Welcome to the latest edition of Warringah's Round Wrap and what a mega week it's been (and fingers crossed, is going to continue to be!). We would be remiss to not congratulate the premiership winning Manly Green Shield side from last Sunday for their historic win against reigning premiers Parramatta. A large contingient of Warringah parents and supporters were on hand to watch the boys bring home the shield for the first time in 31 years! Great work you young blue baggers! In the side were these boys who have been playing regularly for the Men in Green this season, including: Myles Kapoor, Lukas Overhoff, Kai Dalli, Miles Milliner, Matthew Melville, Bill Martin, Harry McCracken, Sam Roche, Caleb Connors, Thomas Walker, Lachlan Jurcevic, and Julian Osborne (pictured below):
In the MIG action we had a big round against the competitive Balmain-South Sydney side in the main grades, and matches against NWS Hurricanes in the Metro Cup, Georges River in 5th Grade, Castle Hill in the Classics and a massive semi-final against rivals Burwood in the beloved Frank Gray Shield. Below is a wrap for each match, read on and enjoy! Be sure to check out our socials pages on facebook and instagram for photos taken by some of our awesome club volunteers Giles Park, Anthony Cruickshank and Marg Tabrett - thank you for your awesome work crew!
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Warringah
8d.-291
R Sheahan 122*, A Bennett 48, J Colyer 34
Balmain-South Sydney
197
J Park-Johnson 3-68, L Molyneux 2-35, M Munro 2-46
Warringah won by 94 runs.
The 1st grade boys arrived at a glorious Weldon Oval with a simple goal of taking the 6 points and a finals spot late in the season. The pitch looked a belter, and after winning the toss we were batting first with the intent of piling on a 250+ score. We got off to a perfect start as Hamo (32) and Jarod (34) combined for a strong opening stand to put us in a solid position early in the match. However, after Jarod was dismissed, a flurry of wickets through the middle order saw Balmain in the box seat at 7-161. Regan (122*) watched from the other end, dispatching anything loose and gradually building his score, finding support through Aidan's powerful innings of 48. After Aidan had fallen, Mol (18*) helped Regan to his century, a monumental knock that put us in a commanding position after Hamo declared at 291.
This allowed us 4 overs at the nervous Balmain batsmen late in the day, and Jimmy wasted no time in his second over with an edge to a diving Jack Chick to cap off a perfect day of cricket.
We came back the next week to a completely different day, with clouds and rain surrounding the ground. The lads were keen to get early wickets, and Jimmy got us off to a great start with a wicket in the first over, before taking another to end up with 3-68. Contributions from Pat Day (1-21) and Regan (1-26) allowed us to dominate their middle order, with only their number 4 bat putting up resistance with a fighting knock. The ball was soaked and hard to grip, with loose balls becoming frequent and boundaries easy to come by for their set batsman. A superb spell of bowling from Munners (2-46) as he tied up an end put us well ahead of the game, especially when he removed their standout batsman with a sharp caught and bowled. With victory within reach, a counterattack from the Balmain had us momentarily nervous, however Mol managed to take 2-35 to wrap up the game.
A superb all-round performance from the boys saw us take away the win and gather more confidence coming into the last few rounds of the season. The bye next week will allow us to rest up and prepare ourselves for the ever important final games that will decide our chances of playing finals.
Warringah
5d.-169
N Kasmar 44, T Gupta 31, K Broome 26*
Balmain-South Sydney
96 & 1-52
F Holdsworth 5-28, R Outred 4-18, B Cook 1-13 & J Mott 1-6
Warringah won by 5 wickets.
The boys turned up to an overcast Alan Davidson Oval and after a few choice words from certain members of the group after taking upwards of 20 minutes to find a parking spot (Tony Hawk was skateboarding, but we didn’t find out until later in the week) and a few sore heads from the golf day on Friday Warringah had lost the toss and were bowling first on what seemed a pretty flat deck with a horrendously slow outfield.
Roy started well as he has done all year with the new ball asking questions of the batsmen and sure enough he had an early breakthrough. A couple more early ones from Roy had Balmain struggling at 35-3. A change in pace saw Shano replace redders who startled the batsmen with his pace the other 2’s seamers don’t quite have, yet Balmain managed to get a partnership going. A change of bowling from Tejas saw Redders come back on for Shano as he took 3 wickets in 3 overs, along with a wicket from the mighty Ben Cook at the other resulting in Balmain having a middle order collapse - fantastic to be the fielding side in this case. The boys battled until Lunch with Balmain 8 down hoping to return to the field after an average spread from the oppo and take the last 2 wickets quickly. After a bit longer then the MIG would have liked the boys cleaned up the tail with 2 wickets from redders to reach his 5fa and Balmain were all out for 96.
A bright start from Shane and Kas saw the boys get off to a good start before Shane unfortunately lost his off peg. Kas continued to bat well and stints from Johnno (19) and the debutant Billy Kwan helped the boys get to 50-3. Then headed out the skipper who batted superbly with Kas and the boys saw us take a 2 run lead at the end of day 1.
There was debate within the Warringah group through the 2 training sessions in the week as to whether we should bat on or declare straight away in order to achieve an outright win and help in club champs points and keep our hope of finals alive (kind of). Tejas decided upon batting until drinks. After a well made 44 from Kas and 31 from Tejas, along with 16* from Cookie fresh from his move to Canberra in addition to Broomy with a solid 26* in the lead up the drinks we took our score to 73 ahead.
What happened next quite frankly left the MIG absolutely perplexed. Balmain reached the lunch break 1-20 after 16 overs with debutant Jack Mott taking the only wicket, now this shocked the boys as Balmain were 5th leading into the game and to keep their finals dreams alive needed all the points they could get, so to see them not even attempt to try and win the game from their position left us both confused and disappointed. Still the boys battled on after lunch in search of wickets but the deck was very flat and with just over an hour and a half of play left we shook hands and Warringah take the 6 points from first innings.A good result for a team who have struggled this year but can hopefully take some momentum from the game and finish the season well !!
Warringah
9-212
B Martin 63, T Seward 49, G Newman 23
Balmain-South Sydney
162
H Burke 4-30, M Kuchel 3-28, T Seward 2-43
Warringah won 4 wickets.
Warringah defeated Balmain by 4 wickets. After Ruben won one of his first tosses for the year, he decided to put balmain in for a bat. With Kev and Gaz opening the bowling and putting immense pressure on the balmain top order with heaps of dot ball pressure, by building up maidens. The balmain batters were in trouble early. Both of them were very unlucky not to pick up a wicket. After a great opening spell by kev and gaz, Craig finally broke the partnership. Then Harry came in, and with a couple of overs, he broke through with 2 wickets in his first spell. In the middle overs, both Kuch and toby bowled excellent building lots of dot ball pressure. After a while, the balmain batters couldn't help them selves as both Toby and Kuch combined for 5 wickets between them which helped us to be in control of the game. Then Harry came back on and striked again with a cracking ball. Then overs later Kev took a great catch to end the innings with a brilliant spell by Harry picking up 4fa. Balmain getting all out for 162 in 77 overs.
Then, in return Warringah got off to a great start with dusty and toby opening the batting. Dusty got off to a flier after hitting some cracking shots early to get a quick 16. After warringah lost a quick 3 wickets both Toby and Bill took the game away, with Toby making a crucial 49 and was unlucky not to get 50. On the other end Bill was patient all innings and played a great roll as both him and Gareth got us home in the end. Bill finished with a great knock of 63 and Gaz finishing with 23. With Warringah 3s winning another game as this amazing season keeps going well for them. Overall it was an unreal effort by all the boys.
Warringah
9d.-220
T Walker 56*, M Melville 28, O Higgins 23
Balmain-South Sydney
74 & 62
C Wilson 3-9, H McCracken 3-16, T Walker 2-13 &
A Caruso 4-11, T Walker 2-9, M Melville 2-14
Warringah won [outright] by an innings and 84 runs.
Jubilee Park, Glebe is one of the finest grounds in Sydney. Nestled among ancient fig trees in serene parklands on the shores of Rozelle Bay. Fine coffee, eateries and a bottle shop just beyond the tram stop perched atop the ridge in the southwestern corner. The field itself is perfectly hemmed in with a classical white picket fence and overseen by a heritage-listed pavilion on sloping foundation. Truly, a beautiful place … to watch cricket. Unfortunately (for the batsmen), the first 5-10 centimetres of grass off the square is also heritage listed (read: painfully slow in/outfield) and the pitch was typically lifeless (although the drainage culvert that ran across the pitch on a good length was a cute feature).
So it was that Kev lost the toss and we were kindly invited to bat first. Higgins and Gatehouse started well but some very crisp cover drives and pull shots were scarcely rewarded. Both made 20s but deserved more for their fine stroke play. A succession of wickets left us at 5/70-odd (enough for first innings points, but Kev thought we should bat on) before Melville and Walker came together. Matt departed for a well-made 28, which was worth 50 on any other ground, before Harry McCracken contributed a rapid 20. Tom Walker likewise discovered that the quickest route to the boundary was to go aerial and avoid the heritage-listed long grass as much as possible. He whacked a superb 56 not out and Vic Larusso’s 17 no at no.11 helped us to a very competitive declaration at 9/220.
The rag-tag bunch of Balmain-Souths Tiger Bunnies (BTSBs) had to face the music for 19 overs to round out day 1. The openers made a decent fist of it. The only wicket to fall was their star Cranbrookian (yes, sporting the Cranbrook School kit), with Vic taking the wicket – bowled through the gate. Then, a rather odd, secret hand gesture from Vic - index finger raised to the chest - was later established to be indicating, as if to not let the next batsman know, that he now stood on the precipice of glory; 299 wickets for Warringah. But the milestone would have to wait. The BSTBs closed at 1/34.
Day 2. Drizzle. Delayed start. Pre-game visit to the shops for coffee and choc-chip bikkies. Kev read the riot act after a lack-lustre warm up. It had the desired effect. Charlie Wilson and Vic started well. Vic soon picked off his 300th pole. Cleaned bowled. Vic managed to hold back the emotions in a somewhat muted celebration, perhaps reflective of sheer relief and joy. Congratulations! 300 wickets for the MIG is a massive achievement.
2/43. After that, the wickets tumbled. BSTB lost their last 9 for 19 runs to be all out 62. The details are a little hazy because BSTB don’t enter scores or team lists. Charlie Wilson was the pick – bowling a Starc-like spell of 11 overs 3/9. Harry McCracken took 3/16 (all caught behind the wicket). Thommo also rattled the castle a couple of times for 2/13 from 10.
Follow-on enforced. 48 overs to bowl. Runs were no issue. We knew we needed to get through the “Big 5” and the rest would fall like dominoes. So Vic and Charlie set out on the hunt. Vic nabbed the top-scorer from the first innings with a nice catch to someone in the gully (Melville or Gatehouse perhaps). Getting the rest of the Big 5 proved a bit more of a grind. Cranbrook demanded their gear back after last week’s failure so the opener had to negotiate a new clothing/equipment deal. He showed more resistance in the middle order, this time sporting a collar-less white tee and odd shoes. The Western Suburbs Green Shield rep looked classy but played a few too many shots to be any serious threat. But back to us – Thommo bowled genuine heat in his remaining 5 overs, taking 2/9, and showed a great pair of hands in the cordon. Excellent all round match for Thommo. Melville and McCracken flighted the ball nicely, contributing 2/14 and 1/21 respectively. But it was Vic with the figures, a magnificent 4/11 from 9.2 overs. Fittingly, he snared the last wicket – a sharp catch at first slip, rebounding off the pecs of steel (lol) and safely pouched. BSTB all out 74 with about 5 overs to spare. A very enjoyable game and much needed 10 points, which puts us in outright first on the ladder going into the bye.
Finally, congratulations to Kev and the Green Shield boys (several of whom are a key part of the 4th grade set up) for their big win in the Final on Sunday.
Round 11
Warringah
143
Z Dowthwaite 34, W Toohey 32, O Fairchild 14*
NWS Hurricanes Gold
177 & 4-109
O Fairchild 4-26, S Thompson 2-10, Z Buchanan 2-21 &
Z Buchanan 2-37, P Clift 1-12, L Jurcevic 1-23
Warringah lost by 36 runs.
Warringah’s Metro cup lads headed out west for our round 11 clash with North West Sydney Hurricanes Gold. Castlewood oval had a couple interesting features including a big hill, square of the wicket on one side, which leaded into a bush with a lot of snakes meaning we knew immediately a couple of balls would be lost. The MIG won the toss and chose to bowl first on a wicket that looked very inconsistent. This decision didn’t pay off early as and canes batters were doing well to stick in there before Lachlan Jurcevic (2-36) would trap an opener straight infront for the first of the innings. Ollie Fairchild (4-26) then dismissed the number three to bring a Jimmy Downs lookalike to the crease. The opener that stuck in there hit a couple bombs to loose a couple balls before Ollie got another. ‘Jimmy’ then batted on to get to 50 before Zach Buchanan (2-21) took off stump out of the ground. More tight bowling with wickets regularly left the canes 6-74 before good disciplined batting from some youngsters down the order took them to a total of 177, with Seth Thompson taking 2-10 to clear up the tail. The batting innings didn’t start off well as captain Stu Higgins edged off for 1 followed by Zach OSullivan for 4. After blocking out a few balls, Zach Dowthwaite went after the short boundary towards the bush finishing on 32* for the day just after Patty White was bowled for 14.
Week two started off interestingly as the talk of the umpire having to leave early was mentioned a couple of times. A few singles and a good start to the week was quickly dampened as Zach D was bowled for 34 followed by Seth Thompson for 7 and Zach Buchanan skying one for 8. The MIG found themselves 6-81 with a tall ask of 97 needed with 4 wickets left. A solid 32 off 45 from Will Toohey left the MIG still in the game but with regular wickets falling (7 bowled) the boys fell 34 runs short on first innings.
The rest of the match had been set up by a plan between the two captains being: The canes will bat for 30 overs to get a lead and give us 20 to chase it down (As there were a scheduled 50 overs left), however the umpire had other plans. With NWS leading by 140 and about to declare in another 3 overs, the umpire brought the captains together to say “I don’t see a result here and we must finish at 6 (we don’t) so I’m going to call the game off”. The umpire then rushed off to go pick up his son from who knows where and that was the end of the game. Disappointing to not grab a win in a week where all other grades did but with 4 games left against low table teams, and currently sitting 3rd, the metros boys are in a strong position to play finals
Round 15
Warringah
3-105
J Donnan 54*, D Horstead 24* , K Morrison 18
Georges River
103
C Zanella 3-13, J Donnan 3-15, J Olde 2-11
Warringah won by 7 wickets.
Match report to come...
SEMI FINAL
Warringah
2-146
W Greenland 56*, R Sheahan 56, R Kapoor 28*
Burwood
143
L Molyneux 3-26, R Sheahan 2-21, F Holdsworth 1-18
Warringah won by 8 wickets.
QUALIFY FOR THE GRAND FINAL TO BE PLAYED SUNDAY AT KANEBRIDGE OVAL (4 FEB)
In yet another semi-final of the much-loved Frank Gray Shield competition, Warringah squared off against Burwood in a classic encounter between two old foes. Intent on securing a spot in their fourth successive grand final, Wadroprringah carried a quiet confidence, having sent Burwood home in the previous two semi-finals. Among those victories, an unforgettable 1-wicket win orchestrated by a rearguard epic from Lachlan Johnson still loomed large in the collective teams’ memory.
Warm and cloudless weather created ideal conditions for a day of cricket, though the pitch had gained a tinge of spice after being exposed to late afternoon rain the previous day.
The match kicked off with Warringah’s potent bowling attack on full display. Our opening bowler, Patrick Day (1-39), started exceptionally well, dispatching the opposition's opener with the second ball of the innings via a nifty catch at gully. Regan Sheahan (2-21), with his wily left-arm orthodox bowling, followed suit soon after, dismissing the other opener with the assistance of a smart catch at midwicket to leave Burwood reeling at 2-1. The visitor’s already uphill task became only more challenging when their number three ran straight past a well-flighted delivery from Regan, with the score only at 15.
Slight murmurs of a revival were evident as Burwood’s middle-order batsmen steadied the ship. However, the dual off-spin of Matt Munro (0-22) and Lachlan Molyneux (3-26) combined forces with final’s debutant Finlay Holdsworth (1-18) to throttle the run rate. A triple strike from the skipper towards the end of his 10-over spell sunk the visitors hopes at spurring a late innings surge. While the Burwood tail managed to limp their way to 8-142 at the end of the allotted overs, a noticeable lack of intent throughout the innings hinted at this total being well under par.
Indeed, when it was Warringah's turn at the crease this fact quickly become obvious to all those in attendance. Despite losing an early week to some tight new ball bowling, our batsmen responded brilliantly to the pressure of the chase. While William Greenland anchored the innings with an assured and unbeaten 56*, the true star was resident Kiwi Regan Sheahan. Backing up his lethal new ball spell, Regan’s run-a-ball 56, punctuated by a barrage of boundaries, decimated any hope Burwood had at snatching an unlikely victory. After Regan fell with less than 50 runs still required, budding star Reuben Kapoor maintained the momentum, smashing a quickfire 28* to wrap up the chase inside of 32 overs.
The result was a dominant eight-wicket victory for Warringah, who advance into their fourth consecutive grand final. A tasty match-up against rivals North-West Sydney awaits the Men-In-Green as they look to avenge their loss in last year’s final, and bring home Franky for the third time in four years.
Next match Sunday 4 February vs. Old Ignatians at Weldon Oval.
Round 8
Warringah
4-208
M Barrow 33*, D Jeffs 30*, S Waddington 30* , G Park 30*
Castle Hill RSL
89
G Allsop 3-21, D Jeffs 2-12, R Melchiore 2-12
Warringah won by 119 runs.
Having not graced the hallowed Weldon Turf since rd 1 the Classical MIGs were keen for the short drive matching up against Castle Hill. Winning the toss and in possession of a strong batting line up skipper Barnett was quick to say we will have a bat sir. Giving the nod to Waddo and (welcome back) Dolbs to don the pads to open unfortunately saw Dolbs copping a good one early trapped LB.This bringing skipper Barnett to the middle. Waddo in great touch hitting a four every few balls saw him retire on 30 in quick time. Chris S scratched around going for 7 bringing DJ to the crease. A nice partnership formed before Neil hurting his ribs eventually retireing hurt on 26. This saw Mike enter the fray in career best form and again didn't disappoint retiring on 33.Soon after saw DJ retiring on 30. JT Missed out which allowed the opportunity for Giles to have a decent bat.After Much Coaching and advice from the umpire Giles also retired on 30.Chris Then came in hitting the ground running making a quick fire 24 before being stumped chasing quick runs,seeing Greg (IPL) Allsop 5 not and Cliffy 2 not to finish the allocated 40.
MIGs 4/208 of 40
With skipper Barnett handing over the armband due to injury saw Giles taking inspiration from his fellow countrymen's selection of 4 spinners vs India throwing the new rock to Greg and DJ. With Castle hill openers swinging harder then a drunk sailor from ball one,It was going to be entertaining or a train wreck. Didn't take long for Greg to get us up and running with a double wicket third over. DJ didn't want to miss out on the fun bowling his cutters with an action that would dislocate most men's shoulders bamboozling the next two batsman seeing Castle Hill slumping to 4/25. Allsop 3/21 from 7 Jeffs 2/12 from 4. Skippers Park and Waddington decide it's time to turn up the heat throwing the pig skin to Rob(perpetual motion) Melch,Not disappointing the brains trust saw Rob claiming two quick wickets stopping any attempt at a comeback with a lovely caught behind up to the stumps by JT and a plum LB.
Rob Melch 2/12 from 7. Fresh of his 5 wicket Haul it was time for Cliffy to warm up the rocky boulder. As always he didn't disappoint bowling a tight line giving little to hit. S Lyon 1/17 from 5. With the hot sun on our backs,beers cooling in the fridge and the wives warming up the SMS fingers,It was time for the spin kings to get involved. A master stroke saw the boys clean up the tail with classy spin bowling. Giles was first with a good catch by Chris (sticky fingers) Obrien. Giles 1/10 from 4. Not to be left wicketless after a really good spell of spin bowling Chris claimed the final wicket drawing the edge to the safe mits of Rob. Waddo chiming in for 1 over at the end finishing 0/4. Castle Hill Rissoled for 89.
Another strong win lads in a game played in the right spirit.
<<<<<<<LOOKING AHEAD>>>>>>>>>
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Warringah Contacts
Club President
Chris Melville
president.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Captain
Ben Cook, Lachlan Molyneux and Noah Kasmar
clubcaptain.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Secretary
Nic Johnson
secretary.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Treasurer
Jeff Downs
treasurer.warringahcc@gmail.com
