It's semi-final time! How awesome it is to see three Warringah sides in the mix for a shot at the big dance. Metro Cup, the competition everyone loves but this season knows so little about, have been winning all year long and have fought hard to get themselves into a position to win the whole thing. 2nd Grade have finally gotten the finals monkey on their back and are playing the kind of cricket that can take down the reigning 2nd Grade Premiers. And 4th Grade are in pursuit of their 3rd successive Grand Final victory, after beating out Burwood in 2021, and Mounties in 2022. So much to look forward to this weekend. But first, let's recap the weekend just gone.
LAST TIME...
The teams left in action this season are Classics, 2nd Grade, 4th Grade and Metro Cup. Classics are playing against Georges River in a semi final match this weekend. 2nd Grade played Georges River in their semi final last weekend. 4th Grade played Burwood in their semi final. And Metro Cup played against St George in their Quarter Final. Here's what happened in their most recent match ups against these sides:
- 2nd Grade played Georges River only a few weeks ago, emerging victorious in that match (172 vs 65) thanks to everyone in the team, but highlighted by Tejas Gupta's 45, and Roy and Dougie's 3-for each.
- 4th Grade played and won against Burwood back in Round 6, losing in their pursuit of a tough total (201 vs 8d./267). The match was not without its highlights though, Billy Martin's 87 and Archie Rochford's 3-for made for some great watching.
- Metro Cup were slated to take on St George back in round 3 of this year's competition, but rain ruined both days of that match. So this was a fresh match up for the young guns.
- The Classics' chaps played Georges River just 2 rounds ago, losing out 112 vs 8/158. A result they will be eager to turn around.
A massive weekend of cricket to come. 2nd Grade are out at Airey Park against Burwood for their Grand Final. 4th Grade are at home, Weldon Oval against North West Sydney in their Grand Final. Metro Cup are travelling to Penrith, Rawson Oval for their chance to qualify for the Grand Final. And Classics play at David O'Loughlin Oval on Sunday in their semi final. CARN THE MIGHTY MIG!
Semi Final
Warringah
4/194 (47.4 overs)
Dvaidson 101*, Powe 25, Gupta 21*
Georges River
113 (74.5 overs)
Outred 4/16, Gerry 3/18, Gupta 2/24
Warringah won by 6 wickets.
Arriving at a hot Weldon oval, 2nd was one good performance away from the grand final. The pitch looked very true and fair, traditional bat first bat long as the higher placed side. But WCC don't play boring cricket, 200 overs is too long to be negative for. So after winning the toss parko had a bowl to cash in on any possible assistance, even if it was going to be for less than an hour.
Georges River were clearly here with the traditional approach of batting long to tire the mig bowlers and cash in later. That's hard to do against an eight man bowling line up, and even harder when Roy Outred goes on a tear. Roy took the first 4 wickets finishing with 4- 16 of 10 and setting up the game for the 2s boys. From then on the seamers suffocated and the spinners attacked with mean around the bat. Powe and Parkinson went for a combined 13 off 18 overs while Tejas, Molly and Rishi knocked over the river middle order. Some classic wobbly seam bowling for Gus (3-18) removed the remaining batters. Georges river struggled and grafted to 113 off a massive 75 overs. No WCC bowler went for more than 2 rpo, and there were 40 maidens bowled.
The incredible bowling performance left 25 overs in the day to bat. A nice amount to try knock off plenty of the runs. Chappo and Blaney set about it in their usual fashion, nudging and bunting and running very well between wickets. Without any real risks the pair added 38 in the first session for no loss. Chappo and Blaney fell late in the day, but Davo and night watchman Molly saw the final few overs out.
Finishing Day 1 at 2-79, in commanding position WCC wanted to bat as long as possible, keep GR in the dirt until they finally gave in. Will Davidson had other ideas, he demolished all comers from the start. Flashing cuts and powerful drives quickly broke the will of the river bowlers. Davo soared past 50 as WCC breezed by the target 4 down. Rather than grafting 40-50 overs of batting to win, Davo smoked an unbeaten 101* off 92 balls and forced Georges river to concede defeat inside 30 overs of day 2. A spectacular way to head to a grand final.
It's been an incredible effort by all 20 guys who've played 2nd grade this year. This weekend at Airey Park vs Burwood the final 11 will make them and the whole club proud as they look to bring home another Trophy for Warringah.
Semi Final
Warringah
289 (92.1 overs)
Kasmar 88*, Burke 41, Seward 27
Burwood
94 (37.3 overs)
Caruso 4/28, Day 3/33, Rowse 2/17
Warringah won by 195 runs.
After emerging victorious against second placed Roseville, snatching a win from a higher ranked side on their home ground, the MIG4s faced a side who did the same against first place - Burwood. But now the boys from the People’s grade had home ground advantage. How we love playing at Frank Gray, and how Burwood don’t. The last time Burwood travelled our way for a match, they were bowled out for 63, and it was chased easily by the MIGs. It’s a different story if we’re away (2021 Grand Final excepted), but this is finals cricket at Frankies - let’s go!
As tradition goes under the captaincy of Kev, we batted but wouldn’t find out until the match was over whether he won the toss or not (he did!). Jimmy Downs and our new-Reggie, Matt Kuchel, opened up and looked solid and untroubled for nearly an hour until Kuchey (16) was trapped LBW against the run of play. Not long after, Jimmy (24) must have missed his new opening friend because his middle stump was uprooted by a rip-snorter of a yorker. The scoreboard however kept ticking along, especially the unpredictable Harry Verma at the wicket. His run a ball 24 featured an 85 metre bomb (measured by the teenagers in our side, so you decide on the accuracy of the measure!) before he too was trapped in front (though one might question the prescription of the umpire’s bifocals). Kasmar and Norton were at the crease and saw us through to the first major break, 3-90. The first over after lunch saw Norton misjudge an ‘offspinner’, and he was pins before pegs for a well made 23. That was the pattern of the Warringah innings - plenty of starts, but no one going on with the job. Kev smashed 16, Toby Seward looked as solid as something Kev built before he was gone for 27. We just couldn’t find a batsman who wanted to spend any longer than an hour with the Burwood crew out in the middle. Until Noah Kasmar and Harry Burke got together. The pair set about grinding Burwood down, and doing their level best to bat the day and get the reward Kev promised for the batsman who lasted the longest against the Briar unpleasantries. Harry was eventually bowled for 41 off a delivery that just played up a little off a deck that had been so true until then. Noah however, was the energiser bunny. Kept going, grinding and annoying Burwood. He batted brilliantly throughout the day, especially with the tail. His cover driving was glorious, his forward defence just SOLID, and his leaves as pretty as Autumn in Bowral. He amassed an unbeaten 88 from an epic 212 balls. Noah “Usman” Kasmar dragged his team to bat 92 overs and get to 289. Batted son! The MIGs are in this up to their eyeballs.
The MIG4s reported for duty the next day relaxed but confident that they had the crew to get them into the big dance next week. We knew that if our batters stood up, our bowlers would capitalise off of their hard work. And CAPITALISE they did (see what I did there?). It took a few overs for the first pin to drop, but once it did, the rest came fairly quickly. First it was Day, then Caruso, then Day, then Caruso, then Caruso, then Caruso - Burwood was jumping, ducking, fending and running not from our tearaway sixteen year old speedster Patrick “It’s my” Day, but from the veteran Vic Caruso whose knee was “being held together by Voltarin and a knee strap”. Vic ripped the heart out of Burwood’s top order, so all that was left was for the supporting acts to finish the job once he could bowl no more. 6 for 60 at the lunch break, and a return to the action with the crowd having tripled - 2nd Grade had finished their demolishing of Georges River at Weldon early, and the boisterous boys brought their boombox and bellows to watch Rowsey claim two quick ones after lunch (must have been Marg’s treats!!!), to all but wrap up the match. A quick spell from Pat Day to get rid of their number 10, and the introduction of the birthday boy Matt Kuchel (whom rumour has it turned down his GF’s weekend away booking to take on Burwood) - and the match was ours. Kuchey ripped through in his second over, knocking back middle peg, to the cheers of the boys from 2s and now the start of preparations for next week’s Grand Final can begin. Worth mentioning in the wrap too was Kuchey’s absolute stunner in the gully to dismiss the Burwood captain (he got up from his diving catch astonished it had stuck), and that we celebrated the only way the MIG know how - by cramming as many people into the tiny FG changeroom as we can, and belting out the club song so loud they’ll have to knock the clubhouse down and rebuild it with a grant from the government. Well done MIG 4s. You have truly earned the right to play for the 3-peat in next week’s Grand Final.
The 3 peat quest
2020/21: Warringah 250 vs Burwood 245
2021/22: Warringah 176 vs Mounties 71
2022/23: Warringah ??? vs North-West ???
Let’s go!
Quarter Finals
Warringah
226 (49.4 overs)
Martin 51, Akbarally 33, Tipton 29
St George
170 (42.2 overs)
Evans 2/16, Matheson 2/36, Matheson 2/36
Warringah won by 56 runs.
What was originally scheduled to be a 2-day game was changed to be 50-over aside one dayer on the Sunday. Rain was forecasted for later that afternoon, making the toss vital as the team batting first would be able to dictate the terms should the second innings be shortened by rain and bring Duckworth-Lewis into play.
Warren continued his excellent form with the coin, correctly calling heads and electing to bat. Veehan (33) and Alfie (20) continued to perform at the top of the order. A huge outfield which was still damp from overnight dew meant they did not get as much value from their shots as they deserved, but they stuck around to build a solid platform of 59 after 14 overs. The top and middle order continued to hang around, making decent partnerships for every wicket. Melville (19), Myles (11) and Robbie (29) negotiated the middle overs well and kept the scorecard ticking over. The star with the bat though, was Bill with a sublime 51 after coming in at the fall of the third wicket with the score at 105 in the 25th over and departing with the score at 210 in the 48th. Never have I seen so many 3’s run in a single innings, with 14 3’s scored compared to only 10 4’s. Every batsman in the top 6 had to work hard and run tirelessly between the wickets to make up for the lack of boundaries scored. It was a solid team contribution from the batsmen. The last 4 wickets fell quickly to leave Warringah all out at 226 in the 49th over. St George struggled with the adjustment to one-day wides, conceding 26 in the innings. 226 was enough to leave us feeling relatively confident although the pitch was relatively docile. As always, good bowling and fielding was needed to put their batsmen under pressure.
But first we needed to get through 15 overs to ensure that the match could be completed with rain forecasted. A no result would see St Geoge go through on points. Warringah also struggled with wides, conceding also 26 in the innings with many coming in the early overs. Robbie struck just before the rains arrived with the score 1/35 in the 8th over. A nervous half hour later, the rains had passed and play resumed but wickets were needed to ensure Warringah was ahead on DLS method should they return. Warren took to the crease and struck in his first over, with the batsman shouldering arms to an inswinger that hit the top of off and sent the stump cartwheeling. He struck again in his second over in identical fashion, albeit leaving a more perplexed batsman in his wake. St George steadied and regrouped and put on a good partnership that wrestled the momentum back in their favour. Eventually their no. 5 skyed a ball to cover off Zach, taken well by Archie after almost colliding with point in the 15th over. Two more quick wickets from Zach again and Will had the score 6/107. The 7th and 8th wicket partnerships were anchored by the surviving no. 3 batsman, who had passed 50 and brought St George within striking distance of the target. However, a mix up saw the set batsman be turned back by his partner halfway down the pitch. Bill fielding at cover was able to get in to Archie, who took it cleanly to complete the run-out at the non-striker’s end. The very next ball, Archie had the other set batsman out bowled after chopping on a sweep shot. The final partnership added a few more runs but Myles, who had been bowling well without luck, bowled the last man to leave St George all out for 170 in the 42nd over. Warringah won by 56 runs. We move to 3rd place and face Penrith away in the SF over the coming weekend.
Round 11
Warringah
155 (34 overs)
Waddington 46, Player X 42, Brady 25
Auburn
225 (40 overs)
Johnston 3/49, Brady 2/33, Davies 2/41
Warringah lost by 70 runs.
Round 10
Warringah
112 (34 overs)
Waddington 32, Stolk 13, O'Brien 13
Georges River
8/158 (40 overs)
Waddington 2/17, Barrow 2/24, Lyon 2/26
Warringah lost by 46 runs.
CLASSICS NEXT MATCH: SEMI FINAL vs Georges River
Sunday 19 March at David O'Loughlin Oval
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Before we sign off we would like to acknowledge our sponsors, in their various capacities, in how they have supported our club. Your contribution is invaluable to making our great club what it is.
Visit our sponsor's page to learn more about who they are, what they do or if you would like to inquire about our sponsorship packages for the 2023-24 season.
Thanks for tuning into this round's wrap. Don't forget to join our membership program - the Bruce Loudon Club. Learn more about it on our membership page.
Warringah Contacts
Club President
Chris Melville
president.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Captain
Will Greenland
clubcaptain.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Secretary
Luke Parkinson
secretary.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Treasurer
Jamie Davidson
treasurer.warringahcc@gmail.com
