The WACA High Performance programs for 2020/21 have been announced, with the following Roos included. This is by invitation only, and is a fabulous achievement for these young men.

WACA U19 Development squad
– Hayden Stumpers
– Mitchell Slattery
– Michael Herbst

WACA Pace Academy
– Caiden Eaton

WACA Youth Academy
– Aryan Varsani

Congratulations!

Last weekend the two WDCC grades still in the contest played out their elimination finals. Firstly, congratulations to both the Three’s and the U/17s for reaching finals – this does not happen every year is in itself an achievement and reward for effort throughout the season. Unfortunately both teams bowed out – in what was ultimately a moot result given that all finals were cancelled thereafter (unlucky Baysie).

Third Grade – Elimination Final

Bayswater-Morley 8/279 (Yaseen 2/52, J Walter 2/55) def. Wanneroo 110 (Hall 40, Walter 31*)

After defeating Joondalup in a do or die final round, the Trust Tree was full of leaves when arriving at Bayswater for their first final. After Yas finally turned up, we headed out for our warm ups. The energy was high, the mood was up and Mitchell ‘Ian Healy’ Slattery’s finger was suspiciously injured.

Due to the law of averages John Walter won the toss and elected to bowl. The Roos were inconsistent with the ball early, Bayswater-Morley punishing us to reach 50 none down. Enter the spin frenemies Micheal ‘dagger’ Ardagh and Matthew ‘Peter’ Dzodzos who quickly pulled back the momentum our way, both picking up a wicket. Ardagh was especially tight, bowling 21 overs for 35 runs (including being hit for 10 off his final over by the Toddler). John Walter and Yaseen finished with 2 each as Bayswater-Morley made a very respectable 8/279. To add a little insult to a long day Donavinn Fryer succumbed to the old mans injury, deciding to shred his calf muscle late in the day!

We rocked up on day 2 full of confidence as our batting lineup was strong and deep. Strength and depth were challenged by the straight one however, as we were quickly 5 down for not many. Allan ‘Barry’ Hall batted brilliantly, muscling his way to 40 until he succumbed to the ‘lets just play it safe for a while’ trap. John ‘Ellyse Perry/Keith/Ellen/Pantene Pro-V’ Walter swatted at the spinners for a while to make 31*, but in the end we were bowled out for 110.

Disappointing way to end the season but this team battled amazingly all year. Very rarely did we have the same team on the park 2 games in a row. A great effort to make it to the finals, but beaten by a better team on the day.

And then the WACA went and cancelled the season anyway so taste it Baysie.

U/17 Mens Elimination Final

Gosnells 5/266 (Haddrill 3/82) def Wanneroo 6/265 (Santich 107*, Dargie 44, Spangenberg 33)

Ah yes finals. Loving, caring finals. Lets get into it. Skipper Jack Mac goes for the lucrative toss for possibly the last time this season. With regular season form of 6/14 tosses won (42%) I think we know how this is going to go. Coin gets flipped and skip calls heads, surprise surprise it’s tails. Aaaannnndddd we are batting.

Day started off dare I say perfectly, with a Sam “Formula one Drive to survive” Williams playing a glorious cover drive for 4 off the third ball of the innings, and Mr Hard Hands Dargie joining in the following overs with many strokes that made the bowlers look like bowling machines dishing out HV’s. Then over 12.3 happened, when the ROOS lost their first wicket at a score of 21. Hard Hands and Jayden “Addict” Rae continued the attack for the overs to come before Jayden was stitched up by Andrew Mollat for a well made 28. The attack continued and wickets still fell with Dargie departing for 44.
But then, and I mean then, NICHOLAS “DISTRICT HUNDRED NUMBER ONE” SANTICH JOINED THE CREASE. OH MY JUST FORGET EVERY ONE ELSE, THIS KID IS ELITE. Labuschagne who? Some late hitting from Connor Spangenberg and the hottest, funniest lad alive, Jack “jmar” Maraldo contributed gorgeous cameos to the masterclass of Santich. The Roos finally ended up on a very very respectable 265 with ‘Santwobbler’ ending up on 107* off 86 balls. After a tea that lacked desert options but was still a solid 7/10 Wanneroo took to the field, with Cody “better brother” Billington taking the new ball.

After an elite first over from Billington, Nick “Part time leggy” Santich steamed off a long run up to send thunderbolts down to the shaking openers (eye witnesses suggest that one even backed away). After many chances Gosnells finally lost their first wicket with a catch by the gorgeous J-mar, bowled by the even more beautiful Jesse “the quiet kid” Hadrill. But from then things didn’t go to plan, as Gosnells settled in and a gruesome quad injury was sustained by the ever so gorgeous J-mar. Down a player things went from bad to worse with Kade Povey and Kyle Richardson taking us to town both making 50 each. Even with a few late wickets it wasn’t enough for the boys in red, as Gosnells chased 265 in 58.3 overs.

Well that’s that, season done, weekend wrap done (sorry not up to Cameron MacDonald level). I Would also like to quickly say on behalf on the 17’s thankyou to Dave Bebb for scoring our final and a big thank you too to Andrew “Biggest Slats” Slattery, Jacob “Second grade” Bonner, Dave “Papa” Spangenberg, Mike “Likes grass” Dargie, Shane “Retirement Home soon” Maraldo for all your efforts this season to help us achieve the goal of finals. Thanks 19/20 see you all next season.

For full results visit our latest results page at https://www.wanneroodcc.com.au/results/

Shayna Jesani (Captain) v South Perth Round 2, 9^th February 2020

Runs 65
Balls 101
SR 64.36

Having started playing just 4 years ago Shayna has packed a lot in. First playing with and against boys for Lansdale she was selected for the WA State Schools U12’s for the National’s in Melbourne. Since joining Whitfords 15’s & now 18’s her cricket has gone from strength, being selected for Wanneroo Districts for the last 2 seasons, captain this season and currently representing WA State 15’s again at the National Championships in Canberra during March 2020.

Josie Beckett v Subiaco-Floreat Round 5, 8^th March 2020

Overs 8
Maidens 2
Runs 11
Wickets 5

Josie has played all of her Community Cricket at Whitfords, currently representing their 18’s. A natural sportswomen Josie also plays a high standard of netball. It is no surprise that Josie has taken 5 wickets in an innings, she has threatened on several occasions this season consistently opening the bowling and often bowing at the death. Josie just missed selection for the WA 15’s squad this year but performances like this will I’m sure keep Josie well and truly on their radar.

1st Grade  

Joondalup 7/219 (KR Smith 3/31) def. Wanneroo 9/215 (Del Borrello 64, DW Billington 42, KR Smith 30)

In the last game of the season the ones batted first against arch rival Joondalup with openers Riley Holly and Anthony Del Borrello looking to get them off to a flyer. However Holly became the early first victim after “smoking” one to mid-wicket. A partnership of 80 runs then formed between Del Borrello and Kelvin Smith with some fine stroke play from both batsman. The wicket of Kelvin sparked a collapse of 6/33 before the arrival of Deon Billington to the crease sparked a “Maxwell” like batting display inspired by the number on his shirt, bringing the ones back from the brink of a cheap total. The ones got through to an end of innings with a score of 9/215 (including a rare L. Poulter straight drive for 4 off the last ball). The top scorers were Del Borrello (64), Billington (42) and Smith (30).

Joondalup came out very aggressive with the bat with the first wicket falling at 1/56 in the 7th over (Billington making inroads again). This caused a fight back involving some aggressive fast bowling from Caiden Eaton and a couple quick wickets from Kelvin Smith, who was brought on earlier than usual, bringing the ones back into contention with Joondalup wobbling at 5/109. However it wasn’t meant to be with Joondalup resettling and chasing down the total in the 45th over 7 wickets down. Not the finish the boys were after, season over. On the bright side the Trust Tr33 have made it through to the finals, good luck boys!

2nd Grade  

Wanneroo 4/111 (Sadik 41*, Bonner 29) def. Joondalup 110 (Singh 3/14, Millar 3/18, Slattery 3/21)

Daniel ‘Top 3’ Sadik won the toss and sent Joondalup in on what looked like a bowler friendly wicket for the L.Millar v J.Slattery bowl off.  Both delivered as they have all season taking 3 apiece, finishing 2nd and 3rd on the 2nd grade wicket taking list. Gagandeep then proceeded to put on a clinic with 3/14 of his 10 overs, dismissing Joondalup for 110.

Joondalup would have been fairly confident if they had have flicked back through our scorebook but 110 wasn’t enough in the end, easily accounted for in 26 overs. Jacob ‘The Wall’ Bonner proved to be the rock with a gritty 29 getting us through the new ball allowing Sadik to capitalise on a left arm Dutch Fruiterer in the middle overs.  Good finish to a disappointing 2nd half of the season!

3rd Grade

Joondalup 188 (Dzodzos 3/31, Stumpers 3/44, Ardagh 2/33) def by WDCC 9/221 (Varsani 81, Kelsey 54, Atkinson 40)

The air was moist at Iluka, partly due to the humidity that follows light morning precipitation, and partly due to the nervous anticipation of no less than four Senior cricket teams whose finals hopes were to be decided following the events of the next few hours. Having been robbed by the weather in the previous round, the Wanneroo 3rd Grade Trust Tree looked metaphorically like Liam Neeson in Taken, just as he’s about to violently take back his daughter. The metaphorical daughter, in this case, was a finals berth and Joondalup were the nasty blokes about to receive their comeuppance…

John “Ellyse Perry” Walter won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. Mike “Ardog” Ardagh flashed inappropriately before Michael “The Claw” Kelsey and Aryan “A.V. DeBilliers” Versani put on a partnership of 111. Kelsey played a fantastic anchoring role, whilst Versani resembled a young Mark Waugh without the mullet, whipping the Joondalup boys over mid-wicket at will and scoring 81 off just 68 balls. When Versani was stumped, Joondalup’s joy was brief as Graeme “Spencer” Atkinson clipped and crunched through the offside for a chanceless 40. Kelsey sadly barbecued himself for 54 off 94, and whilst the rest of the batting line-up failed to match the top order heroics, the Roo boys were relatively happy with a total of 221 off 45 overs.

Joondalup started steadily in their response, before Connor “Royal Challengers Spangalore” Spangenberg found the opener’s edge. The four-way action provided by Mohammed “Spencer” Yaseen (0/15 off 5), Spangenberg (1/30 off 4), Walter and Hayden “Original Spencer” Stumpers made life difficult for the Joondalup top order, and paved the way for the spin twins Ardagh and Mathew “T20 Doz” Dzodzos to control the middle overs of the match.

The spin twins took five wickets between them as the batsmen found themselves trapped in the middle of the Ardagh-Dzodzos grind-fest. Ardagh finished with 2/33 whilst Dzodzos took 3/31, both off their 9 overs. As the required run rate escalated alarmingly, Stumpers (3/44 off 8.3) and Walter (0/32 off 8) bowled fantastic areas to crush the last gasps of air from the Centurions. Joondalup were eventually dismissed for 188, resulting in a fine 33 run victory and 5th place finish on the 3rd Grade ladder.

The lads were relieved and satisfied to get the job done, but emotions were mixed as their 1st Grade brothers were not so lucky. It was fantastic that the 1st Graders came over to support us after their game, and hopefully we’ll get a big crowd of club-mates, family and supporters to Bayswater this week.

4th Grade

Wanneroo 81 def by Joondalup 2/84

With Liam Carroll now playing two’s for the last game of the season, it was time for Dominic “yeah, I’ll do it” Boyce to step up and lead the fearless Fourth Grade side against table toppers Joondalup. No matter how the game panned out, it was always going to be a tough job for the new skip. His day didn’t start out too well, with Joondalup winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Joondalup got off to a flyer, dismissing Lachlan “it swung both ways” Dargie and Jack Maraldo in quick succession within the first few overs. Cody “does it all” Billington was tasked with the job of opening the batting as another Fourth Grade late change was made due to illness that struck late in the night before the game. Jack “top elbow” McDonald was the star with the bat with a top score of 20. Not much relief came after, with Jayden “party bus” Rae and Nic “bush chook” Santich both being dismissed for ducks. The tail wagged late, with Sharad “Nathan Lyon highlights” Jessani putting on 16 and Dominic “it’s alright lads, I got this” Boyce adding 13 to the score. Jared “doesn’t like double digits” Maunder added 9 to the score, humiliating the higher order batsman by scoring the first and only boundary of the Wanneroo innings. The courageous 4’s were eventually rolled for just 81.

And so it was time to bowl, after getting the okay from the prestigious men that run this club, the 4’s team strolled out into the field wearing the coloured retro kits. My oh my, was that a sight to behold. Not much luck was on offer early for the bowlers, until Jared Maunder struck, claiming the scalp of the opening bat thanks to a delightful one-handed catch by the skipper himself, Dominic Boyce. Thanks to some mid-ball antics, that wicket allowed Nic “what’s legspin?” Santich to come on first change, and send down some absolute thunderbolts, claiming a wicket with his very first ball. Not much else was on offer for the retro-wearing Roo boys as those two wickets were the only two to be taken for the rest of the day. A plethora of bowling changes were made, in the hope of trying to take another wicket and put the pressure back on the enemy. But it was not to be, with the winning runs scored in just the 24th over with a towering six off the bowling of Jack “I’ll take tippas job” McDonald after some of the crowd had convinced the skipper to bring Jack on. Although Wanneroo did go down to the old arch rival of Joondalup, dulling the moment at the time, the night afterwards relieved many a soul of that loss as the Paul Lucas medal was awarded.

Seventeens Women

Wanneroo 49 tied Subiaco Floreat 49 (Beckett 5/11, Schonfeldt 2/14)

Seventeens Men

Joondalup 8/100 (Haddrill 2/14, M Slattery 2/14) def by Wanneroo 8/110 (Stumpers 42)

Fifteens Men

Wanneroo 2/84 (Pearce 41, Brown 37*) def. Joondalup 3/83

Fourteens Men

Wanneroo 9/233 (Carroll 51, Marinovich 50, Holly 44, Brown 32) def. by Melville 6/234 (Skouros 2/29)

Thirteens Men

Bayswater-Morley 98 (De villiers 3/13) def. by Wanneroo 8/117 (Glamuzina 44)

A tough round for the Roos this week, with much to learn from in 1s and 2s, the 3s being limited to a draw in a rain affected match and the 4s leading the way with the only grade win. 17s and 15s both fell just short, however the 13s and 14s both had romping victories over the Abbett Park boys. The Seventeens women played out a nail-biter, cruelly taking a tie with Rockingham-Mandurah.

For full results visit our new and quite excellent latest results page at https://www.wanneroodcc.com.au/results/

1st Grade  

Scarborough 161 (Millar 3/47, Billington 2/6, Smith 2/19) def. WDCC 145 (K Smith 57, K Millar 29)

The Roos lost the toss at Kingsway and were sent into the field. The Scarborough openers put on 37 before Adam Smith got some reward for his work in his opening spell. From then on the roos were able to take consistent wickets largely thanks to Kyle Millar who bowled 28 overs on the trot and finished with 3-47. Adam Smith bowled beautifully with 2-19 from his 15 overs and Deon Billington finished off the tail with 2-6. We eventually rolled Scarborough for 161. The Roos openers had to face a tricky 12 over period to finish the day but came away without losing a wicket finishing the day 0-16.

The following week the boys resumed on 0-16, losing an early wicket brought Kelvin to the crease who put on a 69 run partnership with Kyle. When Kyle was dismissed after his gritty innings of 29 we required a further 72 runs to win with 8 wickets in hand. The Roos then lost a bunch of consistent wickets to collapse to 7-138 with Kelvin Smith the only one showing any resistance who made 57. We were eventually bowled out for 145, a very disappointing result for the boys but one we can hopefully learn and bounce back from in the last two games to push for a finals birth.

2nd Grade  

Scarborough 85 (Millar 4/16, J Slattery 2/14, C Quelch 2/17) & 5/275 (Millar 3/33) def. WDCC 76 (Fryer 52*)

Starting the day with good a warm up, skipper Dan “aerodynamic” Sadik met the umpires for a bail toss. Yes a bail toss! No-one knew how it works but Dan the man said we will bowl. Everyone bowled a treat on a green seamer with extra pop, thanks to the Scarborough curator who didn’t know there was a game on the Saturday. Leeroy “the midland brick Facebook sensation” Millar bowled particularly well with figures of 6 overs 4/16. Chris “new dad” Quelch 2/17, and Jordan “coming 3rd for wickets in 2’s overall” Slattery with 2/14 chipped in as well.

Then all we had to do was chase down 85. Well batted my favourite South African of all time Donny “De Villiers” Fryer with 52. And believe it or not we lost (with some horrible decisions) only reaching 76. They batted out the day in the second week on a flatty reaching 5/275. Another Stella bowling performance by L Millar with 9 overs 3/33

3rd Grade

Wanneroo 5/92 (Varsani 27) drew Scarborough 187 (Dzodzos 3/42, J Walter 2/54)

After the 17s spent a tough 60 overs in the field, welcomed back captain John ‘Ellyse Perry’ Walter who duly lost the toss once more and the roo boys were banished to the field.

Our openers tied the two openers down without breakthrough until Walts did what Walts does, and got a few breakthroughs (2-54 off 18). The Scarborough batsmen then built a small partnership until reincarnated spinner Mathew ‘Shoe artist’ Dzodzos (3-42 off 20) and Gra ‘Economy?’ Atkinson (1-17 off 13) spun a web, reducing the chances of Scarborough scoring a solid total. The Roos put a marvellous performance together bowling them out for 187, especially considering the Abbett St boys were three down at tea. Needing to survive 2 nervous overs at the end of the day, Cam ”mo’ MacDonald and Jacob ‘TIM MOVE!’ Bonner performed admirably in surviving the fresh duke.

On an overcast Saturday the roos lost a few early wickets as Aryan ‘caught again’ Varsani (27) entered relieving some of the pressure before the long lunch break. The rain held up play for the whole session with all teams feasting on the delicious Wanneroo tea. After the slow long drizzle had stopped and a bit of confusion with the umpires, the boys went out and batted until 6.30pm with Connor ‘catches win matches’ Spangenberg (18 off 73) and Allan ‘Viv Richards’ Hall (9 off 74) ensuring the draw, and subsequently retaining our spot in the top 6.

4th Grade

Scarborough 210 (Ong 3/35, Santich 2/15, Forssman 2/33, Jessani 2/47) def. by WDCC 283 (Forssman 98, Carroll 71)

After Liam “Cymbols” Carroll lost the toss at Abbett Park the Fours were sent into bat. Off to a good start as Sharad Jessani had his thumb blown off first ball of the game leaving everyone scrambling to put pads on. Liam Carroll and Darcy ‘fours bully’ Forssman put on a partnership for the ages batting from the second ball of the game till after tea putting on 185 for the 2nd wicket (Liam 71 and Darcy 98). After these two fell there was a bit of a collapse but some hitting from Jack Maraldo and Nick ‘tiprat’ Santich got us to a mammoth total of 283.

Next week 2 early wickets fell to Tyler Ong and Jared Maunder. ‘Tongs’ soon after got the key wicket and then another leaving Scarborough struggling at 4/44. Through the middle over the spin twins Sharad Jessani and Darcy Forssman settled in taking 2 apiece before some superb stodging from the Scarborough lower order delayed the inevitable result, Scarborough bowled out for 210 and the fours getting the points.

Seventeens Women

Wanneroo 114 tied Rockingham-Mandurah 8/114 (Jones 3/17, Harvey 2/15, Schonfeldt 2/21)

Our female Roo’s found the winning touch in Round 3 only for it to be cruelly taken away after stumps had been called. We were much improved from the confidence we gained from in Round 2. However in Round 3 we stuttered throughout our innings with the top order not able to establish any meaningful partnerships. Thankfully our middle/lower order came up trumps. In particular Emilie Nicholls (22) and Mathilda Stillitano (16) batted sensibly but also with plenty of gusto, crucially rotating the strike and showing what could be achieved with a positive intent. We still felt very light 114 at close.

However some carefully chosen upbeat messages were embraced by the team who produced a cohesive team effort that if bottled would be priceless. Our bowling was of length, disciplined and at the stumps. Our fielding was collective, also showed positive intent and made Rocky Mandurah battle for every precious run. Everyone that bowled that day bowled for one another in partnerships; it was a passage of play that made all realise that this is what we had been setting ourselves as standards. Rather than name the bowlers it would be more appropriate to take a look at MyCricket and see how impressive all their figures are.

A nail-biting final over saw Emma Schonfeldt do everything asked of her and we secured the victory. However having discussed with the officials after stumps we were penalised for a slow over rate (1 over penalty = 6 runs) and the match was tied. We pride ourselves in being humble in victory and in defeat and although disappointed honoured the officials decision; our collective performance and learning from Round 3 will always exceed the final result.

Seventeens Men

Wanneroo 9/166 (Santich 34, J McDonald 34, Maraldo 31) def. by Scarborough 7/184 (Maraldo 4/38)

After Jack “allergic to winning the toss” McDonald once again called wrong, the 17s were forced to bowl first. The gulls openers had gotten off to a steady start with opening bowlers Connor “major nuff” Spangenberg and Hayden “sticks” Stumpers both being unrewarded for bowling well. With Scarborough only 1 down at tea, the roos were looking like they would have to chase a big 220+ total. After tea, in came a new batsman as a result of the opener retiring. McDonald senses this as an opportunity to attack and brought on Reece “30 min stretch man” and set attacking fields to send fear to the gulls batters. Another partnership was being built until some sharp work was done by Jesse “mute” Haddrill to run out the set batsman. Jack “turtle” Maraldo then bowled a great off spinning spell taking 4/38 off his 12 overs sparking a collapse. Scarborough finishing 7/188 off their 60 overs.

The following week arrived and as Sharad “protos ambassador” Jessani has taken his seat in his self-adopted role as the iPad scorer, the run chase began. As opening batsman Lachlan “coffee table 1 Lachlan 0” Dargie was concussed during the week after an accident, Jack “Graeme Swann” Maraldo was promoted to open the batting along with Sam “can’t wait for the F1 next year” Williams. The 17s then did their best Japan in the U19s World Cup impression and proceeded to lose 3/0. Scoring was dried up as a result along with the help of a village cricket ring field. Maraldo was next to be dismissed after skying a pull shot after a well-made 31. Jack “Captain Jack” joined Connor “still hitting cricket balls” Spangenberg with a rebuild desperately being needed. As the pair started to become more comfortable Connor was dismissed after a gritty 14 with the score now 5/83. A 30 run partnership between Mc Donald (34 off 73) and Nick “tiprat” Santich (34 off 58) left the roos needing almost 7 an over for the last 10 overs which proved to be too much in the end with the boys finishing 9/166 falling 20 runs short.

Fifteens Men

Scarborough 8/168 (Lonnie 4/34, C Billington 2/32) def. Wanneroo 10/144 (C Billington 44)

Fourteens Men

Scarborough 84 (Walker 3/17, Jessani 2/15, Carroll 2/27) def. by WDCC 9/204 (Gillespie 58, Marinovich 34, Brown 25)

The boys travelled to Abbett Park, won the toss and had a bat. Another good opening partnership with Blake Holly and Riley Gillespie which ended on 46 with Blake out. When Tyler was dismissed with the score on 87, Jordan Marinovich came in at 4 looking to increase the run rate and that he did with a run a ball 34 including a maximum. With the batting line up changed due to looking for quick runs, Owen Brown came in at 5 and played his role with 25 off 14 including an 80 metre bomb. The rest of the batting line up did their job chasing quick runs and ended up with a total of 204. Again the highlight of the innings was Riley who made another 50, dismissed for 58.

Rhys Walker and Owen Brown opened the bowling and each got an early wicket with the Scarborough boys trying to go after quick runs. Regular wickets and before long it appeared that Scarborough weren’t going to chase down the target. Fielding was a highlight with Matt Skouros and Blake creating runouts. Best of the Bowlers was Rhys with three wickets with both spinners in Matt Carroll and Tarun Jessani picking up two each.

The boys then wandered over to watch the U13’s finish their game and join in to sing the song after a couple of great wins. The U14’s finished their regular season on top and have earnt a home Semi Final this Sunday v Rockingham Mandurah for a place in the Grand Final.

Thirteens Men

Scarborough 134 (Van de Velde 4/19, Davey 2/15) def. by WDCC 6/153 (Jones 59, Richards 38, Hollick 2/34)

On Sunday the Under 13’s took on the boys from Scarborough at Abbett Park and while Scarborough were top of the table it was shaping up to be a well contested game. We had played poorly the previous game against Mt Lawley but had 2 real good training sessions in preparation.  Captain Jake again won the toss and we were batting first. Our batting was steady in the first 20 overs, but we needed to get a wriggle on if we were going to set a defendable total. Ben Jones batted aggressively and whilst he rode his luck was able to produce the innings of the match with an excellent 59. He was well supported by Kai Richards with 38. Some excellent lower order batting from our fast bowlers managed to elevate us to a very competitive 6 for 153 off 40 overs.

Scarborough came out looking to fire and with excellent length bowling we were able to snare an early wicket. A partnership of 64 for the second wicket looked to have Scarborough in front but scoreboard pressure and a great belief in each other from the boys saw the good guys take some important wickets while also bringing the run rate into the game. A caught and bowled by Alex Van de Velde and the celebration really was the spark and the good guys then ran all over them with the last 7 wickets falling for 24 runs and going on to bowl them out for 134, winning by 19 runs. Alex Van de Velde was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 19 and Hayden Davey 2 for 15.

It was a great win by the boys and to have the support of the 14’s boys at the end and to have both the 13’s and 14’s belt out the song together at Abbett Park was a treat to all. On Sunday we will be taking on Perth CC in a semi-final at Kingsway and we are looking forward to putting our best foot forward again. Well done boys.

Our female Roo’s may have struggled in Round 1 but were much improved in Round 2, the result not going our way but the performance was important to get our campaign back on track. Winning the toss and electing to bat first after last week was an impressive statement against a strong South Perth side. Our top 4 looked stronger and more at home and applying the basics of patient batting. The standout being Shayna Jesani who batted for just under 2 hours and constructed a well-earned 65 before falling when the score was 150. Several wickets fell after Shayna’s departure however prior to that Danni Eckley looked at home batting at 3 and Eva Salisbury batted well coming in at 4.  158 all out felt a bit light and it proved to be once South Perth got going.

However Josie Beckett made South Perth think again trapping their opener LB when the score was just 5. However this was short lived as our next wicket didn’t arrive until the score was on 95, a sound foundation from South Perth however with notable fine bowling efforts from the spin of Kristin Jones and Emma Wilson. Finally Shayna Jesani capped a fine game taking a wicket for only 17 from a good accurate spell.

Worth noting also that we averaged 10 wides per game in the T 20 comp, today as a collective we produced 26 wides, taking the learning from this will help with our development and the importance of bowling at the stumps.

Despite a masterful home tea once again, on the field it was a mixed round for Wanneroo this week, with victory going to the 3s, 4s, 17s and 14s. The Ones put up a brave chase but ultimately fell short, the Twos dominated day 2 to only lose on first innings, the human plank Jacob Bonner set a personal best with the blade to lead the Threes and the two Jacks came together to carry the Fours.

1st Grade  

Melville 274 (Millar 3/52, Eaton 2/18, K Smith 2/35, Billington 2/73) def. WDCC 259 (Del Borrello 63, Richards 57*, Henry 28)

The Roos lost the toss at Thompkins and were required to field. Getting off to a good start, Melville were 2-28 with Caiden Eaton picking up both opening wickets, backing up his recent “how good am I?” attitude change. Unfortunately for the Roos, the wickets halted, with the pitch flattening out throughout the day. Melville put on nearly 150 for the third wicket until Kelvin Smith broke the partnership. At 3-185, Melville looked like posting a total well over 300. But some restrictive bowling from our spin trio (Millar, Billington and K Smith) kept Melville to 274 all out. Kyle Millar finishing with 3, whilst Eaton, K Smith and Billington all had 2 poles a piece.

Notable events during the bowling innings include Rob Richards’ body still thinking he’s 30kg heavier and breaking his foot whilst running. Whilst Travis Birt and Nathan Henry were involved in what Melville would consider to be the worst display of sportsmanship since the underarm delivery.

The following week, the Roos began their batting innings. An early run out left the Roos at 1-11 and wickets consistently fell leaving Wanneroo at 4-89. Birt and DelBorrello combined for a partnership of 54 before Birt was dismissed. Tony batted aggressively for his 63 off 57 before departing. In desperate need of a partnership, Richards and Henry combined nicely for 61. Special mention to Kelvin Smith for running every single run on behalf of Richo, with Rob later labelling batting with three people “mint”. The game came down to the wire and ultimately Wanneroo were dismissed for 259, falling 15 runs short. This was despite a fighting innings from an injured Richards, who finished on 57 not out.

Onwards and upwards for the 1s.

2nd Grade  

Wanneroo 36 (Gagandeep Singh 9*) and 9/200 (Holly 63, Millar 39, M Slattery 33) def. FIRST INNINGS by Melville 112 (Sadik 4/36, J Slattery 2/4, Singh 2/19) and 6/124 (Fryer 2/23)

The tea was good. We didn’t lose outright.

3rd Grade

Melville 191 (Yaseen 4/47, Dzodzos 3/47, C Spangenberg 2/20) def. by Wanneroo 6/238 (Bonner 84, Varsani 39, Spangenberg 32, Kelsey 27)

4th Grade

Wanneroo 212 (Maraldo 59, Mc Donald 58) def. Melville 146 (Williams 3/15, Maunder 3/38, Jessani 2/31)

The day started out with Captain Liam “loudest front pad” winning the important toss and electing to listen to Triple J Hottest 100. The openers got off to a steady start for Wanneroo but suffered the first wobble of the day with a minor collapse – seeing them from an unbroken 36 to 3-45. This only brought the two Jacks together who ended up putting on a dynamic partnership of 115. Jack “of diamonds” McDonald and Jack “of Hearts” Maraldo both made 50 before throwing away a chance for a ton in order to listen to the final 5 songs on the Triple J countdown, both believing it was worth it to hear Dance Monkey come in at 4.  After some help from the umpire firing anyone who got hit on the pads the Roos were bowled out for 212, with 10 overs left in the day to bowl at Melville. Tyler “hairless” Ong took the only wicket of the evening thanks to some very convincing appealing from the slip cordon.

Play resumed the week after with Melville needing 200 runs and 9 wickets in hand. Jared “into the wind specialist” Maunder picking up three wickets in his spell to put Melville on the back foot. Samuel “don’t let him score” Williams, after getting alpha-ed by Sharad “shoulders too big for his head” Jessani, was forced to bowl into the breeze and in no time was on a hat-trick. Jack “worst bat-pad” Maroldo put his name up there with some of the games greats like Shane Warne as players who dropped a hatrick ball. Sam Williams would eventually end up with 3 wickets for the day as well. Melville were 9 down with 110 runs still to get, but after a difficult drop catch, fighting last wicket partnership and visions of the Ashes 3rd test at Headingly lurked, Sharad Jessani took the final wicket resulting in Wanneroo winning by 66 runs.

U17s Womens

Our female Roo’s struggled in Round 1 of the 40 over matches away v Melville.  Melville showed their strength with a solid opening stand that made for a sound foundation with which to build a healthy total of 228 for the loss of just 4 wickets. Wickets were shared 1 apiece through 2 good spells from Josie Becket, Shayna Jesani, Tene Crafford and finally the accuracy and efficiency of Emma Harvey who snagged Melville’s top scorer!  The spin of Kristin Jones and Emma Wilson also gave us an added focus to our attack.

Our batting display has been seen before, dismissals were either bowled or caught and our overall batting remains an area of improvement. Resilience was offered initially from Shayna Jesani and Danni Eckley but partners came and went ever too quickly. Other notable batting partnerships were shared by Emilie Nicholls, Breanna Giandzi and Kristin Jones but regardless of our effort our opponents were just too strong today and our total fell well short.

U15s Mens

Wanneroo v Melville

In a 50 over fixture we won the toss and had a bat. The boys soon found out that Melville had a gun bowler with serious pace hitting a couple of helmets and bodies. The absolute stand out and only player to make any runs of note was Mitchell Trimboli who carried his bat finishing on 37* with our total at a modest 127. What made the knock even more impressive was that Mitch copped a knock on his wrist in the first over of the day and battled through to find out later he has a fracture and will be out for the best part of the season.

The boys came back on day 2, minus Mitch, and started OK with Cody Billington and Mitchell Lonnie keeping it tight but Melville were doing it easily. Enter the spinners in Matt Carroll and Riley Wills to put the squeeze on and pick up a wicket each and suddenly we were back in the game with some good fielding. In was real tight, however in the end Melville just got over the line with Cody the best of the bowlers with 2 for 24.

Some promising signs with a couple of wins prior to this game and finishing off the season well.

U14s Mens

Wanneroo vs Mt Lawley

We were put into bat in a game where we were playing a team that hadn’t won a game, the boys were expecting to have a comfortable win. Our openers in Blake Holly and Riley Gillespie put on another plus 50 partnership with Blake going for 37 on a pitch that wasn’t easy to score on with the run rate lower than planned. Tyler Brown came in and hit some bombs before he was dismissed, we lost a couple more wickets and Matt Carroll finished off the innings with a quick 24*. The highlight was Riley making 72 and unfortunately being run out on the last ball of the innings.

With 175 on the board it appeared from early on that it was going to be too much for Mt Lawley with wickets coming at regular intervals. There were some highlights in the field including Matt Skouros’s great catch and Tyler’s two sharp catches. Best of the bowlers were Tarun Jessani with 3 for 19 and Matt Carroll 2 for 13.

The win secured the boys a top two position and put them on top with one game to go before finals.

U13s Mens

Wanneroo vs Mt Lawley

In what was promising to be a match of great importance for the future of our season it became a big letdown. Winning the toss we batted first on a nice Kingsway wicket, the outfield appeared spongy and was a little slow. Our openers got us off to a solid start with a 33 run partnership which featured aggressive running between the wickets from Xander Glamuzina and Kai Richards before Kai was out caught behind. At drinks we were in a nice position at 2 for 80. After the break we lost Xander for a well made 27 and then 2 costly runouts saw us slump from 2 for 85 to 5 for 86. Alex Van Der Velde supplied us with some valued lower order runs making a confident 21. With Mt Lawley right behind the over rate it was important that we got through to 3.25pm and as such we were all out 5 minutes before the end and still 4 and a bit overs to go for 142. We learnt an important lesson about using all our overs.

Our bowling performance started with promise with skipper Jake O’Shea again leading from the front but with chances going begging behind the wicket and some frustrating stroke play from the Mt Lawley top order they began to get away from us. We missed around 5 catches which makes it difficult with a small total. Inconsistent lengths and some poor fielding enabled Mt Lawley to get over the line in the end. Hayden Cavanagh was the best of our bowlers with 2 for 20.

Some tough lessons learnt on the day and we will be looking for an improved team effort against Scarborough in 2 weeks’ time.

The Roos came up against a sterner test this round, going up against a solid Willeton outfit who challenged the boys in red in each grade. The Ones were the only side to triumph, in doing so securing second spot in the One Day comp. Of note, they are also three from three post-Christmas.

1st Grade  

Wanneroo 8/211 (Del Borrello 35, Richards 33, Holly 31) def. Willeton 109 (Millar 3/33, Poulter 2/18, Billington 2/12)

After losing the toss and being sent into bat, the Roos opening pair of Rob Richards and Del Borrello got to work. Starting the innings well and building yet another stable opening partnership with Richards contributing 33 and Del Borrello contributing 35. Willetton managed to get a couple of wickets after drinks with no batsman really pushing on. Solid contributions of 27 from Jordan Silk (Josh Mason) and 22 from Kyle ‘Funky Tour Guide’ Millar helped steady the ship. The Roos were in a bit of trouble at 6-160 when a vital 50 run partnership between Riley Holly (31) and Deon Billington (15) getting the boys to 211. An excellent display of manipulating the field and quick running between the wickets to end the innings.

With a below par score on the board, as usual Adam Smith was probing and unrelenting with his line and length which was rewarded with an early wicket. With early pressure being built in the power play, Lachy Poulter didn’t let his foot of the throat and cashed in with 2 wickets in his first spell which cracked the game open for the Roos. An excellent spell of fast bowling. The new spin twins of the toddler Deon Billington and ageing veteran Kyle Millar put on a heavy squeeze which brought about 2 and 3 wickets respectively and effectively eliminating any hope the Willeton Dragons had in chasing our score.

2nd Grade  

Willeton 6/205 (Fryer 2/36) def. Wanneroo 188 (Ardagh 37, Douglas 35)

After continuing their unbeaten run of losing the toss and bowling, Wanneroo were set to strike at the top of the table Dragons. Early efforts were under par however, with bowlers struggling to hit the right lengths and fielders having problems taking catches (as well as picking the ball up out of the not-even-slightly red bricks in the background). Thankfully the Veteran Trundler Chris Quelch broke the opening partnership with an lbw shout that was plumb enough for the batsmen to start walking – even before Billy the Kid (aka the Umpire) could fire him. The Dragons once again settled, taking singles well, punishing anything worth punishing and generally threatening to set a large first innings score. The Veteran Point Fielder Chris Quelch once again stood up to create a breakthrough when the batsmen had Smith/Finchesque blowup between the wickets. This was followed soon afterwards by another wicket off Michael Ardagh’s ‘loopy as s*** spin’ (batsmen’s words, not mine).  Once the top 3 batsmen were back in the shed the opposition’s lineup didn’t have much left, as Willeton were well contained for the remainder of the innings by a more spirited fielding effort and superb restrictive spells by Donavinn Fryer and Gagandeep Singh.

Chasing 205, the Magoos started well thanks to a fast scoring opening partnership between old boys Michael Ardagh and Joel Charles. Unfortunately both were removed after a start, which ultimately turned out to be a theme for the day. Mitch ‘the better on the day’ Slattery, needing to put witnessing child-abuse to the back of his mind, looked set to lead us to the target – however he became a victim of a dismissal straight from the Joel Wilson School of Umpiring and thereafter did his best Callum Douglas impression. The real Callum Douglas and the real Ellen DeGeneres both set up to continue the chase but once again could not capitalise on starts. Left with a hefty chase for the last wicket the Veteran Pinch-Hitter Chris Quelch did his best to get us over the line, but unfortunately fell with 17 still to get.

A disappointing end to what could have been a comprehensive towelling of the current top team, the Magoos now sit a solitary point outside the top 6.

3rd Grade

Wanneroo 168 (Varsani 45, Stumpers 31) def. by Willeton 2/169

The former Trust Tree took on Willetton (like every other grade) with cemented in Captain Graeme ‘skip’ Atkinson winning the toss and sagely deciding to bat first. Cam ‘best moustache’ MacDonald and Tim ‘worst moustache’ Harris getting us off to a good start to be on 0/28 after 8. A familiar rot set in, with 4 wickets falling across the next 8 overs leaving us on a much less respectable 4/42. Aryan spent some time at the crease, making batting look easy, finishing on a really good 45. Once he fell a 2^nd collapse set in and it was only due to a sensational 10th wicket partnership from Yaseen and Hayden ‘threatening-all-rounder-status’ Stumpers that the Threes managed to scrape to a potentially defendable target of 168.

Willetton came out to bat in 5^th gear for the first few overs, swinging at everything and unfortunately getting quite lucky several times. They passed 30 in the 4^th over. Despite our final wicket heroics, our ‘potentially defendable’ score turned out not to be ‘actually defendable,’ with Willetton chasing it down with ease.

4th Grade

Willeton 217 (Maunder 3/31, Forssman 4/32) def. Wanneroo 123 (Bonner 55, Carroll 33)

The day started with our fearless leader losing the toss and the opposition opting to bat. As the scheduled start of play came around, Wanneroo had only 7 players ready to field, with the 17’s still coming from Kingsway. Willetton got off to a flyer, going at 7 runs an over for most of the first few overs, we knew the poor turnout to the team breakfast was a sign of something bad to come. Until the Roo boys struck. Sam “ooh Somerset” Williams throwing down the stumps to claim the first wicket of the day. A steady stream of runs was to continue for the home side, and they thought they had it easy, that was until Darcy “can I have the champ burger please” Forssman struck, taking 3 wickets in relatively quick succession. Runs piled on again as Willetton put together another partnership until catastrophe struck in the form of another run out. The teamwork of some great foxing by Liam “Parry” Carroll dropping what would’ve been a screamer of a catch, only for Darcy to pick up the left overs and throw the ball to the keepers end, affecting the run out. It came to the final 10 overs which were left to Tyler “Kerry’s Photo Business” Ong and Jared “only takes bowleds’ in Fourth Grade” Maunder to tighten up the scoring, with Jared taking 3 wickets in those final overs. Willetton left Wanneroo to chase down 218 to win.

Jacob “consider me a Third Grade player” Bonner and Sam Williams opened the batting, getting us off to a nice enough start. But then carnage happened, and it happened quickly. 3 wickets were lost for the almighty total of 2 whole runs within quick succession through the likes of Sam “sorry, got work” Williams, Jaymin “hurry up Dargie, don’t make me wicketkeep” Patel, and Lachlan “I mow the outfield” Dargie. Liam “I’ll steady the ship” Carroll came in and a partnership between him and Bonner of 54 was looking like just what we needed, especially when both were batting in their red caps, that is the look of Fourth Grade cricket. But it was not to be when Liam was dismissed on 33 by guiding one down first slips throat, and from then on, a win for Wanneroo was pretty much doomed. Wickets fell as if they were in high demand throughout the day, with Wanneroo finally being dismissed for 123 after 36.3 overs, but one shining light did prevail with Jacob “I batted in my cap” Bonner carrying his bat to end on 55*.

Mens Seventeens

Wanneroo 6/110 (Gerrand 58*) def. by Willetton 2/119

Fifteens Men

Willetton 41 (Corbellini 3/6, M Carroll 2/6, C Billington 2/9) def. by Wanneroo 3/100 (Brown 25)

The men in red have started the New Year well, with the 1s, 2s and 3s are two for two in 2020, all wins either in completely dominant displays or nail biters where players put their hands up to get their teams across the line. The main individual highlights were centuries to Kelvin Smith and Rob Richards, ‘Michelles’ to Yaseen and Caiden Eaton and a (strongly assisted) hatrick to the steak hog Jodran Slattery! To top this off, the A’s have secured a position in the one day league semi-final on February 9.

1st Grade  

Fremantle 204 (Billington 4/46, Millar 2/31) def. by Wanneroo 5/294 (Smith 151, Richards 96, Mason 28*)

Wanneroo lost the Toss and got sent in to bat by Fremantle at Stevens reserve. The day started off unlucky with Del Borrello given out caught behind of his thigh pad, however that was the start of the biggest partnership of the year between Kelvin Smith and Robert Richards (234 for the 2nd wicket). Robert Richards scored 94 off 124 deliveries with 8 fours and one big six whilst at the other end we witnessed the first 150 for Wanneroo since 2014 with Kelvin Smith scoring 151 off 141 deliveries, smoking 14 fours and 3 sixes. Smith departed in the 45th over and Josh ‘Faulkner’ Mason finished off the innings nicely with 28 off 25 balls. Wanneroo ended up on 5/294 off their 50 overs.

Fremantle then begun their chase and Caiden Eaton, coming off his first grade five-fa the week before, removed the Fremantle captain for 0 in the first over. Despite the early wicket Fremantle took advantage off the nice pitch and outfield and were 1/70 after ten overs. Deon Billington, Kelvin Smith and Robert Richards then wrestled back the momentum with everyone bowling economically which brought about some wickets. Deon Billington finished with ten overs 4/45, kelvin with 1/44 of his ten, Kyle Millar 2/31 off his 9 and Richards 1/10 of his 5.

It was a great team effort in the field and Wanneroo have now made one day league semi-final on February 9.

2nd Grade  

Wanneroo 2/111 (Ardagh 65*, Charles 33*) def. Fremantle 110 (J Slattery 4/29, Walter 2/5, Poulter 2/17)

After losing the toss, the Roos were forced to bowl first. Leigh Miller got us off to a great start with an early wicket. The roos looked like they were going to be chasing a big total as the Freo boys started to build a partnership, but as they were getting their groove on Lachy ‘Big Chicken’ Poulter delivered a very quick in-swinging ball that required the umpire to re-adjust the stumps. After the new recruit Jimmy Boyland finished his spell, in came big steaming fast bowler Jordan ‘Chicken Chorizo’ Slattery who delivered possibly one of the best balls of his career which saw Fremantle sitting at 3 for 65. Then came the madness of Jordan’s next over. The first ball of the over saw Jordan clean rip the opener who was looking very comfortable, soon followed by the number 6 who had his front pad blown off first ball, causing mayhem in the Fremantle dressing room. Out came the #7 who rationally informed his partner that for the hatrick ball he would leave anything that is not hitting the stumps.

In comes Jordan….. steaming in…….. the ball is wobbled down……. a nice juicy half volley for the batsman to leave or pump through the covers, so he hits in the air towards the mid-off fielder. The catch was taken comfortably by Leigh and Jordan was off, charging around like Ryan Harris at the WACA, though thankfully Donavinn Fryer saved us all some running by tackling Jordan to the floor before he got too far. After the celebrations of Jordan’s first hat-trick for Wanneroo the #8 came to the crease with everyone thinking surely he can’t get 4 in a row. The ball bowled was the perfect delivery, a little bit of out-swing which caught the edge but saw it just fall in front of Joel Charles at second slip. A couple of overs later Jordan finished his spell and his maximum overs with figures of 4-29 off 10 – surely walking off happy enough that he would find no need to abuse his brother for the rest of the day. Well bowled Jordan.

The Roos still had work to do but luckily enough Lachy Poulter (2-17 off 6), Donavinn Fryer (1-13 off 4) and John ‘The Mop’ Walter (2-5 off 3.1 overs) finished off the Fremantle tail with Wanneroo left to chase 110 off 50 overs.

The innings started with a strong start by the returning Michael Ardagh, before Cameron MacDonald was dismissed. Out came Callum Douglas who got his pad blown off first ball (still yet to be found), this saw the Roos 2 for 15. Fortunately out walked Joel Charles who survived the hat-trick ball and went on to build a partnership with Michael Ardagh. The two experienced left-ganders went on to cruise to victory with Michael Ardagh passing 50 and finishing up on 65 off 83 balls and Joel Charles finishing up on 33 off 45 balls, which led to the Roos getting the job done comfortably in 24 overs, making it 3 wins on the trot.

Congratulations to Joel Charles for his 50^th game in 2^nd grade, surely one of his finest achievements.

3rd Grade

Fremantle 225 (Yaseen 6/30, Dzodzos 3/38) def. by Wanneroo 8/227 (Varsani 45, Kelsey 43, McDonald 30)

With the man himself, Gra stepping in as captain, he started off on a high, winning the toss and putting Freo in the field on what was a batting friendly pitch.

Tim Harris and Jacob Bonner started proceedings off nicely seeing the new ball off. Michael was next to the crease after Tim departed and Michael looked set for a busy innings at the crease, smashing boundaries and reverse sweeping with ease. If you know Michael, you’ll know he hates a 50, so he let himself get caught for 43. Aryan, the man who hates the game, contributed nicely with a 54 ball 45. Jack Mc Donald had real intent scoring a quick 30 to finish us on 8/221, with Fremantle slow on the overate we got given 6 extra runs which brought the total to 8/227.

Now it was our turn with the ball, Freo copying us by getting off to a good start – the first wicket coming from Yaseen. From here on forward it was 3 quick wickets to have the hosts at 3/81, these 2 wickets coming from the reformed bowler Doz, who clean ripped both batsman with his super quick spin bowling. With a couple of partnerships forming the game was in the balance when Freo were 5/192, but hard work soon had us rewarded picking up 4 quick wickets leaving them at 8/199. Leaning to a tight finish, and supported by the early finishing Ones, Yas picked up the last 2 wickets in the last over of the day seeing us to victory by two runs. Yas, bowling rockets into the wind, finished the day with his best figures for the club (6-30 off 9).

4th Grade

Wanneroo 153 (C Spangenberg 25*) def. by Fremantle 4/157 (S Jessani 3/25)

Wanneroo would bat first, with Jayden ‘Chris made more runs’ Ray and Jack ‘speed dealers’ Maraldo getting the roos off to an aggressive start. But once the first wicket fell, the 4s would struggle to gain momentum, losing wickets at key moments. Before an incredible last wicket partnership between Sharad ‘did you go on holiday?’ Jessani and Connor “still got 8 weeks’ Spangenberg got the score to 153.

Fremantle would be kept under pressure early on, scoring slowly. This would continue for much of the day, but the roos would struggle to get the key wickets required to defend a low score. The first wicket came at 100, thanks to Sharad ’Our hero’ Jessani, who carried on to pick up 3 amongst a late flow of wickets. He was supported by Jarred ‘Professor’ Maunder’ who took 1 wicket in a spell that deserved more.

Unfortunately it was not enough, with Freo getting over the line with 6 overs and 6 wickets to spare.

Mens Seventeens v Gosnells

The 17s had to trek all the way to Sutherlands Park to face the mighty Gosnells with light blue skies forecasted for the day. Jack ‘anorexic’ McDonald flips confidently and wins in his favour electing to bat first. What seemed to be a good batting wicket was quickly proven otherwise as 3 wickets tumble in the first 3 overs. It was evident that a good partnership was needed to pose a threat to the Gosnell attack, with two heroes seemingly rising to the occasion. A handy 50 run partnership was formed between Lachlan ‘sorry’ Dargie with a fighting 18 and Jack ‘captain courageous’ McDonald who timed his way to a well fought 42 off 43 rocks, putting the Roos in a superior position. Quick fire hitting from the tail was needed and one man didn’t disappoint. Jessie “a man of many words” Hadrill posing a cheeky 13 off 6, hitting a majestic maximum on the last ball of the innings over deep midwickets head, posing a conceivable total of 104 on the board.

The opening bowlers dried the Gosnell openers for runs before Jessie “Silent Achiever” Hadrill’s stroke of genius came into play making the batsmen play a convincing shot in the air to run machine Connor “physically challenged” Spangenberg in mid-off who defies gravity and snags a Steve Smith inspired horizontal mid-air catch with his right non-crippled hand, as the parents from both oppositions look in astonishment (yes it’s as good as it sounds), putting the Roos in a strong opening position. A handy Gosnells partnership was formed before Aryan “should’ve been 4fa” Varsani bowled some handy half trackers, bagging himself 2/15 off his 3 overs, breaking the unbearable Gosi partnership which ultimately put the Roos back in the game. Fielding pressure and leadership expertise was applied making the run chase go down to the wire in the very last over. The Gosi’s needed 2 off of the last two balls, stealing the win from the Roos with one ball remaining.

Mens Seventeens v Fremantle

Fremantle 4/105 (S Jessani 2/20, NR Santich 2/22) def. by Wanneroo 7/109 (L Dargie 26*)

Wanneroo would bowl first at Freo, with the dockers getting off too a reasonable start at Stevens. Before sharad ‘did you go on holiday’ Jessani would break the partnership cleaning up the opening batter. He would then return getting the remaining opening batter (definitely not getting reverse sweeped twice in two balls by the 14 year old). From there the roos would continue to apply the pressure, as freo would finish on 4/105. With Nick ‘tippa’ Santich and Sharad getting 2 wickets each.

The roos wouldn’t have what you call a perfect start, losing 5/41 half way through the innings. But fear not! With Jessy ‘where’s your hair gone’ Haddril and Lachie ‘who I think played state ice hockey once’ Dargie getting the roos back on track and in a commanding position. The roos would end up getting the total with 4 overs to spare. Lachie finishing off the run chase with an excellent 26 not out.

We now have a crucial game next week against Willeton.

Fifteens Men

Wanneroo 8/91 def. Fremantle 5/90

Fourteens Men

Joondalup 9/146 (O Brown 3/22) def. Wanneroo Districts 133 (TD Brown 37)

Fourteens Men

Joondalup 9/151 (JC O’Shea 3/29) drew Wanneroo 5/151 (X Glamuzina 45, OM Thompson 30*)

For full results visit our new and quite excellent latest results page at https://www.wanneroodcc.com.au/results/

A good round for the Men in red as most grades came up on top against a hapless Rockingham-Mandurah. The Ones secured a quality win on a dustbowl at North-Bunbury, the Twos fell a distracting clap away from an outright and the Threes had no such issue, walking away with those valuable outright points. The Women finished their T20 journey with a win to sit equal 2nd, though on quotient they fell just shy of making the grand final. In the Juniors the 17s fought through sleep deprivation and barbecues to post a high scoring win (also in North-Bunbury) while the 15s unfortunately left themselves too much to do with the ball.

In the Sunday T20s Wanneroo couldn’t defeat the assembled team from not-Perth. However but the Colts could, leaving them at 2 from 2.

1st Grade  

WDCC 241-9 def. RMDCC 147

On the first week WDCC won the toss and elected to bat on an interesting looking wicket to say the least. As anticipated it was very challenging to bat on throughout the days play. We lost our openers in quick succession to be in trouble at 2-10, but our skipper T.Birt and K.Smith combined for a hard fought and patient 100 run partnership to get us to 2-103 before T.Birt was unfortunately dismissed for a very patient and well compiled 50.

The Roo boys finished the day on 9-241 with K.Smith making 118 off 221, which is now his second ton for the club. It was one of the better tons you will see considering the condition of the wicket. Well done K!

Onto the second week, RMDCC were always going to be up against it with our array of spinners on a turning wicket. The Roo boys ended up making short work of RMDCC and bowled them out for 147 by tea. As expected, spin did the trick early with K.Miller finishing with figures of 3-27 off 10. R.Richards however was magnificent finishing with 4-17 off 8.1 overs and removed the key late wicket of Craig Simmons with a peach of a delivery, which all but sealed it for the boys.

Lastly on A Grade debut, Lachy Poulter finished with 1-22 off 8 and bowled a luckless spell of the highest quality, showing great maturity and setting up what will hopefully be a long and successful A grade career for the Roos. Well done mate!

2nd Grade  

WDCC 82 & 8/245 def. RMDCC 67 & 9/96

OUTRIGHT WIN GOES BEGGING IN FINAL BALL THRILLER

2nd grade were met with the task of taking out their first 2-day win for the season on what looked to be a “we’ll bat first because my horse is running at Ascot and I’m therefore leaving at 3pm” sort of wicket. The day got off to a great start with Callum Douglas arriving 5 minutes before the warm up with a bacon and egg Mcmuffin, hash brown, orange juice and hotcakes.

Play commenced and so did a mighty top order collapse, Wanneroo slumping to 4/5. Moods were sombre as those dismissed reflected on some average shots as well as the need for the DRS in 2nd grade cricket. Some better efforts were overpowered by more wickets and debutant Hayden “Agar” Stumpers walked to the crease at 9/52 with a Trent Bridge effort looking necessary. Stumpers managed to top score with a vital 17 and Wanneroo were all out 82 from 35.2 overs.

Given the Roos’ inability to make it to the halfway mark of day 1, there was still a lot left in the pitch and plenty of hope that the game could still be won. Leigh Millar and Jordan Slattery wasted no time and had Rockingham-Mandurah reeling at 3/7. By the time Captain Sadik aka Michael Van Gerwen left to get behind “Dig Deep” the Roos had total control of the game with the visitors 5/20, not without Sadik taking a contender for catch of the season with a one handed flyer at gully. Soon after, some bloke decided enough was enough and absolutely threw the kitchen sink at it, taking 15 off a Leigh Millar over and outscoring 21 other people in the space of 4 balls. However the spark that Rockingham so desperately needed was soon taken away by one Deon Billington taking one of the better catches you’ll ever see and possibly making it into the top 3 catches for the match.

The Roos stayed on top with some more good bowling and excellent fielding and managed a great first innings win, Rocky all out 67. J Slattery 4 wickets, Millar 3 and debutant stumpers with 2 to close out the win.

Well what a first day hey? 20 wickets gee whiz that’s a few, you won’t see many more in a single day than that?

WRONG! ARE YOU NEW HERE? HEAPS OF BLOODY POLES LEFT IN THAT THING TODAY DONT YOU WORRY SON!

14 overs left in the day and that was more than enough to give Rocky a sniff of a reverse outright. First ball of the innings handed the good-looking and funny Cam Mac a pair for the day and absolutely no reason to bring his kit bag for the next week. Callum Douglas was the next to join the “I don’t need kit” club with another Joel Wilson special, and was kind enough to offer the umpire some free advice. The Roos managed to somewhat stabilise but after a Rob Fairchild castling with a broken stump that he volunteered to carry off, they limped to the end of play at 4/44. 24 wickets in a day had everyone needing to catch their breath, especially with the possibility of an outright result the following week.

Enter week 2 and the temperature has been turned right up. In the midst of a December heatwave Mitch Slattery and Deon Billington resumed at the crease looking to put the Roos in a strong position for a big result. And that they certainly did. The pair put on 86, Billington with 56 and Slattery with 48, and did a great job of making the visitors toil hard in the heat. Sadik then came to the party with a lovely 52 and the innings was closed out by a nifty 30* from John “Prince Charming” Walter. Wanneroo declared with a lead of 230 and 36 overs to attempt to take 10 wickets.

The outright pursuit got off to another brilliant start thanks again to J Slattery and Millar. In no time at all Rockingham were 4/16 and the Roos could taste a big point’s booster. However, an early chance was missed with their quality stodger managing to find the space between Rob Fairchild’s hands. A mistake which can be excused given the stress placed on said hands in a truly inspirational tea preparation.

Tea was served and, regardless of the absence of mayonnaise, the curried egg sandwiches made it to the table to complete another outstanding spread.

But it was not curried egg that the 2s craved. It was outright victory. The hunt for wickets continued and one by one they continued to steadily fall. It was the stodgy opener though who proved to be up to the challenge. A short ball plan was installed however he managed to consistently find the gaps and avoid falling victim. With 3 overs remaining and 3 wickets still required it looked as though the stodge may have the last laugh. But the short ball plan was not to be aborted, and Leigh Millar gave everything he had to keep digging them in. And then it came. The breakthrough. The plan. The execution. THE CATCH! MY GOD THE CATCH! FORGET SADIK AND BILLINGTON THIS WAS OUT OF THIS WORLD! SCREAMING IN AT FULL TILT FROM FINE LEG DIVING FORWARD I MEAN SERIOUSLY IT DOES NOT GET BETTER.

Nah just kidding it wasn’t that good. Pretty good but I reckon. So with 2 overs left and 2 wickets needed, who do you call to bend back the pegs of a tail ender? The Head and Shoulders Pantene Garnier King himself. And bend pegs he did. 8 balls and 1 wicket needed for outright with 10 and 11 at the crease. Somehow the number 11 kept out 3 sharp ones and there was 1 over left for that precious wicket. Leigh Millar, still toiling, had the task.

Dot. Dot. Dot. Dot. Dot.

One ball left. One wicket to win. It’s a big ask but you could feel the hope. The desperation. The desire to take home a big bag of points and be sitting comfortably over the Christmas break. Everyone was ready. This was it. If the chance comes you better believe we’re taking it. Leigh charges in, fielders low and at the ready. And there it was. A big prop forward. The big snick. The ball sailing towards 3rd slip straight into the hands of Dougo!

And straight back out on to the ground not out no outright but a 1st innings win oh well all good doesn’t matter who cares just a game probably won’t matter anyway who needs points probably won’t have any bearing on the season it’s fine not like we wanted a 2nd innings win its honestly not a problem at all had a great day aha woohoo how good is cricket merry Christmas

3rd Grade

WDCC 8/295 def. OUTRIGHT RMDCC 115 & 91

Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bowl in bowler friendly conditions. The dukes ball was doing plenty with Rockingham having no answer. Wickets were shared evenly with Jared ‘Ribena’ Maunder, Darcy ‘Labuschagne’ Forssman and Connor ‘what can’t he do’ Spangenberg all picking up 2 each. Donavinn Fryer managed to rip through the tail in the blink of an eye to finish with 4 wickets for the day and leaving Rockingham bowled out for 115. Allan Hall started the chase off well with a quick 21 and after a little wobble the ship was steadied by Graeme ‘retirement age is 65’ Atkinson, who went large on his way to a quick fire 77 helping the threes secure the win on the first day. The second week started with a 33 from Matthew Dozdzdsozdsoz and a batting masterclass from young Connor Spangenberg who hit 113. In search of an outright declaration was made. In pursuit of wickets in the afternoon Donavinn was all class again picking up 5 wickets to take his tally to 9 for the match. He once again ripping through the tail in no time thanks to some genius field placings. The threes picked up a great outright win to finish the year in style.

Congratulations to Donavinn and Connor!!

4th Grade

WDCC 196 def. by RMDCC 281

Rockingham Mandurah won the toss and elected to bat first, the first wicket came with a run out by “Lachlan mute Henderson”. The run out batter would watch the runs pile on as they went from 1/7 to 143/2. The second session saw a fight back from the elite 4th grade roos, as they picked up 4/34 thanks to “Sharm Samatha Bandara” who would end up with 5 wickets as Rockingham Mandurah would be bowled out for 281 late in the day, not forgetting “Michael Chop King Kelsey’s” run out

The roos would have a slow but good start to the innings, being 1/51 half way through the first session. After lunch Kelso would pass his fifty and have another fifty partnership with “Jaymin hates a fifty Patel”. The runs would to start to flow and would be 4/164 at tea, with Kelso making a gritty 77 (his highest on Lark Hill 2). From there the roos would collapse and lose 6/36 with “Lachie Aggressive Dargie” making 27. With the elite 4s being bowled out for 196.

Under 17 T20 Women

WDCC 7/84 def. Subiaco Floreat 4/82

Our female Roo’s returned to winning ways in Round 10 at home v Subi Floreat (SF).  SF won the toss and perhaps sensing that the Roos setting a target in Round 9 didn’t end well were hoping for a repeat performance and it very nearly worked. Our top order struggled again to produce apart from Rachel Prout constructing a mature 27 and Danni Eckley and Grace Tomkinson both sharing 13 apiece; leaving others to consider and reflect on the importance of playing straight. We stuck with it and ground out a modest 84 for the loss of 7 precious wickets.

Our bowling and fielding were severely tested under pressure last week in Round 9, learning from loss is crucial to continual improvement and today our collective bowling units and fielding reacted must better and stronger than last week; therefore positive learning had taken place. Efficiency was key to our success, all of our bowlers acknowledged the importance of bowling at the stumps and most returned with excellent figures. Emma Schonfeldt continues to impress along with our premier quick Josie Beckett who snagged 2 vital wickets. The spin twin mix of Ella Stewart and Emma Wilson provided flight and a hint of turn which kept the SF middle order guessing; we look forward to this variation in the longer format post-Christmas. Breanna Giandzi and Emilie Nicholls bowled fantastically well at the death setting up a tense final over finish. In pressure situations the execution of  basic skills are crucial, line, length, focused fielding including anticipation and backing up are vital, last week we fell short however this week we executed these skills and deserved our victory. We end our T20 journey finishing joint second on points with South Perth who boast a better average than us resulting in us unfortunately missing a Grand Final place. The girls benefit from a well-earned break before turning their attention to the longer 40 over format in early Feb 2020. What a fine bunch of maturing young female cricketers who have been a pleasure to work with in this first part of the season.

T20 Round 2 v Country

WDCC Roos 8/115 (KR Smith 43, JW Mason 28) def. by Country XI 7/116 (KR Smith 2/24)

Colts Round 2 v Country

WDCC 3/137 def. Country XI 8/92

On the 15th of December the colts took on the Country XI on a stinking hot day at Sutherland’s park. Winning the toss and choosing to bat the boys got off to a decent start. A nice partnership was formed through the middle with Michael Kelsey the standout with the bat making 54 off 42 balls. A nice platform was laid for some late hitting. Nick Santich batted beautifully and hit a nice six off the last ball of the inning to take the total to 3-137.

We got off to a nice start with the ball restricting them early. Jordan Slattery and Nick Santich were then brought on and took 4/16 and 3/15 respectively. The country XI never looked likely of chasing down the total as they finished 8/92 off their 20 overs.

This leaves the Colts boys in a strong position being 2 from 2 and gives us some momentum for our double header next Saturday.

Seventeens Men

WDCC 7/274 def. RMDCC 3/257

5 am wake up calls are fun…. Even though Nick “loves a snapchat” Santich seemed to disagree with his one million snapchats on his private story claiming they weren’t. The boys were full with as much energy as they could for a 7:20 am warm up in Lark Hill, and the first under Dave “Papa” Spangenberg. Umpire Thulasi Singh calls over the great 17s leader Jack “old” McDonald for the toss with him guessing the right side of the coin and sending the Rockingham-Mandurah boys into bat. Started off well with the ball, with Samuel “I still talk about England” Williams having the openers in absolute shambles and the pressure being too much for one of the openers as Connor “Son of Dave” Spangenberg took the first pole of the day and putting Rocky 1/36. Unfortunately it went pear shaped for the boys with error after error, luck to the batsmen, poor bowling and quality strokes. The score climbed to a mammoth 2/232 after the skip brought himself on to bowl to show all the other spinners how to bowl, getting Corey Wasley out for a well-made 110 and breaking the 196 run partnership. Soon after Connor “Still son of Dave” Spangenberg took the wicket of Mr Helm taking the score to 3/248. The Roos needing to chase a huge total of 257 the following week.

Arising earlier this weekend for an earlier start meant the boys had to be there at 7:00am. But that didn’t seem to bother anyone as we watch Jayden “Juice” Rae rock up with a V-Energy in his hands. Knowing the task ahead the two openers got us under way with a partnership valued at 23 runs after Lachlan “Hard hands” Dargie was given a quite questionable LBW decision after being hit on the thigh pad for 8. Things didn’t seem to get any better for the Roos as Connor “Saving myself for the 3s” Spangenberg was sent packing after missing a straight one first ball of his innings. But then in came Jayden “Hates a ton” Rae. Sam and Jayden looked nice and comfortable out there until Samuel “Brother races in F3” Williams snicks off the ball before tea. Bringing in Jack “Too much Tea” Maraldo. Sadly Jayden “Apple and black current” Rae turned up the Matador 4 Burner and Jack “Jmar” Maraldo was not successful at getting off the treadmill. After this the day turned for the boys in Red, with Jack “Skip” McDonald and Nick “Club Bully” Santich both posting 50s and Jack McDonald getting out only 2 runs short of the target. Jayden was out for a well-made 90 as the roo boys got the job done, ending the day 7/274.

Fifteens Men

WDCC 123 (KT Pearce 51) def. by RMDCC 3/130

For full results visit our new and quite excellent latest results page at https://www.wanneroodcc.com.au/results/