Round 7 VS Northwest Sydney
1st Grade Rd 7 vs Northwest Sydney
North West Sydney 282 def WCC 212
This week saw us take on the 4th placed side in the competition Nor West Sydney at their new home ground in Rouse Hill. Scotty lost his 10th consecutive toss we were asked to bowl first on what looked like a good deck. Nor West took off at there typical fast pace and were 200 for 3 at the luncheon interval. The boys bowled a little too fast and allowed one four ball an over, but this happens in cricket. We sat down at lunch had a revaluation and came back out and rolled Nor West for 282. Matty the Bug Anderson took a bag of 5 for 55 great lines and excellent consistency. Hunter the Little Liberal came back strongly to take 3. We had a clear target to bat through to stumps without losing a wicket and were 21 for none in a great place to launch for the 282 needed. The boys trained outstandingly during the week and were confident of overcoming this target as we had chased down big scores previously. Louie batted beautifully for 99 dispatching balls all over Bruce Purser. Jordy Black look outstanding but was unluckily run out at the none strikers end by a bowlers Richet. Ethan Collet came back with the goods for a patient 29 not out. A middle order collapse saw the boys rolled for 212, only 70 runs short. As we have talked about seasons results like these only harden our resolve to make the finals and go back to our practice environment and work harder to achieve our goals. Bring on the one dayer against Lindfield at home. We are currently in 6th in First grade, 5th in Second Grade, 8th in third grade and fourth grade and 4th in Club champ points a great launching pad with the Christmas break here. Relax over Christmas drink plenty be merry and come back in the New Year for the best 2nd half of the season we have had in years.
The Pirate2nd Grade Rd 7 vs Northwest Sydney
North West Sydney 198 & 1/51 def by WCC 4/259
After the Rat lost another toss, Northwest decided to bat on another belter of a deck. With Wills (on Debut) and Tip Rat taking the new ball we had some early success, having them 2 for not many. However their No#s 3 & 4 got together and put on a 100 run stand and with still 30 minutes till tea, Northwest were 2 for 125 and it looked like we would be chasing 280 – 300. As they say though, cricket is a funny game, and in the space of 2 balls we had picked up both batsman. With 2 new batsman at the crease, and some great tight bowling from Dunnie & Dan McKenna, we had them 4-145 at tea. Our tight bowling continued after the break and we held on to our catches (Raj with 3 of them) to have them all out for 198 with 20 over’s to go in the day. All the bowlers did well with the pick of them both Dunnie (3-46 off 18) and young Dan McKenna ( 2-2 including 5 maidens’ off 6 over’s). We got off to a solid start with an opening partnership of 50 before the first wicket fell and at the end of the day we had knocked off 63 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.
Day 2With rain getting under the covers at the northern end, there where real fears that we would not get on. Credit needs to go all the guys that turned up early to work on the ground. A big mention to our grounds man, Paul Shaw, who without him coming down to the ground and rolling the drying deck, we would not have played. Robbo and Billy walked out knowing that if we could get away to a good start, it would put us in the box seat to chase down the runs with our middle and lower order to come. This is exactly would they did, before Billy was out with the score on 108. Farley then joined Robbo at the crease and both of them set out to knock the runs off. Both played the right shots to the right balls and we passed 198 only 2 down, with Farley finally getting out for a well made 60. The stand out performance for the match was Robbo, with a fine 111 to ensure we picked up the 6 points. His innings was near faultless and at no stage did it look like the bowlers had his measure. A great maiden ton for the club. In the end we declared 60 odd runs ahead, and had a quick bowl that them before calling the game with them 1 down. At great team effort with outstanding contributions from both Robbo and Farley with bat, and Dunnie & Dan with ball. 2nd grade comes into the Xmas break sitting well inside the top 6, and if we can continue to work hard on and all 11 contribute to the game, we can have a successful season.Merry XmasWCCs most under rated bowler…….3rd Grade Rd 7 vs Northwest Sydney
WCC 177 and 8/145 def North West Sydney 132 and 6/220(dec)
North West were invited to have first hit on a dry, uneven Castlewood track. We bowled and fielded with tremendous discipline and commitment to dismiss the Hurricanes for 132. Pecar led the way with 4/21, taking full advantage of the variable bounce. Nathan Heath again bowled impressively for 3/37, including 2 wickets in his first over. Debutante Chris "Radar" Berry also claimed a wicket in his first over. From 7/65 North West had a couple of partnerships but the boys kept their cool in the heat as we wrapped up the competition front runner's innings within a few overs after the tea break. After a couple of early stumbles, Tom Kaye (20) and Chapman (22) took the score along to 2/48. Both fell in quick succession, before Dolby (21) looked to steady the innings again. But just as he got going, he was out to the first ball after the drinks break. At 7/92 we still had a lot of work to do and North West were confident of first innings points. From there Craig Pecar played a superbly controlled innings. He and Radar added 27 for the 8th wicket. 8/119 with less than 4 overs to play set up a tense finish to day one. With a couple of edges through/over slips and a dropped catch, Roger and Pecs edged towards the target. We needed 5 runs from the last over and Pecs did it in style with a lofted pull shot to the square leg boundary. Having secured first innings points on day one against Auburn, we were fully aware that North West would come out hard. We would have to play good cricket to gain 10 points or even hold onto the 6. We batted on with the aim of getting a small lead and frustrating the opposition. Pecar, Curry and Heath (14) held out for 15 overs to extend our lead to 45. In the process Pecar made an excellent 51 not out, his first half century for the club. Despite not being covered all of Friday, the pitch played much better on day two. First ball of the innings landed just short of cover. But when Heath struck with his first ball in the next over, it was looking like deja-vu all over again. Whereas we held our catches in the first innings, this time the catches went to ground or just wide of the fielders. The Canes' batsmen took full advantage of their chances to post a 125 run partnership for the second wicket at about 9 runs an over. We got away from the lines and lengths that brought success in the first innings. And it's fair to say we've had better days in the field. Amidst the Twenty20 style action, Roger Curry took 4/41 from 7 overs (the only bowler to go for under 6 an over) including the only maiden of the innings. North West ultimately declared 6/220, leaving us 176 runs to score from 36 overs. In the chase, White, opening, batted well for a steady 22. However, we struggled for momentum in the early overs. From 3/51, Chapman (37) and Dolby (42) kick-started the chase with a 55 run partnership. Dolby got the equation down to a run a ball from 12 overs with 6 wickets in hand with 23 runs from one over (including 3 sixes). But whenever we started to get on top of the chase, we lost a clump of wickets. After Chapman and Dolby departed, Brogan added a quick fire 26, before he and Pecar were both out with the score on 136. Needing more than 8 an over with 3 wickets in hand and without a big hitter left in the line up, the chase was called off. Jacob Graham and Roger Curry negotiated the last 4 overs. Despite a tough day at the office on day two, we played the better cricket over the two days and deserved the 6 points. North West deserve their place at the top of the table. Having taken points from our last three rounds, we have momentum going into Christmas. We have played 5 of the top 6 teams already, so if we keep improving as we have been, we should make a serious tilt at the finals. Thanks to Louie for all his great work at training. It has really showed in our fielding in particular and in the results across all the grades. Have a Merry Christmas, remembering the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and see you in January.
By P. Chapman4th Grade Rd 7 vs Northwest Sydney
WCC 260 def North West Sydney 170
Day 1
Warringah’s 4ths turned up to frank grey oval on Sunday where we lost the toss and were surprisingly sent into bat. Big Bad Benny Pace and Grobsy kicked us off with the batting with Grobsy being dismissed first and Jordan Meredith filling in for us at number 3 was sent packing with a golden. Benny followed suit soon after. It had been 5 over’s and we were 3-6. It was not looking good until Jake Fraser also filling in batted well and sensibly for a solid 20 odd with Josh WAA Young who also batted very well for a quick 26. Josh was unfortunately dismissed and Jake’s father Andrew Fraser walked onto the wicket to bat. Jake was dismissed cheaply for 20 odd and Skipper Gravys was sent into bat. Guy and Andrew batted magnificently, claiming a half century each, putting on 100 odd and getting us in a great position. Andrew was unfortunately out LBW for a solid 67 and Guy was out shortly after for a very solid 57. Mick Goodwin coming in number 8 strolled onto the wicket as Andrew departed and played himself in until guy was dismissed. His new partner, Mr. C**kstain, was out for a golden duck and Alexander was in. Mick batted excellent and made a quickfire 30 odd while Alexander let him do the work. Jonkers came in and we wanted to get past 250. Jonkers and Alexander got the team to 255 and had drinks. Alexander lost concentration after drinks and played a lazy shot to get caught behind. End score all out for two fiddy five.Day 2The Frank Grey pitch was pretty flat after being played on by two’s on the Saturday and four’s on the Sunday so we had the challenge of restricting North’s run rate. We had already bowled around twenty over’s on day one with Skip Gravys bagging tow quick scalps to have them 2 for about 50. Guy and Jonkers started us off with some great bowling until Joshua replaced Jonkers and bowled tight, accurate and really magnificent. Josh claimed an amazing 5 fa for not many runs and was the pick of the bowlers. C**kstain came onto bowl after having a shocker of a hangover and bagged his second wicket of the season. Guy was back in the attack and claimed another wicket, which made 3 fa for guy. The fielding was great, the bowling marvellous and with that we were able to comfortably beat the dreaded North’s. There was the thought of going for an outright victory but Guy was happy to call it Christmas.Very well played guys.The Mexican
