Page 47 - West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club Yearbook 2014-15

UNDER 14 - TAMWORTH REPORT
A 12 man squad represented the club at this year’s U14 Tamworth festival, coached by Brendan Harkin and managed by Craig Hutchinson. The tour was a great success, both on and off the field, as everyone made the most of the opportunity of a week of sun, cricket and fun. The touring players were: Shaun Harkin, Thomas Pratt, Will Harvey, Todd Hutchinson, James Woolnough, Christian Brayan, Harishan Parthipan, Max Harkin, Oliver Maybury, James Reynolds, Rowan Love and Nick Colley.
Playing against stronger teams comprising several representative players, our relatively inexperienced team (no current U14 Rep players) competed extremely well to win one game and narrowly miss out in two games but were well beaten in the other games. Thank-you Brendan and Craig for a superbly organised tour. All the players and their parents thoroughly enjoyed themselves and will be looking forward to next year’s trip
to Armidale. Thanks also to the parents who volunteered to score, umpire, help with warm-up drills etc, and also a very big thank you to Melissa and Michelle for taking care of the nutritional needs of everyone for the entire week!
Armidale U14 9/91 (T Hutchinson 3/17) def WPHCCC 4/89(cc)
Game 1 was a 25 over match against Armidale and the WPHC team were both nervous and excited at the prospect of a week of intense cricket. WPHC lost the toss and were sent in to bat. William and Oliver strode to the middle determined to get the team off to a good start. The quality of the opposition bowling was strong and in the damp conditions scoring runs was going to be difficult. Both openers and our number 3 were back in the pavilion quite quickly. As the pitch dried out batting became easier and Max (21) and Thomas (22) scored runs more easily before the compulsory innings close. Armidale were confident of getting the runs after their openers scored 22 and 26 respectively. But a middle order collapse led by Todd (3/17) and more accurate and disciplined bowling ensured the game would be tight. Tension was high as Armidale hit the winning runs off the final ball of the game.
Coffs Harbour 4/101 (J Reynolds 2/10) def WPHCCC 5/99(cc) (M Harkin 42*)
Game 2 on the afternoon of the first day was another close contest. The narrow loss of the morning had lifted the confidence of the players. Again the opposition won the toss and sent WPHC in to bat. The quality of the opposition bowling was good. Max scored a confident 42 and combined with Todd for a 4th wicket partnership of 61 to set a decent score of 5/99. The team was hopeful of defending this score and their confidence was buoyed when James Woolnough dismissed one of the openers with just 2 runs on the board. Unfortunately the team could not build on this early wicket and the experience of the Coffs Harbour batsmen showed as the 3rd wicket partnership reached 73. It looked as though Coffs Harbour would win the game easily until, like in the morning game, the return of the pace bowlers caused a flurry of three wickets for just 6 runs led by James R (2/10). Unfortunately, the experience of the Coffs Harbour team came to the fore as the number 5 and 6 batsmen steadied the innings to win with one over spare.
Hastings River 9/190(cc) (H Parthipan 3/17 J Reynolds 2/38 T Hutchinson 2/42) def WPHCCC 89
Game 3 and the first 50 over match. WPHC were now feeling more confident – 2 close games the day before a few changes in tactics and they were confident a game could be won. Unfortunately Hastings River had quite different thoughts! WPHC won its first toss and put Hastings River in to bat. The WPHC bowlers bowled well. Harrishan bowled controlled off-spin to take 3 wickets and Todd and James R chipped in with 2 each. The remaining bowlers bowled accurately, Nick bowling 5 overs for just 10 runs and Max 5 overs for 13 runs. Hastings River’s total of 190 was good but at less than 4 runs per over the WPHC batsmen felt they could achieve the runs. That was before the players had been introduced to the Hasting River leg spinner – who ripped through the innings to take 7/24 and leave WPHC 89 all out.
Tamworth 5/175(cc) (J Woolnough 2/17 H Parthipan 2/25) def WPHCCC 128 (T Hutchinson 40 T Pratt 31)
Game 4 against Tamworth and another 50 over match. Would this be WPHC’s day? By now the team realised that it had a strong bowling line-up that could contain and pressurise the opposition, but it needed more application and improvement from the batsmen. Tamworth won the toss and elected to bat. WPHC bowled well to restrict the Tamworth innings to just 3.5 runs per over with James Woolnough and Harrishan both picking up 2 wickets. Unfortunately the batting gremlins of the previous day had not gone away and WPHC struggled to deal with a very strong bowling attack. Wickets fell steadily and apart from Thomas (31) and Todd out on the last ball for 40, no-one could cope with the quality of the opposition
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