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November 23rd / 24th, 2024
Well that was a hot one! Some testing conditions for young cricketers (and old umpires!) with the heat finally coming out to play for the first time in our season. It certainly won't be the last, so keep the sunscreen handy. Reminder, the club has wide brim Kookaburra hats available (with an embroidered club logo!), plus playing caps and the very handy cooling towels (great on extremely hot days!): all available here.
This week featured a number of Leichhardt Wanderers derbies. These matches are a wonderful celebration of our club and are always played in the right spirit! We have some new batting performances for the honour roll this week, but perhaps unusually, the Fielding honour roll has a number of new entrants - it's not always about batting and bowling!
SAVE THE DATE! Friday 13th December is LWCC's Red & Black Friday at the Blackmore Clubhouse, as we look to send off 2024 - and the first half of our season - in style with a casual get-together for players, parents/guardians and all of our wonderful coaches, managers, scorers, umpires & volunteers who invest their time every week to help our young teams perform to their best. We'd love to see you all down at the club for a drink and some BBQ, and a good ol' yarn about the cricket (so far!). More details to be shared soon.
Around The Grounds: Highlights & Match Reports
Performance of the Round
This week we share the performance of the round honours, for batters who both scored consecutive half centuries!
Bede Russell (U15 White) - 50 not out, off only 24 balls (strike rate of 208.33), backing up his 60 from round 5! Included 4x fours and 5x sixes.
Laurence Bennell (U17 Black) - 69 off 31 balls (strike rate of 222.58), following his 52* (30) from round 5! Included 10x fours and 3x sixes.
Highlights
Congratulations to U9 Black for their win of the season! Everyone has improved so much in all aspects of the game. First win of many in their cricketing careers!
In addition, some of this week's individual highlights were dominated by batters and.... fielders!
Connie Rawson (U13 Girls) - 59* (45 balls, 9x fours)
Christian Paipetis (U15 White) - 52* (33 balls, 7x fours, 3x sixes)
Liam Seymour (U15 Gold) - 59 (48 balls, 11x fours, 1x six)
Will Berkelmans (U15 White) - 3 catches
John O'Connell (U10 Black) - 3 run outs
Oscar Rawson (U10 Black) - 3 run outs
Saxon Rietdyk (U17 White) - 3 catches
Christian Paipetis & Bede Russell
Will Berkelmans & Bede Russell
Match Reports
U11 Black: LWCC (76) def. by RHH Pirates Jolly Rogers (170)
LWCC U11 Black again lost the toss (5th time) and were sent in to bat on a dewy, but hot surface. Felix Hagen & Curtis Jenkins opened solidly, Curtis scoring an innings high 11 runs. From here on in our batters found it hard to pierce the fielders in the ring as the ball skidded through off a length to hurry the batters. Overall the Pirates bowled very full and straight.
As the sun got higher the Wanderers took to the field and did their best to rush through the overs. Toby Maher continues to impress in his first season, picking up his first wicket and unluckily having two catches put down against his bowling. Rufus Shemmell was the most economical bowler, conceding just 9 runs from his 3 overs to back up some energetic efforts in the field. Often unnoticed, Dashiell Collier and Noah Lane both kept cleanly, this week receiving the ball right up near the stumps. Wilting in the field late under the hot conditions, the LWCC U11 Black were beaten comprehensively.
For his consistent yet quiet work with the gloves and gentle encouragement of teammates, Noah Lane was worthy recipient of the match ball. His toughness is admirable and often infectious.
U15 Gold: LWCC (147) def. by Concord Briars Black (3-227)
We backed ourselves to bowl after the heroics of the previous match but the task was heavier against the top side and the uneven wicket conditions were considerably different and challenging which made it tough for our strike bowlers and our wicket keeper.
Concord were solid and it was tough to get the break through we needed. Good wickets to Evan, Sam and Liam.
Our energy and positivity started to wane with the Briars on 140 at drinks. Paul's rev up at the break was the circuit breaker and the lads started to lift. Keeping them to 87 runs in the second half was a very good result.
Declan, Liam and Ryan put in some very solid and critical stroke play with Liam top scoring across both teams with 59 off 48.
To score 147 against the top side was a great effort. We could have fallen in a heap but we dug in and got something special out of that game.
Liam Seymour
U13 Red: LWCC (8-43) def. by RHH Pirates Swashbucklers (0-46)
The mercury was still rising as the Reds arrived at Morrison Oval. The Reds won the toss and chose to bat.
Alfie and Max opened the batting and looked pretty solid for the first couple of overs but something went very wrong with the calling and both Alfie and James found themselves run out. In the second ball of the fourth over Bowie was bowled and Kurtis joined Max in the middle. For a while these two steadied the ship for a couple of overs putting on another 8 runs before Kurtis got caught and bowled.
Enter Jack who showed his intent early striking a single and then a four in his first three balls. When Max was bowled captain Joe joined the attack and battled well with Jack who was the only batter to dominate the Swashbucklers’ attack crashing his way to 27 not out. Despite their efforts, Joe, Hartley and finally Emily weren’t able to stick around and the Reds were rolled for just 43 runs after 16 overs.
After the innings break Alfie and Joe took on the opening batters, but the Swashbucklers looked strong and quickly took control, their no. 1 Jasper Cooley putting on 34 not out — and the extras did the rest. To their credit, the Reds stayed back with Coach Dylan and Callan for an extra training session and finished the day on a high. The spirit of the Reds lives on to fight another day!
U10 Derby: LWCC Red (152) def. LWCC White (124)
A deserved win this week with the highest total so far this season….
A strong start from the opening paring, Patrick (9) and Jeremy top scoring with 13, built a foundation for the rest of the team to build on. Some fantastic shots from Jeremy this week, taking full advantage of a fast out field.
Rohan and Finn both followed with 11 runs each. Rohan showing some amazing technique with a number of reverse sweeps connecting… YouTube training starting to pay off! Finn again building a nice little piggy bank with another $40 this week with two great drives for four! Alex and Henry showed the defensive part of the game protecting their wickets, before the final paring Sam (10) and Archie (12), pushed the total above 150…
Archie started the attack with the ball, with 4 dot balls and then a wicket, putting the pressure on LWCC Whites from the first over. Final bowling figures for the team saw Patrick taking 2 wickets, Henry (1) and Jeremy (1). Patrick and Sam shared the wicket keeper duties this week, with Patrick taking a catch in the field. Play of the day was saved for the very last ball… with the ball cleanly dispatched from the centre of the bat high up into the air, Archie ran to place himself below for the catch, the crowd grew silent as the ball seemed to take an age to comedown… only for the ball to be dropped out of both hands… as the collective sigh of the crowed could be heard all round the ground, Archie reacted fastest picking up the ball and throwing at the wicket from side on, scoring a direct hit as the Whites ran for 2… a fitting way to finish a great game!
Parents left with a spring in the step, going home to watch the Australian national team, confident that they would get a far higher 1st innings score than the U10’s managed… oh!
U12 Derby: LWCC Red (6-154) def. LWCC Gold (8-90)
Glory! In a comprehensive rejection of the black-humoured fatalism of their coach this year, it all came together on Saturday in a roaring performance from our U12 Reds against the powerful top of the table U12 Gold.
U12 Red looked good from the start, with determined batting from the Mayes boys stylishly moving through the new ball and setting a solid foundation as the temperature started to rise at Callan. Charlie (20) and Ted (quick fire 32) followed, peppering the square leg boundary. A little bit of middle order carnage followed with Leo and Noah but the ship was steadied with a break out 6 not out from Leon, including a thumping straight drive 4 and James with another attacking gem, 14, the highlight being a vicious short arm jab 4 through wide mid-on. 6-154 at 30 overs was by any measure a solid score.
Would it be enough though? There were nervous instructions to Charlie before bowling about the need for Brett Lee level pace given the drubbing Gold had handed us in round 1 and some anxiety that we were only 8 strong with two key Ollies in absentia. There were also whispers of a surprise spin attack scheme between Jordan, Ted and Leo. The heat also generated a high level of interest in wicket keeping.
The start though could only be described as ‘sizzling’. Morello continued his hot run as opener crashing into the stumps and Charlie spitting fire with two wickets in his first over, leaving Gold reeling at 3 for not very many. The chat in the middle was outstanding, including Noah in a typically energetic performance as keeper enquiring about each new batsman’s favourite colour (a nod to Marnus) and Charlie’s surprise ‘donut’ chant (no middle all edges), a notch above the usual ‘I smell a duck and it’s nice and golden’. Gold’s fight back began though with some some solid middle order batting that looked compelling, until a Jordan doosra took an edge to Ted and Morello again rattled the stumps. There was yet another resurgence though and Red were still feeling vulnerable at the 15 over mark, at around the 5-80 mark.
The apprehension turned to ecstasy though as two of our more unheralded bowlers - Leon and Noah - came out cooking. Leon’s caught and bowled effort produced another scrum of celebration, that was only outdone in the end by the cheers for Noah as he replicated Warne’s ball of the century and then achieved a much-coveted LBW decision (the first of the season) to close the match.
Sigma! The smiles told the story. C'mon you Reds :)
And from the other side....
U12 Derby: LWCC Gold (8-90) def. by LWCC Red (6-154)
LWCC U12 Gold faced a challenging game against LWCC U12 Red at Callum Park on Saturday resulting in their second loss of the season. Despite a spirited effort, LWCC U12 was unable to chase down the target set by Red who proved the better team on the day
Electing to bat after winning the toss, LWCC Red put together a super competitive 6/154 from their 30 overs. Highlights in bowling for Gold included wickets from James Day, Patrick Thornton, Jax Lee, and Archer Gannon, with notable contributions in the field by Kasper Arnmark and Zavier Rodrigues, both securing run-outs. Patrick Thornton (4-0-12-1) and James Day (4-0-15-1) delivered economical spells.
In the chase, Patrick Thornton remained unbeaten with 21 runs, while Archer Gannon contributed a quick 19. However, the team struggled against a disciplined bowling attack from LWCC U12 Red and were contained at 8/90 from 20 overs.
The match was a tough contest and despite the loss, the team demonstrated resilience and teamwork. LWCC U12 Gold is determined to regroup, work on their game, and aim for a win in their next match.
U17 Black: LWCC (174) def. by Marrackville (185)
There was drama on and off the field for U17 Black, as a pitch double booking at Beaman led to a late change of venue, and a school formal meant that a quarter of the team had to depart early. On the fortunately available Steel Park pitch, an impressive Marrickville side chose to bat first and at 122/2 were threatening to post a score that was beyond us. However, timely wickets slowed them down with Elijah leading the way with 3/27 and Frazer contributing two wickets and two excellent catches.
Our celebrants were placed at the top of the order, and Laurence played like a man with a party to get to; his outstanding 69 from 31 balls putting us ahead of the run rate at an early stage. The rest of the team just needed to keep the score ticking over as the initially daunting target of 186 got closer and closer, and they very nearly made it, with Will B, Will S and Frazer contributing vital runs. The 10th wicket pairing of Elijah and Asher gave it everything, but a freakish run out, with just 8 balls to go, meant that the points went to Marrickville.
U15 White: LWCC (4-215) def. RHH Pirates Black Beards (141)
Congratulations to U15 White on a superb win on a warm Saturday afternoon. Excellent batting, bowling and fielding resulted in an unbeatable 215 run total and highlights galore. Bede Russell (50 not out) made the honour roll for the second week in a row and Christian Paipetis (52 not out) and Jack Philips (37 not out) also starred with the bat. Christian (3/14) and Jack (3/18) backed up with 3 wickets each and Nick Mabbott (2/3) added to the superb bowling performance. To top it off, Will Berkelmans took 3 outfield catches. A match to be proud of for this talented team of young cricketers… well done boys.
U11 Girls: LWCC (102) def. by Summer Hill CC Blue Spring (106)
With one ball to go, scores were tied. With Elsie on strike, Emilie Benn was told to run, no matter what. Some great fielding from Summer Hill saw us just run out and we lost by 4 runs!
Earlier, Lucia had the best bowling figures with 3 overs, 1 for 3. When batting, Emily smashed some great fours with Zosh and Emilie coming in towards the end and nearly getting us home.
Another great game played in wonderful spirit.
U10 Black: LWCC (221) def. RHH Pirates Treasures (79)
An extraordinary effort from the LWCC Blacks. The fielding and backing up of the stumps were a delight to watch. With the bat Kiran Chandramouli and John O'Connell were the standouts with 19 runs from their allotted 15 balls. We only lost 1 wicket from the ball and to be fair it was a great delivery. We did lose one wicket from a run out. Each week we are improving our decision-making running between wickets but is still a work in progress. Congratulations to Kiran Chandramouli taking his first wicket in junior club cricket as well as a run out and a run out assist. He has bowled well all season without luck. And our all-rounder John O'Connell a PB of 3 overs 4 wickets for 8 run and only 1 extra and 3 run out assists.
It was fielding that was the highlight. Congratulations Oscar Rawson, 3 run outs along with your 2 wickets. Emmett Hudson as keeper, 1 stumping and a run out assist and taking a wicket with the ball. Dylan Corfield also had a feast with a run out and a run out assist as well as taking a wicket with the ball. Henry Radford was rewarded for his training at home and on training day with the gloves for 5 overs. The experience will serve him well for the future. I encourage other players that want to wicket keep putting their hand up so we can roll them into the keeper drills.
U13 Derby: LWCC White (8-82) def. by LWCC Black (5-161)
Unfortunately for the U13 White, this was a bit of a day to forget... the heat, whilst a factor for both sides, clearly had more of an impact on Whites, who lost the toss and were sent to field out in the early afternoon heat.
Our bowling was tight early, but unfortunately the unavoidable story of the day was dropped catches. The count was somewhere in the realm of 8 dropped catches for the innings, some harder than others but most of them catchable. Whilst our bowling was reasonable, it wasn't backed up in the field, with a number of misfields costing us valuable runs. Wickets went to Darcy (2) with one each to Oliver, Jack, & Eamon, with catches to Archer, Darcy & Yoris. In the end, 161 runs were scored by Blacks, which didn't get out of hand and frankly, at one stage could have been worse!
Whites' turn to bat, and things didn't fair much better, with some excellent bowling from Blacks, with all but one batter failing to make double figures. Conor (31* off 20) was the exception and continued his recent form with the bat, digging in and blasting some nice boundaries. Conor also gracefully accepted an early retirement without question, to allow our final batter to have a go - kudos for sportsmanship! Our innings ended all out for 82.
Congratulations to U13 Blacks for a comprehensive win, moving them into second place on the ladder! U13 Whites will be focusing on fielding and catching practice this week!
The second Test between Australia & India commences in Adelaide on 6th December - perhaps the Leichhardt Wanderers can donate a few run-scoring batters to help out the Aussies?
Chris Hudson
LWCC President
We are Leichhardt Wanderers Through and Through!