CBA Grant
A big thank you to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia who granted us $1,500 as part of their Grass Roots initiative to help with repairs to our training facilities. Our priority is to repair the nets at the Sports Club with work getting underway on both turf repair and wire shortly. Thanks Commonwealth.

Well done
Congratulations to Brendan Ham who made his 1st Grade debut for Northern District last weekend. We have a long history of West Penno players playing 1st Grade with Brendan being the latest to make this wonderful achievement.

It is also worth noting that playing in this game were 2 other West Penno boys – Rob Watts and Daniel Friedrich. So just on 25% of the entire 1st Grade side came from our Club.

Level 1 Coaching Course
Cricket NSW is conducting another Level 1 Training Course. This is a sought after qualification for those interested in Coaching. Details are:
• When: Sunday 7th February 2010
• Where: Montview Oval, Hornsby heights
• Time: 9.00 am to 4.00 pm
• Cost: $120

If you are coaching a WPHC side we pay for the cost.

If you are interested then just let Ross Anderson know at wisden@bigpond.com . Applications close soon so please get the request in quickly.

Level 2 Coaching Course
Cricket NSW is also running an elite Level 2 Course. The selection criteria is stringent but is sort after. The Australian Coach for example has a Level 3 certificate. Details are:
• When: Saturday 5th June to Sunday 6th June (residential)
Saturday 19th June to Sunday 20th June (residential)
Wednesday 7th July to Sunday 11th July (residential)
• Where: Sydney Academy of Sport at Narrabeen & Orange
• Time: 8 days residential
• Cost: $600

If you need more information then please let Ross Anderson know asap. If you complete this course and take an active role in the Club’s Coaching program we will subsidise the cost.

Juniors
The season starts again on Saturday 30/1/2010 when school resumes.

Seniors
The Seniors played in 40+ degree heat on the weekend. Read how they went.

A1 101 lost to Vs Berowra 186 – in a 3 Vs 5 game it wasn’t our day. Missing a few key players, we were beaten convincingly by 5th placed Berowra. Simon Smyth was the only star – taking 5 for 9 and second top scoring with 23. James Makin starred with the bat though scoring 29. Congratulations to both Rob Aitkin and Adam Hutchings who both made their A1 debuts up from Colts and played well. Adam also took his first A-grade wicket.

A2 8/125 defeated ARL 121 – an important game for us to consolidate a position in the top 4 and also to beat the Team coming last with a few key players out. This was a good win but we just got there. We bowled and fielded well to roll ARL. Best bowling came from Matt Jobson who took 5/15 in 7 overs – a fantastic performance in the tough conditions. Other very good performances were from Rohan Dixit 2/38 and tight spells from Amir Marzouk 0/13 (8 overs), Sujith 1/14 (5), Michael Quieros 1/11. Our turn to bat and we just got there. The match winning performance came from Amir Marzouk who scored 38. At 7/92 the game was in the balance but a valuable partnership from Tim Leyshon and Suji got us across the line.

Colts
Red Vs Berowra – washed out day - no play.

Blue 8/84 lost to Hornsby 5/96 – a low scoring game played at Turramurra Oval – need we say more. Match details to follow.

B1 3/181 defeated Galston-Glenorie 9/171 – a bad start to the game after losing a player to illness late on Friday night and being sent into the field in the heat with 10 men. Galston-Glenorie started well working their way to 0/41 from 10 overs with us toiling away in temperatures approaching 40 degrees. Scott Jobson came into the attack and had immediate effect dismissing both openers as Galston were reduced to 2/43. The heat was intense and it showed with a couple of catches going down as Galston worked their way to 2/108 from 28 overs. We fought back with wickets to AJ and Scott to have Galston 6/138 but some late hitting saw them to 9/171 from 40 overs. We let them get a few more than we should have, but with ten men in the heat our effort was outstanding. Scott was the pick of the bowlers with 5/29 from 8 overs, while Ryan Cherrie 2/29 and Andrew Joyce 2/39 provided great support and Matt Thorndyke bowled a great spell of spin bowling and was unlucky not to have a few wickets.

We started our innings quickly as Andrew Joyce smashed 20 off 9 balls (five 4's) before falling. We lost another quick wicket and looked in trouble at 2/32 before great 73-run partnership by Tim Millington and Matt Scoular turned the match in our favour. Both were feeling the effects of the heat, but both pushed through taking the game away from Galston. When Tim fell for a great 37 we were well placed at 3/105 with Galston were struggling in the heat. Scott joined Matt at the crease and we never looked back. We cruised to victory with six overs remaining, with Matt hitting a six over mid wicket to win the match. Matt was superb with 90 not out while Scott was great in support with 19 not out. A gutsy win in hot conditions and a well deserved six points.

B2 4/151 defeated Hornsby 148 – a big game for us, against the only team we were yet to beat, a win could potentially put us 15 points clear of Hornsby on top of the ladder. And that is exactly what we did. After losing the toss and being sent in to field on a scorching Greenway Park, it was always going to be tough, and this was certainly the case as they raced to 0/51 before we got the first breakthrough. After that however, some very tight and disciplined bowling from us saw wickets tumble regularly and we bowled them out in the 37th over for 148. Chief destroyer was Ben McNamara (3/21 off 6), with Geoff Richards (2/22 off 7), Tim Starr (2/27 off 8), James McBrien (1/22 off 5) and Mark Bennett (1/40 off 7.1) also chipping in with wickets.

As we went out to bat, we knew that if we could avoid a major collapse we would win in a canter and it was the 2 Starr’s, Tim (44 off 40) and Geoff (57* off 55) that guided us home with 11 overs to spare, but more importantly before the seemingly imminent rain arrived. Other minor knocks from Adam Walter (17 off 14) and Duncan Moore (10 off 30) helped us cruise to a comfortable win.

C1 7/214 defeated Berowra 154 – almost the perfect game with everything going to plan - winning the toss and batting in the wet through to an imposing score off 35 overs, good fielding and excellent catching. This was John Steel’s match. He scored 106* coming in at number 3 and was well supported by Greg Stoneham 29* and numerous other good starts. Our bowling and fielding matched the quality of the batting. John Steel again dominated in taking 4/24 from 7 overs and got good backup from Greg Stoneham 2/23 and other wickets spread. This was our most dominant performance of the season against a side just out of the top 4. If we can remain at anything approaching this standard for the rest of the year we will be right in the Finals race.

C2 3/148 defeated Normanhurst-Warrawee Berowra 143 – Normo won the toss and elected to bat in difficult conditions. For the first 20 overs we kept them quiet with Jacques Visser (1/8), Nikunj Patel (2/15) and Chris Williamson (0/19 off 8 overs) bowling extremely tidy overs. After the drinks break Normo upped the ante and some lusty hitting was finally brought undone by the Kulkarni’s (with Narendra finishing with 3 for 26) and Mark Bell with 2/12. We closed their innings at 143 just inside the 40 over mark.

Chris Williamson and Richie Cuskelly got us off to a steady start but at 3 for 40 after 15 overs we clearly needed to increase the run rate. And we fortunately had the two senior members of the team to see us home, with Peter Lees with 57* and Peter Heidegger with 46* producing an unbeaten 107 run partnership, getting the remaining runs inside the 35th over. A great win for the team to consolidate our top 4 position

C3
White 5/137 defeated Berowra 136 – the Berowra team were there for a good time not a long time, racking up their runs in 21 overs. Fortunately for us we also racked up 10 wickets to have them all out in that time. It was the day for unusual wicket taking deliveries. 3 wickets fell to full tosses (2 caught, 1 bowled), a short delivery that should havebeen hooked to the boundary bounced off the gloves on to the stumps & a rebound off the wicket keepers gloves was caught by first slip. But despite the heat the boys stuck to their guns and polished the opposition off for a very gettable 136, especially on the small Arcadia ground. We mixed the batting order up a bit to give some guys a bat that had not had much of a go. Despite the mixed order we managed to chase down the runs very comfortably thanks to a glorious knock of 94 by Taki Manolelis, falling just short of his century with about 10 runs to go. A great win by the boys in hot conditions to keep our unbeaten stretch going.

Blue 6/149 lost to Normanhurst-Warrawee 4/152 – well, we listened to the weather report & won the Toss eventually, obviously too good to be true. We went in to bat, Russell Smith opened & persevered through the heat and managed to see batsmen come and go before retiring. In came Claudio van Blerk, Mr Dependable, with shoulders growing by the week, due to carrying the team with his batting performance with 64, this week was no different as he had another great knock in that stifling heat. Michael Mahinthin managed a quick 21 & Arun stabilized the tail end with 23. We managed to get 149.

Going in to bowl, early conditions were tough and did not get any better when the weather did finally cool down. We could not breakthrough their openers early & we allowed them to get some runs early.as the game went on we eventually managed to break a few partnerships, but in the end it was not enough. Normanhurst won the game by reaching the target with over’s to spare

D1 8/153 lost to Hornsby 7/188 – whilst there was a bit of experimenting leading into the finals, this was one of those games that we would like to put behind us. We started well but dropped 7 catches, which meant that Hornsby were able to post a competitive score of 188. Pick of the bowlers were Julian Raffel 2-19, Marco Delgado 1-17 and David Behelevanas 1-22. Our run chase was slow due to some good line and length bowling from Hornsby and we were unable to create any decent partnership and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. We’re still in the top 4 but need to work hard for the remainder of the comp to rectify our fielding.

D2 150 lost to Vs St Ives 6/152 – details to follow.

Thanks for coming
Tearaway A1 quick Scott Henderson has already taken 20 wickets this season and intimidates the opposition with his pace and 6’ 7’’ (or thereabouts) height. Last weekend he broke a stump while taking a wicket. An email from his Captain Smokey Dawson says it all:

“Hendo broke a stump on Saturday, should we try and get by with just three stumps for the rest of the year. I doubt it will happen again”.

At least we know that you can do it again Hendo.

Not the day to do it
Spare a thought for Allan Raffel (C2). In very hot conditions Allan tested out his stamina in bowling 5 no balls and 2 wides in his opening over. This is a long way short of our longest over with the record being held by Chris Cavanagh (A2) who bowled 21 balls in an over at Rofe Park in 1983. The real effort came from bowling a 13 ball over in 40+ degree heat. For his penance his captain (Marco) then asked him to keep wickets.

Wedding bells
Our Club Chairperson, Barry McDonald, bumped into an old friend the other day while taking a walk at Terrigal – Craig Willmott – a long term West Penno player until he left to work in India in 2006/07. The good news is that Craig is getting married next Friday (29th) to a woman (just joking) who comes from Leeds.

Better news still is that he is coming back to Australia to live and that the bride to be will allow him to play cricket. So with a bit of luck the old fella can play and score the 68 runs he needs to get his 2,000 runs for the Club. Good luck Craig.

Player of the Year
The standings at the end of Round 10 follow. With 4 Rounds to go we are now going to stop updating the table and will announce the winner on Presentation Night. Good luck to everyone in the running. There are 18 players in easy striking range of this achievement with more players within striking distance. Good luck.

• 14 points
o Sam Thariana (D2)
• 13 points:
o Rowan Keating (B1 & Colts)
• 12 points
o Russel Ingram (Colts & C2)
o Andrew Joyce (B1)
o Riley Miedler (C3 White)
o Nik Patel (C2)
o Caludio van Blerk (C3 Blue)
• 11 points
o Nirinjan. Sundararaj (D2)
o Carl Madsen (Colts)
• 10 points
o Daniel Anderson (C1)
o Michael Dale (Colts)
o Arkit Grover (D2)
o Brendan Harkin (C3 White)
o Rahul Saberwhal (C3 Blue)
o Geoff Starr (B2)
o John Steel (C1)
o Lachlan Vile (D1)
o Chris Williamson (C2)

The elite
The latest top 10 cumulative run scorers (Seniors) and wicket takers as at the current Round 11 follow.

Top 10 batsmen
1. 649 @ 81.13 – Russell Ingram (C2 & Colts)
2. 490 @ 40.83 – Sam Thariani (D2)
3. 464 @ 58.00 – Matt Scoular (B1)
4. 398 @ 44.22 – Gavin Taylor (A1)
5. 365 @ 33.18 – Sahil Talpade (D2)
6. 364 @ 72.80 – Lachlan Vile (D1)
7. 356 @ 35.60 – Michael McGregor (A2)
8. 317 @ 45.29 – Claudio van Blerk (C3 (Blue)
9. 313@ 39.13 – Alex Connell (B1)
10. 310 @ 28.18 – Allan Raffel (D1)

Top 10 bowlers
1. 28 @ 11.50 – Rowan Keating (B1)
2. 25 @ 11.16 – Rahul Sabherwal (C3 Blue & D1)
3. 25 @ 13.20 – Nik Patel (C2)
4. 25 @ 14.76 – John Steel (C1)
5. 23 @ 9.87 – Tim Starr (B2)
6. 22 @ 10.82 – Matt Dawson (A1)
7. 22 @ 13.27 – Scott Jobson (B1)
8. 20 @ 13.45 – Scott Henderson (A1)
9. 20 @ 14.00 – Andrew Joyce (B1)
10. 20 @ 14.80 – Ryan Cherrie (B1)
11. 20 @ 15.00 – Chris Williamson (C2)

Top 5 catches (non wicket keeping)
1. 8 – Brett Hawkins (C3)
2. 8 – Nik Patel (C2)
3. 8 – John Steel (C1)
4. 7 – Tim Millington (B1)
5. 7 – Allan Raffel (D1)

Competition table
Standings after Round 11 are:
• A: 3rd
• A2: 3rd
• Colts
o Red: 3rd
o Blue: 5th
• B1: 2nd
• B2: 1st
• C1: 2nd
• C2 2nd
• C3:
o White 1st
o Blue: 2nd
• D1: 2nd
• D2: 7th

With 3 Rounds to go we have 10 of our 12 Teams in the Top 4 – well done fella’s.

Personal achievements
A couple of big ones are coming up:
• Peter Westerberg – just 10 for his 100 runs
• Simon Davies – 28 to 5,000 runs
• Mark Bell – 1 to 50 wickets

Gavin Taylor A1 Scored 1000th run Vs Kenthurst @ Kenthurst 28/2/09

Peter Heidegger C2 1,000 runs Vs Hornsby 2 Annangrove 10/10/09

Marco Delgado D1 1,000 runs Vs WPHC Blue @ Northholm Grammar 10/10/09

Alex Connell
B1 2,000 runs Vs Mt Colah @ Mt Ku-ring-gai 11/10/09
Rowan Keating
B1 1,000 runs Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee @ Normanhurst Oval 17/10

Tim Millington
B1 1,000 runs Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee @ Normanhurst Oval 17/10

Matt Jobson
A2 1,000 runs Vs Glenhaven @ Headen Park 24th October

Amir Marzouk A2 250 wickets Vs St Ives @ The Glade 18/10/2009

James McBrien
B2 1,000 runs Vs Hornsby @ Montview East 31/10/2009

Matt Dawson
A1 250 wickets Vs Castle Hill RSL @ Berowra 1/11/2009.

John Mitchell C1 50 wickets Vs Kissing Point @ Mimosa Oval 7/11/2009

Chris Williamson
C2 1,000 runs Vs Castle Hill @ Montview Oval West 15/11/2009

Scott Jobson
B1 100 wickets Vs Berowra @ Thornleigh Park 21/11/2009

Faisal Shamsi
D1 1,000 runs Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee @ Normanhurst Oval 19/12/2009

Mark Bell C2 49 wickets – 1 to 50

Simon Davies
A1 4,972 runs – 28 runs to 5,000

Nathan Fathers
C1 1,858 runs – 142 runs to 2,000

Andrew Watt C1 966 runs – 34 to 1,000 runs

Peter Westerberg D2 90 runs – 10 to 100

Posted by Ross Anderson on January 24, 2010 06:59 AM