Southern Stars game
On Sunday at 11.00 am Channel 9 will have a 60 minute highlights package of the Twenty/20 game between the Women’s game between Australia and England played at the MCG during the week.

For those who have never seen a Women's game it will be a good insight into the game. When you are watching it keep a look out for Lisa Sthalekar who is a West Penno Junior who played from U10 to U16 and regularly comes back to help us out. While the Women in most cases lack the sheer power of the men look at their batting and bowling techniques – generally superior to the men.

Website developers and graphic artists
We are privileged to have Peter Lees do all the website work for our Club. However, it is run by volunteers and we always need to involve others to share the fun.

If you have abilities in Perl scripting, graphic design or other web-related skills, and would like to contribute to your Club, please contact Peter (AT) www.wphccc.org

Immediate need
We are keen to build a Google search capability into the website for Ground locations. If you can help us out with this one just let Ross Anderson know – 9476-0595.

Umpires Course
The Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai & Hills District Cricket Umpires Association will be conducting an umpires’ badge course on Tuesday 12th and Wed. 13th February 2008, with the exam on Wed. 20th February 2008.

The course will be held in the main auditorium in the Hornsby Bowling Club, Edgeworth David Ave., Waitara.

Any questions should be directed to Bruce Wood, HK&HDCA Umpires Secretary, e-mail hkumpsec@hotmail.com.

Girls
Our Girls had a close loss (84) Vs Manly (7/85) but good to see the Girls back on the field after a long break.

Lord’s Taverners Schoolgirls Cricket Championships
Teams are selected from the catholic school system (combined Catholic Colleges), one from the Independent school system (Combined Independent Schools) and 2 teams from the State High schools (Combined High Schools). Any Girl interested in playing details follow:
• When: 17th to 19th March 2008
• Where: Barker College Hornsby
• Contacts: Donna Little at Cricket NSW on 9339-0961

Junior boys
A week of rain saw all games washed out. Next week is the last game before the semi Finals.

The standings after Round 8 are:
• U16s – White (2nd), Blue (4th)
• U15s – Blue (1st), Red (8th)
• U14s – White (1st), Blue (4th), Red (7th )
• U13s – Gold (=1st) Blue (6th), White (11th ), Green (13th )
• U12s – Red (4th), Blue (7th ),White (11th), Green (12th)
• U11s – Gold (1st), Green (=3rd), White (5th ), Red (13th), Blue (15th )

Kanga
A few years ago our Kanga’s were used in a Milo advertisement. Our photo gallery has a record of this fabulous day. We have now been asked to support an updated ad that will be produced in early 2008 so looks like some of our Kanga’s will get their moment of stardom. Stay tuned.

Seniors
Groundhog day – another wet one and all games were washed out. With 1 game to thought you might be interested in next week’s rounds and how each team stands. Here goes:

A1 (4th on quotient) Vs ARL (3rd on quotient) – a huge game coming up with a loss probably putting us out of the Semi’s and a win in either 2nd, 3rd or 4th. Probably our biggest game of the season.

A2 (3rd) Vs Galston Glenorie (4th) – we are locked in to 3rd spot irrespective of what happens here but it is always good to go into Semi’s on winning form.

Colts (1st) Vs Castle Hill RSL 6th) – the worst we can finish is 2nd but with a game against last placed CHRSL we look a solid chance to take out the Minor Premiership.

B1 Blue (5th) Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee (=1st quotient) – another huge game. A win will jump us into 3rd or 4th position over Normo. A loss will see us finish 5th. Like A1 – probably the biggest game of the season.

B1 Red (6th) Vs Glenhaven (=1st) – while no chance of making the top 4 it would be good to knock of one of the favourites for the Finals.

C1 White (1st) Vs Hornsby (2nd) – 1 Vs 2 with a 9 point lead going into this game we will finish Minor Premier. A good opportunity to go into the semi’s with winning form.

C1 Red (5th) Vs Castle Hill White (8th) – another blockbuster game against CHRSL who have only won 3 games this year – but anything can happen. Unfortunately Ku-Ring-gai Chase were the onlt Team to get on and won in the process. We need to win (an outright would be great) and rely on Thornleigh being beaten by Chase - a real possbilty. An interesting weekend coming up.

C2 (3rd) Vs Redfield (8th) – while guaranteed a spot in the Semi’s only 1 point separates the top three teams. A loss will assign us to 3rd spot and a win possibly 1st or 2nd.

D2 (7th) Vs Kenthurst (5th) – we are playing for fun and pride in this game. Kenthurst are just out of the top 4 – it would be super to knock them off and finish the season with a win.

An Umpires story
Barry McDonald, our esteemed Club Chairman and Umpire, relayed some funny instances that happened in games he was Umpiring over the last few weeks.

Bowl straight
As background, Barry is overcoming a strained side which makes raising his arms painful.
In an A1 game a couple of weeks ago he asked both Teams to go easy on the need for decisions. You guessed what happened. In the first over there were 2 wides and a 6 followed by a decision next over. It had to happen.

Watchout
The 2nd story also happened in a recent game. Barry is well known for quiet authority, being involved in the game but leaving it to the players – the invisible man which makes him so good. But...something happened in a recent game. The opening bowler bowled a full-toss. Barry did what any umpire would do and yelled out “Watch Out” – just the thing a batsman wanted when he had a life saving decision to make. Fortunately the player is still with us.

Above and beyond
D2 won their first game of the season in emphatic style last match but apart from that it has been a struggle to get over the line. Despite this they are probably one of the most enthusiastic teams we have. In the words of Peter Westerberg:

"Just to let you know that we were washed out, as you might expect (I have never seen a team so intent on playing despite the conditions as these guys - nothing short of a deluge of biblical proportions would persuade them to give it up!)”.

Great stuff fella’s.

Association news
The Association had a Feedback night during the week from Captain’s to start planning for next season. A special thanks to Simon Smyth who represented us. The main matters coming out of the meeting were:

Colts
• Will be retained as a Turf Competition
• The weekend prior to the HSC English Exam will be excluded. It is also possible that an extra week will be scheduled “Schoolies”

Other Grades
• On the weekends that Colts matches are excluded, A Reserve matches will be played on available Turf grounds
• Castle Hill is progressing toward establishing a turf ground. The Association is also looking at the feasibility of using Private School turf grounds for Sunday matches – as back up during rep season
• Due to the number of matches cancelled due to wet weather, especially applicable to the turf grades, the Afternoon Committee is drafting a revised policy for player eligibility for Finals
• Starting times in the holiday season will be reviewed as 12 noon starts can interfere with family commitments for the players. Also the 35 over one day game duration will be reviewed prior to the commencement of next season
• Consideration given to a 9 team competition for next season with the “bye” team providing umpires for the remaining four matches

The big games
We look like having definitely 4 teams (A2, Colts, C1 White and C2) in the Semi’s. There is a real chance of 7 teams (A1, B1 Blue and C1 Red) going through if they win if a fantastic performance. Just keep in mind that if games are washed out the Team higher on the points table goes through to the Final. If this is washed out the higher placed team is the winner. So in the game next week apart from winning, do it by winning with the most runs and losing as few wickets as possible.

Top 10 run scorers – after Round 12
1. Nick Bennett (Colts) 443 @ 110.75
2. Michael McDowell (C1 White) 328 @ 46.86
3. Dan Moye (B1) 287 @ 35.88
4. Andrew Mills (B1) – 281 @ 21.62
5. Geoff Starr (C1 Red) – 278 @ 30.89
6. Tim Starr (C1 Red) – 258 @ 19.85
7. James Makin (A1) – 257 @ 42.83
8. Troy Newman (A1) – 255 @ 28.33
9. Taylor Paton (Colts) 254 @ 50.80
10. Dom Bourke (B1) – 251 @ 25.10

Top 10 Bowlers
1. Ben McNamara (C1 White) – 23 @ 14.13
2. Peter Stott (A1) – 20 @ 12.05
3. Ravi Shankar (D2) – 20 @ 14.25
4. Jacques Visser (C2) – 19 @ 23.16
5. Dylan Brogan (Colts) – 18 @ 10.67
6. Isaac Malamel (C2) – 18 @ 17.39
7. Bran Ramachandran (D2) – 18 @ 18.83
8. Nick Bennett (Colts) – 17 @ 8.12
9. Jaskaran Singh (C2) – 17 @ 13.29
10. Matt Dawson (A1) - 17 @ 15.59

Club Championship
At the end of Round 12 and with 2 games to go we are getting into the Championship end of the Season. Unless we have a couple of bad Rounds looks like we are on track to win our 5th consecutive Seniors Club Championship:

1. WPHC 1,656
2. Kenthurst 1,305
3. Normanhurst-Warrawee 1,295
4. St Ives 1,276
5. Berowra 1,127
6. CHRSL 1,100
7. Hornsby 1,053
8. Asquith RL 1,047
9. Kissing Pt 980
10. Galston-Glenorie 614

Points table
Just a reminder that you can get this info from www.cricketnsw.com.au/hkhdca - the table as at the end of Round 11 is:

• A1 – 40 points (3rd )
• Colts – 47 points (1st)
• A2 – 47 points (3rd)
• B1 Blue – 42 points (5th)
• B1 Red – 25 points (6th )
• C1 White – 61 points (1st)
• C1 Red – 44 points (5th )
• C2 – 48 points (3rd)
• D2 – 20 points (7th)

Personal achievements

The next big one coming up is:
• Steve Baker 57 to his 1,000 runs.

Name Grade Achievement
Sean Doohan A2 100 wickets Vs Kenthurst Semi Final 17/3/2007

Nathan Fathers C1 1,000 runs Vs Hornsby

Jacques Visser C2 50 wickets Vs Hornsby

Ross Anderson C1 7,000 runs Vs ARL

Ryan Cherrie B1 150 wickets Vs Mt Colah

Andrew Mills B1 2,000 runs Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee

Simon Smyth A1 200 wickets – Vs Berowra

Adam Walter A1 100 wickets Vs Berowra

Matt Dawson A1 • 3,000 runs – Vs Kenthurst
• 200 wickets Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee•

Chandana Jayasekera B1 Red 1,000 runs Vs St Ives

Roger Friend D2 100 wickets Vs Normanhurst

James Makin
A2 • 3,000 runs Vs Kenthurst
Kishore Rampersad
C1 • 250 wickets – Vs Castle Hill RSL
Steve Baker C2 943 runs – 57 to 1,000

David Meizis
C1 946 runs – 54 to 1,000
Bruce Poehlsen B1 Blue 888 runs – 112 to 1,000

Peter Whitehead A1 47 wickets – 3 to 50 career wickets

DCA website – points table
Now that the season is well underway anyone can track how their teams are going in the Competition in Both Seniors, Juniors and Girls by accessing the following website: www.cricketnsw.com.au/hkhdca and then just go to WPHCCC and then your team.

Alternatively, just go to Links on our website and it is the first entry.

Probably worth locking this into your favourites and checking after each game for the standings.

Posted by Ross Anderson on February 10, 2008 05:38 AM