought a draw was destined.

But MJ struck again, knocking out middle stump and sealing a hard-fought win for West Penno.

Celebrations moved straight to the Club, where Mayank made a spirited attempt to skull a litre of beer in under a minute, partly for the win and partly to try and clear a double or nothing $100 + fine debt. It did not end well for him.

Next week: 1st versus 2^nd

C1 Grade

WPHC (Aniket) 7/268 dec defeated Hornsby 141 & 0/20

After a great start by our opening batsmen—especially Ray’s unbeaten century the previous day when he was helping Diggers—Ray was keen to continue his form and score back-to-back hundreds.

Given the position we were in, the team was eager to push for an outright win.

We had a clear plan and everyone was ready to execute it. Unfortunately, Ray was the first wicket of the day, giving a straightforward catch to point when the score was 72. Both Ray and Vinod gave us an excellent start, but we couldn’t build on the momentum and suffered a batting collapse, losing 6 wickets for just 34 runs.

Then Mohan and Lakshya came to the middle and steadied the innings brilliantly, putting on a 162-run partnership and taking us to a final total of 7-268. Mohan finished with a superb 101* , our 563^rd century, and Lakshya contributed a valuable 52*.

The 162 run undefeated 8^th wicket partnership just missed out on beating the current record of 167 runs set by Warren Schwartzel & Alex Silins back on 7/12/2029. It also just fell short of the Association C1 record of 184 set in 2009/10.

We sent Hornsby back in and decided to give our best, but soon realised that LBW and caught-behind decisions weren’t available at that time of day—just like last week—so we decided to call it off after trying for 12 overs.

Overall, it was a great display of patience from Vinod and tremendous determination from Mohan, Lakshya, and Ray, who all played key roles in helping us chase down the score

C2 Grade

WPHC (Indranil) 6/256 dec defeated Kissing Point Blue 102 & 0/52

After a rain affected week one, with 4/187 on the board we decided to continue batting and look to get a good score on the board before trying to bowl them out to secure our first win of the season. 

Prashant and Vishnu resumed the innings after being 52 and 74 not out coming into the day and they made sure to score quickly with the intent to declare early on in the day to give the team enough overs to get the wickets. Prashant was smacking the ball to every boundary early on getting to 73 in a hurry before unfortunately getting out to a slow full toss in the slot by edging it to the keeper somehow, ending what was a great innings that got us into a great position.

Vishnu started to attack as well before getting caught on 90.

With the idea to declare in the next couple overs, Pravin and Saurabh played small cameos of 15 and 9 to get us to a really good total of 6/256 before we called them in to declare our innings.

With 256 runs on the board we were heading into our bowling innings with confidence to get the job done and secure what would be our first win of the season. The bowling was really good to start with limited runs being given before Inam picked up the first wicket getting the batsmen bowled straight through the gate. 

From that moment on, we were all over them. The bowling was good, but honestly, the real highlight was our resident ball magnet, also known as Pravin. The opposition clearly had a personal grudge against him because they kept hitting the ball directly at him with pace, or just far enough away to make him run for it. But once he got that first chance, something clicked.

The batsmen, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take a run on Pravin’s arm. Big mistake. Massive.

He picked up cleanly and fired a rocket to the non-striker’s end, absolutely obliterating the stumps for a beautiful run-out. From there, wickets fell quickly, and we had them struggling at 4/23 thanks to great bowling and some genuinely outrageous catching including a ridiculous one-hander from Pravin to his left giving him the first of three catches for the game.

The collapse continued, and before we knew it they were 8/76 heading into tea. Wickets were shared evenly between the bowlers with Prashant finishing with the best figures of the day, taking 3/21 and helping us bowl them out for 102 shortly after the break.

We sent them back in looking for the outright, but absolutely nothing of interest happened in that second innings.

They finished 0/52 and being completely honest we had all mentally clocked off somewhere around the 7^th over and that’s being generous (It was probably the innings break).

So after a really good display with the bat, followed by the same with the ball and some fielding miracles (mostly by Pravin, who clearly had magnets hidden in his pockets), we were finally able to get the first win of the season and let’s hope we can carry this form into the one-day games and collect a few more wins heading into the break.

C3 Grade

WPHC Blue (Chintan) 6/146 drew with Mt Colah 183

Day 2 – The much awaited clash of the titans was finally here (well…day 2). This was pretty much the entire Hornsby team we met in the GF last year [and won of course].

Today can also be classed as one of the windiest days we have played cricket [and also the day that everyone had to leave early].

Unfortunately we were one of the very few teams across the Comp who did not have a lot of play on Day 1 last week, thanks to the weather and some very poor drainage, so we knew from the start getting a win would be a tough ask, but that was the intent from the very beginning.

The goal was simple – restrict Mt Colah as much as possible and go for the win. We started off with a combination of pace [Mridul] from one and spin [Skip Chintan from the other]. Both bowlers kept things tight but it was Mridul who struck first, getting their batsman clean bowled after being hit for a boundary – a fitting reply.

After bowling a few overs, Chintan was about to bring first change by swapping Mridul with Pritam, but the former somehow convinced the skipper to let him have a go with one more over. This proved to be a very good call, as Mridul soon struck in back to back deliveries, sending 2 of the Mt Colah batsmen home, and narrowly missing out on a hat trick. We had them exactly where we wanted.

The partnerships never really built post that, and Agni was brought into the attack. Bowling some magical deliveries, he picked up the next 2 batsmen in back to back overs. Manraj was then brought into the attack to wrap up the tail and struck in his very first over with a C&B. Mridul then finished things off with a lovely yorker, and they were all out for 183 – a very chase-able total on any given day.

Batting conditions were indeed very challenging with the winds playing havoc, to a point where we had to just keep the bails off the wickets. We lost the first 3 wickets for just 20 runs and needed a solid partnership – one which was provided by Arun and Anubhav. Together the pair took us through until Tea, and the target was set to get ~120 runs in the last 18 overs.

The pair continued to hit the ball cleanly after the break and at one point we thought this was actually going to be possible.

However, Arun then fell for a well-played and paced 36, followed by Anubhav. Pritam went out there with some great intent however did not trouble the scorecard too much – we now needed stability to see the last 12 overs through. Adi and Suf then had a really strong partnership, the latter had to retire not-out bringing in Sitabja. Last 6 overs were seen through with relative ease – a draw it is. Our first one for the season. We outplayed them in every department and if we did have a chance to play more overs last Saturday, are quite confident that we would have emerged on top.

Some key highlights included more than half the team requesting the Captain for a ‘half-day’ , and the square leg umpire almost getting hit by Suf’s bat. Yep, you read that right.

In challenging batting conditions our team held their nerve and made sure we did not give any opportunities for Mt Colah to come out on top and ended the days play at 146/6.

Special thanks to Sahil, Ravi and Amith from C4 to come out and add to our cheer squad.

Onwards and upwards!

WPHC Red (Karl) 207 defeated Hornsby 133

Defending a respectable 207 runs WPHCCC C3 Red came out victorious dismissing Hornsby District for 133 runs.

On what was a hot and windy day in Montview Oval (West), in stark contrast to the previous week, the home side started slowly and found it tough thanks to fantastic early spells from Isaac Taylor and Wil Palmer each picking up early LBW’s.

The momentum was maintained with a good spell from Damon Dos Santos until he retired hurt.   It was over to the older statesmen of the team for a while with Karl Erdmanis rolling back the years picking up three wickets in the middle order, including a couple of dangerous batsmen.  This spell was supported by a short burst from Paul Higham who picked up a straight bowled wicket.

Hornsby continued to find it challenging to score runs, but they dug in and were stubborn in resistance through the lower middle order.

Good spells from the spinners Nick Deverson and James Day kept runs to a minimum. 

Alex Higham finally breaking open the game thanks to a fine catch from Karl, which was followed by Damon and Kristian Erdmanis combining for a run out and Alex taking a second wicket.

The game was concluded by a screamer of a catch by James Day, his second of the day, off the bowling of Isaac.  

This capped off a fantastic all-round team performance with fielding contributions from Will Deverson and Luke Palmer, all coming together for an emphatic win.

C4 Grade

WPHC Blue (Rob) 6/129 defeated on 1^st innings Mt Colah 65 & 4/148

The sun was shining, but it was windy.  Oh was it windy.  And we all know wind is great.

“Wind is one of the most valuable natural resources available to us, offering environmental, economic, and social benefits that make it an essential part of a sustainable future.

One of the most significant advantages of wind is that it is a completely renewable source of energy. Unlike fossil fuels, which deplete over time and release harmful emissions when burned, wind is constantly replenished by natural atmospheric processes.

This means we can use wind power indefinitely without worrying about running out or contributing to global climate change.

Wind energy also plays a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By generating electricity through wind turbines instead of burning coal, oil, or natural gas, we dramatically cut down on carbon dioxide and other pollutants that contribute to global warming and poor air quality. Cleaner air leads to healthier communities, reduced healthcare costs, and a more stable climate for future generations.

Economically, wind power has become an increasingly attractive option. The cost of wind energy has fallen dramatically in recent years, making it competitive with traditional energy sources. Wind farms also create jobs—both during construction and throughout long-term operation—boosting local economies. Rural areas, in particular, benefit from wind turbines, as landowners can lease small portions of their property for turbine installation while continuing to use the land for farming or grazing.

Another important advantage is energy independence. By investing in wind energy, countries can reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels, which are often subject to volatile prices and geopolitical tensions. A diverse energy portfolio that includes wind makes the power grid more resilient and stable.

Finally, wind turbines have a relatively small physical footprint and can coexist with natural landscapes and agricultural land. With ongoing technological advancements, wind power is becoming quieter, more efficient, and more adaptable to various environments. Altogether, wind is a clean, reliable, and forward-looking resource that benefits both people and the planet.”

But today we learnt to hate wind.  Picking up and replacing bails over and over again is not fun.  Trying to bowl accurately in strong wind is not fun.  Collecting boundary cones waaaay out of position and putting them back is not fun.

Anyway we look forward to next Saturday. 

Did someone say sheep station cup!

WPHC Red (Ravi) 7/171 defeated Thornleigh 159

The cricket fans were bored with no cricket going on in the world, thanks to a 2-day test in the Ashes opener and a historical drubbing for India at home against South Africa.

Luckily Day 2 of the most awaited battle of Titans between the thorny Thornleigh and might West Penno’s was on at the Normanhurst oval. 

Overnight batsmen Arindam and Rohit started cautiously and dug deep to see out a fiery spell from their fast opening bowler and wily left arm spinners.

Arindam channeled his inner Pujara and showed excellent grit and determination to help himself to his maiden half century for Penno’s. Just as we thought we would get through to drinks with no wickets lost, they introduced a left-arm spinners who struck twice in 3 balls. Rohit had to depart for a well-earned 23 off 70 and Daksh had to go back for naught.

Both were LBW’s as the bowlers were relentlessly attacking the stumps. 

Vishnu joined Arindam and weathered the storm by playing watchfully against the pacer and spinner. Boundaries started flowing and some quick running meant the pressure was slowly back on Thornleigh.

Arindam then fell by top edging a slog, but for a standing ovation from his mates for a well made 68 off 142, which happens to be the highest individual score for his team this season this far. 

In an effort to put pressure back on Thornleigh, Vishnu top edged a sweep and was out caught at square leg. Amith soon followed by offering a return catch to the seamer to leave West Penno at 144/7. 

Sahil and Tushar joined hands and ensured there no more hiccups and played till tea to get a healthy lead and finish at 171/7.

With chances of an outright win non-existent, both Captains agreed to shake hands, extending our unbeaten run in the season.

Highlights of the match 

• Vishnu – 32 runs and 3 stumpings 

• Arindam – 68 runs 

D1 Grade

1-Day games

WPHC Red (Diggers) 1/157 defeated Castle Hill RSL 8/156

After two tight wins on the trot, the boys were ready to take on Castle Hill RSL at Greenup Oval.

The pitch looked like a batter-friendly deck, and Castle Hill agreed—electing to bat first after winning the toss.

The Reds struck early. Dave opened the wicket column with two scalps in two balls, setting the tone for the innings. Debutant James Gelding took a brilliant catch to crack things open, and shortly after, Sarthak and Dave combined to spark a full collapse.

Castle Hill slumped to 4/19, leaving fill-in player Raynaldo Howard wondering if there’d even be enough runs for the Reds to chase—an early jinx, as it turned out.

A father-and-son partnership from Castle Hill steadied the innings, guiding their side to 4/51 at drinks. After the break, acting skipper Steven “Buzz” Burrows introduced Munish into the attack, and the move paid off immediately as he broke the stubborn stand. Castle Hill rebuilt again with some confident hitting, pushing their total to 5/134, until Buzz himself stepped up to take a crucial wicket.

Heading into the final over at 6/151, opening bowler Parin was given the ball to close out the innings.

Two quick wickets tightened the screws before the final deliveries pushed Castle Hill to a competitive 8/156.

Now came the real excitement. Chasing 157, openers Raynaldo and Cliff put on a batting masterclass.

Their stroke-play was clinical, building a brilliant 116-run stand that kept the Reds firmly in control.

Cliff eventually fell after a long, hard push from Castle Hill’s bowlers, but the momentum stayed with the Reds.

Raynaldo powered on to bring up a superb centur, our 562nd for the Club —moving one step closer to the Club record of seven.

Gus then entered and finished the chase in style, striking 21* off 20 balls to wrap up a dominant win for the Reds.

WPHC Blue (Roger) 5/209 defeated St Ives-Wahroonga 177

Well it was good to come back and win this week after losing the Sheep Station trophy to the Red’s last week in a last ball nail biter.

It was a good toss to lose as after being put into bat, we scored 209/5 in the allotted 35 overs. Vinoth Sambasivam top scored with a scintillating 88 and put on a 87 run partnership with Malinda Dharmadasa (27retd n.o). 

 Our two NSW stars Cory Brookhouse 14 Retd n.o and Daniel McKewen 14 also made useful contributions after being promoted up the order. 

We lost only 5 wickets but due to multiple retirements permitted under the new rules 11 people had a bat. 

St Ives started strong reaching 102 after the first 18 overs (we were at 57 at the same time) 

Bala Raghuraman was the tidiest of the bowlers in the first half taking 1/13 in 5 overs.

In the 2^nd half some tight bowling by our spinners  Roger Friend, Pankaj Gawande 3/23, ‘Mahesh Shinde 4/15 and Mahesh Kodaganchi, good ground fielding and catching (7 catches taken) arrested their scoring resulting in being bowled out for 177 in the 31^st over. 

D2 Grade

WPHC (Ross S) 208 & 8/111 lost to ARL 9/213

Week 2 in the field, with ARL needing another 190 runs,  10 wickets in hand.  

Our day started well with a wicket in Lachlan M’s first over of the day. A full ball off the gloves down the leg side taken by Ross in the webbing of his left glove. ARL 1/19.   

The next 20 overs were disappointing for us. 

A 100 run partnership in quick time.  Some good hitting,  but bowling was not accurate enough to keep the batters in check, with one batter hitting 76 of 79 runs in boundaries (6*6 and 10*4s) in a very short time.   

 Jaques introduced and bowling a great spell got us back into the game.  First over a double wicket maiden…. ARL 3/119….

For the next 17 overs Jaques and Muthindra bowling in tandem managed to put on the breaks and enough pressure to generate a runout (great pickup and return by Lachlan M to Ross) restrict scoring and take wickets. 

 An excellent catch on the boundary by Sandeep, another skied change taken by Mihir, and 2 by Raymond (mid-on and slips).    With ARL 8/169 we were right back in the game…..our efforts were great in the field by everyone…

Unfortunately we just cant close out our games…..4 frustrating overs of  wayward bowling to a batter who kept swinging  at balls bowled on his legs saw  the ARL batters put on almost 40 runs.  

Scores tied at tea….one over from Lachlan M just a couple of runs and a final wicket to taking out the stumps….ARL innings closed 9/213.  A lead of just 5 runs. 

Congrats to Jaques Visser 5/35(11)….exceptional bowling….Wickets also to Lachlan M 2/51(7),  Muthindra 1/39(8).  2 catches to Raymond and 1 each to Ross, Mihir and Sandeep.

Even though a further result was unlikely the ARL skipper asked us to bat again.  29 overs to go.

Our second dig was rather disappointing. 

 Another solid and responsible opening partnership by Sandeep and Lachlan M,  but after that some poor shot selection and some decent bowling  saw us losing wickets at regular intervals.  At one stage it did not look like we would reach 29 overs,  however a solid rear guard partnership soaking up 9 overs by Mihir (0no) and Dharvil (22no). Saw us reach the 29 over mark. 8/111 at stumps….top scorer Raymond Howard 33.

Unfortunately one of those frustrating games where we tried hard but were  just not consistent enough to take 10 wickets.   

A bye next round.  6 points very helpful but not nice missing a week on the field.