SHCC Scoop - New Player of the Round Award, Club Champions (again!)
- Phil Tarbox
- Sep 17
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 18
And Cricket Season is back! Welcome to Season 2025/26, and our Afternoon teams are off to a good start, with some solid wins. As defending CWSCA Club Champions from last season (and the year before) we are hopeful of having another strong season.
I’m pleased to announce a new “Player of the Round” Award, sponsored by Miss Celie’s Jazz and Blues Bar in Ashfield. They have generously donated a $20 Bar and Food Voucher for each weeks winner. This could be the Rounds top performer, or by a player nominated by one of our Team Captains for something extraordinary which doesn’t show up in a scorebook. Whether you have a Voucher or not, Miss Celie's is a great night out with quality live music every night of the week.
Our first winner this season is Round 1’s top scorer – with 91 runs, Hamza Malik from Division 6. Congratulations Hamza!
Thursday evening Training will start in October once Daylight Savings commences. A handful of players are training from 4pm on Thursday at Lees Park, but we will officially start on October 9th.
Thanks to everyone who made it to one of our 3 Pre-Season Training Sessions – it was great to re-connect, and meet so many new players - and some returning Juniors. If you have not yet received a playing shirt and cap, please speak to your team Captain, or me and we will arrange to get to this you.
Already in Round 1 several players have ticked over some personal milestones – well done to all, and I’m sure there will be many more during the season.
Finally, Registrations are now open for the SMCA Morning Cricket Competition – please register online as soon as you are able here.
Batting and Bowling highlights
Batting:
91 Hamza Malik Div 6
89* Luca Agius Div 5
54 SM Al-Amin Div 4
51 Abdullah Shaik Div 6
Bowling
3/33 Micah Edwards Div 7
Club Milestones
Matches
50^ Chetan Kondur Div 6
50^ Gourav Tripathi Div 6
50^ Muniraj Mahajan Div 6
Runs
3000 Phil Tarbox Div 5
1000^ Rafael Bruzzese Div 2
Wickets
50^ Niloy Mahmood Div 2
Catches
100 Phil Tarbox Div 5
^ achieved during Winter Season
First Games for Summer Hill
S M Al-Amin Div 4
Ali Hera Div 4
Imran Hossain Div 4
Ben Kimble Div 7
Andrew McCabe Div 5
Vikas Nassa Div 6
Matthew Sellas Div 4
Price Singh Div 1
Training
Until Daylight Savings commences, Thursday evening training is not possible. Some players are training from 4pm on Thursdays during September. Just show up!
When: Every Thursday, from October.
Where: Lees Park - Harmony St, Ashbury (Park in Crieff St and walk down the alley)
When: From 5:30pm until dusk – and there may be a few there earlier too
Enjoy your Cricket!
Phil
Phil – President
m 0417 234 761
1st Division
Round 1: Summer Hill 130 def by Kingsgrove 3-131
Best Batting:
34 Rafael Bruzzese
27 Lucas O’Dea
2nd Division
Round 1: Summer Hill won via Forfeit vs Kingsgrove
4th Division Match Report
Dan Jeffrey
Round 1: Summer Hill 3/128 def Marrickville 126
New season, new team for our 4th division squad, and things got underway in perfect fashion with a comfortable win over an undermanned Marrickville.
Bowling first, openers Tom and Andy started strongly, with the pressure from both ends paying off in the form of a direct-hit run-out to the latter.
After that, wickets fell regularly. Samarth picked up a caught and bowled before splitting his webbing trying to repeat the trick, but fellow wrist-spinner Matt carried on where he left off, nabbing two important scalps in what his first-ever game of club cricket.
Blake also picked up two wickets through the middle orders before Andy wrapped the innings up with a signature yorker to send leg stump flying, leaving us with 127 to win off 30 overs.
At one stage, it looked like we were going to be home before drinks, as Peter and Amin went about trying to set a new record for the highest proportion of a team's runs scored through boundaries. They hit 20 of them between them - including Amin peeling off five in a row off one hapless spinner - plus one six in a rapid opening partnership of 108.
Three quick wickets slowed the chase and added some respectability to the scoreboard for Marrickville, but it was nonetheless a commanding win - and a nice net run-rate boost - to start the season.
Best Batting
54 S M Al-Amin
49 Peter Dawson
Best Bowling
2/34 Blake Stevenson
2/46 Matthew Sellas
5th Division Match Report
Luca Agius
Summer Hill 1/143 def Panania East Hills RSL 4/138
First game of the season! It's fair to say some were more ready for this game than others. Many of us in 5th agreed that this felt way too early for the cricket season. But it's like that every season anyway. Fortunately for us the weather was on our side and we bowled first as planned against a Panania side we had failed to beat in 4 attempts. We were also welcoming two new players in for their debut, Andrew and former opponent Saikat. Those of us from last season hoping these new additions would solve some of our batting woes.
The bowling innings was generally quite uneventful. Not a heap of wickets but other than them dining out on full tosses from our spinners and the occasional edge through the slips, not many runs either. Our bowlers were generally good apart from the odd freebie and most of their bats' attempts at taking on our bowlers had put more pressure on them than it relieved. Rayhan dismissed their previously troublesome opener cheaply with a very good catch by Pulok. That with the little to no pressure of the first game caused a pretty middling batting effort of 138. Only 4 wickets fell in the end, 3 to spinners in their first overs - Rayhan with 2 and Owen Gibson with 1 - and one to Leo trapping their resilient opener on the pads in the final over.
This brings us to the batting. Last season, the 5ths had really struggled with their opening partnerships and our top order had left too much work for the middle order to make up. Thus, we had welcomed Saikat into our top order. It didn't take too long to see the potential of Captain Luca Agius' new partner as he reliably kept out the loopy straight one - supposedly the easiest ball to defend but the thing with us 5ths is that we loved to prove the contrary. Saikat then help up his end as Luca, after a sketchy first ball, put pain to Panania’s mundane pace attacked. Consistently dropping short stuff, Luca quickly got the score rolling, and Panania's bowlers had no answers. The new opening partnership had quickly got us 5ths to 119 after 15 before Saikat was finally removed for 29. The game was soon finished after the break with Luca finishing unbeaten with 89.
A dominant batting performance from the 5ths. A true antithesis to their previous season.
Best Batting:
89* Luca Agius
29 “Saikat” Hossain bin Rashid
Best Bowling
2/34 Rayhan Islam
6th Division Match Report
Dharmin Thakkar
Round 1: Summer Hill 6/198 def Rovers 104
he first match of the season began with us losing the toss and being sent in to bat against a strong Belmore Rovers side. To their surprise, our opening pair delivered a stunning start. Shaik and Hamza piled on a massive 133-run partnership, lighting up the ground with towering sixes and crisp boundaries. Hamza fell agonisingly short of his maiden century, dismissed on 91 runs, while Shaik steadied the innings with a well-crafted half-century.
Our middle order chipped in to keep the momentum going, with Gourav smashing a quickfire 15 not out at a strike rate of 187, pushing us to an impressive total of 198 runs.
Defending the score, debutant Loki made an instant impact, claiming his maiden wicket with a superb catch at mid-off by Umer—breaking his so-called “jinx” of losing matches whenever he took a catch! Another debutant, Vikas, bowled with fire, picking up two wickets, including a beauty that sent the off-stump cartwheeling.
The highlight of the day came in Chetan’s over when Belmore’s captain, looking well-set, attempted a cut shot only for Shaik to pull off a breathtaking one-handed reflex catch at gully—a moment that turned the game firmly in our favour.
From there, Aman, Jeet and Gourav bowled with clinical precision, sharing four wickets between them and dismantling Belmore’s chase. The opponents were bundled out, giving us a resounding 94-run victory.
This win was extra special, knowing how tough Belmore Rovers have always been. A perfect start to the season and a huge confidence boost for the matches ahead!
Best Batting
91 Hamza Malik
51 Abdullah Shaikh
Best Bowling
2/5 Vikas Nassa
7th Division Match Report
Anthropic’s Claude 4.0
Round 1: Summer Hill 112 def by Sporties Green 142
A Tale of Youthful Energy and Hit Wickets
In a match that had more firsts than a nursery rhyme convention, SHCC 7th Division fell to a spirited Bankstown Sporties side.
Captain's luck struck early when SHCC won their first toss of the season (the "Lucky 7s" clearly living up to their name), opting to bowl first on what appeared to be the narrowest pitch in the competition. Gil Southwood, making his debut alongside Ben Kimble, discovered the unique joy of bowling on a strip that made a bowling alley look spacious.
Sporties' innings began with promise as opener Zayaan Syed crafted a patient 52, showing the kind of determination usually reserved for untangling Christmas lights. However, the SHCC bowling attack had other ideas. ** (our man of mystery) struck twice, while Micah Edwards claimed the match's first three-wicket haul. The highlight came when PJ delivered the season's first delivery to clear the fence into the neighbour's yard – though fortunately, diplomatic relations remained intact.
At 8/142 after 27 overs, Sporties had set a target that looked achievable on paper but proved trickier in practice.
SHCC's chase began promisingly enough before reality intervened. Robert Sanderson etched his name into cricket folklore by becoming the team's first "hit wicket" victim of the season. The middle order collapse was swift, with wickets falling faster than autumn leaves.
Don Stewart emerged as the top-scorer with 36, earning the "BBQs galore prize" for his involvement in two direct-hit run-outs. The young Sporties side showed their athleticism with lightning-quick fielding and those devastating run-outs that left SHCC batsmen looking like startled deer.
Despite a spirited bowling performance led by Micah's three wickets and Jim's economical 2.83 per over, SHCC fell 30 runs short. A defeat that stung like a wasp in your cricket whites. Sometimes in Seventh division cricket, just playing is winning enough.
Best Batting
36 Don Stewart
29 Xavier Tras
Best Bowling
3/33 Micah Edwards
2/26 PJ
