Page 72 - WPHCC 2023-2024 Cricket Season Yearbook

best seat in the house out in the middle alongside my co-coach James Wighton, which saw many fantastic displays of good cricket for such a young age group and commendable sportsmanship & team spirit. Whilst there were many fantastic moments, some of the standouts included:
Kian Kapoor – his opening knock at Campbell Park against a quality bowling outfit (Hornsby), was beyond exceptional, with a huge strike rate & consistent quality of striking across the entire field, he looked unstoppable. As one of our youngest players, Kian, has displayed a massive improvement this season in all aspects of his game and it was only the rain that stopped young Kian on this day.
In late December against Glenorie, there was an almost certain victory on an extremely hot Summer’s Day after some fantastic cricket by the talented boys from Glenorie, which left our team needing 45 runs off a few short overs with only one wicket in hand. Coming back to the crease after opening the batting was young Matty Busutil, joining his teammate – Joel Pagano to battle it out for a few short overs. It’s pretty fair to say, that this was probably the most entertaining 20 minutes of junior cricket that the parents on both sides had witnessed across the season, which saw the 2 lads from West Penno snatching an unlikely victory with an over to spare. Both Matt & Joel had really good seasons & both displayed great leadership & sportsmanship for the team.
The boys were fortunate enough to make the Semi Final this year, which saw a huge impact from a few players in particular which included our opening batters. The ever-tenacious Angus Wighton & Neelay Agrawal. These two lads batted through some very tough bowling from the Castle Hill lads, showing true grit & determination to set the team up for a solid display of batting. Neelay was convincing with the ball in hand in the Semi & GF also turning the ball at right angles to the dismay of all the batters that faced him. Angus as always lead the team from the front with his signature style of play which would see him batting on through injury and taking the bowling attack on at any chance he could get.
James Kent was another standout in our Semi Final who took a bag full of wickets and an absolute screamer of a catch, coupled with some solid hitting to the far reaches of the boundary when batting. James’ improvement over the season was exceptional and it was great to see his abilities and hard work come through towards the end of the season .
Advay Rathor was another player that has improved remarkably across the season in his gameplay and the way he approaches the game. On his day – his bowling is absolutely unplayable & he can hit the ball a very long way. More importantly – his kind and humble nature has seen Advay become a much loved and valued member of the WPH13 Red team over the past couple of years.
The biggest six of the season without doubt however goes to Lachie Morris, who put on some fine displays of batting, none less than when he scored a huge amount of runs in the dying overs of a game at John Purchase Oval, which saw the ball almost landing on the roof of the Cherrybrook Shops. Lachie has been an outstanding quiet achiever in the team over the season, who has his best cricket ahead of him which will no doubt see him taking countless wickets and scoring thousands of runs!
Luke Brooks made some great improvements in his bowling over the season, which saw him sending down some unplayable outswingers to the opposition batters, with some really handy batting contributions over the season; he had to come back from a broken hand mid-season which was a credit to his tenacity and love of the game.
To Hriday Bedhi – we cannot thank you and your family enough for your commitment to the team, especially in the back end of the season when you were not able to play. Hriday’s improvement over the season has been quite remarkable, especially with his bowling, and he will be an absolute handful for any opposition in years to come. His commitment to the team in the field however really shows his character and true spirit as a team player along with his super friendly demeanor which is contagious amongst the team.
To Ben Streffner – you have been a great leader of the boys in the way you conduct yourself on game day and the manner in which you approach the game. Thank you for taking on the challenge of leading