SHCC Scoop - A Cracking Finish, Close Losses and an Almost Outright
- Phil Tarbox
- Nov 5
- 10 min read
Updated: Nov 5
Our first round of all teams playing 2 day matches concurrently delivered some wonderful cricket, with all teams competitive across both days.
Div 1 led the way with an almost outright victory, and Div 5 recorded a dramatic last ball victory – read on for full details of Div 5’s last gasp win.
There is plenty going on at the club at the moment, with our AGM held 2 weeks ago. Thanks to the Senior players who attended to help us get to the required number of people for our AGM to take place. Our Club is in a very positive position, with record numbers of Blasters, Juniors, Girls and Senior Cricketers. Thanks to our Committee from last year re-committing to positions again this year. Our Club cannot run without people filling key roles.
At the AGM I announced this will be my last year as President, as our Clubs Constitution limits the number of years you can hold positions for. Additionally, the role Seniors Vice President/ Coordinator also remains vacant. If you would like to know more about what the Seniors role would involve, please contact me for more information.
Lastly, we had a good roll up to training last week – it is great to see players from different teams chatting, comparing notes from the weekend and offering each other advice – this is one thing which helps make our Club strong. Hope to see you there!
Miss Celie's Player of the Week
Player of the Week sponsored by Miss Celie’s Jazz and Blues Bar in Ashfield.
Week 6 Pulok Rema Div 5 - Read on to find out why
Batting and Bowling highlights – Rounds 2, 4 & 6
Batting:
63 Hamza Malik Div 6
57* Amanjot Gill Div 6
54 Tom Dawson Div 4
54* Pulok Rema Div 5
53 Phil Tarbox Div 5
50 Dave Ward Div 7
Bowling
5/60 Asher Tarbox Div 5
4/33 PJ Rosenberger Div 7
3/20 Tushar Gupta Div 4 AM
3/26 Ibrahim Kabbout Div 1
3/33 Muhammad Altaf Div 6
3/51 Tom Dawson Div 6
3/59 Dharmin Thakkar Div 6
3/95 Pat Hargreaves Div 7
Club Milestones:
Runs
2,500 Andy Manchester Div 4
500 Jud Agius Div 5
Wickets
200 Dan Jeffrey Div 4
First Games for Summer Hill
Pat Hargreaves Div 7
William McKinney Div 1
Training
We are back on every Thursday from 5:30pm - stay a for a short time, or a long time
When: Every Thursday afternoon / evening
Where: Lees Park - Harmony St, Ashbury (Park in Crieff St and walk down the alley)
When: From 5:00pm until dusk – and there may be a few there earlier too
Enjoy your Cricket!
Phil
Phil – President
m 0417 234 761
Last Rounds Results and Reports
1st Division
Round 6: Summer Hill 182 def Kingsgrove CC 56 & 9/109
An almost Outright for Div 1 against the powerhouse of Kingsgrove CC - falling one wicket short of taking 20 wickets for the match.
Best Batting
48 Rehaan Nawaz
46* David Greenhalgh
Best Bowling
2/2 & 2/20 Mohammad Aasar
2/16 & 2/17 Nic Everitt
2/19 & 3/26 Ibrahim Kabbout
2nd Division
Round 6: Summer Hill 165 def by Kingsgrove CC 6/166
Best Batting
32 Tarek Rahman
26 Rafael Bruzzese
25 Arslan Ameen
25 Abdul Ahsan
Best Bowling
2/40 Abdul Ahsan
4th Division Match Report
Dan Jeffrey
Round 6: Summer Hill 222 def by Marrickville CC 5/250
Losing the toss and being sent in to field with 10 men proved a tough task for 4th division. A couple of wickets in the first session had us in a strong position, only for two big partnerships from Marrickville to give them the upper hand.
Still, the bowlers managed to keep the scoring rate in check, and a few scalps late on day one kept the target to a chaseable - albeit challenging - 251, with Tom (3-51) and Dan (2-26) splitting the five wickets between them.
Back to a full XI for day 2, the top order had us in a promising position, with Peter (47) and Dan (39) guiding us to 1-90, only for a fairly disastrous collapse to reduce us to 7-141. A superb late cameo from Tom (54) raised hopes of an unlikely comeback win, but ultimately the target remained just out of reach, with the final wicket falling in the fourth-last over with 28 runs still to get.
Best Batting
54 Tom Dawson
47 Peter Dawson
39 Dan Jeffrey
Best Bowling
3/51 Tom Dawson
2/26 Dan Jeffrey
5th Division Match Report
Jud Agius
Round 4: Summer Hill 8/247 def Lakemba Stars 246
After two rather limp batting efforts leading to two losses in the previous games, the Summer Hill boys were keen to show we are better than that in our third 2 day match in a row. But with numbers low we were going to struggle. Starting with 10 and finishing the day with 9, we were grateful to keep them to 246.
On a fast outfield our opening bowlers Asher and Luca contained their openers fairly well until Asher broke through with sizzling bowling that took the opener's edge. We all looked to watch it fly through to the boundary only to see Phil yet again sprawled low to his left somehow getting a finger under the ball and clutching truly. We all knew it was out but the batsman stood his ground till the official umpire conferred with their square leg to give him out.
The next ball was almost certainly LBW but when Asher struck the pad again the following ball the umpire had no choice - 2/27. We felt on top and sure we could break through again, but their opener played beautifully for 114, and the 3rd and 4th wicket partnerships got them to just shy of 200. Asher was the only one to break through and took the first 4 wickets.
It was all about Asher who dropped a sitter, took a very good catch on the boundary, had a run out with father Phil and came back to take his thoroughly deserved 5th in a scintillating 16 overs (5/60). Owen chipped in with 3 late wickets (3-44) finding his spot on a length this season. We eventually wrapped them up for 246 in 56 overs which importantly would give us 60 overs to bat.
Day 2 and you'd think we knew who was playing. 5 mins before the game with one opener away we realised our other opener Saikat was not playing, makeshift openers Rayhan and Jud sauntered out in trepidation under grey skies and a wet slow outfield, neither having troubled the scorers much this season.
But solid they were putting on 23 for the 1st wicket before Rayhan (9) fell for the two bouncer trick gloving the second one. Enter Luca who pumped 24 (1 six, 2 fours) in as many balls only to be bowled by an innocuous straight one.
Phil and Jud then set about building the foundation for the run chase getting to 100 by the main break. Feeling the effort of batting 30 overs, Jud fell straight after the resumption - caught behind to their excellent young spinner for 27. Andrew came in and cracked a sparkling 22 and showed he is a capable, attacking batsman in his first season in 25 years, a valuable addition to the 5ths.
Phil (53) at the other end did as he always does and kept accumulating. He posted another excellent and well deserved half century before being bowled trying to lift the run rate.
With 16 overs remaining in the last session we needed 90 to win at more than 5 an over, not the toughest ask but on a day that started wet and power hitting had been mostly absent, a win felt like on the furthest side of possible. Their bowling was on the money, tying Simon and Pulok down to mostly 1s and 2s. But those two ran their hearts out, took every run available, and others when fielders were caught snoozing, eventually compiling a match turning partnership of 54 that had Lakemba Stars sounding like high pitched hyenas.
Pulok (54 no) pumped a couple of rare boundaries over long on for 4 and 6, yet still the required run rate climbed. With 2 overs left, and 24 needed, Simon (33) was trapped in front to their excellent opening bowler back for his 20th over, who then followed up with two more of the same back to back - a Hatrick! Asher (0), and Lachie (0) getting the short straws. Our chase looked done at 8-227 and still 20 short with 7 balls remaining. But "Cool Hand Luke" Craig (0 not out) was not perturbed and knew what to do - defend one ball, don't run and Pulok to face the last over.
20 runs from the last over would be a miracle on any day that you only see in internationals or the BBL. But pressure is a mercurial thing when their bowler helped us out with a no ball we got a run which found Craig inexplicably on strike. As much as we love Craig, we knew he wasn't going to clear the boundary, but another no ball and a missed run out got Pulok back on strike. 2 balls left and still 12 to get.
I reckon only Pulok knew what was coming as he launched the second last ball for 6 over long off. We still had a chance, yet no one really believed it, hitting one six off the last ball is enough of a miracle, but not two in a row. And yet he did it sending the last ball over the long on boundary. Hysterical, the Summer Hill boys ran from the stand incredulous at what we had just witnessed. We are unlikely to see anything like it again - and Pulok isn't promising - but it made for the most memorable days cricket any of us have been part of.
All round it was an incredible effort to be short in the field and keep them to 246, then chase down the highest score we've ever chased missing key players in the most unlikely fashion imaginable. The Summer Hill 5ths have struggled to believe they belong in this division, now feel like they have finally arrived.
Best Batting:
54* Pulok Rema
53 Phil Tarbox
33 Simon Davies
27 Jud Agius
24 Luca Agius
22 Andrew McCabe
Best Bowling
5/60 Asher Tarbox
3/44 Owen Gibson
6th Division Match Report
Dharmin Thakkar
Round 4: Summer Hill 8/282 def by Dobroyd Point CC 7/284
6th Div won the toss and chose to bowl first. The start couldn’t have been better — Dharmin struck in the very first over to give us the early breakthrough. However, DPCC recovered well, building up 68 runs before Umer’s fiery spell (3 wickets) and Dharmin’s sharp bowling (2 more wickets) put them under pressure again. A few missed catches off their top scorer, though, proved costly as they managed to post a massive total of 284 runs
Chasing such a big score for the first time, we were in unfamiliar territory.
Our openers set the tone beautifully — Hamza (63) and Umer (43) stitched together a record-breaking 120-run partnership, the highest in this teams history, giving us a strong platform. Shaik kept the momentum going, but we lost him along with Muniraj and Noel in quick succession.
With 96 runs still required, Aman walked in determined to pull off the chase. His explosive hitting, along with some handy support from Sultan, brought us thrillingly close — needing just 21 runs off the last 18 balls. Unfortunately, despite Aman’s heroics, needing 4 runs off the final delivery against their five-wicket-taking bowler proved too much.
We eventually fell short by just 2 runs, but it felt like a victory in spirit — our highest-ever team total and one of our most spirited performances to date.
Best Batting
63 Hamza Malik
57* Amanjot Gill
43 Muhammed Umer Altaf
32 Vikas Nassa
28 Shaikh Abudllah
Best Bowling
3/33 Muhammad Umer Altaf
3/59 Dharmin Thakkar
2/32 Chetan Kondur
7th Division Match Report
Don Stewart & Anthropic’s Claude 4.0
Round 6: Summer Hill 9/202 def by Sporties Green 9/293
Graf Park Gothic: A Tale of Two Saturdays
A western adventure. We won the toss and sent them in under October sun, with circus animals grazing the adjacent field like some fever dream of suburban cricket. The plan - bowl first - worked magnificently—6 for 90 after 28 overs, New Pat's bouncers forcing helmet adjustments, his three wickets including one caught at fine leg by Jim off a perfect short ball. PJ wheeled away for four scalps and his maiden stumping with Rob in gloves, while Jim and Neil each claimed one.
Then reality warped as the sun blazed down. A 130-run partnership bled us dry across five dropped catches, the ball screaming to Graf's sloping boundaries while llamas watched impassively. Rob impressive with the gloves was denied a second stumping with the square leg umpire seemingly dreaming of the circus instead of watching play. The spell finally broken with David R taking a catch off Neil to prevent a century. Sporties posted 293, showing how they’ve managed to go undefeated this year. And 7th Div had a week to think on it.
Day 2: rain threatened postponement but merely slowed the outfield, transforming last week's race track into a gentle meadow. We batted our full allocation—no run-outs, runs all around, (though X. Tras again our second-highest scorer against bowlers in sneakers). Don smashed one back through the bowler's hands, glancing off his skull for two runs in a dramatic moment. Wardy absorbed thunderbolts to his ribs, grinding to his second consecutive fifty. We reached 9 for 202, batting time but not enough runs.
Their opening spinner wheeled through seventeen consecutive overs, returning exhausted for the fifty-third. Though at this point Sporties may have lost interest, putting 10 bowlers up for our entertainment. Defeat by 91 runs we caught the last train out of Yagoona with only a point to show for it, but perhaps our dignity intact.
Best Batting
50 Dave Ward
35 Don Stewart
31 David Ritchil
Best Bowling
4/33 PJ Rosenberger
3/95 Pat Hargreaves
4th Division AM Match Report
David Bailey-Mckay
Round 2: Summer Hill 128 def by vs GenX WeStrikers 153
Morning squad faced off against GenX strikers in a 2 dayer at Brennan Park. We won the toss and sent GenX into bat, a bold move after their 349 victory last week. Tom and David opened up the bowling keeping the first 3 overs relatively scoreless, David taking the first wicket in the 4th over.
As the day progressed GenX took advantage of a quick outfield with some big cross bat action. However with the big hits came some big mistakes with GenX getting 4 ducks and being all out for 153 by the 24th over. Captain Tushar lead the way with bowling figures of 3/21.
The Morning Squad with a day and a half to bat was feeling quietly confident. Fletcher and Hamish saw out the opening bowler only to face the unplayable loopy stuff we associate with the lower grades of park cricket. Fletcher and Khurrum put on an excellent 34 partnership before Khurrum and the middle order quickly fell to some strategically bad bowling. Prince provided a glimmer of hope, with a quick succession of boundaries before being run out at 17.
In the end Morning squad was all out for 128.
Our first win of the season is not far away.
Best Batting
35 Fletcher Aldous
Best Bowling
3/20 Tushar Gupta
2/60 David Bailey-Mckay
