Junior star of the week
U14 Representatives
With the Juniors having a 3 week break the highlight came from our U14’s – all 5 of our teams. In the just completed Moore Shield and Presidents Cup Representative teams, 4 of the 12 players in the Moore Shield are from WPHC – Daniel Anderson, Shanik Lokuge, Sid Sethi and Sid Shankar. In the Presidents Cup we have Marcus Creais, Indika Dissanayake, Tom Lee, Bhavya Nanda, Lachlan Vile, James Madden and Oliver Winkcup. All up we have 11 of the 24 players from our Club.Well done fella’s.

Green Shield
Congratulations also to Daniel Anderson, selected in the Northern District Green Shield Team – at 13 years of age.

Charity game
A great write-up in the ‘Fitz Files’ in the Sydney Morning Herald as Team of the week. As a season starter the U12 Blue and U12 White played their now annual Charity game. This time both teams played an Indoor game, all with pink grips, and with the match aggregate being donated to Breast Cancer research. The kids ended up raining $203 for this great cause. Well done fella’s.

Seniors
A1 3/193 defeated Hornsby 7/177 – a good first up win in a tighter game than we expected. Played over 35 overs, Troy Newman top scored with 59, Amir Marzouk did well with 54* with James Makin 42. Bill Peterkin scored 4* and took a catch! Our turn to bowl. Matt Dawson was expensive but effective with 4/61 (7 overs) with Simon Smyth 2/10 (7). All up, a good way to start the season from what is, on paper this early in the season, a very talented side.

A2 2/33 Vs Kissing Point 243. Playing at Greenway Park, keeping any side under 250 is an achievement – dead track and lightning outfield. Ben Frawley was the star taking 5 wickets in his best bowling performance for our Club. A bit of work to do next week but once someone gets a start batting gets easier.

Colts Red Vs Colts Blue – the boys play this Sunday so no results just yet.

B1 2/72 Normanhurst Warrawee 177 – an awesome performance with a number of players out for 1 week due to the long weekend. Chris Thorndyke has done the job again with 3/23 off 16 overs and got outstanding backup from Rowan Keating (again) with 2/22. Our star though was
U16 leggy Shashankh Thirimeni (4/40 off 12) getting a wicket with his first ball seniors! In reply, we are 2/72 off 17 overs with Paul Tilley 26*. We just need to finish the job after a good 1st day.

B2 6/222 Vs St Ives – simply amazing. With a number of players out for week 1 (long weekend) this is a high risk game. Enter 5, U14 players to fill the gaps and didn’t they step up. The star was Ashan Da Silva (U15) who score 70 and then retired due to exhaustion. Simon Roche also did well with 45. All up, we expected the worst and are now in a dominant position – thanks largely to the ‘kids’.

C1 9/355 Vs Castle Hill RSL – after a hiccup last week (due to sickness) we blasted a modest Castle Hill attack off the park. After a good 40 run opening partnership (Ross A 26) the platform was built. Gus Grima hit our 332nd Club century with 102 retired, Nathan Fathers 51, John Steel belted 45 and Craig Hutchinson 30. Gus and Nathan also put on 132 for the 3rd wicket. With our full strength team on the field the batting depth is awesome now to do the job with the bowling.

C2 160 Vs Kenthurst 1/23. On a small ground Geoff Starr top scored with 57. Taki Maneolis got 21 & James Creais a quick 20 at the end. While we have some bowling depth next weekend it will be a good performance to protect this score on a small ground but you never know.

C3 1/59 Vs Hornsby 152. Playing with 10 players (another long weekend impact) we are well place – as we were last game at stumps. Our bowling was good with Amesh de Silva (3/39) and Nick Patel with 2/15 our best. At stumps we were 1/59 with a unbroken second wicket partnership of 53 between Amesh de Silva and Peter Lees. We should stand a good chance of winning this one if we play to our ability.

D1 0/22 Vs Berowra 208 – another long, hot day in the field. How about the ageless Roger Friend stood out, taking 4-25, while Chris Milojevic was rewarded for a great day's bowling, taking 3-41. Chris Grima (2-32) and Shankar Ravi (1-46) were our other wicket takers, Shankar's being another stumping by Bruce Caldwell (these two are fast developing into the best bowler / keeper combination in the Club).

Batting for 10 overs before stumps, our openers, Brendan Harkin and Ben Pilipowski have put on 22 without loss, setting us up in a good position to resume the run chase next week. A thrilling finish is on the cards against this strong team who were D Grade finalists last year. A win here, if we can pull it off, would be a real feather in our caps.

D2 Vs Berowra 278 – in the words of our Captain Jonathan van Blerk It was David v Goliath. And that boy David won again. Berowra won the toss and chose to bat first. And the boys batted well, these 12 & 13 year olds father & son team showed us how to bat. Berowra finished the day on all out on 278 runs after 75 over’s. So we have this whole week ahead to prepare for the challenge on Saturday.

A great tradition
Welcome back to A1 who start their season now that the turf wickets are up and running. This is our 42nd straight year in A1 – having had a team continuously in the elite grade since 1965/66. The boys also have a tremendous tradition – for the first session everyone wears the Club baggy as a sign of respect to honour of playing for this great Club.

Congratulations to the Squad. Matt Dawson (C), Nick Bennett, Sujith Dissanayake, James Makin, Amir Marzouk, Troy Newman, Bill Peterkin, Matt Phipson, Simon Smyth, Peter Stott, Gavan Taylor, Adam Walter, Peter Whitehead.

Matt also becomes our 21st A Grade and Club Captain. Well done mate.

Something in the timing
Our Club Ambassador, Dom Thornely came along to our Kanga welcome and introduction night last Monday. He mentioned that we better organising some more major Club events. Last time Dom came along to our Presentation Day he had just agreed to terms to play IPL for the Mumbai Indians. On Monday night he had just been announced as NSW Captain while Simon Katich was overseas. First up – really well done Dom and second, we need to get some more major Club events organised to keep up the momentum.

Three strikes.....I’ve had enough
Got to hand it to David Creais (C2). How about this for a sequence after opening the batting:
1. 2nd over David was bowled by a full-toss. The Umpire then called a ‘no-ball’ for over stepping.
2. Next over from the same bowler, he was cleaned up by another no ball. This time another ‘no ball’ )above waist height)
3. An over of so later, with the keeper standing up at the stumps, he flashed at a ball which the keeper snapped up, whipped the bails off and appealed (for both catch & stumping). In the words of the Umpire (Andrew Fiedler) “
“He clearly wasn't stumped. I heard a noise, but held my ground, as I watched Dave turn around and start to trudge off. So I figured, he's walked, so arbitrarily & belatedly raised my finger. Dave turned, looked back & continued walking. When I spoke to him later, he told me he didn't touch it. I said, ‘well I heard something & you walked’. Everyone else in the team thought he walked too”.

Pure Blonde
Got to hand it to the ‘Big Unit’ (Gavan Hassett – B2 Captain). Gav fancies himself as a bit of a chic magnet and in keeping with the image has become a blonde. Those close to him, everyone in the team, knows it is either a mid life crisis or he is finding those 18 year olds a tougher nut to crack. Anyway, something must be working as the big fella top scored last match with 55+.

Father/son moment
In one of those cherished moments, Eric Junkkari (B2 superstar) had his first opportunity to bat with his 13 year old son Daniel (DJ). They must have got a few runs as DJ got 18 (brilliant first up effort) and Eric 30 odd. When asked how many runs this partnership yielded Eric had no idea. Maybe next time.

Booney – he’s back
The big fella, all 138 kilos of the slimmed down frame made an appearance as a spectator at Headen Park. Arriving in his Mini Cooper (number plates Bo-oo-ny) was a sight to behold – one of those Monty Python sketches. Then the news we were all waiting on – his new job. He is a salesman for feminine Hygiene products. Why are we not surprised.

Coaching Course
Level 1
This sought after Cricket NSW accredited course is coming up. Details are:
• When: Sunday 9th November
• Where: Edward Bennett Oval
• Time: between 9.00 am and 4.30 pm
• Cost: Nil if you are Coaching or intend to coach a WPHC Team. Otherwise the cost is $120.

There are 3 Levels of Coaching and this is a valuable stepping stone to those interested in coaching at higher levels. Anyio

Photo of the Month
Every month, starting in October, the WPH Sports Club will be offering a Dinner for 4 people (to the value of $120) to the person who takes our Photo of the Month. The judge will be the Chef! All you need to do take photo's of your games – action photo's, human interest photo's or whatever. The photo judged to the best for the month will get the dinner. This is open to everyone from Kanga, Junior Boys and Girls and Seniors. Apart from being a possible winner the photo will go on to WPH Sports Club internal TV for the month. All photo's submitted will also go onto the website.

Body Science Compression sports gear
BSC are Club sponsors. They provide compression sporting clothing to major sporting stars. Many NRL Clubs use BSC in preference to Skins. For every purchase, BSC rebate 10% back to our Club that is then used for development - training improvements, coaching and so on.

This product is especially useful for any player who gets niggles during or after games. It is also a very good idea for for Junior and Senior Rep players who have to back up on Saturday's/Sundays plus added training requirements.

If you are thinking about buying compression sports clothing then look no further than BSC - they are superior to Skins and the Club gets a benefit that goes back to our players.

The gear is available in black or white. If you need more information then please go to the BSC website on http://www.bodyscience.com.au/. The website also has a more complete listing of the compression gear product range and also sizing charts to help you work out the right size.

How do I get this gear
Bill Peterkin has kindly offered to be the link between our Club and BSC. All you need to do is to work out what you would like and let Bill know your requirements.

Bill can be contacted on 0488 110 942 or via email billstar@optusnet.com.au

Personal Milestone achievements
We have a number of players who are nearing significant personal milestones. The standings after Round 1 are:

Name Grade Achievement
Rowan Keating
B1 50 wickets Vs Glenhaven @ Glenhaven 20/9/08
Steve Baker C3 975 runs – 25 runs to 1,000

Nick Bennett
A1 864 runs – 136 to 1,000`
Dylan Brogan
Colts 45 wickets – 5 wickets to 50
Jon Burns
291 wickets – 9 to 300.
Rohan Dixit
A2 49 wickets – 1 to 50
Andrew Fiedler
C2 3,936 runs – 64 to reach 4,000 career runs
James Fiedler
A2 844 runs – 156 to 1,000 runs
Craig Hutchinson
C1 88 wickets – 12 to 100 wickets
James Makin
A1 346 wickets – 4 to 350
Amir Marzouk
A1 240 wickets – 10 to 250
Michael McDowell
B1 81 wickets – 19 to 100
Ben McNamarra
B2 99 wickets – 1 to 100 wickets
John Mitchell
C1 41 wickets – 9 to 50
Matt Nolan
B2 846 runs – 154 to 1,000
Justin Paterson
B1 81 wickets – 19 to 100
Kishore Rampersad
C1 3,884 runs – 116 to 4,000 runs
Andrew Watt C1 865 runs – 135 to 1,000 runs
86 wickets – 14 to 100 wickets
Craig Willmott
1,932 – 78 to 2,000 career runs
Peter Westerberg
D1 71 runs – 29 to 100
Peter Whitehead
A1 47 wickets – 3 to 50 career wickets

Posted by Ross Anderson on September 28, 2008 06:02 AM