Some really interesting games this week mean the cricketing gods will be busy next Saturday. A fighting century from Cam Eccles in First Grade helped to put them in a strong position, while a century from Josh Staines and 96 from Lachlan Barnsley in Second Grade should have seen them in a much better state. However, the runs are on the board. In other grades, Nick Andreou batted very well in Thirds while Kartik Khetarpauls 5-27 in Fourth Grade was a terrific performance from one of our Green Shielders. Two of our other Green Shielders, Jayden Gray and Sam Schembri-Green also did well in Fifths, along with Josh Rigon. 

1st Grade;

Gordon were sent in at Raby on a wicket with a greenish tinge. It did a bit early and the Stags lost two quick wickets. Cam Eccles and Tym Crawford got things back in order, adding 50 before Tym was out. 3-82 at lunch moved on to 4-169 when Steve Colley was dismissed for a dominant 54. Cam was playing the sheet anchor role brilliantly as another wicket fell quickly. He added a further 36 with Glenn Winsor and the score at tea was 5-212. Glenn was out for 26 followed by another wicket but Alex Patterson got his head down and Cam went on to his century; a wonderful fighting knock. He was out soon after but Alex and Matt Junk fought hard to get the total up to 279 – pretty competitive. 

In the few overs left, Alex Patterson and Glenn Winsor both struck and Campbelltown finished on 2-25. A good short session but lots of work to do next week against a strong batting side.  Gordon 279 (Cam Eccles 102, Steve Colley 54, Tym Crawford 37, Glenn Winsor 25, Matt Junk 23, Alex Patterson 16) vs Campbelltwon 2-25. 

2nd Grade

Terrible start. Brilliant middle. Terrible end. Oh, you want more details?

Right. Gordon batted first and were quickly 3-9. Lachlan Barnsley and Nick Miller then took the score to 72 before the latter was dismissed. Lachlan was batting exceptionally and he reached 96* at lunch time with Josh Staines a very solid 25* and the score 4-156. Disaster for Lachlan straight after lunch, being dismissed for 96; his second near century – but a wonderful attacking innings. Josh and Jack Plom then very comfortably added another 100, the former moving on to 77*. Jack was dismissed but Josh batted on in no trouble and finally brought up his century just after tea. Matt Wright had joined him and he played some beautiful strokes right from the start. The two of them had the game at their mercy but, with plenty of overs to go, decided to go aerial. So did the last couple of batsmen. So they all got out! The innings finished at 349 – about 50 short of what it looked like an hour earlier. 

In the remaining overs, the Campbelltown openers batted very aggressively and finished at 0-69.  Runs on the board but a disappointing finish after great innings by Lachlan, Josh and Matt.  Gordon 349 (Josh Staines 106, Lachlan Barnsley 96, Matt Wright 58, Jack Plom 44, Nick Miller 21) vs Campbelltown 0-69. 

3rd Grade

Gordon were sent in on a moist wicket which promised to do plenty. A wicket fell immediately but Ryan Tullia and Tom Hamblin batted very well in the difficult conditions and took the score to 63 before Ryan was dismissed. Darren Jayasekera came in and scored a brisk 26 but, with the score on 95, Gordon lost 3-0! Nick Andreou and Joe Hart did a good job to add 47 and then, after another flurry of wickets, Nick and Pat Effeney took the score through to 7-207 at stumps. Hard work but a good fighting effort. Nick finished on an excellent 66* and Pat, a controlled 21*. Something to really work with next week. Gordon 7-207 (Nick Andreou 66*, Tom Hamblin 40, Ryan Tullia 29, Darren Jayasekera 26, Joe Hart 17) vs Campbelltown. 

4th Grade

Gordon bowled first at Killara and Dylan Hood was immediately rewarded with a wicket. The score moved along slowly as wickets also fell. Gordon were on top at 5-60 before a partnership took the score to 95. Dylan struck again followed by another threatening partnership and then Kartik Khetarpaul bowled a brilliant over, taking 3 wickets. Dylan finished things off and the Ghosts were all out for 151. An excellent effort, particularly by Kartik, playing his first 4th Grade game, who finished with the fantastic figures of 5-27 from 12 overs. Dylan Hood was also very good, finishing with 3-47. There were plenty of overs left and Gordon lost two quick wickets. Another couple and they were in strife before Stuart Bromley and Manus Chauhan took the score to 4-65 at stumps.  The first hour will be crucial next week. The place to be!  Gordon 4-65 (Stuart Bromley 19*) vs Campbelltown 151 (Kartik Khetarpaul 5-27, Dylan Hood 3-47, Lachie Burrows 1-9, Danusha Seneviratne 1-23). 

5th Grade

Gordon batted first and Josh Rigon and Jayden Gray both batted exceptionally. They added 99 for the second wicket – a great effort. A few other handy contributions followed but wickets fell and it was left to Sam Schembri-Green to lift the total to 8-211 at stumps. Sam finished with 34* and Josh and Jayden’s contributions were also invaluable Runs on the board and a good tussle in store next week.  Gordon 8-211 (Josh Rigon 56, Jayden Gray 48, Sam Schembri-Green 34*) vs Campbelltown

OK I apologise, when I said we needed some rain to freshen up our grounds, I wasn’t expecting two weeks of non stop rain, virtually washing out the first half of October. Unfortunately, as always, the rain didn’t fall where they really needed it, in the country. We still keep hoping that will change.

It has been a frustrating start to the season for our club, we were well placed in most grades against Blacktown only to see all games washed out and had our Round 3 games against Uni of NSW all changed to one dayers. When we finally got back on the field, it was like the season was re-starting again. On a positive note we have just come off a great weekend against the strong Penrith club with wins in six out of seven games played over the weekend. With a great T20 win against Randwick-Petersham the week before, hopefully we have turned the corner and that winning feeling will grow as we lead into the important pre-Xmas period. Remember work hard, listen to your captains and coaches and play as teams and we will have some positive results over the coming six weeks.

There have been a number of outstanding performances over the past weeks, led by Axel Cahlin who has had a sublime start to the season with three centuries in the first five rounds. Axel has been rewarded with selection in the Futures League this week along with our NSW contracted player, Charlie Stobo. Good luck to both of you this week.

Also congratulations to Glenn Winsor on a great all-round performance on the weekend, Liam McElduff’s century on his return to the Stags and Ryan Tullia’s great century against North Sydney in Round 4. All teams won tight matches on the back of these centuries and it shows the value that they give the team in their quest for victory.

On the bowling front, interestingly five out of our top seven wicket takers are spinners. Congrats to Prahlad Iyer, Matt Wright, Ryan Meppum, Matt Junk and Rohan Watson on their start to the season. Our leading wicket taker is Ashwin Premkumar with 17 wickets so far.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Glenn Winsor and Josh Staines for their selection in the ACT/NSW Country Squad for the Under 19 championships to be held in Adelaide in December.

Off the field we have had some challenging times in the past month, with the need to dismiss one of our volunteers due to inappropriate comments placed on our Team App. We need volunteers to run our club, but we will not let our culture be eroded by the actions of the minority.

On a positive note, I was advised that at our 5^th grade game last weekend, with the key help of Steve Bristow’s mum and dad, we put on a BBQ for not only our team but Penrith as well. Congratulations to 5ths, this is exactly what we want from our club.

Also in the past month Paul Stephenson has advised me that he will not be available to run our Communications area going forward. Paul will be sorely missed and if there is anyone out there who would like to assist we would love to hear from you. Paul has done a tremendous job for our club over a long period running our club website, writing the Weekly Wrap for fifteen years and writing the amazing stories about our World War 1 and 2 veterans. Paul will still be seen around supporting us on Saturday’s and I’m sure if we twist his arm we may get the occasional story from him.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Michael Falk for stepping in and taking over the Weekly Wrap which is an important part of our club where our players are highlighted for their performances after each week’s play.

As we move through November, we have our big double header T20 day at Chatswood in early December. The social committee are doing a great job doing the pre-organising and we look forward to a successful day.

Geoff Hickman

President 

The Gordon District Cricket Club is seeking your assistance to secure needed income while at the same time substantially increasing the number of supporters and former players to become directly involved in our proud club. Below you will find a message from the President, Geoff Hickman seeking your help to enable our club to continue its great traditions and increase its important role as part of our community. Please read Geoff's message and dig deep and become an Associate Member of the GDCC. Don't leave it to someone else, this is your chance to contribute.

President’s Message

Gordon DCC is a club with over 110 years of history, of proud achievements and has been the nursery of many legends of Australian cricket. Many of you have written your own page in this great history and we thank all former players, volunteers, officials and supporters for their contribution to, not only our proud cricket club, but the great game of cricket in Australia. We all want and expect our club to go for another 100 years and provide opportunities to the future legends of Australian cricket.

We would like to encourage former players and all supporters to continue their association with the club. Much has been documented in recent months about the struggle of grassroots cricket in Australia. The reality is our great club survives from year to year on the hard work of our volunteers and players and the financial support of our loyal sponsors. That with the financial contribution of our Annual Golf Day allows our club to remain financially solvent. With rising standards and expectations, the club needs to continually raise the bar on available resources. With that in mind we have embarked on an ambitious five-year plan in order to maintain our place in one of the world’s leading club competitions.

The fees that our players pay each season only cover approximately a third of the overall costs of running our club. We do not pay our players, we spend most of our money on providing quality coaching and the costs of playing each week (e.g. ball costs, ground hire etc).

As a past player or supporter of our club, we welcome your support and assistance. We seek more volunteers to assist in the running of our club, and to broaden the sources of income, to supplement our existing revenue streams.

In order to achieve this goal and to provide you with the opportunity to become more engaged with our club we are re-launching our associate membership packages, aptly known as the STAGS ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP. Each package will provide benefits to you as well as the opportunity to stay connected with our great club and continue to write our history in the great game of cricket in Australia. Further details of each package are included below.

STAGS ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

Stags Bronze Fee and Benefits

• Annual Member Fee - $100

• Voting member of Gordon DCC

• Membership of TEAM APP, allowing you to stay in touch with the club (live scores, team selections, news & events)

• Club Cap

• Great Northern Loyalty Card 

• Invitation to annual STAGS membership day at Chatswood Oval to watch 1st grade (free drinks and food)

Stags Gold Fee and Benefits

After an inconsistent start to the season, Gordon finally hit their straps with 5 wins for the day against Penrith (and Mosman in the Colts). Centuries to Axel Cahlin (1sts), his third for the season, Glenn Winsor (2nds) and Liam McElduff (4ths) were the highlights of the one day round. Glenn also backed up his amazing performance with the bat with 4 wickets. Not a bad day out!

It’s interesting to see that the teams who were able to bat around a century maker were all winners. Pretty thirties and forties don’t win games! 

1st Grade

Gordon won the toss and Axel Cahlin and Cameron Eccles got the side off to a solid start before Cam was out for 14. Tym Crawford then came to the crease and he and Axel shared an excellent partnership before Tym was out for a punishing 75. They had taken the score to 176 after 36 overs. Axel progressed to his third century of the season – a brilliant performance – before being dismissed for 102. Steve Colley contributed a forceful 38 (five sixes!) and Elliot Richtor also made a handy 26. After 50 overs, the score sat at 8-286. 

The Gordon bowlers started well and wickets fell consistently. After Penrith had collapsed to 6-90, one could be excused for thinking it was all over. However, on a very good batting deck at Chatswood, games are never over, and an excellent partnership ensued with Penrith moved to 199 and plenty of overs left. Finally, Tym Crawford got the breakthrough with a great delivery (ask him!). Elliot Richtor then cleaned up the last couple and Gordon had completed a terrific win over the competition leaders. Elliot finished with the best figures but all bowlers had their moments. 

Gordon 8-286 (Axel Cahlin 102, Tym Crawford 75, Steve Colley 38, Elliot Richtor 26) defeated Penrith 247 (Elliot Richtor 4-31, Tym Crawford 3-42). 

2nd Grade 

Gordon won the toss at Howell and immediately struck trouble, losing three wickets with only 22 on the board. Dom Thomson batted through the carnage and, with Glenn Winsor, resurrected the innings. They added 138 before Dom was out for a defiant 65. Glenn continued to hit the ball strongly and completed his first century for the club – an even 100 – before being run out. Josh Staines added 20 briskly and Nick Miller was at his aggressive best to take the score to 6-270 – a great recovery after a poor start. Nick finished on 56* and Matt Wright 9*. 

The Gordon bowlers started steadily and it wasn’t long before Ashok Premkumar struck. The spinners, Ryan Meppem and Matt Wright then got into the act and, at the half way point of the innings, Penrith were 4-78. Some small partnerships followed without being dominant. When Dan Stickland took a wicket, Penrith were 6-145 in the 38th and in trouble. Then, just to finish off a great performance, Glenn Winsor took the final four wickets in quick time to see the innings close at 189. A decisive win with a fantastic all round hand by Glenn. 

Gordon 6-270 (Glenn Winsor 100, Dom Thomson 65, Nick Miller 56*) defeated Penrith 189 (Glenn Winsor 4-44, Ryan Meppem 2-32, Matt Wright 2-38). 

3rd Grade

Gordon bowled first at Killara. Penrith got off to a solid start which was not helped by an injury to Sam Baker. Chris De Kretser struck twice and bowled well but the score moved on steadily. Charlie Booth took the next three wickets and Penrith were 5-176 with ten overs remaining. Unfortunately, the Gordon bowling struggled from this point and Penrith were able to push their way up to 262 at the end of the 50. 

Gordon started badly, losing three wickets with only 34 on the board. Max Papworth and Jack Plom shared a handy partnership but the latter was dismissed just as the game was getting back to an even contest. Another quick wicket and it was imperative that someone stay with max who was batting beautifully. Ollie Sutton played some big shots but the Penrith total was too far away and the innings closed at 186. A disappointing batting performance on a good wicket. The exception was Max, whose 81 was a very classy knock with many great shots. 

Gordon 186 (Max Papworth 81, Jack Plum 23, Ollie Sutton 22) lost to Penrith 8-262 (Charlie Booth 3-33, Chris DeKretser 2-34) 

4th Grade

Gordon won the toss and batted. The Penrith bowling was good and Gordon were 3-52 after 14 overs with Liam McElduff holding the fort for the Stags. He and Nick Andreou righted the ship with Nick moving on to 41 before being dismissed. Liam kept going and, with the assistance of Stuart Bromley, took the score to 4-197 with 5 overs to go. Liam was 91no and a score of around 220 was in the offing. The final 5 overs proved fruitful, with Liam moving to 103*, Stuart 53* and Gordon reached 4-237. A top effort and a fine reward for Liam, who has looked great this year without going on to a big one until today. 

The Gordon bowlers were very steady at the start. While wickets weren’t falling, the batsmen struggled to get the run rate going. At the first drinks break, the score was 2-42 from 19 overs. After another wicket, a solid partnership took the score to 111 before Lachie Burrows took a wicket. He then took another two and Penrith were 5-147 with only 13 overs remaining. At this point the bowling became a little ragged as the batsmen attacked. All of a sudden, they only needed 40 from the last 6 overs and were on top. Finally, Will Calov broke the partnership and, with three more wickets falling, 16 were needed from the final over. Will struck again and the Stags had won by 15. A very pleasing performance. 

Gordon 4-237 (Liam McElduff 103*, Stuart Bromley 53*, Nick Andreou 41) defeated Penrith 222 (Lachlan Burrows 3-31, Will Calov 3-36, Danusha Seneviratne 2-34). 

5th Grade

Gordon bowled first on a wicket that tended to keep a little low. Matt Keane picked up two early wickets before a solid partnership took Penrith to 2-57 off 22 overs. Wickets then started to fall with 

Dillon Amjad taking two and Shivraj Rana one. Then, after a few more overs, Prahlad Iyer began to go through the lower order and Penrith were all out for 93. 

Gordon started briskly and with Fraser Wilson and Naba Haider both batting well, it seemed the bonus point was on. However, Fraser was dismissed for a strong 39 and then a couple more wickets fell quickly and it was left to Steve Bristow to bring the Stags home. 

A comprehensive win with one of the highlights being the barbecue for both teams put on by Steve Bristow’s parents. Thank you very much, Mr and Mrs Bristow! 

Gordon 4-94 (Fraser Wilson 39, Steve Bristow 17*, Naba Haider 10*) defeated Penrith 93 (Prahlad Iyer 4-7, Matt Keane 2-10, Shivraj Rana 2-16, Dillon Amjad 2-18). 

Colts 

The Colts started a little late at Balmoral and batted first. The openers added 30 before Riley Behlevanas was run out for 15. From there, Nick Astridge and Jayden Gray took the score to 85 before Nick was also run out for 41. Another wicket fell before Jayden and Lachie Donaldson added 39 further runs. Lachie was dismissed but Jayden reached his 50 just as the score reached 150 from 43 overs. The last few overs saw Gordon move to 8-192 with Jayden compiling an excellent 69. 

Mosman started cautiously and good, tight bowling really applied the pressure. Callum Bladen struck twice to have them 2-11 and then Nathan Sequeira took one and Mosman were in strife at 3-25 after 15 overs. A careful partnership followed but the run rate was mounting, and eventually the pressure told. Wickets again started to fall and Mosman were bowled out for 129. Callum was the best of the bowlers, taking 4-24, but it was a really good team performance. 

Gordon 8-192 (Jayden Gray 69, Nick Astley 41) defeated Mosman 123 (Callum Bladen 4-24)

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