Our latest International success
Added to our International playing roster of Lisa Stahalker and Denise Annetts (Australian Women stars) John Howard, former Prime Minister (1996-2007), was appointed as Vice President of the International Cricket Council in March 2010 and will become the ICC President in 2012.

John is a West Penno player from way back. He played between 1962-63 and 1973-74. In 31 innings he scored 264 runs at 9.78 in B1 and C2 Grades. Bowling stats aren’t that complete – we only have 1 over recorded for 19 runs back in 1968-69.

In a C Grade game in the early 1960’s John was playing at Oakleigh Oval (Goodland’s Road Thornleigh). John was not out at the end of the first Saturday. However, he arrived at the ground late on the second Saturday – he forgot how to get to the ground he had played on the week before arrived late and ended up being out ’retired’.

His brother, Wally, was an outstanding player who played 139 innings for 1,408 runs @ 12.24 and took an amazing 342 wickets @ 16.52 between 1960/61 and 1974/75. So our relationship with the Howard connection goes back many years and we now have the soon to be world leader of cricket as one of ours.

In another story on John’s playing days, he was playing at Headen Park, before they did it up and the blackberry patch at the Thornleigh end. Apparently, the ball went hard and high towards the boundary, where the future Prime Minister was fielding. He had some trouble seeing the ball at most times, and was groping myopically at it as he edged back.

Finally, the ball landed, just as John went over the edge. When the others arrived to see where he was, he was impaled in crucifix formation in the blackberries. One old wag commented years later, "We had a discussion about whether to pull him out or leave him there" - ofcourse the right decision was made to remove him - eventually.

Kanga achievement
Our Kanga program finished on Saturday – another outstanding success. One of the many highlights was the handing out of 73 Graduation Certificates for our players of the future to move into U9’s next year. We should get 70% of these kids playing U9s next season which means about 50 kids will play next season which is equivalent to 5 U9 teams before a ball is bowled next season. Of these players 60% will still be playing in U16’s and 50%-60% will be playing Seniors in 9 years time. This wonderful program is one of the major sources of our growth so well done to everyone involved in the great Program.

Our latest Representative players
Congratulations to our latest Rep players who will be representing the Association in the showpiece games over the next 2 weeks:

HK&HDCA Invitation XII – all age
Daniel Brain, Sujith Dissanayake, Carl Madsen,

Ross Turner Cup (showpiece East Vs West U15-U14 game)
Daniel Anderson (Capt West), James Madden (Capt, East), Connor Jackson, (U15), Nicholas Hey (U14), James Partridge (U14), Bhavya Nanda (U15), Sid Shankar (U16), Mansimar Singh (U14), Lachlan Vile (U16).

Glenn Hourigan Cup (showpiece East Vs West U13 – U12 game)
John Anderson (Capt West), Lachlan Anchique, Harrison Broughton, Sid Dissanayake, Daniel Heidegger, Travis Loxton, Kristoff O’Meara, Vyas Rajan.

Presentation days
Juniors
One for the diaries:
• When: Sunday 14th March
• Where: Campbell Park (Cherrybrook Community Centre is the wet weather fallback)
• Time: 11.00 am or 2.00 pm at Cherrybrook if it is wet

This is a big day with upwards of 600 people coming along with free drinks, sausage sizzle and entertainment for the kids. More details will come from your Team Manager so stay tuned.

Seniors
Another one for the diaries:
• When: Friday 7th May
• Where: Castle Hill RSL (Sovereign Room)
• Time: 7.30 pm kickoff

This is one of the highlights of the year and every year it just gets better. Players, families and friends are most welcome. One of the good things also is the large number of partners and parents who turn up with the younger players especially. More info will follow on this one so stay tuned.

Juniors
The Junior Grand Finals were played on Sunday and our Premiers are:

• U16’s: WPHC White (3rd successive victory)
• U15’s - no finalists
• U14’s - WPHC Blue
• U13’s WPHC Green
• U12’s - no finalists
• U11’s - Runners up

U10 and U9’s play a non competition game.

Grand Final results are:
U16’s
WPHC White 104 (Sid Shankar 26) defeated Mt Colah 58 (Sid Shankar 1/6, Darshan Pandya 4/6, Riley Miedler 3/10, D Govil 2/19)

U14’s
WPHC Blue 6/151 (A Gnanasekaram 41, Matt Vile 24, Nicck Hey 20) defeated WPHC Red 92 (J. Preedy 31, Matt Vile 2/18, J Cummings 2/6, J Roots 2/4, A. De Silva 2/12)

U13’s
WPHC Green 7/213 (A. Ramakrishnan 109, S Iyer 44, V Suri 22) defeated Kissing Point 159 (V Suri 1/31, A Ramakrishnan 1/27, K Li 2/18, A Bedi 2/9)

U11’s
WPHC Gold 97 lost to Kissing Point Red 9/139.

Seniors
Day 2 of the last round of Competition games was played on Saturday. The results are:

A1 6/128 defeated Hornsby 124 – a comfortable win that moves us into 3rd spot. Matt Dawson played a Captain’s innings for 41* and was well supported by Peter Whitehead with 25 and a few 20’s spread. The highlight though was the 20by Simon Davies that allowed him to score his 5,000th run for West Penno that places him at number 4 in the all-time run scorers list – a wonderful achievement. Well done Simon.

A2 160 lost to Glenhaven 167 – details to follow. Difficult to take too much from this game as it was played at Caterson. We have a team of batsmen who hit the ball along the ground. Teams with players who tonk the ball get value for shots on this very slow ground. The fact that we got to 160 is a fantastic achievement. Tim Leyshon was out best and almost pulled off a win with a super 38 but just not enough. We finished 3rd and play on real ground next week so confidence is high.

Colts
Red 115 defeated WPHC Blue 68 and 0/5 – unfortunately no play was possible so our Reds go through to the Semi Finals and our Blues just miss out.

B1 7/396 defeated Kenthurst 153 – a great warm-up for the semi's with a big win against Kenthurst. With 396 runs on the board in week 1, it was a good opportunity to give our bowlers a solid hit-out in preparation for next week. We comfortably took the points, with Kenthurst unable to get anywhere near our massive total. Best with the ball were Andrew Joyce taking 2/12 off 11 overs, Paul Tilley 2/12 and Ryan Rhino Cherrie 2/29. We finish in 2nd place, most likely playing Normanhurst in our semi final. I'll send the player points through early in the week.

B2 250 defeated Beecroft 198 – a very tough day in the field as we faced up against a determined Beecroft side. In the still and humid conditions, our under-strength bowling attack struggled to make the first breakthrough, although some good disciplined bowling was able to restrict the run rate to a snail’s pace at just over 2 an over. Finally, after 47 overs, we got the first wicket with Simon Roche (2/17) the man to do it on the eve of his return home to the motherland. From there, we kept working hard and wickets fell regularly until they were all out for 199 in 85 overs. Ben Nolan (2/11 from 13 overs) was the only other multiple wicket taker, with 1 each to Mark Bennett, Tim Starr, and Nick Starr, along with 2 catches to James McBrien. A big game in the semis now, and one we are confident of winning if we play near our potential.

C1 182 lost to Kenthurst 7/186 – a close game where we fought extremely well to defend a below par score that should have been 230+ after the start we got. As we finished 2nd irrespective of the result of the game there was a lack of intensity on the first day. We made up for this on Saturday with outstanding bowling and fielding by everyone. Craig Hutchinson was outstanding taking 4/20 odd off 15 overs and got great support from John Steel, Daniel Anderson (at one stage had 1 / 2 off 6 overs) and Jas Singh. Anyway on the Semi Final next week and hopefully the cob-webs will be blown away.

C2 8/84 lost to Mt Colah 229 – this one's short and sweet. Enough said. We face Mt Colah again next week in the semis, hopefully with a different outcome.

C3
White 258 defeated Kissing Point 165 – we continued our winning ways to finish the season as Minor Premiers with a 93-run defeat of Kissing Point. KP resumed on 1/12 chasing a sizeable but getable score on batsman-friendly Mimosa Oval. The intention for the day was to give the key bowlers a good hit-out before the semi's and that is what they got. Whilst KP's top 2 batsmen held us up during an 80-run partnership in the middle overs, we were never really troubled, even though we were a bowler down, and only allowed paceman Riley Miedler to bowl spin to freshen him up for his U16s Final the following day. Best of the bowlers was Riley (3/48), Luke Herzog (2/43) and Chris Creais (2/19). Now for the semis.

Blue 4/350 defeated Kenthurst – the Blues defeated Kenthurst on forfeit soon after we batted on and then declared. The highlight was Claudio van Blerk who scored 150* - our 352nd ton. Well done Claudio.

D1 7/234 defeated ARL 211 – in a 2 Vs 5 playoff we commenced play at 0/24 chasing 211 on slow ankle high grass that resembled a chase of 235/240 against good line and length bowling. We’re extremely pleased with our performance today and will go into the finals next week feeling well prepared and ready. Notable performances with the bat were from Julian Raffel for a gutsy well earned 101* (our 353rd century – well done Julian) and Faisal Shamsi 46. With the ball, Marco Delgado 3/31, Roger Friend 3/27 and David Behelevanas did most of the damage but were very well supported by all the other bowlers.

D2 14 lost to Kenthurst 124 – day 2 is a Sunday game.

Player of the Year
The regular updates have now been closed off for the season with the winner announced at the Presentation Night.

Eric’s day
Eric Junkkari, Club legend and C1 super star had one of those days yesterday that has to be recorded for posterity. Here is just a sample of Eric’s contribution:

Cover your eyes
With a fieldsman on the boundary looking into the sun Eric gave some wonderful advice on how to take a skied catch: ‘Cover your eyes’. Interesting to see how someone could a catch with their eyes covered Eric.

Oh Sh..
Normally when a ball goes up for a catch the response from the fielding side is something like ‘catch-it’. Not Eric. A reasonably easy catch went up to one of our ‘experienced’ fieldsman but right into the setting sun. Eric’s response, loud enough that it could be heard in the next suburb said; ‘Oh Sh..’ and it that’s the way it turned out.

Anatomy of a Low score
Spare a thought for the D2 boys from last weekend. With a weakened team they were playing the now top placed Kenthurst and were rolled for 14. There was no lack of effort but just one of those days and a number of records were set. Here goes:
• The lowest WPHC score in D2 Grade – ‘beating the 30’ we scored in 2005/06 Vs Galston-Glenorie at Northholm
• 2nd lowest score in our Club – much better than the 4 runs we were dismissed for in the 1967/68 B1 Final Vs Perseverance at Campbell Park
• After being 0/9 we lost 4/0 and then scored 2 runs and then lost another 4/0

The boys will look back on this one in time and have a few good stories to share.

Don’t be late
Our D2’s, with an undermanned side last week were rolled for 14 – our lowest D2 score and 2nd lowest score ever. Peter Westerberg, the thinking person’s Captain was on the ball. Being aware that one of our player’s had to play a footy trial on the central coast that finished at mid-day it would take about an hour to get back to Headen Park for a game starting at noon. Peter’s comments were along the lines that ‘while I am confident we can survive the day, don’t be too late getting back’. With the drive back from the Central Coast only an hour hopefully we will last a bit longer this time.

Padded up and ready
The signs were not good before last Saturday’s D2 effort before a ball was bowled. When the number 11 is padded up with helmet ready before the opener’s face a ball is often not a good omen – 15 overs later and 14 runs on the board he was probably proved right.

Hold on to it mate
Got to hand it to A2 ‘keeper, Tim Leyshon who was playing on the pathetically slow Caterson 2. With the boys struggling to hit the ball off the square Tim smashed a quick 38 to almost win the game. In the process he forgot to hold the bat for one shot with the bat flying to deep square leg and the ball, well, it was still on the pitch.

The elite
The latest top 10 cumulative run scorers (Seniors) and wicket takers as at the end of Round 14 day 1 follow.

Top 10 batsmen
1. 649 @ 72.11 – Russell Ingram (C2 & Colts)
2. 536 @ 35.73 – Sam Thariani (D2)
3. 525 @ 43.75 – Allan Raffel (D1)
4. 497 @ 38.23 – Tim Millington (B1)
5. 489 @ 54.33 – Matt Scoular (B1)
6. 488 @ 69.71 – Brendan Harkin (C3 White)
7. 480 @ 60.00 – Claudio van Blerk (C3 Blue)
8. 469 @ 39.08 – Gavin Taylor (A1)
9. 430 @ 53.80 – Daniel Anderson (C1)
10. 426 @ 53.30 – Lachlan Vile (D1)

Top 10 bowlers
1. 31 @ 13.68 – Rowan Keating (B1)
2. 28 @ 14.29 – Jacques Viser (C2)
3. 27 @ 11.11 – Rahul Sabherwal (C3 Blue)
4. 27 @ 13.93 – Nik Patel (C2)
5. 27 @ 14.37 – John Steel (C1)
6. 27 @ 14.56 – Scott Jobson (B1)
7. 26 @ 9.96– Tim Starr (B2)
8. 26 @ 13.92 – Arun Kumar (C3 Blue)
9. 25 @ 11.76 – Matt Dawson (A1)
10. 22 @ 10.68 – Geoff Richards (B2)
11. 22 @ 15.05 – Ankit Grover (D2)
12. 22 @ 15.36 – Scott Henderson (A1)

Top 5 catches (non wicket keeping)
1. 9 – Tim Millington (B1)
2. 9 – Nik Patel (C2)
3. 8 – John Steel (C1)
4. 8 – Brett Hawkins (C3)
5. 8 – Lachlan McBrien (B2)

Champion Player by Grade
• A1: Gavin Taylor 66.8 points (1st for Club in A1 & 7th in the Grade)
• A2: Matt Jobson 81.4 points (1st for Club & 1st in Association)
• Colts: Michael Dale 49.4 points (1st & 2nd)
• B1: Andrew Joyce 79.4 points (1st & 4th)
• B2: Geoff Starr – 70.1 points (1st & 4th)
• C1: John Steel – 86.0 points (1st & 4th)
• C2: Russell Ingram – 101.6 points (1st & 1st)
• C3: Riley Miedler – 76.1 points (1st & 3rd)
• D1: Allan Raffel – 96.50 points (1st & 2nd)

Competition table
Congratulations to our Seniors Finalists for next weekend:
• A1: 3rd (likely finish)
• A2: 3rd
• Colts
o Red: 3rd (likely)
o Blue: 5th
• B1: 2nd
• B2: 1st
• C1: 2nd
• C2 3rd
• C3:
o White 1st
o Blue: 2nd
• D1: 2nd (likely)
• D2: 7th

We finished with 10 of our 12 Teams in the Top 4 – a Club record and most likely an Association record.

Personal achievements
This is current up to the end of Round 14 is:

• Rowan Keating – 4 wickets to his 100
• Peter Lees – 54 runs to 3,000 runs
• Peter Westerberg – just 8 for his 100 runs

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

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

Greg Stoneham
C1 400 wickets Vs Berowra @ Warrina Street 24/1/2010

Mark Bell C2 50 wickets Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee 2 Glenhaven 23/1/2010

Rowan Keating
B1 1,000 runs Vs Normanhurst-Warrawee @ Normanhurst Oval 17/10

Simon Davies
A1 5,000 runs Vs Hornsby @ Storey Park 6/3/2010

Peter Lees
C2 2,926 runs – 74 to 3,000 career runs

Nathan Fathers
C1 1,911 runs – 89 runs to 2,000

Simon Smyth
A1 1,945 runs – 55 to 2,000 career runs

231 wickets – 19 wickets to 250 career wickets

John Steel
C1 91 wickets – 9 to 100 wickets

Andrew Watt C1 972 runs – 28 to 1,000 runs

Peter Westerberg D2 90 runs – 10 to 100

Posted by Ross Anderson on March 7, 2010 06:37 AM