From the Convenor of Cricket, John McCallum
The final round for 2-day teams concluded with matches on Friday afternoon and Saturday leading into the summer break. Waverley had some great periods of play in each, but certainly needed to ensure their batting demonstrated greater resilience and ability to form stronger partnerships. Ben Scarf took 5 wickets for the 1sts in their narrow loss to Knox, with coaches’ report below. The 2nds had a draw, with Jeremy Vanos taking wickets and making runs, while the 10As fell just 5 runs short in their chase of the Knox total. Dylan Brown and Oliver Ruse both took 3 wickets to bowl out Knox for 101, but despite 33 from Lachlan Forrest and 23 from Ridley Owens, there wasn’t one last partnership to steer them home.
It is very rare that a schoolboy scores a double-century – but this happened at Queens Park in the 9A match on Friday; with a 14 year old Knox student having an innings to remember in scoring 232 in their side’s 7 declared for 332. Well done to the Waverley boys who congratulated him sincerely for his great innings at the various milestones, and then openers Zac Murphy and Leo Shanahan showed great resilience to go to stumps undefeated at 0-33 despite being fatigued from their fielding stint. Zac and Leo started well, with Zac and then captain Reid McNamara both top scoring with 36 runs, but the 9As were only able to get half way in pursuit of this huge challenge.
Backyard and beach cricket will certainly replace the structured school cricket for the next couple of months, and we hope all boys enjoy their holiday time with family and friends. Many boys continue their club cricket commitments, whilst Waverley has a number of boys selected in the Under 16 Green Shield competition teams from local grade clubs – best of luck to Lachlan Forrest, Rory Doyle, Alex Ferarra, Mac Jenkins, Ben Scarf, Ryan Connolly and Jack Hardwicke-Owen on these Summer tournaments. All of Waverley will be eager to see whether Year 12 student Jason Sangha plays a part in the summer’s Big Bash series for the Sydney Thunder – as Jason has been very busy in warm-up matches and media commitments promoting the upcoming games on Network Ten – best of luck Jason!
From the 1st XI Coaches, John Boyd and Greg Elliott
1st XI Rounds 5 & 6 v Barker & Knox
The final two rounds have seen the 1st XI suffer two defeats at the hands of Barker and Knox. Waverley was in with a great chance in both games but poor shot selection with the bat cost the team dearly. In the Barker fixture Waverley had Barker at 7-110 at the extended drinks break on the Friday. This could have been much better as at least 5 chances were offered but not accepted. After the break another chance was missed and Barker was finally all out for 180. Waverley made a good start and at stumps on day one was 1 for 45. Waverley was on target at 2 for 75 but some silly, soft dismissals saw Barker take 1st innings points with Waverley bowled out for 127. Mac Jenkins with 42 was the best with the bat. Barker batted again and was bowled out for 142 with Benjamin Scarf taking 5 for 52. This left Waverley 202 to claim outright points off 180 deliveries. This was never a chance as Waverley again collapsed. At stumps Waverley finished at 6 for 50, thankfully only conceding 1st innings points.
The Knox game saw Waverley batting first and the batsmen again struggled and the team was lucky to finally bowled out for 156, with Tyler Von der Heyden 45 not out and Benjamin Donaldson 35. Waverley were a little unlucky bowling with a couple of lbw appeals turned down, but was still in the game at 6 for 132, but were unable to force any further wickets. This saw Knox take the six 1st innings points for the win. These two results send Waverley into the Christmas break with 20 points sitting in equal 3rd place with Knox. Trinity lead the competition with Barker 2nd, Cranbrook and St Aloysius round out the field. Five 50-over games remain in Term 1 to decide who will reign in 2016-2017.
The 1st XI wish everyone in the school community a very safe and happy Christmas.
