Seniors update

Not too many games played since our last update, and no match reports received from captains except Matt Jensen (come on guys, have a go!), but here’s some honourable mentions trawled painstakingly from the rubbish limited stats that Playcricket serves up (what happened to those MyCricket stats where you knew what games big scores were made in or batting totals career-wise at what batting position, etc etc..Grrr).  

First up, Northern Districts Green Shield (U16) team won the final against Parramatta last Saturday in an absolute thriller, by 1 wicket/1 run (10/183 vs 9/182 batting second). More than half the team were Kissing Point graduates (and some of whom still play fill-in games for us). 

A1

Before Christmas, the A grade boys were unfortunate to lose narrowly to Normanhurst in a tight game, with Green Shield recruit Ulrich Vosser picking up 4/21 off 8 overs. The following week they put on a very competitive total of 225 off 40 overs at Turramurra Oval versus St Ives, with half centuries to Matt Backhouse and Billy Jameson and 48 to Matt Wylie, but the wicket wasn’t kind to our bowlers against a couple of strong batters. Riley Backhouse had the best figures of 2/39, while Andrew Bartlett bowled miserly, but without success. 

Against Hornsby at Berowra Oval, tight bowling by everyone restricted Hornsby to 8/141, with Joel Pagano (now playing Green Shield for Gordon), Riley Backhouse and Donovan Schreuder each picking up 2 wickets. Kisso chased down the total for the loss of 6 wickets in just under 38 overs, with Riley Backhouse backing up with 56* and Billy Jameson a steady 29. Tim Love was unfortunate on his comeback to be run out for a duck (no details to hand), but it’s great to see the club president back on the field. Kisso are currently sitting in 5th spot. 

A2

A2 are continuing to compete and learn more about turf cricket in a tough grade. In Round 7 vs Sydney Lions, Greg Appleby bowled tightly for 1/25 off 7, while Rajesh Palaniswamy took 2/23. In the batting, Robert Hunt was the glue, opening with 59. Round 8 was another tough batting day on the Glade with our director of cricket, Nav Sivanathan, registering the 2nd highest individual score of the game with 31. Round 9 saw chaos in the top order for batting against Berowra, until numbers 9 and 10, Marc Brown and Matthew Haynes, combined for a 112 run partnership. scoring 45 and 61* respectively. In round 12, Jesus Luque, Ben Hunt and Nav Sivanathan were the backbone, with 34, 24 and 22 respectively.

B2

In Round 8, the boys had a strong victory over Sydney Lions, chasing down a total of 155 in just over 30 overs.  Pankaj Gupta top scored with 46, assisted by Anil Nair 27, Himanshu 'Honey' Sahore 30 and a quickfire 24* from Skipper Des Chan. In Round 9, Prakash Parkar found his mojo with the bat scoring 88 whilst Honey continued his great run of form with the bat scoring 54*. In round 12, recruit Craig Henson was the pick of the bowlers with an economy of 2.71 off 7 overs, in a game where Kisso struggled to take wickets and then to support another big score from Prakash, opening with 84. Kisso are in 2nd in what is a very tight B2 competition.

C2

Kissing Point Red are one win off first (in third position) after more strong performances. In round 8 versus WPHCCCCCC, Henry May took 2/7 off 2 and Tagen Kane 2/8 off 4, while Will Asensio took 2/19 off 3. But the result was only sealed when batting second, with Jude D’Silva showing the youngsters how quality never ages, scoring 70* off 77, ably supported by Oliver Padina (43) and Ben May (25*). In round 9 a comprehensive win resulted after Kisso scored 5/176, Michael Asensio this time scoring 85, with Will 36* and Marcus Neilly 27*. Will showed his all-round skills with 4/18 and Tagen Kane took 3/17. 

In round 12, Jude top scored with 40*, but was left high and dry when the team was bowled out for 138 after 33.3 overs. Those missing 9 balls became critical when now second-placed Beecroft ran the total down on the last ball. 

C3

Moved down from C2, the team led by Josh Hamilton have rediscovered their mojo, putting on a big win in their first match in the new grade (which apparently resulted in someone in the opposition murmuring that they were too good…). Kisso scored 144 and bowled out Beecroft for 72. It was a genuine team effort, with no one scoring more than 29 (Kaiden Phillips) and great support from Sam Harding (27), Ben Dunstan (13), Alex Jameson (20) and Josh Hamilton (14*). Skipper Josh is keen to point out that the fielding was superb, as well, with screamers at slips and point and a run out. Round 10 versus Hornsby (in the rain) was rinse and repeat (9/148 vs 2/94), with Kaiden Phillips 38, Ben Dunstan 19 and this time Tom Jameson outscoring his brother with 20. It was a welcome back for Brian 'BT' Taylor, while Ben was the best of the bowlers with 1/12 off 5 to help C3s' take a DLS win.

 
The winning continued in round 12, with Bill 'Boogie' Lenehan taking 3/13, Cameron McLagan 2/9 and ben Dunstan 2/17. Rory Elliot top-scored with 27, coming off his 36 in the previous abandoned round. The Big Show, Muruga Ratnasingham, made a rare but welcome appearance with 21 (more please Murgs and BT!). Kisso are now in third spot. 

C4

In round 8, Pat French chimed in with 54* to go with Graham Oslington’s 45 and Rory Elliott’s 29 to post 178. Unfortunately Thornleigh overhauled the score with 3 overs to go, Pat French again excelling with 3/14 off 7. Kisso bounced back in Round 9, on the back of James Ellis’ lone hand of 87, to win comfortably against Castle Hill, Pat French taking out the openers with 3/4 and virtually everyone else taking a wicket. In Round 12 Ivan Ang got amongst the wickets after a lean trot with 4/58 but couldn’t chase down a big total of 208, fading to 8/138 with David Shepherd top scoring with 36, young Rok Ellis returning from Europe with 24 and Graham Oslington with 19.

D1

This is a happy and tight-knit team, working hard in a tough competition of one day games only. In Round 12 versus WPHCCC Blue, Josh Klingberg guest starred as an all-rounder in a difficult chase of a big total. In Round 13 against Castle Hill, another big opposition total was compiled after two brothers put on a 135 run late middle order partnership. While Matt Jensen, Dave Liney and Micah Phillips each took two wickets, and Micah backed up with 52 (supported by James Wilkinson with 24), it was a bridge too far to chase down the total.  

Round 16 versus Thornleigh saw a big win, with James Wilkinson scoring his maiden 50 (53) with some stylish driving in the V and a team effort backing him up (Steve Hall and Kaiden Phillips each with 18). The bowling was superb, with 9 wickets bowled (Matt Jensen 3/24, Dr Matt Dunn 2/12 (hope your shoulder is getting better, Doc), Jag Singh 1/12, Kaiden Phillips 2/33 and Maxim Skarchewski 2/18. Rabs McKinnon did a good job steering the last wicket partnership home. 

D2

With at least two to three members of their best bowling attack missing each game through injury/unavailability, and key batters also injured/away, wins have continued to be elusive for this side, that spans the years from 13 to 70. In Round 8 versus Asquith, Angus Manny continued to prosper with 57*, supported by new boy Alan Lloyd, compiling a stylish 29* some years after he had first retired from cricket (and dentistry). His form and agility showed that the years have been very kind to him (obviously a star in his younger days). Maxim Skarschewski was the pick of the bowlers with 2/19, while Dave Liney took 2/44. 

 

Round 9 against Castle Hill saw the welcome but temporary return after 14 years of Tom Aitken, who bowled unluckily for 0/22, the edges flying into absences in the slips cordon. His batting however, attempting (spectacularly unsuccessfully) a second ball slog sweep against the bowler who took 5/12, was less than stellar. At 5/22 chasing Castle Hill’s 188, it was a case of consolidation, amidst 6 ducks. Mark Haydock showed he is a capable allrounder with 22 and 1/14, supporting Peter Aitken with 55*, while Paul Tucker (2/15 off 5) removed the batsman who’d scored 187 against us last time, for a duck. The star shot of the day was Nathaniel Quan smacking his first really aggressive attacking four, while skipper Mike Coburn over-generously batted at 11 for 11* and took three stunning caught behinds. Juniors Riley McInney and Max Kesby took 1/17 and 1/31 respectively, while Sanjay Kemper was also tight with 0/17. Thanks to the parents and juniors for once again helping us out! 

Round 12 was against the competition leaders, with Kisso’s bowling attack again weakened by absences. Batting in 40 degree heat, the old fellas at the top of the order steadily did their bit against some very good opening bowling and some fast short stuff (maybe they’re trying to reduce the boomer baseload in E.D.s), until Angus Manny came on and top scored with 38*. Josh Shrubb was a welcome return from long term injury to stiffen the batting, although he felt very stiffed when given out lbw to the 12 year old. Better luck in Round 14 Josh! Paul Oslington almost took a screamer at deep square leg as some very classy batting demolished our total, and bravely took 6 stitches in the chin from the errant six stitcher. Alan Lloyd came to bolster our fielding numbers, and promptly ran out the opening bat with a magnificent pick up and throw, knocking middle stump out of the ground with a direct hit from 15 metres. Whilst Alan was encouraged to show the batsman his seniors card as part of a send-off, he politely declined to rub in his achievement. Nathaniel and Jarrod were the pick of the bowlers, each with 0/26.