The 2nd last Round before Finals was kind to Summer Hill, with 5 out of our 6 sides doing enough to secure their Finals spot – well done to all teams, especially to those who are in the running for an all important Top 2 regular season finish. Division 6 have a mathematical chance for Finals, after wins in their last 3 matches - watch this space!
Standings
2nd First
3rd First
6th Seventh
7th Second
8 Blue Second
8 Gold Third
There were some great individual performances last Round, including 3 x match winning 5 wicket hauls – Check out all the milestones below, and reports from each match. Thanks to all the correspondents during the year.
Picture: Shishir Shrestha from 8 Gold celebrates 6/23
Friday, April 12th – Seniors Awards Night
Be sure to reserve your place for our end of season Awards Night. Link below.
Pratten Park Bowling Club have a new Colombian Check, and Paella is on the menu – Yum!
When: Friday, April 12th
Time: from 6pm, for a 7pm start
Where: Pratten Park Bowling Club (PPBC) – 42 Arthur St, Ashfield
Cost: Free for all 23/24 Full Time, Part Time and Casual Players. Guests $30 each – payable on the night.
Included: Dinner. Cash Bar available on the night
RSVP: Reserve your place online here:
Please let me know if you would like to be involved in any way - we are always looking for ways to improve. Please give me a call, or send me an email if you would like to be involved, or have any ideas.
Batting and Bowling highlights
Batting
103 Saikat Bin Rashid Div 8 Gold
63* Kavit Parekh Div 6
66 Shaik Abdullah Div 7
58 Zameer Bhinde Div 6
55* Luca Agius Div 8 Blue
50* Dan Jeffery Div 6
Bowling
6/23 Shishir Shrestha Div 8 Gold
5/26 Luca Agius Div 8 Blue
5/34 Tushar Gupta Div 6
Milestones
Wickets
50 Dean Cassar Div 3
Matches
50 Pulok Rema Div 8 Gold
Training
When: Every Thursday
Where: Lees Park - Harmony St, Ashbury (Park in Crieff St & walk down the alley)
When: From 5:30pm until dusk – and there may be a few there earlier too
Enjoy your Cricket!
Phil
Phil – President
m 0417 234 761
2nd Division
Round 14: Summer Hill 133 def by Kingsgrove CC 8/245
Best Batting
37 Savia Gracias Flor
21 Armaan Nawaz
Best Bowling
4/5 Rehaan Nawaz
3rd Division Match Report : Umer Aijaz
Round 14: Summer Hill 3/158d def Sydney Chargers CC 155 & 3/28
Aiming to finish at the top of the ladder, Summer Hill 3rd Division arrived at this match with one eye on the points table. Wassi and Salman opened the bowling and kept the Sydney Chargers batsmen quiet by bowling in good, consistent areas. It didn't take long before Wassi beat the bat and bowled one of the openers in the 5th over. Salman followed suit a few overs later and picked up the second wicket with Sydney Chargers on 25.
Sydney Chargers batsman Nayeem showed some fight and patience in the hope of preventing his team from sliding further into trouble. After struggling with the more rapid than usual pace of Raf, Nayeem decided to counter attack Raf, and hit him for two consecutive 4's. But he lost his concentration on the very next ball and went for a massive, needless, heave for 6 only to lose his middle stump. Rafs serious pace was making the Sydney Chargers batsmen lose their nerve.
Captain Jay then brought himself on in partnership with our specialist leg-spinner Niloy. The off spin / leg spin duo finished off any comeback Sydney Chargers might be hoping for as Jay picked up 1 and Niloy picked up 2 wickets. Pacers Wassi and Raf then came back into the attack and finished off the tail with Wassi ending up with 4 wickets. Raf accidentally picked up the final wicket and thus denied Wassi a 5-fer. Sydney Chargers ended with a less than modest total of 155.
Summer Hill openers had to bat 2 overs before the end of play and any hopes Sydney Chargers had of a quick break through before the close of play were dashed as the Summer Hill openers played out the 2 overs with relative ease.
Day 2 began with our openers continuing to deny the Sydney Chargers a quick breakthrough. The openers slowly but steadily got to 40 before Umer left a straight ball and was out LBW. Madushan then continued with number 3 Dean and added another 40 runs to the total before Dean was out. At 2/82, the Summer Hill camp was relaxed. Number 4 batsman Arup then continued the steady scoring with Madushan and chased the total down with Madushan falling for 75 just before the end.
With our goal of ending up at the top of the table in mind, captain Jay sent Sydney Chargers in to bat again in the hopes of picking up an extra point. At the 11th over, we had Sydney Chargers 3 down and thus secured the extra point with Jay picking up 2 and leg spinner Niloy picking up 1 wicket.
With Summer Hill 3rd division now ranked number 1 by only 1 point difference, we go into the final round aiming to keep that lead in tact.
Best Batting
40 Madushan Bandara
25 Tarek Rahman
23* Arup Saha
Best Bowling
First Innings
3/15 Wassi Hossain
2/7 Madushan Bandara
Second Innings
3/17 Raf Bruzzese
2/7 Dean Cassar
6th Division Match Report: Tushar Gupta
Round 12: Summer Hill 166 & 7/119 won FIRST INNINGS vs Panania East Hills RSL 93
It was extremely hot! With luck, SHCC won the toss and decided to bat. Inform Zameer and Roland provided a great start with Zameer continuing his excellent form the last game. An opening stand of 45 was a great start, Roland making 19. Zameer kept going, when on 58 he played up in the air & got caught at covers with the score on 2/91 after 23 overs.
Dan then stabilised the innings - it looked as SHCC was on song for a big 250+ target but then the story continued and SHCC lost Kavit at 8/98. A bit more stability was provided by Andy & Dan taking the score to 135 when we lost Andy & soon followed by Dan, loosing 6 wickets for 30 runs and SHCC getting bowled out for 166.
Kavit provided a great bowling start, taking the wicket of inform batsman "J Bates" clean bowling him off an inside edge followed by another wicket in his second over – both openers gone. First change bowler Tushar took a wicket from his third ball, and kept on going, taking a 5-for. Great support from Andy took 3/22, putting Panania right on the back foot. SHCC managed to win the first innings by bowling Panania all out for 93.
SHCC decided to bat again for some bonus points and scored 7/119 in the Second Innings, getting 1 bonus point (but missed the other by 6 runs).
Best Batting
First Innings
58 Zameer Bhinde
31 Dan Jeffery
20 Andy Manchester
Second Innings
40 Kavit Parekh
21 Zameer Bhinde
Best Bowling
5/34 Tushar Gupta
3/22 Andy Manchester
2/4 Kavit Parekh
6th Division Match Report: Tushar Gupta
Round 13: Summer Hill 2/180 def Summer Hill Seniors 8/142
Seniors decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Zameer & Roland opened the innings for SHCC and played cautiously and provided a good start and provided a 63 runs opening partnership. Seniors main bowlers looked frustrated and bowled out their main bowlers in frustration to take the wickets with no luck. Rolland got stumped for 28 and the inform Zameer soon got out after trying to pull a spinner and top edged to short fine leg for another brilliant 38.
Dan & Kavit then continued and pushed them all around the park with an unbeaten 117 run partnership with Dan being not out 50 (scoring his 50 on the last ball of the innings) & Kavit being Not Out on 68.
Seniors had a good start as they scored some very quick singles keeping the SHCC on their toes and having a first wicket partnership of 66. Tushar then broke the opening partnership by taking 2 wickets in 2 overs with two awesome catches each by Samarth at long on (a ripper of a catch) and Roland in the covers. Kavit kept the runs tight from the other end. Another magic moment came when Roland got 2 wickets in two overs from his leg spin with both batsman being stumped and Seniors never looked comfortable from there on. Another bowling change with Ripple & Samarth taking another 4 wickets, with an ending spell completed by Bill & Liam from Div 8 Blue bowling some very tight & great line & length. SHCC won the game with Seniors scoring 142/8.
Best Batting
63* Kavit Parekh
50* Dan Jeffery
38 Zameer Bhinde
28 Roland Cheung
Best Bowling
2/13 Roland Cheung
2/14 Samarth Shrivastava
2/21 Tushar Gupta
2/22 Ripple Parekh
7th Division Match Report : Dharmin Thakkar
Round 14: Summer Hill 260 def by Redfern All Blacks CC 6/261
We arrived at Waterworth on a stunningly sunny day, ready for our last two-day match against RABCC. Having won the toss, we elected to bat first, recognizing the favourable conditions.
Our innings began auspiciously, with a solid 90-run partnership between Dharmin and Shaik, showcasing great temperament and selection of shots until Dharmin departed after scoring 34 runs. Shaik's stroke play was exemplary, effortlessly dispatching the ball to all corners of the ground. Chetan and Hamza added to the momentum with brisk yet impactful innings, contributing 26 and 27 runs respectively. Further valuable contributions from Gourav, Aman, and Umer propelled our total to a commendable 260, marking our highest score of the season.
However, our bowling effort faltered initially as we leaked runs without managing to break through the opposition's defences in the first 12 overs. Despite the early setbacks, RABCC maintained a steady pace in their chase. Aman provided the breakthrough by dismissing their opening batsman, but subsequent wickets were hard to come by.
As the match progressed, tension mounted in the final 10 overs as we endeavoured to defend our total. Despite Aman's impressive bowling figures of 34/3, RABCC's determined batting lineup ultimately chased down the target successfully. It was a valiant effort from our team overall.
Man of the match performance: Shaik Abdullah 66 (7 sixes, 3 fours)
Best Batting
66 Shaik Abdullah
34 Dharmin Thakkar
27 Hamza Malik
23* Muhammad Umer Altaf
26 Chetan Kondur
Best Bowling
3/34 Amanjot Gill
2/52 Dharmin Thakkar
2/16 Gourav Tripathi
8th Division Gold Match Report : Pat Cullen
Round 14: Summer Hill Gold 206 def St Christophers Gold 9/127 & 2/42
On paper that scoreline looks like a pretty comprehensive victory for the Goldies but my oh my was it a tough win. Down at the wide expanse of Kelso park, the Goldies won the toss and unusually, elected to bat first! Captain Rob aware of player availability and with an ace up his sleeve was relieved to hear that St. Chris' Captain Stocks would have sent us in anyway!
Kenny and Saikat got things rolling and after a relatively cautious start to some pretty rapid opening bowling, Kenny found himself on his way back to the pavilion after 3 overs with a two to his name. Dave Ward and Rob both played excellent foils to the Goldies in-form batter of the comp, Saikat who after a 70 odd last week followed up this week with an imperious 103! Saikat batted absolutely beautifully, driving through the covers, pulling behind square, slapping blokes to cow corner. Some of the stoke play was so sumptuous we could have sworn we were at a 10-course banquet at Tetsuyas, not stuck on the sidelines in Panania.
Finally dismissed with a hundred next to his name, Saikat found a willing successor in Zeeshan who plundered St Christophers attack for a quick fire 43. The only sad news being the St Christophers 'spinner' picked up 6/34 in a pretty humbling display— the Goldies all out for 206.
Week two saw us into bowl with our ace card firmly played, Shishir, The Kathmandu Express, The Nepalese Nightmare, The Himalayan Thunder. Shishir, in his 3rd match for the Club, bowled with the sort of pace that sends batsmen to bed with cold sweats, taking a match winning 6/23. And while he was bowling absolute rockets from one end, it was PJ Rosenberger at the other who got the big breakthrough after their openers batted 22 overs without losing a wicket.
It wasn't all good news though, the Goldies couldn't catch COVID on a cruise ship and dropped multiple chances, especially off Jimmy Bandas. Paddy Cullen had to go off with an injured quad, and Saikat, the hero of the first innings may have broken a finger going for a catch. Stay tuned on that front.
Once PJ had opened the door though, the wheels fell off for St Christophers, going from 0-80 to all out for 127 in 20 overs. Rob boldly enforced the follow on but in the heat and humidity the Goldies were unable to get that 3rd wicket for the bonus point. All in all, a convincing win that secures a finals berth for the second year running!
Best Batting
103 Hossain “Saikat” Bin Rashid
43 Zeeshan Zeeshan
Best Bowling
6/23 Shishir Shrestha
2/17 PJ Rosenberger
8th Division Blue Match Report : Phil Tarbox
Round 14: Summer Hill Blue 100 & 7/132 Won First Innings vs Panania East Hills RSL 94
It was a 1 v 2 clash at the pointy end of the season – and there was plenty at stake for 8th Div Blue. A win could guarantee a Top 2 finish, and that precious Finals double chance – but this side hadn’t beaten Panania over the last 2 seasons, although we had pushed them in our previous encounter. Could this be the match where our fortunes changed? We were keen to find out, and test ourselves against this seasons best.
Winning the toss we elected to bat on a cut Lees Park. It looked a good day for batting, and we were keen to make a start.
Luca and stand in opener Mike made a good start, Mike hitting boundaries at will – it was a positive beginning. Just as the next in line were settling in to their camping chairs, in quick succession, our openers were gone and we were 2/25. Jud and Phil looked to steady the ship – and with some stoic batting against quality fast bowling, we held things together to drinks – 2/37 and we were just OK. It was slow going but we were no longer losing wickets. Our aim for the day was to bat out the 60 overs, with enough runs for our bowlers to defend.
2 more wickets went quickly after drinks, and Phil and Simon added a valuable 43 runs before Phil got an absolute beauty from L Parmeter. An outswinger, starting on leg, taking the seam and just removing the off stump bail – the crispness of the delicate sound – tink - piercing the humid afternoon air.
5/93 after 27 overs wasn’t terrible, but that piercing sound haunted 8 Blue, as we were all out in a flash – 100 runs from just 29 overs.
So, we had 100 runs to defend – not a lot, but we were all committed to giving it our best for the rest of the afternoon. Our bowlers were primed, and the field were on their toes. This was our home ground, and every run was precious - and we'd drawn our largest crowd of the year - we couldn't let them down. 4 maidens in the first 8 overs brought pressure – and then a wicket, and another, and another, and another. We took our catches, and good line and length bowling took out the stumps. Drinks were upon us, and we were right in this match with Panania at 4/22.
Luca kept his opening spell going, taking the edge of a very reliable bat – and Phil at first slip did the rest, with a bit of a juggle, but it stuck. Rayhan looked very assured catching their leftie off Luca at short cover – and stumps could not come quickly enough for Panania – 6/42, and a long week ahead for both teams to think about winning, or losing this match.
Day 2 arrived, and a determined Panania held firm, unlike 8 Blue who dropped a couple of early chances. We weren’t as switched on as last Saturday, and we needed to find something. Rayhan got the breakthrough – 7/65 - and could have had another one the next ball, with the catch just evading Simon down the leg side. We were making chances, and we were coming hard.
We rang the bowling changes, desperate for a breakthrough, hoping to find that magic formula. 9 overs went by, with the scoreboard ticking ever closer to their target. Eventually, Owen Gibson was the partnership breaker. He’d been bowling well but was let down in the field with a tough missed chance in the deep, and a misfield by Phil giving away a boundary. He continued to tempt the batters with just a bit more flight, and Craig Gibson obliged with another excellent catch at mid on – 8/94, but with the dangerous L Parmeter still at the crease. A single blow could cost us the match. Over was called, and Luca had the ball – and as it turns out, the entire team on his back. He changed bowling tactics coming around the wicket, and unleashed the same ball Parmeter had bowled to dismiss Phil – kissing the off stump bail as it seamed a mile passed the outside edge of his bat. 9/94, and we were oh so close. The field came in, and the new batter had immense pressure upon him – could this be the stuff of childhood dreams? Fortunately not, as Luca clean bowled him for a 2 ball duck – and celebrated like Shamar Joseph, running to fine leg, daring all to catch him. Blue had done it – an unlikebly victory, set up from a determined bowling and fielding effort on Day 1. Stuff that dreams are made of!
Blue returned to the crease to bat – maybe to put away some demons, but mostly to earn some bonus points. Luca, exhausted after his bowling effort, came in at # 4, and top scored with 55 not out. Make shift openers Phil and Jud frustrated the Panania openers for 12 overs, Mike Davies had a lovely cameo, his 22 coming off not many balls, with Luca and Mike monstering some 6’s beyond the Lees Parks Pavilion.
Overall – Mission Accomplished, a win, and 2 bonus Points – and a wonderful team effort, when we were really up against it.
Best Batting
First Innings
31 Phil Tarbox
27 Simon Davies
Second Innings
55* Luca Agius
22 Michael Davies
20 Phil Tarbox
Best Bowling
5/26 Luca Agius
3/21 Rohan Fernando
Picture: 8 Blue celebrate their win