Match Reports

Competition – Round 9 (1-Dayer)

(Saturday 6^th January 2024)

 

A1 Grade

WPHC (Cameron) Vs Bye

A2 Grade

WPHC (Campbell) 6/116 defeated Normanhurst-Warrawee 114

Congratulations are in order for a number of team members this week.

First of all, a big congratulations to Cam McBrien, Jackson Preedy and Billy Gaunt for their promotions from A1s to the premier grade A2s.

An extremely exciting week for these three, well done to all.

We arrived and Royal Randwick racecourse looked a treat.

Unfortunately, it was relayed to the team that the ankle-high grass was not a racecourse, it was the Glade outfield.

Long day for the batters.

Having sent the undefeated Normanhurst in, we didn’t take a wicket for a while.

In an act that I’m sure involved hypnosis or substance-induced hallucinations, Birdcage somehow convinced Captain Campbell that he was worthy of a bowl.

A few wickets from some short garbage and 1 good ball later, Birdcage finished with 5/20.

Congratulations to Birdcage.

114 a tricky chase on the outfield, Jackson Preedy settled in for the long haul.

Hot day and very little value for runs, Preeds had to work hard nudging 2s and 3s.

Billy joined Preeds and played the most glorious shot, dancing down the wicket and slapping a quick over cover for 6.

How does this man score so few runs.

A modern mystery.

Having seen Billy’s shot, Preeds realised he could in fact hit the ball harder and also decided to hit boundaries.

This change of approach was warmly welcomed by teammates.

Preeds finished 50* anchoring the chase beautifully.

Congratulations to Jackson.

KT did the finishing job with some important runs as we won with 6 balls to spare.

The final set of congratulations is the heartiest and most deserving.

A huge congratulations to Justin Edwards and Matt Philip.

This dynamic duo managed to be part of the winning team, neither bowled a single delivery, faced a single ball or made a single fielding contribution.

It’s these kind of performances that sum up A2s, a privilege for all those in attendance to witness.

Well done Justin and Matt.

B1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Todd) 4/137 lost to Galston-Glenorie 3/140

After you spent your entire Sunday last week reading through the fourth volume of Lord of the Rings disguised as a B1 village cricket match report, I have been instructed by teammates to keep this under 500 words. Expect about 1300.

Onto the game as we found ourselves out at Woop Woop Paddock (less commonly known as Les Shore 2) against top of the table, our second time playing them in a week. With a quirk of the adjusted draw deciding that this random acre five hours from civilisation would be a great place for a WPHC home game on we went, Rick winning the toss and batting (Todd was late again).

Today we would welcome back Connor after touring Europe with the missus, signing off with a solid two – pretty good for someone who hadn’t held a cricket bat in two months. However, story of the day was Jamaican, who has been taken to hospital after team pest Jude Boyle made (and failed) his second attempted murder within a week, running the A grade ring-in off his feet with his ridiculously incessant calls of “yes” (he did the same to Volc last week). Safe to say he’s never getting called up to A1 while James is there after that performance.

Despite one of the team’s several resident idiots fooling with the provided scoreboard on the sideline (at one point we were 2-403 off 41 chasing 10) during the first half of the innings, we are fairly certain we comfortably tallied what we thought would be a winning score of 4-137, the partnership between James (65 not out) and Jude (40) the highlight after a painfully slow start where Volc was, again, the only guy who could actually hit the ball off the square in the first fifteen.

Ben, fresh off sending five players to hospital last week playing C3 with his old man, got fired up with the new rock, beating the bat every second ball but due to his kindness, only once decided that he’d knock down the pegs as he sent their skipper back to the sheds for a duck after Jack’s half volley on fifteenth stump brought about our first wicket.

With two early poles we felt as though we were on top but from there, we simply could not break through. By the time Ben came back and tore the stumps out from beneath their number four bat, the game was over and thoughts were on next week at Headen Park.

In the end, they got it done on the slowest outfield you’ll ever see with seven overs remaining and seven wickets still in the sheds – not our best performance.

Ben was the pick of the bowlers with 2-21 from seven, while Jack channelled the spirit of Jack Edwards after he had the fortune of meeting the man last night at the SCG, taking 1-13 from six. We don’t talk about the rest.

WPHC Red (Shomik) 111 lost to Berowra TBA

Greeted with ANOTHER spongey slow outfield, the team were (weren’t) in high spirits to be running lots of ones and twos. But hey, that’s how the cookie crumbles.

The run rate was slow during the first couple of overs, and was not helped by the fall of early wickets. Shomik continued his run of good form with the bat and showing true leadership with a well-made 46. Contributions of 10 or so runs were littered through the scorecard.

Unfortunately, by only batting the 32 overs, we scraped together just 111. But I would like to highlight one of the greatest pieces of shithousery you have seen, with myself sending my bat into another postcode and making sure that none of the bat actually connected with the ball that was bowled.

The bowling and fielding had most certainly been of high standard. With Neil taking an absolutely hand crushing caught and bowled. The Berowra team just waited for the poor delivery, cashing in on anything wayward.

They achieved the score with only 3 overs left but we felt a longing that if we did bat longer than 32 overs the score would’ve been scarier to chase and some risk taking, resulting in a few more wickets.

We continue to develop as a group and the more senior players have shown great work is supporting each and ever one of us.

Definitely places for improvement, but I’m glad that we want to keep each other accountable whilst pushing for victories. Unlucky today boys but I’m sure we will bring out our A game the match next week against Mt Colah.

B2 Grade

WPHC (Warren) Vs St Ives Wahroonga

What an absolute day ladies and gentleman. The North Turramurra Recreational area had more recreation taking place than most brothels on a busy weekend. There was a football festival, golf and of course our game of B2s cricket. An absolute spectacle, a sight to behold. And boy did WPHCCCCC and St Ives deliver by producing a top of the table clash which will go down in the history books as one of the greatest matches to ever be played in B2s.

With the Schwartzel family and DJ Garrett enjoying a joint trip to Queenstown NZ we had Rob ‘poor man’s Warren’ fill in as El Capitano for today. This turned out to be a pretty like for like replacement as Rob went on to lose our sides 7th toss in a row. This is the most amount of consecutive lost tosses in the clubs history (Source Ross Anderson). BUT spoiler alert – great toss to lose.

Ray ‘best all rounder in the clubs history (source Ross Anderson)’ Khamis and Zac ‘Graces boyfriend’ Turner got proceedings going with a nice little start.

Both timing the ball well and bagging themselves a couple of boundaries. Ray then got bowled by a slower ball playing across the line trying to hit his second 6. Unlike him I know, it usually takes an absolute seed to get Ray out.

Cameron ‘strong hand’ Bish then missed a straight one before his brother Dylan ‘Cameron’s brother’ Bish smoked one straight to mid-off to depart early. We were in a wee little spot of bother at the halfway point on 4/60. Rob ‘boring old fart’ Knapman told the boys to just get to 3 figures. Ray ‘full send sicko mode’ Khamis said go full send and get to 160. The tail wagged and met Ray and Rob halfway, we set a respectable but chase able total of 130.

Standout performance was Adam ‘Private Pyle’ Van Saaarloooooooser with a very well compiled 41, as well as Nathaniel ‘big red’ Chidgey chipping in at the end with something notable but i can’t remember so I guess not so notable.

For our bowling effort we knew what needed to be done, we needed early wickets. Enter Nathaniel ‘big red’ Chidgey who has continued his habit of taking a wicket off his first ball or over. Mitchell Starc eat your heart out son! Big red took a couple early before Paul ‘could fit a fully grown python inside his box’ Vink held up the other end bowling some absolute seeds to work his way to his 100th club wicket. Congratulations big daddy, 100 club wickets is almost as impressive as the heat you’re packing in the old downstairs department. What a man. I wish I was him.

St Ives then brought their token diversity player to the crease, the only other Lebanese player in the comp other than Ray.

Ray and Moofty were on good terms until Moofty realised Ray was Christian which has sparked somewhat of a holy war between the two. Tensions are high and we are pretty sure. Moofty and the St Ives captain went about building a partnership. With only 130 runs on the board it would only take 1 solid partnership to derail our great start and lose us the game.

Unfortunately for us we are the CEO of letting up and we let St Ives back into the game with some sloppy bowling, fielding and just generally not very hectic vibes. We entered the drinks break having St Ives at 4/64 but they had all the momentum.

Enter Ray ‘no joke this guy is the best all-rounder at the club (source Ross Anderson’ Khamis. After being absolutely disgusted with Alex ‘tits on a bull’ Chidgey’s pitiful over Ray demanded the ball and ensured to captain Rob he would do what he does – get shit done! After settling into his line and length Ray sized up his opponent and knew the ball to get him – he just had to produce it. A knee high full toss on leg stump. Yep the ball of the century.

Next ball Ray produces an absolute seed, an out swinger just full enough to tempt the drive but really not full enough to drive. The batsmen knick’s off to gully. Ray is on a hat trick. Who would have thought. Third ball, what’s it going to be, a Yorker, a slower ball maybe even an inswinger. Ray has everything but the kitchen sink in his arsenal and what does he bowl? He bowls it off the pitch for a no ball…. His chance at glory gone. Oh well that’s life, can’t win them all…..

From here it was our game to lose, Rob continued from the opposite end and took a couple. 1 producing a once in a lifetime catch from Nick ‘feet for hands’ Duck. Yes ladies and gentlemen the man actually has the physical capability to catch a ball. And just in time as he was one drop catch away to being re rated. Good job Nick!!!

Adam ‘private pyle’ then dropped what would have been Ray’s third and the game was absolutely in the balance. They had two reasonable bats in and need 40 off from the last 9 overs. Enter Nathaniel the red rocket Chidgey. With the crowd backing him he did the unspeakable, 2 wickets in 2 balls!!!! My god what an absolute feat. He bowled them out and we ended up winning comfortably.

At some point in the day buckets duck raised the question ‘surely we can be doing something better with our Saturdays’ and yes from time to time we do ponder why the eff we play this game. But then there’s the other times. When cricket is the greatest sport on the planet and you wouldn’t want to be doing absolute anything else with your Saturday or any other day for that matter. Today was one of those days. We dug in as a team, produced the goods and cemented our spot at the top of the ladder. The boys are cooking, get keen for what is to come!

Other news:

• Nathaniel actually took a hat trick but we did not realise until we got back to the sporto as there was a 25 over gap between spells. Good job Nathaniel this is the clubs 19272819^th hat trick (Source Ross Anderson)
• it was bloody hot today. The boys were simply minding their business as a soccer spectator (presumably from western Sydney) was walking by the scorers area with her two year old child. She turned to us and shouted ‘aren’t you fuckers hot’. It was really unexpected and bizarre and all types of weird. Some people shouldn’t have freedom of speech and this absolute weapon is one of those people.
• Adam Van Saaaaaarloooosses hair is making quite a swift comeback. Thank god because his beard was doing so much heavy lifting in him not looking like a mongoloid it simply isn’t funny.
• Our favourite couple at the club Brent and Samatha are celebrating their engagement next weekend. Please join us and dear god don’t wear white or dark colours

C1 Grade

WPHC (Indranil) 3/100 defeated Hornsby 8/99

After a bye on the 6^th of January, our team was ready to start 2024 as we finished before the Christmas break, or at least we thought we were ready.

We won the toss and elected to field, managing to put down 8 catches while we were out there. What saved us was the lack of intent from the other team to score runs. Not realising that it was a one-day game, Hornsby had put on 39 runs at drinks and finished up at 8/99 after their 35 overs.

While our fielding certainly was not on point, some standout performances with the bowl included Ben Waldron picking up 3 wickets, with excellent bowling figures 11 runs off 7 overs, supported by Aayush 2 and Samih & Yasith 1 wicket each. Vishnu Raman also play a critical role in restricting Hornsby, bowling 4 overs, and going for 3 runs.

The highest runs scored in the Hornsby innings was 28, which were the gifts offered by our team (Xtras).

Chasing a low total saw our batters take a positive mindset from the outset, in an attempt to boost our net run rate. We managed to chase the total in 20 overs with a key contribution from Vedant who retired on 41 due to coping a ball that snuck under the grill and into his chin after hitting his glove. Vedant being Vedant was adamant about keeping batting and seeing our team over the line but after realising that he had started to bleed saw him exit to go and get it checked out.

His biggest concern was whether or not he would have to shave his beard while he recovered.

Latest news from the hospital was Ved needed only 1 stitch and is expected to be back next Sat.

Overall it was a decent start to 2024 and it’s always good to walk away with a win. However, we will have to turn up next week ready for the fight if we want to make it to the knockout stages of the competition.

C2 Grade

WPHC Blue (Mat) 4/96 defeated Castle Hill 95

The boys were fired up and determined for our first win in C2 grade against top of the comp.

Having lost the toss, we were sent in to have a bowl with Isaac and John opening the bowling. Due to some incredible ground fielding from the boys we managed to tie the opposition up which led to our first wicket, bowled John caught DC. Castle Hill was struggling at 1/16 with both Isaac and John bowling in good areas.

The Goat (Dave) had decided he had enough of one of the openers having a hack, so old mate decided to smoke one to his right and moved quicker then Mathew Ryan’s in his prime and snagged it straight into his right hand.

The Goat was pretty happy with himself thinking he was better than Jordan Silk. Isaac and John kept on troubling the batsman with Isaac picking up one with a great catch from Craig down at fine leg. Mat and Dave were brought onto bowl with Mat ripping out the pegs straight away, taking a handy caught and bowled and ripping middle peg out for 3 of the Castle Hill batsman.

Drinks came at a good time as it was boiling out in the middle with Castle Hill 5-45. Riz came on to bowl taking a wicket on his 3^rd over with good glove work down leg with a stumping from Bronson. Riz than turned into Warney and bowled an absolute seed of a leggy taking the top of off. Hursty than came on to bowl fighting hard for a wicket in the 4^th over. John then came on to bowl in the final over and ripped the middle peg out. West Penno bowled Castle Hill out for 95. Top bowlers include Mat taking an incredible 3-4 off 7, John with 3-27 off 7, Rizul with 2-21 off 6, Issac with 1-16 off 7, and Hurst with 1-15.

Mat and Marty were sent into open the batting, with Marty going early and Brent going early too.

Rizul and Mat came into bat working the ball around well with some good running between the wickets with the boundaries being 90 meters long according to Hursty alongside thick grass. Mat went with a well-made 20 leaving us at 3 for 28. Bronson was next in who was batting sensibly while Rizul was batting well.

At drinks we were 3-44 and the required run rate was just over 3 an over. Bronson and Rizul were running hard picking up handy 2s and 3s batting well together with some loud calls from Rizul for once. Bronson got out to the worst ball he has ever faced ending the 44 run partnership between him and Rizul. John then came in and wanted to head home so he launched the bowling attack with a quick 18 not out to win us the game for the mighty Blues. Credit to Rizul with a great 39 not out to win us the game.

West Penno won by 6 wickets with another 3 overs to spare.

Credit to Castle Hill for opening up their facilities for us to use in hot weather.

 WPHC Red (Arun) 138 lost to Sydney Lions 5/273

Report not available.

C3 Grade

WPHC Red (Fieds) 76 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee2/78

Report not available.

WPHC Blue (Rob) 8/92 lost to Berowra

Today’s game was played at Tom Richmond Oval (Old Dairy) Brooklyn.

A huge thanks to our Under 15 players Malinda, Kevin and Rehan who filled in for absent players.  Without their support through January we would struggle to get teams on the park.

Rob won the toss and elected to bat.   Kamran and Aden opened. After an enterprising start the Berowra bowlers dried up the runs and a late wickets saw us at drinks 1/42. The team found itself seven down with nine overs left of the match. Rehan and Mudi’s partnership gained 29 runs. We ended the innings at 92 for 8.

Berowra started their chase 62 for 2 at the drinks break. After the break Kevin took two wickets and Buzz took one. The Berowra batters caught up with the score that has been set by Blues with a multitude of overs remaining.

C4 Grade

WPHC Blue (Hiresh) 120 lost to Beecroft White 8/123

After a tough season so far with only one win on the board (and two unlucky abandoned matches), the boys were looking to turn things back around. Captain Hiresh returned from holidays aaaand lost the toss. Never mind though, as we would’ve batted first anyways.

Things didn’t start well as both our openers Meet and Hiresh departed for ducks in the first 2 overs.

A partnership was starting to build between key batters Sparsh and Mukund before Mukund was caught behind after playing a nice boundary. Ratul was out 2 balls later, which brought in Eamon. He managed to create a nice partnership with some aggressive shots before he picked out a fielder in the deep, out for 21. Sachman then played a very nice innings with six 4s and a 6, getting out for 38 following the wickets of Sparsh (29) and Fill-In Harshil (3).

Not too long after, we were bowled out for 120. Not ideal as we only batted 29.2 overs, but could’ve been worse and we improved from last week. Another 15 runs or so would’ve made a somewhat decent total on a slightly spongy outfield.

A crazy start saw Beecroft’s top 4 out for ducks credit to an outstanding opening partnership between Sparsh and Sachman. We had them 4/5 (5 sundries) and Sachman was bowling some beautiful swing bowling, picking up the first 3 wickets.

Although we had got one of their best batters out, we knew there was still a tough challenge ahead, as they seem to mix-up their batting order each week and as we had learned from Ross Smith’s game against them they bat very deep (definitely true today as well). After a small partnership, Sach managed to pick up another wicket to finish 4/18.

We let in a few loose overs which left them 5/79 at drinks (we were 5/74). From there, they built a solid partnership which turned the game in their favour. Mukund did everything he could to pick up some wickets, and managed to get 2 out bowled (finished 2/33).

I think we managed to get the game to around 2 wickets needed with 22 runs or so to play with, but their batting was too strong in the end. Their number 6 steered them home with a well-played 68 including some hard-hit boundaries. Ultimately they won in 25.4 overs finishing 8/123.

Man of the match performance from Sach for both batting and bowling efforts. Next week we have a bye, and a chance to reset with some points on the board.

C4 Red (Ross S) 7/170 defeated Castle Hill 9/135

After last week’s heavy defeat we went into today’s game looking for an improvement in our batting…and it came by way of Raynaldo.

With a few players still away on the January break, we welcomed Alex Higham (U15) and Nic Price (U17) into our squad. Thanks guys.

Skipper won the toss and had no hesitation batting in hot humid conditions. Raynaldo and Nic opened up and played cautiously against some really good opposition bowling. Batting was really difficult with runs hard to come by, but the lads survived taking us to the 17 overs drinks break 0-48 with Raynaldo on 27 and Nic on 12…

With 10 wickets still in the shed, we had to push on after the break if we wanted to make a respectable score. Nic was out just after the break without adding to his score. 1-53 (18).

Now the next 17 overs were all about Raynaldo, as wickets fell around him…at one point we lost 5/31 as we chased runs… 5/86 after 26 overs…..still well short of any defendable total. Congratulations to young Alex though, scoring his first seniors runs.

Raynaldo pressed on without fear.

Just to show how dominant his batting was, he had a 6^th wicket partnership of 42 with Jake (1) and an 8^th wicket partnership of 35 with Ross (0 no and did not face a ball).

He brought up his 100 with a 6, and carried his bat 131no (10*6 + 11*4)….taking our score at the end of the 35 overs 7/170. He scored 104 runs of 18 overs after drinks.

We were all happy with 170. A decent and defendable score if we bowled well.

Our bowling innings did not get off to a good start.  2^nd over the new ball lost in the scrub as the openers peppered the boundary and we bowled too short.

With a second ball (now not new) the batters were scoring quickly.

We kept our nerve though, and our first breakthrough came with Anand knocking the stumps over CH 1-27.

Whilst our fielding was good, our bowling remained a little wayward and the batters took advantage. A good catch by Raynaldo on the boundary off Henry followed by another good catch from Sufyan off Anand had Castle hill 3/77 at 17 over drinks break. Anand bowling 7 overs straight finishing with 2/28.

After the break, our bowling and fielding was exceptional.

Muthindra made a vital breakthrough dismissing the CH opener and top scorer, a catch to Henry on the boundry that any circus juggler would be proud of.

Suf then bowled a terrific spell 3/12 of 7 straight overs cleaning up the stumps on 3 occasions and just missing a hat trick. Castle Hill slumping to 7/115 with 7 overs remaining. A few lusty hits got Castle Hill a little closer until two pieces of magic from young Alex at mid-wicket in consecutive overs from Ram. Both catches smashed at him and both stuck.

Castle Hill finishing 9/135. A good 35 run win to us which keeps us within reach of the top 4. Wickets to Suf 3/12 (7), Anand 2/28 (7), Ram 2/11 (7), Henry 1/39 (7), Muthindra 1/21 (5). 2 catches to Alex, 1 each to Ray, Henry and Suf.

 D1 Grade

WPHC Blue (Agniva) 126 lost to Thornleigh 8/177

A day out in freshly mowed Mimosa oval had our hopes high to finally break the jinx against a Thornleigh squad which has seemed to get the better of us over the years! Though Agni lost the toss after a 4 match winning streak, we got what we wanted – try and bowl them out for a reasonable total and then chase it down!

Ravi and Pritam started off the proceedings as per usual and the tone was set in Ravi’s second over with a brilliant catch by Agni in short mid-wicket. We managed to keep things tight till the first drinks break at the end of 13 overs with Thornleigh at 2-42. After that things took a turn when Thornleigh decided to go after our bowlers and the heat got the better of us with too many loose deliveries and a few dropped catches.

That saw them score almost 90 runs till the second drinks break and we knew we had to push the brakes somehow. Ravi, Rohan, Praneel, Nirav came back strong in the final overs to stop them for 177 and we knew we had a task ahead after a hot day out in the middle. 3 wickets to Ravi and 1 each to Amith, Nirav, Rohan, Praneel and Agniva.

Our openers started off well till Sahil misjudged an in swing which took his leg stump. From there, Lakshya and Anubhav built a solid partnership, something they have been doing consistently this season and is a promising sign for the remainder of the season!

A solid 50 run partnership kept us in a decent position at the end of 12 over with 60 odd on the board and we knew we had a good chance if we managed to maintain the momentum.

That’s pretty much all that’s worth mentioning.

After Lakshya and Anubhav fell within 3 overs, we never recovered with the score going from 3-73 to all out for 126 via a major middle order collapse. This definitely is something we would put extra focus on for the remainder of the games to try and maintain the top of the ladder position and secure the semi-final spot.

Next up we have Kissing Point and it would be good to regroup as a unit and come back strong.

WPHC Red (Diggers) 6/113 defeated St Ives Wahroonga 112

After a couple of losses we needed a win to keep in touch with the top 4. Unfortunately we had a late withdrawal due to covid and we were a player short but fortunately we had Maher Nosina, an U15 junior, fill in for the game (thanks again Maher!).

Our game was against St Ives Wahroonga at Samuel King Oval, North Turramurra. St Ives were just below us on the table and also needed a win.

As the temperature was forecast to be above 30 degrees for the afternoon, it was important to win the toss and bat. However Diggers lost the toss and we were asked to field.

Daanish and Harry opened the bowling but we didn’t start well with 3 dropped catches in the first two overs.

However, it wasn’t long before Daanish took two wickets including their strongest batsman and finished the day with figures of 2/32. Harry also bowled well (as he has all season), but today he was well rewarded with figures of 3/26.

Maher and Disco followed and restricted St Ives’ scoring. Maher had a great spell finishing the day with 3/22. Disco (1/10) and Farjad (1/14) also bowled tight lines and St Ives were bowled out in the 29^th over for 112.

Cliff and Surendra opened the batting but Surendra was out cheaply which brought Maher to the crease. Cliff and Maher then put on a great partnership of 42 runs before Maher was caught on 28 (top score for the team). Daanish joined Cliff and again built another good partnership before Cliff fell on 24 and at drinks we were 3/79 only needing 34 runs off the last 17 overs to win.

However straight after drinks Daanish fell on a well-made 19. Shortly after Daanish both Harry (4) and Diggers (6) were out, which left us at 6/96 and we were starting to get a little nervous.

Grant (19*) and Gus (3*) were next in and together combined to get the last 17 runs to win the game in the 28^th over.

It was a good game and it was great to see Maher strongly contribute to the team’s performance.

D2 Grade

WPHC (Roger) 4/115 lost to Hornsby 6/117

Hornsby toss and elected to bowl.

WPHCCC found it hard to score. With long damp grass but as it dried out mananged to increase the scoring rate in the second half of the innings. We then bowled quite well but could not get enough wickets to get over the line.

David Tanna 2/25 and Daniel McEwen 2/36 were our best bowlers. Chris Tanna (43) and Malinda Dharmadasa (31*) were our main scorers.