Well done Lisa
We have to start with an acknowledgement of Lisa Sthalekar (Vice Captain of the Australian Women’s Team). Playing in the Women’s Test Match at Bowral Oval during the week Lisa scored 98 to single handed give Australia a chance of beating England. She then came out and bowled and in the Words of Cricinfo compared the quality of her bowling to Shane Warne. For those who don’t know, Lisa is a former WPHC Junior who played U10s to U16s with distinction.

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.

Girls
Our Girls get on the field again this week after a bye the previous round. This is the last game of the season that finishes next Saturday.

Junior boys
The last Saturday of normal Competition was played this weekend before the Semi’s start. Results will be updated once to hand.

The standings after Round 9 are:
• U15s – Blue (1st), Red (8th)
• U14s – White (1st), Blue (4th), Red (7th )
• U13s – Gold (2nd on quotient) Blue (7th on quotient), White (11th ), Green (13th )
• U12s – Red (4th), Blue (7th ),White (11th), Green (12th)
• U11s – Gold (1st), Green (2nd ), White (5th ), Red (13th), Blue (15th )

Presentation Day
• When: Sunday 30th March
• Where: Campbell Park or Cherrybrook Community Centre at 1.00 pm if it is wet
• Time: 11.00 am. This should go for about an hour maximum.

Kanga
Kanga got on for the first time since school returned due to a series of wet weekends. The Presentation Day has now been set. Details are:
• When: Saturday 8th March
• Where: Edward Bennett Oval
• Time: 10.00 am. The kids have a parents/Kanga game which is always fun and the presentations, including graduation certificates are handed out.

Seniors
Day 2 of the last round:

A1 (3rd) 127 and 3/145 lost to ARL (4th) 8/212 – a loss but a fantastic effort to finish off the season. At one stage we had them 8 down before they passed us. Added to this was a call that could have had them 7 down with 50 to get but that is life. After they passed us everyone got a bowl with Michael Banner and Troy Newman both getting a wicket - their first in A1. What about Smokey Dawson with 5 wickets yet again. In the 2nd innings we showed what might have been with Peter Whitehead slamming a classy 81 including 50 off 23 balls. We also were 0/41 off 2 overs! While missing out on the Semi’s most judges consider that if we had made it we would have gone all the way. Anyway, the team showed great courage and fight this year.

A2 (3rd) 9/249 defeated Galston Glenorie (4th) 105 – a thumping win that saw us comfortably in 3rd spot. Ronan Barrett continued on and finished with 136 – a great effort. In the bowling Steve Quanborough raised the bar with 4/12 from 5.1 overs with very good support from Matt Jobbson 3/14 (8 overs) and Scott Henderson 2/26 from 16 overs straight. Basically we smashed them and now play ARL at Turramurra next week in the Semi Finals for a chance to defend their A2 Premiership. Super stuff guys.

Colts (1st) 7/148 dec defeated Castle Hill RSL (6th) 126 and 7/130 A perferct hit-out before the Semi Finals. Not a bad days play to get the first innings points although the batsmen did make hard work of getting the small total on a pitch starting to play some tricks. Matt Scoular and Nick Bennett were the best of the batsmen getting 42 and 41 respectively. The seven wickets to fall in the Castle Hill innings were shared amongst 5 bowlers with Taylor Pator being the best with 3 for 17. Well done fella's.

B1 Blue (5th) 87 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee (3rd) 5/266 – scores to come

B1 Red (6th) 80 and 102 lost outright to Glenhaven (=1st) 6/213 dec – one of those days. Going into this game we couldn’t make the Finals so it was more about having a final hit-out for the winter break. Andrew Mills was the star today with 35. At least the beers tasted good back at the Club.

C1 White (1st) 102 and 6/225 lost to Hornsby (2nd) 9/124 – let’s forget about week 1. In week 2 we came back into our own with a good hit-out before the Semi’s. Batting against a good bowling attack we had a dream start with an opening of 85 that basically ensured the Minor Premiership. Ross A (46) and Sahil Khanna (34) did a very good job upfront. After that start, most of the blokes had a solid hit-out – Tony Hadley 38, Andrew Fiedler 32, Michael McDowell 23 and Nathan Fathers a very impressive 18*. While losing we got a lot out of this game going into the big ones.

C1 Red (5th) 4 dec/109 and 7/85 defeated Castle Hill White (8th) 69 and 167 – a win but this should have been a comfortable outright with Castle Hill 5/14 overnight but some unusual umpiring decisions didn’t help our cause. Best bowlers for us were Tim Starr with 3/38 and 2 wickets each to George Petridis (2/23), Geoff Starr (2/26) and Michael Hobern (2/0). The chase started well, with the score flying along to 0/50 off just 8 overs thanks mainly to Tim Starr (41), before quick wickets put an end to any thoughts of running the total down, losing our 7 wickets in the space of just 35 runs, and ending on a disappointing 7/85. Results in other games probably went our way so we should sneak into gthe Semi Finals and once there anything can happen.

C2 (3rd) 174 defeated outright Redfield (6th) 95 and 74 – a thumping win to most likely put us into the 1st place. Ashraf Ahmed was brilliant with 72 and got good support from David Gane 33. With a 79 run lead we dismissed Redfield for 74 with outstanding bowling from Nic. Patel 4/23, Steve. Baker 3/20 and Jaskaran Singh 3/8. We held every catch that came our way in 2 innings, and it was a wonderful all round effort from the team to record the outright win. A well deserved win to finish off a very satisfying season for our team. Bring on the Semi’s.

D2 (7th) 122 and 9/98 lost to Kenthurst (5th) 226 – the best of our batting in the first innings were Bruce Caldwell (26) and Claudio Van Blerk (49), the latter a great effort, Claudio's personal best and our team's top individual score for the season. Unfortunately with their departure our tailenders were unable to get us past the follow-on target of 151. Our second innings saw Daniel Anderson (24) come into his own with a disciplined innings, working the gaps in the field and running well between wickets to keep the ones and two’s ticking over. He was ably supported at the other end by Brannavan Ramachandran (14) and Jonathan Van Blerk (21), whose contributions helped to stave off an outright defeat by the margin of one wicket.

So we end this season as wooden-spooners, but as a team who, beyond the points table, have enjoyed much and gained much from our experience this season, learning from each other and gaining strength from adversity; a team who have been great ambassadors for WPHC and a team of whom the club can be truly proud for the undaunted spirit, camaraderie and good sportsmanship we have displayed over the past six months: well done fellas!

Photo update
Have a browse of the Photo Gallery to see the latest photo’s – Matt Scoular after scoring a record 34 off an over. Later in the week we will have our amazing D2’s on the website who kept backing up with enthusiasm week after week this season.

With mates like this
After swapping around the ‘keepers, Jacques Visser took the gloves and immediately made an impact in dropping a catch. Trying to support the bowler he tried to recover the situation and called out “you’ll get him next ball”. The cutting response came back “we should have had him last ball as well” Not to worry Jacques, as a ‘keeper you make a great bowler.

On the bog
Goy to hand it to Andrew Fiedler (C1 run machine). Doing what he does well, he went ‘to the bog” just before going out to bat. Unfortunately the number 3 got out 1st ball. By the time Andrew finished the job, the player was out and already had unpadded. The sequel continues.

How to play a hat-trick
Story continued. After eventually going out to bat Andrew had to face the hat-trick ball – his first in many years of cricket. With fielder’s crowded around the bat, he smashed the short ball to the boundary with a fabulous pull shot. Must be something about getting a load off your mind before going out to bat.

Semi Finals
Congratulations to our Semi Finalists. Colts are still to play and the C1 make-up still in the balance but it looks like we can pencil in the following matches:

Colts (1st) Vs Kenthurst (4th) @ Storey Park
A2 (3rd) Vs ? @ Parklands Oval
C1 WPHC White (1st) Vs WPHC Red (4th) @ Greenway Oval
C2 (1st) Vs ? @ Les Shore 1.

Last premierships
A2 – last won 2006/07 so defending the crown
Colts – first appearance in the Semi’s
C1 – 2003/04 under Dale Van den Boogaard
C2 – 2004/05 under Craig Willmott

Good luck on the weekend everyone.

Top 10 run scorers – after Round 13
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 13 and with 1 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 13 is:

• A1 – 42 points (4th )
• Colts – 49 points (1st)
• A2 – 49 points (3rd)
• B1 Blue – 44 points (5th)
• B1 Red – 27 points (6th )
• C1 White – 63 points (1st)
• C1 Red – 46 points (5th )
• C2 – 50 points (3rd)
• D2 – 22 points (=6th)

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 Warrawee

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

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 24, 2008 06:25 AM