Heat policy
Who will forget Saturday’s games with 42 degree temperatures and just generally unpleasant conditions. We have approached the Association about the need for an official policy about heat and there is likely to be something in place for next season.

WPH Sports Club Brassiere – Photo of the Month
Shane has decided the winner of our December Photo of the month award.

As Shane says “page 14 Kivan, little bloke with a big heart”. Congratulations to Abe Khamis who took this wonderful photo plus many more. Abe now get a dinner for 4 to the value of $100 courtesy of the WPH Sports Club.

Our thanks yet again to Shane who runs the WPH Sports Club Brassiere. Show you support to Shane who supports us by having a meal at the Brassiere – a top restaurant and supporting local a business.

The Competition continues right through until March so our next Award will be given for the January photo’s.

Junior highlights
Competition starts
The Juniors start again on Saturday 31st January 2009.

The latest Junior points table as at the end of Round 7 is:
U16 – Blue 2nd, Red 5th
U15 – Blue 3rd, White 4th, Red 7th, Green 8th
U14 – Gold 2nd, Blue 5th, Green 8th, Red 11th, White 12th
U13 – Red 1st, Blue 4th, Green 9th, White 11th
U12 – Green 1st, Gold 2nd, Red 5th, Blue 16th, White 17th
U11 – Gold 5th, Red 6th, Blue 7th, Green 9th, White 16th

Record looming
Alex Rashleigh U16 Red has had a tremendous season. After 7 Rounds (2 to go before the Semi Finals) Alex has scored 463 runs @ 77.2 and taken 15 wickets @ 16.0. Alex is on-track to beating the 1994/95 Club U16 record of 569 runs scored (@ 63.20) by Steven Cass and the Association U16 record of 669 set by Nick Downie in 1973/74.

Irrespective of what happens from now this has been a special season by Alex –well done mate.

Seniors
Weekend results (all 1-Dayers) from Round 10 follow:

A1 135 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee 4/138 – just not enough runs to pressure last placed Normo. In the batting, James Makin continues his good form with 36 with good runs from Matt Phipson 25. Matt Phipson took 2 wickets. We now need to win the next 3 games to have a chance of making the top 4. The boys are good enough but just need a couple of blokes to build the big platform.

A2 8/253 Vs Galston-Glenorie – after a couple of close loses we bounced back with a good score. It would have been good to score another 30/40 runs on Greenway and in the conditions so we may need to bat on for a few overs to create a more comfortable buffer. Well done to Leigh Van den Broeke with 69. He got fabulous backup from Sam Baidya (46), Michael McGregor 40 and Tim Rae 36. While more runs would have been good the conditions just made it too tough for both batsman and bowlers. Being 2 points out of the top 4 this is an important one to win.

Colts Red 106 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee 123 – resuming at 6/31 in the run chase, Tom Blissenden and Adam Hutchuings (22) put us back on track but unfortunately we fell just short short. Blisso continued his great form with the bat and his 37* was his third top score for the team in succession. Although The Glade was difficult with variable bounce we dug ourselves too big a hole the week before. This was the one that got away. We are still in 4th place but the gap has closed.

Colts Blue 217 lost to Kissing Point 226 – something unusual happened , the Blues lost. A close fought game on a good pitch but a hot day that made it equally tough batting as bowling. This one went right down to the wire and boys fought all the way. Highlights for the day were form the batting with Sam Kleinhans 45, Taylor Paton 45 and James McBrien 38. Good game against 2nd on the ladder and it should be interesting if we come up against them in the finals.

B1 137 lost to Berowra 180 – details of the game will follow.

B2 White 107 lost to Pymble 2/113 – just too hot, a few key players out and one of those days. We still comfortably hold 1st place and with the 2 day games coming up we should get back into winning mode. In the batting, Bryce Morley did a super job scoring 23* and Nathan Fathers with 20 was about it. Kishore took 2 wickets in the bowling but at least an early finish got us back to the Club sooner.

B2 Red 140 lost to Hornsby 270 – Hornsby used the conditions, small ground (Mimosa), fast outfield and heat much better than us. Tim Millington (30) and Simon Roche (28) were our best but after a big run chase the boys had no juice left to run down this big score.

C2 5/140 defeated Normanhurst-Warrawee 138 – a good win for us today that consolidates our position in the top 4 and in striking distance of 2nd spot. After letting Normanhurst get off to a good start (65 off 1st 13 overs), we kept them in check. Chief wicket takers where Paul Mullinger (3/20), Geoff Starr (2/9 off 8) & Nick Starr (2/14). We passed them in the 30th over, 5 wickets down. It was a good team effort with plenty of contributions – Geoff Starr again with 40 ret, Paul Mullinger (24), Nick Starr (23) & Andrew Fiedler (20 no). This win should cement our spot for the semi finals.

C3 5/97 defeated Hornsby 93 – this win has leapfrogged Hornsby and put us into the top 4. Our bowling was the difference in terrible conditions. Jacques Visser effort was fantastic with 3/7n with good support from Peter Heidegger with 2/29. In the batting, after a bit of a wobble, Peter Heidegger with 39* and Michael Foley 17* did it comfortably in the end. This is now our 3rd big win in a row and we are on a roll.

D1 3/200 defeated Berowra 7/195 – a fabulous win against 3rd placed Berowra who were just 1 point behind us in 3rd spot. Once again our bats fired, Brendan Harkin's 94 n.o. his best so far for the season and a glimpse of what we may look forward to in the finals. He was ably supported by Faisal Shamsi (30) whose run of form continues, while Bruce Caldwell's 40* was a truly heroic effort, compiled in the most extreme heat. Bowling for WPHC, the phenomenal Roger Friend did it yet again, taking 5-40, his second "five for" of the season, which takes his season tally so far to 31!! At the age of 58 this man just gets better and better. While our fielding, perhaps understandably in the extreme heat, was pretty ragged at times, two great catches wrapped up our day: Luke Christensen, solid as a rock, took a great one at cover while Chris Grima took perhaps the catch of the season, a brilliant diving one-hander which, if Gus Grima had snapped it, would certainly have won the photo of the month.

D2 9/129 defeated Galston-Glenorie 9/60 – another convincing win after a very shaky start at 5/37 after 20 overs. Fortunately, the last 5 batters all got into double figures which gave us a defendable total. Our bowling attack was simply brilliant. Ian Nichol 3/6 off 6 was the stand out, but all bowlers managed to take a wicket and as they say, catches win matches, so good to see a few stick from some unlikely candidates. A big thanks to Sahil Talpade finishing with 17* and 1/0 off 2 overs.

Bradman Oval Game
A fantastic day with a game organised at Bradman Oval on Sunday 25th January for those who are major contributors of our Club through their volunteer efforts. There are lots of stories and photos of the big day that will come out over the next few weeks. For the record, Lord McDonald’s Team 182 defeated Mr Coulthard’s team 161 despite Mr Coulthard assuring everyone that the result was a tie. .

Learner plates
Peter Westerberg (D1) the doyen of scorers in the Club, when not terrorising the bowling side when he bats. But when it comes to umpiring maybe scoring looks like a good option. Spare a thought for Bruce Caldwell while batting with PKW at the other end. In spite of the errant umpire's persistent attempts to give Bruce Caldwell out managed to give Bruce out twice, incorrectly. Thankfully, on the first occasion, the Berowra team were decent enough to call Bruce back to the crease: who said good sportsmanship was dead?!.

Robo Cop
Got to hand it to Bryce Morley (B2). Going out to bat in 40 plus degree heat and an attack that was at best pedestrian, Bryce had the works – helmet, full length arm guard and all the padding you could imagine. We reckon it must have been over 50 degrees in all that gear and in Bryce’s own words he must have looked like Robo Cop – he did. Just trying to imagine what he would have worn if he was facing anyone genuinely quick.

Points table
All the information is contained on the Association website but at a quick glance as at the end of Round 9 show:

A1 Grade – 5th (23 points – 3 off the pace)
A2 – 5th (34 points – 2 off 4th place)
Colts:
• Blue – 1st (51 points)
• Red - 4th (32 points)
B1 – = 2nd (42 points – a game in hand)
B2:
• White – 1st (50 points)
• Red – 6th (26 points – 11 points off 4th spot)
C2 – = 3rd (36 points)
C3 – 5th (35 points – 3 off 4th place)
D1 – 2nd (38 points)
D2 – = 3rd (45 points)

Standings
After 10 Rounds we have:
1. 2 teams coming 1st
2. 2 coming 2nd
3. 2 coming 3rd
4. 1 coming 4th
5. 3 in 5th spot
6. 1 in 6th spot

Personal Milestone achievements
As at the end of Round 10 standings are:
• Coming up are the following big ones:
o Andrew Watt is also 2 off his 100 wickets.
o Matt Jobson is just 4 wickets away from his 100th wicket
o Peter Westerberg – 17 runs from his 100 runs
o Nick Bennett – 61 to 1,000 career runs.

Name Grade Achievement
Rowan Keating B1 50 wickets Vs Glenhaven @ Glenhaven 20/9/08

Rohan Dixit A2 50 wickets Vs St Ives @ Greenway 27/9/08

Ben McNamarra B2 100 wickets Vs CHRSL @ Caterson 2, 25/8/08

Dylan Brogan Colts 50 wickets Vs Normanhurst Warrawee @ Turramurra 1/11/08

Andrew Fiedler C2 4,000 runs Vs Hornsby @ Campbell Park 1/11/08

Craig Hutchinson C1 100 wickets Vs Hornsby @ Campbell Park 8/11/08

Steve Baker C3 1,000 runs Vs Glenhaven @ Glenhaven 15/11/08

Geoff Starr C2 1,000 runs Vs Kenthurst @ Kenthurst 2 29/11/08
50 wickets Vs
James Fiedler A2 1,000 runs Vs Galston-Glenorie @ Northolm 6/12/08

James Makin A1 350 wickets Vs ARL @ Storey Park 10/1/09.

Kishore Rampersad C1 4,000 runs Vs Hornsby @ Montview West, 17/1/2009

James McBrien
Colts • 898 runs – 102 to 1,000

• 50 wickets Vs Kissing Point @ Storey Park 12/10/08
Nick Bennett A1 939 runs – 61 to 1,000

Matt Jobson A2 96 wickets – 4 to 100

Amir Marzouk A1 246 wickets – 10 to 250

John Mitchell C1 45 wickets – 5 to 50

Andrew Watt C1 • 928 runs – 72 to 1,000 runs

• 98 wickets – 2 to 100 wickets
Peter Westerberg D1 83 runs – 17 to 100

Posted by Ross Anderson on January 25, 2009 06:14 AM