From Behind the Stumps: Final round and Presentation a Great Finale

From Convenor of Cricket, John McCallum

Over 280 players, coaches and families enjoyed the Cricket Presentation Evening last Saturday after the final Senior School round of the season.  A BBQ dinner and a great social atmosphere begun proceedings as friends shared highlights of their seasons. Coaches awards, new training shirts from our Supporter’s group and a humorous NZ Tour account from Jacob Tomasiello and Ben Scarf were enjoyed, and our Year 12 students were thanked for their outstanding contributions toward Cricket and their team mates.

Our special guest was Australian allrounder Moises Henriques – who spoke on overcoming Challenges, how he trains as an all-rounder and the benefits touring overseas has made with his game.  He was highly engaging in speaking to the audience, and the boys were inspired and thankful for being able to also speak with Moises, have photos and receive awards and training shirts. Moises is a fantastic ambassador for himself and the Sydney 6er’s, and certainly made plenty of fans – and he’s also now keen to return next season to do coaching of some Waverley boys!

Brother Murphy also gave boys an insight to how cricket has both evolved – but also remained much the same since he grew up in Queensland, before presenting the Br Murphy player of the year awards.  This Year’s Winner was Jack Hardwicke-Owen from the 1^st XI, with 343 runs at an average of 31.8, 9 wickets, 5 catches and 2 stumpings. 2^nd place was Ben Scarf, 3^rd Alex Ferrara, 4^th Ryan Connolly, 5th was Murray Shearer from the 9As and 6^th Conor Boyd-Boland from the 9As.

Team Award Winners:

7A Coaches Award: Lachlan Grant

7B Coaches Award: Alistair Isaac

7C Coaches Award: James Fragias

8A Coaches Award: Daniel McSweeney

8B Coaches Award: Luca Derbyshire

8C Coaches Award: Dexter Craddock

9A Coaches Award: Matthew McAlpine

9B Coaches Award: Nick Quinn

9C Coaches Award: Lachlan Muir

10A Coaches Award: Ollie Rinder

3rd XI Coaches Award: Zane Zilich

2nd XI Coaches Award: Darcy Mullins.

1st XI Coaches Award: Reid McNamara

All players who scored over 50 runs or took 5 wickets or more in an innings will be receiving their individual awards at the college’s Summer Sports Assembly on 5 April.

On the field, there were some great performances against Barker College, with a highlight being an amazing tie in the 7a game from the final ball! Knox batted first to be 7 for 176, Waverley chased the score down with a single off the last ball to tie. In the Bowling, Scott Swinburn took 6 for 21 off 8 overs, whilst in batting, Waverley required 110 off the last 10 overs and 17 to win off the last over. Scott Swinburn 59 off 45 balls, Lachlan Grant 23 off 12 balls and Fred Le Vey 12 off 7 balls were the stars, so great effort boys!  The 7Bs and 7Cs went down, despite strong batting by Jack Crotty, Rex Whale and Alexander Polihronas. Another star was Year 6 boy Hunter Eldridge, who took a Hat trick for the Prep 1sts, and backs up 3 scores of 50 runs already this term!

Despite all opens sides falling short in pursuit of final-round victories, Sebastian Rasmussen scored a damaging 56 and took 2 wickets, and Zane Zilich scored 30 In their final matches for the 3^rd XI. All Yr 12 boys can feel proud of the manner in which they developed strong friendships and played attacking and competitive Cricket in the correct fashion. I also wish to sincerely thank all the dedicated coaches of each side for their energy and expertise they willingly shared with their teams. Thank you to the amazing Cricket Supporter’s Group for such strong support of Cricket, including the running of the Queens Park canteen and with our Presentation Evening. Thank you also to the many boys and parents who volunteered to arrive early or stay later in order to set up and clean up on Presentation Evening. I wish our winter sports and boys all the continued success and enjoyment.

 

1^st XI Round 10 v Barker

From Coaches John Boyd and Greg Elliott

Waverley won the toss and asked Barker to bat. The bowlers did a good job and after 22 overs Barker was in a spot of trouble at 5 for 66 with wickets to Benjamin Scarf, Harry Whiteman and 4 to Jack Hardwicke-Owen. Some aggressive batting followed and 116 was on the board before Ryan Connolly claimed the breakthrough. Jack Hardwicke-Owen picked up his 4^th and was unlucky not to bag 5 when an lbw was turned down. The tail waged and when the final wicket fell on the last ball of the innings, Barker had made 156.

After the lunch break 156 seemed a very attainable total but another very poor start saw wickets tumble at very regular intervals to see Waverley crumble to its second lowest total of the season 87, batting for just 25.2 overs. Benjamin Scarf with 22, Darcy Mullins 12 and Alex Ferrara 10 were the only batsmen to reach double figures. After turning 2^nd on the table at Christmas and defeating Knox in round 6 the team has had a very disappointing end to the season.

On a brighter note, congratulations to all the coach award winners from every team. This award is not for the best player in each team but the player who over the whole season has shown the attitude and commitment to training and who goes the extra bit to improve. Reid McNamara won the award for the 1^st XI with Jacob Tomasiello and Harry Whiteman not far behind. I would like to thank all the wonderful parents of the 1^st XI players for the efforts they put in on lunches and teas at Queens Park this season. Your efforts make a long Saturday at Queens a lovely place to be.