NORTHBRIDGE CLUB

96TH Season

Season 2014 - 2015

Northbridge Cricket Club www.northbridgecricketclub.org

PREMIERSHIPS A Grade 1952-53 1953-54 14 flags 1954-55 1956-57 1960-61 1962-63 1963-64 1968-69 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1994-95 2001-02

Limited Overs 2000-01 2010-11

A Reserve 1996-97

3 flags Limited Overs 1996-97 2008-09

B Grade 1965-66 1966-67 5 flags 1975-76 2006-07

Limited Overs 2006-07

C Grade 1961-62 1963-64 4 flags 1993-94

Limited Overs 1999-2000

D Grade 1950-51 1952-53 3 flags 1961-62 (GDCA) D1 Day Grade 2014-14 D2 Grade 1955-56 1 flag

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NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the

Ninety Sixth Annual General Meeting

for

The Northbridge Cricket Club

Will be held

At

Flat Rock Beer Cafe 290 Willoughby Rd, Naremburn NSW 2065

Wednesday 19th August, 2015 at 7:30pm.

Agenda

1. Acceptance of the Season 14/15 AGM Minutes 2. Presidents Address 3. Financial Report – Treasurer 4. Election of Office Bearers 5. Other Business 6. Review of the 2014/15 Season 7. Task List for 2015/16

All interested in cricket are most welcome to attend!

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Report of the Management Committee

For the Season 2014 - 2015

Gentlemen,

The management committee submits the 96th Annual Report for consideration and adoption.

Table of Contents

Club Office Bearers 2014 - 2015 ...... 5 Life Members ...... 6 Previous Office Bearers ...... 7 The Honorary Presidents Report ...... 10 Team awards 2014-2015 ...... 12 Centuries, Hat-tricks, 5WI and other awards ...... 13 Additional Club Awards ...... 14 Perpetual Trophies ...... 14 Northern Suburbs Cricket Association trophies ...... 17 A Grade Captains Report – Amrish Bhatia ...... 18 A Reserve Captain’s Report –Andrew Belger ...... 27 C Reserve Captain’s report – Bryan Massey ...... 34 D Reserve Captains Report – Steve Morrison ...... 40 The final word from the 12th man ...... 52

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Club Office Bearers 2013 - 2014

Honorary President Mitchell Whyman

Acting President Mitch Nicholls

Club Patron David Allan

Honorary Treasurer Anthony Greenhill

Honorary Secretary Chris Olver

Honorary Minute Secretary Andrew Belger

Association Delegates Peter Stankovic Zaeem Tapia Amrish Bhatia General Committee Members Divyesh Thakkar Naynesh Thakka

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Life Members Member Year Inducted S Morrison 1971 - 1972

Noel Maxwell 1977 – 1978

John Faulks 1983 - 1984

David Mills 1991 - 1992

David Sheekey 1998 - 1999

Tim Perry 1999 - 2000

Barry Cline 2000 - 2001

John Leslie 2000 - 2001

Neil Rickard 2001 - 2002

Rod Winsor 2003 - 2004

Peter Stankovic 2004 – 2005

Francis von Demleux 2008 - 2009

Mitch Whyman 2009 – 2010

Ben Maw 2011 - 2012

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Previous Office Bearers

President Years Pearce Rhyman 1969 – 1973 Noel Maxwell 1973 – 1977 John Faulks 1977 – 1981 Noel Maxwell 1981 – 1982 Tim Perry 1982 – 2000 Rod Winsor 2000 – 2003 David Mills 2003 – 2007 Mitchell Whyman 2007 – 2014 Mitch Nicholls (acting) 2014 -

Club Patron Years Lance Thornton 1986 – 1987 John Faulks 1990 – 2000 Tim Perry 2000 – 2007 David Allan 2008 -

Vice President Years Rod Winsor 2003 – 2009 David Mills 2007 – 2009 Tim Perry 2008 – 2009 Damian Fuller 2010 – 2013 Peter Stankovic 2010 – 2014 Mark Naglost 2012 – 2013 Amrish Bhatia 2014 – 2014

Honorary Treasurer Years S Morrison 1969 – 1974 Barry Cline 1974 – 2002 Rod Winsor 2002 – 2004 Steve Peak 2004 - 2006 Anthony Greenhill 2006 -

Honorary Deputy Treasurer Years Stephen Sharah 2008 - 2009

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Honorary Secretary Years David Sheekey 1974 - 1980 Charlie Clark 1980 - 1981 Terry Moore 1981 - 1982 David Sheekey 1982 - 1990 John Leslie 1990 - 1991 David Sheekey 1991 - 2001 John Barton 2001 - 2002 Steve Keating 2002 - 2003 Jon Hanna 2003 - 2004 Mitch Whyman 2004 - 2007 Mark Naglost 2007 – 2009 Mitch Nicholls 2010 – 2014 Chris Olver 2014 -

Honorary Deputy Secretary Years Damian Fuller 2008 - 2009

Minute Secretary Years Roger Moore 1982 – 1995 Peter Stankovic 1995 – 2004 Ben Maw 2004 – 2006 Peter Stankovic 2006 – 2007 Ben Maw 2007 – 2009 Jonathan Davis 2009 – 2010 Ben Maw 2010 – 2011 Stephen Sharah 2012 – 2013 Chris Olver 2013 – 2014 Andrew Belger 2014 -

Honorary Deputy Minute Secretary Years Mitch Nicholls 2008 - 2009

Honorary Auditor Years Phil Cameron 1990 - 2007

Chairman of Selectors Years Mitch Nicholls 2008 – 2009 Ken Gunderson-Briggs 2010 – 2011 Mitch Nicholls 2011-

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The Honorary Presidents Report

Well, what a season, the 96th cricketing season for the Northbridge Cricket Club. Firstly, I would like to thank all of the NCC Executive, Committee and all of our club members for another season of fun, shenanigans, and runs.

The season started off with the news that the ‘Bridge had won 2 of the Winter Cricket competitions, taking out both the 2nd and 3rd divisions. Congratulations to all players involved in that successful winter jaunt, which couldn’t have happened without the organisation and spirit by two of our members, Amrish Bhatia and Aadil Khalil.

On the back of success in the D-1 Day premiership in 2013-14, we didn’t see any of our teams get into a 1-day grade at all. The pain of this was eased somewhat slightly with the news that the NSCA was bringing back the hybrid competitions for most grades to include both 1 and 2 day matches. We managed to field 4 teams across 4 different grades of varying cricketing skill level, but all with the Northbridge spirit we have come to expect.

We also saw our First XI side return to the top tier of the merged competition known as the Northern Cricket Union. Whilst we had expected to get into the A Reserve grade, we did end up in that top tier, which was certainly an eye opening experience for those who got to play on turf again. In terms of results, there wasn’t that much to talk about outside of a few outstanding performances starting with the 7 for that Zaeem Tapia took against the eventual premiers Rydalmere, or my personal favourite was watching Alex Davey bat for 60+ overs in our final A Grade match for the season. Whilst he was dismissed for 40 runs, the courage, concentration and application shown was phenomenal and something that I would hope all of use who still put the whites on to have a run around on a Saturday in summer with 10 of our mates could all strive towards, a seriously inspirational effort.

On the field there wasn’t much to write home about, with none of our 4 sides making it into the semi finals. Over 8,413 runs were scored, 390 wickets taken over 52 matches which saw Northbridge in the winners circle 11 times. Not amazing numbers, but the spirit and mateship shown by all teams is something that will continue to bind this club together for a long and successful future.

Congratulations to all captains, in particularly Andrew Belger who took the reigns for the first time. The young A Reserve side, made up of a mixture of youth and experience (though in most cases youth), came agonisingly short of a finals berth. They were one of the few sides to topple the eventual premiers and showed that there is some great cricketers amongst us who can more than handle the move up to the turf grades.

To those in the NCC Executive, thank you for all your efforts this season. It may seem like a scary proposition to be a part, of but we all work as a team and would welcome new members to the executive next year so don’t be afraid to put your hand up at the AGM!

Once again we had Anthony Greenhill as the calm head behind the scenes, keeping the gears moving and making sure that we didn’t spend too much. Andrew Belger joined the executive for the first time this season which saw him take on the minute secretary role which was much appreciated. One could say though that it would be nice to see the minutes post meetings! David Allan, again our Club Patron, kept on beavering away to secure us some off-season Bunnings sausage sizzles as well as again coming to the fore to provide us with a sensational guest speaker for our annual presentation night.

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To our hard working secretary Chris Olver, your efforts to keep things moving, keep players social, welcoming new players like that had been around for years, securing our only official sponsorship for the club, arranging our shirts and the return of the baggy blue (but perhaps we could source the caps from a cleaner source next time!), arranging and catering the post Xmas club match. I thank you, and I believe the rest of the members also thank you for all that you do.

Amrish, thank you for the time you spend on getting us high quality players for the higher grades. I know your motivation and enthusiasm suffered through this season, and I urge for you to keep your head high and keep on going as the runs (and fun) are just around the corner for you!

I would also like to thank Steven Hill, who may not have played with us this season he was instrumental in setting up the new Play of the Day mugs and free drink provided at the Northbridge Hotel. It is these sorts of things that build that camaraderie amongst the players and teams that are integral to what we do.

There was one moment this year, off the field, that really stands out as to what makes the members of this club so great. We had a young American fellow come along to some games, no need to repeat the story as to why he was actually here, but I could not be more proud of how this club took him in, treated him like a friend, ensured he got a run on the field and a drink and a chat off it. He was taken in, and really treated like one of us, and I know he couldn’t have been happier and will go back home to the USA with storied of just how good the members of the Northbridge Cricket Club are.

I would also like to extend thanks and gratitude to our elected President, Mitch Whyman. Mitch stepped down from club administration prior to the start of the season. This club would not be here today if it wasn’t for Mitch and what he has done for all of us. Whether it was the inspirational talks, the never ending hard work, or steaming in with the ball in hand you could never doubt that everything that Mitch did was for the betterment of this club. Thank you Mitch for everything that you have done for this club, and we hope to see you back on the field again soon.

To finish, I would like to thank all of those who took the field for us this season, as well as those who supported us. To our sponsor 3P Learning, we thank you for your contribution. For those who don’t know, students who use Mathletics are statistically found to have a greater than 6% advantage in their Naplan results than those without. So if you have school age kids be sure to get a subscription (anyone would think I work there…wait…).

To borrow from Mitch Whyman, each Saturday in summer we are 11 friends side by side enjoying each others company and willing each other onto victory even if the other team scores more runs. That is the spirit of the Northbridge Cricket Club. Hope to see you all run around again next season!

Regards, Mitch Nicholls a/ Honorary President Northbridge Cricket Club

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Team awards 2014-2015

A Grade David Mills - Trophy for Batting Anirudh Narasimhan - 216 runs at 21.60 Tim Perry - Trophy for Bowling Zaeem Tapia - 14 wickets at 19.71 Fielding Award Andrew J Greenlees - 5 Catches Captain’s Award Zaeem Tapia Player’s Player Award Abishek Sharma John Leslie - Player of the Season Anirudh Narasimhan

A Reserve Grade Batting Award Divyesh Thakkar - 360 runs at 30.00 Bowling Award Divyesh Thakkar - 27 wickets at 14.48 Fielding Award Eamonn Flanagan - 5 Catches Captain’s Award Saurav Sarkar Player’s Player Award Divyesh Thakkar Player of the Season Divyesh Thakkar

C Reserve Grade Batting Award Allan Dwyer - 416 runs at 29.71 Bowling Award Callum Roles - 21 wickets at 17.76 Fielding Award Bryan Massey - 11 Catches Captain’s Award Michael Smith Player’s Player Award Alex Davey Player of the Season Bryan Massey

D Reserve Grade Batting Award Steve Morrison - 478 runs at 39.83 Bowling Award Abishek Kumar - 25 wickets at 17.16 Fielding Award Nick Fletcher - 6 Catches and 2 Run Outs Captain’s Award Jeff Duff Player’s Player Award Nick Fletcher Player of the Season Steve Morrison

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Centuries, Hat-tricks, 5WI and other awards

Centuries Grade Score Player Vs A Reserve 122 Divyesh Thakker Kirribilli Crusaders D Reserve 154* Steve Morrison North Shore (D-Generation) D Reserve 121 Chris Jepp North Shore (D-Generation) D Reserve 111 Steve Morrison Cammeray

5WI Grade Figure Player Vs A Grade 8/56 Zaeem Tapia Rydalmere A Reserve 5/13 Justin Reiss Old Ignatians (Titans) A Reserve 5/16 Naynesh Thakkar North Sydney Leagues A Reserve 5/39 Zaeem Tapia North Sydney Leagues C Reserve 6/37 Callum Roles Old Ignatians C Reserve 5/18 Callum Roles Kirribilli Crusaders D Reserve 6/50 Steve Morrison Chatswood Gypsies D Reserve 5/15 David Welsh Cammeray

Hatricks Grade Figure Player Vs D Reserve 4/11 Steve Morrison Cammeray

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Additional Club Awards Life Membership

The Life Membership award is to recognize playing members that have given their time and service to the Northbridge Cricket Club year after year. It is a prestigious award and rarely given. To date only 13 players have won this award. For the 2014-15 season there are no additions to the Northbridge Cricket Club Life Members.

Perpetual Trophies

The Ken Wood Cup

The Club’s perpetual major award, the “Ken Wood Cup” is awarded each season to the outstanding member of the club. This award was first awarded in the 1947/48 season in memory of Sergeant Ken Wood, who sadly died during World War II. When deciding the recipient of this award, the general committee takes into account performances on the cricket field, sportsmanship and other services rendered to the club.

The winner of the Ken Wood Cup this year is Mitch Nicholls. Congratulations to Mitch for his outstanding commitment and service to the club this year.

Ken Wood Cup Previous Winners Year Winner 1970-71 Graham Johnstone 1971-72 Bob Fenton 1972-73 John Yates 1973-74 Noel Maxwell 1974-75 Barry Cline 1975-76 Steve Blockley 1976-77 Jim Freeman 1977-78 Kevin Keegan 1978-79 David Sheekey 1979-80 Martin Smith 1980-81 Ian Brown 1981-82 Martin Smith 1982-83 Roger Moore 1983-84 Chris Greleck 1984-85 Tony Thornby 1985-86 Frank Foy 1986-87 David Mills 1987-88 Rod Winsor 1988-89 Steve Cameron 1989-90 Chris Woodhouse 1990-91 Pat Fisher 1991-92 David Mills 1992-93 Jim Woodhouse 1993-94 David Sheekey 1994-95 Chris Woodhouse 1995-96 Brett Watts 1996-97 Daryl Daniels

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1997-98 Peter Stankovic 1998-99 Francis von Demleux 1999-00 David Sheekey 2000-01 Stephen Keating 2001-02 Chris Leslie 2002-03 Chris Leslie 2003-04 Rob Hobday 2004-05 Anthony Greenhill 2005-06 Mitch Whyman 2006-07 Mitch Whyman 2007-08 Mark Naglost 2008-09 Mitch Whyman 2009-10 Damian Fuller 2010-11 David Allan 2011-12 Mitch Nicholls 2012-13 Mitch Nicholls 2013-14 Chris Olver 2014-15 Mitch Nichols

The Lance Thornton Cup

The Lance Thornton Cup is awarded each season to the outstanding junior member of the club. Lance Thornton played cricket for Northbridge and was our Club Secretary. Lance was also Treasurer for the NSCA, and Northbridge Club Patron from 1979-1980.

This year Divyesh Thakkar received this award. Divyesh was an extremely impressive addition to our A Reserve side, taking wickets and scoring top runs.

The Lance Thornton Cup Year Winner 1970-71 Scott Dobson & Robert Adams 1971-72 Christopher Richardson 1972-73 Terry Moore 1973-74 Michael Hill 1974-75 Don Callope 1975-76 Tony Thornby 1976-77 John Moore 1977-78 Don Callope 1978-79 Emile Borror 1979-80 Mark Roger & David Hoffman 1980-81 David Hoffman 1981-82 Justin Shakeshaft 1982-83 Chris Higgins 1983-84 Chris Woodhouse 1984-85 Chris Woodhouse 1985-86 Edgar Penollar 1986-87 Chris Woodhouse 1987-88 Chris Leslie 1988-89 Chris Leslie

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1989-90 David Stratton 1990-91 Chris Leslie 1991-92 David Stratton 1992-93 Tim Paillas 1993-94 Rob Bailey 1994-95 Mark Pointer 1995-96 Scott Reid 1996-97 Dominic Brogan 1997-98 Chris Snyder 1998-99 Derek Allen 1999-00 Richard Kidd 2000-01 Anthony Allen 2001-02 Liam Moy 2002-03 Anthony Allen 2003-04 Ben Hobday 2004-05 Ben Hobday 2005-06 Alex Stankovic 2006-07 Sam Dempsey 2007-08 Alex Stankovic 2008-09 Abishek Devaraj 2009-10 Michael Stankovic 2010-11 Sam Gunderson-Briggs 2011-12 Justin Riess 2012-13 Divyesh Thakkar 2013-14 Michael Vamvakaris 2014-15 Divyesh Thakkar

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The Stephen Peak Trophy

The Stephen Peak Trophy is a new award introduced two seasons ago. Stephen played cricket for Northbridge, was our Club Treasurer and Vice Captain of our A-Reserve Grade Team in 2005/06. Stephen tragically passed away in the off-season at the age of 33. This award is in memory of Stephen and his commitment on and off the field. The award is designed to recognise the Players Player – voted by the players on a 3-2-1 basis, week in week out. Any member, in any team of the club can win this award.

This 3-2-1 votes are scaled based on the number of games played by each team. This is to compensate for our One Day sides, which play a significantly larger number of games each season compared to our other teams.

The Stephen Peak Trophy Year Winner 2006-07 Jesus Luque 2007-08 Mitch Nicholls 2008-09 Amit Gade 2009-10 Ben Munro 2010-11 Aadil Khalil 2011-12 John Christodoulakis 2012-13 Aadil Khalil 2013-14 Amrish Bhatia 2014-15 Alex Davey

Northern Suburbs Cricket Association trophies

We would also like to congratulate Bryan Massey and Divyesh Thakkar for taking out Association awards this year.

These are great honours, especially given the fierce competition across the Grades.

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A Grade Captains Report – Amrish Bhatia

Yet another summer season gone – this one for 2014/2015. Not one of our best performances, yet we played at the highest competitive level. We were re-instated into A grade (turf) and to our surprise thrown at the deep end – in A grade (as opposed to A reserve also on Turf). Rebuilding the side that had lost a few key turf players was always going to be hard and although we managed a key sweet victory against arch rivals Cammeray, the season turned out to be a hard one that I think we can learn from and move on. A few games we lost due to player shortages and a few we narrowly lost, reversed results which would have made the season much better.

We started the season having won two winter titles in 2014, in Division 2 and 3, so brought in confidence from these two performances but also from the previous 2013/14 season where we had played splendidly in B grade. However in our first game was at Koola we were quickly brought down to earth as not only did we play some superb spin bowling on a wearing pitch, but we were exposed to the vagaries of a turf after a year and a half off it!

Through the season we looked for new players to complement the core of our team, like the classy Anirudh Narasimhan, the ever reliable (and my lieutenant) John Mitchell, the tireless Zaeem Tapia and the workhorse in Aqif Khalil. It was splendid to have Abhishek Sharma return to the squad, and he showed class is permanent when after a few years off nursing a knee injury, he slotted right back playing some majestic innings through the season. Jack Parsons played on through the first half, keeping wickets with sureity, chipping in with the short witty catch phrases from behind and providing a solid looking opening role at one end. Sadly he has returned to the UK, and we wish him well thank him for playing with us. A new find to accompany him at the top of the order, was Sagnik Banerjee who played an important role in the win against Cammeray and hopefully will play for Northbridge for many years to come. A good find! Andrew Greenlees too returned to the A grade squad from his extended travels and though he was unable to carry forward the MSD’esque batting from last season, it was good to have a familiar face regularly back. Cameron Reed was an in and out player, who sometimes bowled like Waqar Younis and sometimes even I could bowl better! Good talent but requiring more consistency and regularity. Yogesh Gunaji made a welcome return midway in the season and his swing bowling helped on a few occasions, hopefully he taps the full potential for becoming the solid allrounder that the club so badly needs. Finally making up the core was the ever sprightly Mitch Nicholls, who I could bank on to take an early wicket. He regained fitness and looked almost like his old self, swinging the ball both ways. Not to say the batting looked really good, just a few mistakes away from scoring heavily … next season Mr. Presso! We did have a few guest appearances with a number of others playing a couple of games each, but none more pleasing than having my good mate and club stalwart Benny Maw back on turf playing a game. So good to see him (and not surprisingly) in the wicket column!

Batting averages showed why we had such a poor season but Anirudh top scored with 216 runs closely followed by VC John Mitchell (as he was fondly called) and Abhishek Sharma (Gower as I call him!). The bowling was spearheaded by Zaeem who bowled the most but also took the most wickets in 14 with a 7-56 as a heroic effort against competition winners Rydalmere. Anirudh and Mitch bowled a fair bit though (boy did we have a few long days!), both taking 9 wickets a piece and Cameron chipped in with 10. Anirudh was the hardest to score off and showed why he took out the non-existent “A Grade Best All-rounder” award. He was a a few shots away from a few centuries but has kept that in reserve for the coming season when his good mate and competitive foe Mr Aadil Khalil returns (let’s hope so!).

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Finally I would like to thank Mitch Whyman and Anthony Greenhill (who I so badly missed to keep one end tight and provide regular wickets with), who did the hard work to get us back on turf and support and have belief in the side. Thanks also to the NCC committee and secretary Olver - so assisting with all matters including selections. To that extent it was great to see no selection issues between sides and Andrew, Steve, Bryan and I worked well together – so thanks Captains. Lastly to Mitch Nicholls – thanks for taking on the responsibility and leading the club through a tough year both on and off the cricket field. As Benny Maw would say, onwards and upwards … Go The Bridge!

- Amrish Bhatia A Grade Skipper, 2014/15

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Northern Cricket Union – A Grade Main Ladder 2014/15

Batting Partnerships

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Individual Performances – Northbridge A Grade 2014/2015

There were a number of impressive individual performances throughout season, with the statistically most memorable of these listed below:

Hall of Fame- Batting – Northbridge A Grade 2014/2015

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Hall of Fame- Bowling – Northbridge A Grade 2014/2015

3 wickets in an Inning’s

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Statistics - All Players – Northbridge A Grade 2014/2015

All Players – Batting

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All Players – Bowling

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All Players - Fielding

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A Reserve Grade Report

It was my great pleasure to captain the AReserve team this year. We ended the year with 3 wins and 9 losses but before you think that we were everyone’s easy beats, you need to realise we lost 2 games by less than 5 runs and whilst it sounds like the obvious cricketers lament, winning 5 and losing 7 would have been a much more reasonable reflection of our capability and where we fitted within the competition. As we say, “tell your story walkin’” but it says something about the topsy turvy nature of the competition that with 2 wins in the last 3 games we would have made the semi-finals.

In my mind there were 2 outstanding matches this year. One where we crushed the eventual Premiers, North Sydney Leagues, bowling them for 99 in a one-day match as Nick Savage and Naynesh ripped through the competition’s best batting line up in 28 overs and we got the score in 15 overs due to a Rav Sarkar whirlwind 61*. As a captain it was very heartening to hear the opposition talk about a very fierce bowling performance from Nick Savage as being “way beyond anything they were capable of playing”. Sadly we lost Nick just before Christmas to a gap year in England. The whole team tried to convince him to stay by telling him it was bloody cold over there, all they eat is boiled food and the women, with the exception of the lovely Mrs Olver (Chris’s sainted Mother) are hideously ugly. Sadly we couldn’t convince him because some blokes have to learn the hard way. The other standout game for me was our outright win against Old Iggies. We struggled with the bat until Rav and Eamon got us to a semi - credible 211 and J Reiss with 5 wickets and Naynesh with 3 wickets rolled Old Iggies for 29 in the first innings and Divesh and Cam Reed with 3 wickets each in the second rolled them for 64. It’s difficult to discuss the opinion we have of the Old Iggies cricket club in polite company, just let me say it was a great day out.

Our AReserve team was a young side, so young in fact that some of our fiercest opponents, Old Iggies, called me names for being such an old person in a young team. Sadly this year my geological age was about twice my season’s batting average, which is a personal tragedy on two fronts!

Reviewing a season, there is what we celebrate and what we learn. There was a lot to celebrate and I want to recognise a few of our players:

Divyesh Thakkar – Divyesh scored 360 runs at an average of 30, with a highest score of 122 and an unlucky 90. He was the pick of our batsmen. On a good day Divyesh is a punishing batsman who doesn’t take a backward step and takes the game away from the opposition. If that isn’t enough, his bowling was even better: 27 wickets at an average of just over 14 runs with a best bowling of 4/41. I often bowled him in the most difficult circumstances and I never saw him back down even when he copped some stick. He took some very classy wickets through smart pace variation and clever use of swing. Fortunately Divyesh has a brother who can also bowl a bit. Naynesh was either our number one with the wind bowler or our first change. Naynesh took 22 wickets at an average of just over 15 with a best bowling of a devastating 5/16. Naynesh isn’t a big talker but he has huge determination and a bowling change usually required a surgical extraction of the ball from his hand. I want to publicly thank the Thakkar boys for bringing their circle of friends into the Northbridge Club, we’ve had some quality cricketers like Lakshay Kumar, Varun Shah, Rishab Duggal and Krish Chhatwal. Rish provided the season’s most macabre incident by managing to break his arm after slipping over whilst fielding. In what can only be described as farcical, it took 30 minutes for the ambulance to come, which seemed strange because we were playing at Royal North Shore’s Gore Hill Oval and the ambulance drivers were watching us play. Justin Reiss and Rav Sarkar who both proved as handy with the bat as they are with the ball. Rav never ceased to be a force for positivity and energy in the field and had two inspirational innings with the bat. He’s the best Queenslander I ever met.

A special mention to Eamonn Flanagan, who was often unlucky with the bat but kept wicket beautifully all

Page 25 of 49 Northbridge Cricket Club www.northbridgecricketclub.org year and payed the price by breaking his finger. Even though his finger injury put his career as a concert pianist in jeopardy, Eamonn is a ‘Bridge man through and through and often played through the pain.

We may not have achieved what we wanted to this season but fortunately we get the chance to have another go soon. Thanks to a great bunch of blokes in ARes this year, we had a team that has great capacity for improvement and can represent ‘Bridge at the highest level. Remember the cricketer’s promise “I will do better next season” and make it so.

Andrew Belger Go ‘ Bridge!

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Northern Suburbs Cricket Association – A Reserve Grade

Batting Partnerships A Reserve Grade - 2014/15

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Individual Performances – Northbridge A Reserve Grade 2014/2015

There were a number of impressive individual performances throughout season, with the statistically most memorable of these listed below:

Hall of Fame- Batting – Northbridge A Reserve Grade 2014/2015

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Hall of Fame- Bowling – Northbridge A Reserve Grade 2014/2015

3 wickets in an Innings

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Statistics - All Players – Northbridge A Reserve Grade 2014/2015

All Players – Batting

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All Players - Bowling

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All Players - Fielding

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C Reserve Captain’s report – Bryan Massey

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Northbridge C Reserve 2014/2015 - Main Ladder

Batting Partnerships C Reserve - 2014/15

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Individual Performances – Northbridge C Grade 2013/2014

There were a number of impressive individual performances throughout season, with the statistically most memorable of these listed below:

Hall of Fame- Batting – Northbridge C Reserve 2014/15

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Hall of Fame - Bowling – Northbridge C Reserve 2014/15

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Statistics - All Players – Northbridge C Reserve 2014/15 All Players - Batting

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All Players - Bowling

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All Players - Fielding

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D Reserve Captains Report – Steve Morrison

Pre-Season training was intense. After a frolicking trip to Nebraska in which the team let their hair down, we returned to base camp for four months of body conditioning, elevation training and personal grooming. Those sessions were very well attended. Sorry, I meant “well-intended”.

When the draft came through our team had first pick. We passed over the aging Brad Hogg, Shane Watson and retiring Sachin Tendulkar and invested our money instead in our spritely young bunch. We were attempting to keep the average age in the team around 22 and were quite successful (if you allow for a variation of 29).

October arrived and with the captain unavailable for game 1 the vice-captain Dave “Taxi-Club” Welsh took the reins. We wish he had taken the rains instead because then the game 1 defeat wouldn’t have been so embarrassing. Highlights of that match were as follows:

Game 2 was a different story. The legendary Juffrey Duffrey used his biotical arm to take 4 wickets. We chased him around the field until he gave them back then we could continue with the game.

Game 3 was the story of our season. The beloved (sic) captain scored his maiden century backed up by a 96 from Greg “the pen” Parker. Declaring at 361 we sent them in before stumps. Abishek “I thought the match started at 2pm” Kumar took 3 firey wickets before stumps. But the story of our season was snatching a draw from the jaws of victory. We saw a four and a half hour partnership that we couldn’t break. Full credit to the opposition. That’s why we hacked their credit cards and game them all the “credit”.

The motto for the rest of our season was “We can’t take a trick”. However there were some noteworthy performances. Peter Stankovic ran more 2’s than he’s run since 1972. He had a good season with the bat finishing on 254 runs, 5th in our grade and 9th for the club. Other notable batting performances were Nick Fletcher finishing 4th for the club on 373 runs and Greg Parker on 314, 7th for the club.

Chris Jepp had a great year opening with aggression and showing us that there still a few from England who know how to play cricket. Season highlight for Chris was a 121 and he finished 2nd in the club with 422 runs for the season.

On the bowling front we had 5 bowlers taking 10+ wickets. Duffo actually took more wickets than he scored runs. That’s a stat that any bowler would be proud of. Nick “lives” Flectcher was with him on 10. The bowling honours were fought out in the end by Abi and Welsh. Welsh took off on a honeymoon and Abi took over. 25 for Abi and 24 for welsh. Shout outs to Ranjith and Olver who also got wickets.

In the field we had some highlights also. David “will I use Tendulkar’s bat or Brett Lee’s?” Allan had a great year behind the stumps with byes at a record low and catches and runouts at a high. Jonas had a great season in the field until a crocodile ran onto Gore Creek (actually from the creek) and ripped 7 of his figures off. The crocodile has made a full recovery.

Let’s be honest, we didn’t make the semis and the semis didn’t make us. But we had a great time each man contributing to his own statistics and playing for himself. We are a great collection of individual players. At the end of our season Dave Welsh celebrated his marriage to the beautiful Jenny. As a team in D Grade we felt much like Dave Welsh: We were really punching above our weight.

Rev. Steve Morrison Captain.

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Northern Suburbs Cricket Association – D Reserve Main Ladder 2014/15

Batting partnerships – D Reserve 2014/2015

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Individual Performances – Northbridge D Reserve 2014/2015

There were a number of impressive individual performances throughout season, with the statistically most memorable of these listed below:

Hall of Fame- Batting – Northbridge D Reserve 2014/2015

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Hall of Fame- Bowling – Northbridge D Reserve 2014/2015

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Statistics - All Players – Northbridge D Reserve 2014/2015

All Players - Batting

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All Players - Bowling

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All Players - Fielding

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NCC - Player Career Statistics - Club Records 1919/20 – 2014/15

INDIVIDUAL

Batting Player Season Batting aggregate - runs 10,021 D Mills Batting average 47.4 G Russell Highest score 263no A Belger 2012 -13 Most centuries 9 C Leslie Most runs in season 876 D Daniels 1997 -98 Best batting average in season 113.00 S Blockley 1975-76

Bowling Bowling aggregate - wickets 947 T Perry 9.71 I Short Best bowling analysis in inns 9-16 P Blakeley 1975 -76 Most wickets in season 71 T Perry 1977-78 71 P Ryman 1963-64 Best bowling average in season 6.96 N Maxwell 1966-67 Most hat tricks 3 N Maxwell/T Perry

Fielding Wicket keeping - catches/stumpings 243 D Mills Fielding - most catches 102 D Mills

All Rounder Player of Grade -points 1990 D Daniels 1998 -99

Partnerships

Wicket Players Runs Opponent Season Grade 1st P Stankovic/A Sharma 262 Bears 2001-02 C 2nd D Mills/J Woodhouse 264 Brothers 1986-87 B 3rd P Stankovic/M Tims 208 Northbridge Red 1997-98 C 4th A Walker/J Hanna 184 Central 1999-00 C 5th K Wigmore/M Maher 210 Gore Hill 1962-63 A 6th C Leslie/F von Demleux 164 Willoughby 2000-01 A 7th A Gade/A Witherdin 176 Roseville 2007-08 C1D 8th R Young/F Whitehead 175 Broomham Bros 1944-45 A 9th K Chapman/B Maw 130 North Shore 2008-09 A Res 10th M Kent/J David 108 Kirribilli Crusaders 2013-14 BR

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Current Players with 400 or more runs

No Name Inns Not Out HS Runs Avg 100s 50s Catches 1 Stankovic, Peter 412 25 170* 8,128 21.00 5 37 80 2 Greenlees, Andrew 127 8 119 2,426 20.39 2 11 46 3 Bhatia, Amrish 104 12 102 2,241 24.36 1 13 51 4 May, Nick 122 6 83 2,225 19.18 0 11 51 5 Calabria, Enzo 122 16 85 1,990 18.77 0 10 39 6 Belger, Andrew 64 9 263* 1,890 34.36 4 6 22 7 Morrison, Steve 92 24 154* 1,696 24.94 2 4 23 8 Massey, Brian 57 6 128 1,534 30.08 2 9 36 9 Mitchell, John 66 12 114* 1,357 25.13 2 5 37 10 Welsh, David 106 23 67* 1,337 16.11 0 4 21 11 Fletcher, Nick 50 5 115* 1,271 28.24 1 8 18 12 Parker, Greg 80 13 96 1,261 18.82 0 3 22 13 Narasimhan, Anirudh 45 9 115* 1,193 33.14 1 8 26 14 Stankovic, Michael 89 8 94 1,180 14.57 0 3 28 15 Davey, Alex 94 12 61 960 11.71 0 4 47 16 Maw, Ben 104 21 63 926 11.16 0 1 29 17 Gunaji, Yogesh 32 2 96 875 29.17 0 1 15 18 Nicholls, Mitch 64 9 59 783 14.24 0 1 19 19 Jepp, Chris 32 0 121 775 24.22 1 3 4 20 Thakkar, Divyesh 39 4 122 774 22.11 1 3 14 21 Dwyer, Allan 31 3 73 692 24.71 0 5 5 22 Huang, Jason 26 1 60 652 26.08 0 3 4 23 Zatz, Daniel 59 6 67 619 11.68 0 2 11 24 Smith, Michael 82 17 40 547 8.42 0 0 26 25 Kashid, Sameer 25 2 106* 536 23.30 1 2 6 26 Sharah, Stephen 53 9 39 495 11.25 0 0 7 27 Lloyd-Owen Scott 37 6 71 482 15.55 0 1 11 28 Flanagan, Eamonn 22 1 51 438 20.86 0 1 18 29 Parsons, Jack 15 0 131 415 27.67 1 1 10 30 Khalil, Aqif 36 1 48 408 11.66 0 0 12 31 Reiss, Justin 38 10 73 403 14.39 0 1 16

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Current Players with 40 or more wickets

N Name Matches Overs Maidens Runs Wkts Avge Best 5 wkts o 1 Maw, Ben 130 1,238.4 216 4,165 218 19.1 7-101 3 1 2 Welsh, David 120 812.2 115 3,376 173 19.5 5-5 3 1 3 Morrison, Steve 97 823.2 106 3,567 157 22.7 6-14 6 2 4 Tapia, Zaeem 66 588.0 95 2,215 95 23.3 7-56 4 2 5 Nicholls, Mitch 72 642.5 103 2,251 90 25.0 4-27 0 1 6 Stankovic, Michael 83 369.4 21 2,211 82 26.9 4-8 0 6 7 Zatz, Daniel 72 431.2 43 2,270 75 30.2 6-22 1 7 8 Davey, Alex 108 331.5 30 1,969 65 30.2 5-44 1 9 9 Stankovic, Peter 331 282.5 36 1,453 62 23.4 3-1 0 4 10 Smith, Michael 92 313.0 22 1,780 55 32.3 5-19 1 6 11 Calabria, Enzo 128 251.0 16 1,292 52 24.8 4-36 0 5 12 Reiss, Justin 43 310.1 35 1,207 51 23.6 5-13 1 7 13 Lloyd-Owen, Scott 43 304.0 38 1,294 49 26.4 6-33 2 1 14 Roles, Callum 36 279.3 47 1,027 46 22.3 6-37 2 3 15 Thakkar, Naynesh 34 224.0 46 818 46 17.7 5-16 1 8 16 Thakkar, Divyesh 36 148.0 13 707 41 17.2 5-36 1 4

The final word from the 12th man

For those players looking for more information regarding the Northbridge Cricket Club, including the career results of all current players, please log onto our website:

www.northbridgecricketclub.org

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