 5th Grade Annual Report
There are many clichés associated with our great game and many come to mind when recounting the Gordon 5th grade 07/08 season. But one that stands out in my mind is “the one that got away”. This line sums up the 07/08 season. It was a season of wash-outs, frustrations and matches that we never should have lost.
Justin Avendano - a growing talent for Gordon
One only has to look at our win/draw/loss record to see what I’m talking about. We won 5, lost 5 and had 5 games washed out. Two of these washed out games came when the Stags were in a commanding position against weaker opposition. After bowling out UNSW for 102 and being 2-46 overnight, the second day of play was completely washed out. Against St. George we were defending 196 and had them 6-100 on a slow Beauchamp outfield when the rain struck again. Also, we posted a very competitive 254 at Beauchamp against Wests only to have the second week completely washed out….again! We also had a one day match against the eventual wooden-spooners (Sydney) washed out. I could go on and on but in the interests of saving paper I will leave it there, but you can see why I have labelled this season a frustrating one for our 5th graders.
To be honest, we were our own worse enemies at times. There were two games where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. After having Fairfield-Liverpool 7-98 at tea in round 2, chasing 250, we managed to lose the game by 2 wickets, thanks to a couple of missed chances and an amazing 120* by the Fairfield captain. Only two weeks later we had ND’s in trouble in the first innings of a one-day match at 6-75, only to let them off the hook as they went on to post a match winning 8-244 off their 50 overs. Another one that got away!
As you can see, if you add the wins we should have had but didn’t have due to rain and the two games where we let teams off the hook, Gordon 5th grade should have been competing in the finals last year. Alas it was not to be and we were left crying over spilt beer at the Greengate come ‘mad Monday’.
All this put aside, it was a terrific season to be a 5th grade player. With our team resembling an airport lounge at times due to player movements it was amazing to see the spirit within the team evolve throughout the season. With characters like ‘foetus’ Avendano, Tim ‘anger management’ Creed, ‘old man’ Hugh Selby, JC ‘Hernandez’ Campbell, Sunny ‘the battler’ Sajdeh, Charlie ‘duck’ Turner, James Martin, just to name a few, 5th grade at Gordon was truly an enjoyable place to play cricket.
I would like to thank the 342 players who represented Gordon 5th grade in 07/08. I would also like to thank Jim Cattlin for his continued support before during and after the games. Catts truly is the king of Beauchamp. Finally I would like to thank Mr. Avendano for attending all our games and ensuring the whole team was well fed throughout.
I will leave you now with my five most memorable moments of the 07/08 5th grade season.
 5. Jono Wigham scores his maiden 99 which later becomes his maiden grade ton. As Jono entered the 90s and Jim Cattlin rejoined Mike Weaver scoring it became apparent there was a discrepancy between the two scorers with Weaver having Jono one run ahead of Catts. It was decided that we would go with Catts’ score for obvious reasons, assuming Jono would have no problem getting to his ton and beyond it was not going to be a big deal. But on 99 (in Catts’ book) Jono was dismissed caught behind. With the whole team distraught and Jono looking perplexed, Weaver piped up and mentioned that in his scorebook Jono had actually scored a ton. Most people ignored Weaver’s comments, except for the skipper who conducted a strict audit on both scorebooks after the game, only to find that Weaver had in fact been correct and the scores added up to Wigham having scored 100. Well done, Weaves!
 4. Richie Kenner Bowls Against Manly.
Gordon 5th grade turned up to the last game of the season with one and a half pace bowlers in the side (Millar being the half). This meant that Will McKeith (part time bowler) and Richie Kenner would have to take first change duties. Being the modest and selfless captain that Kenner is, he had not bowled himself all year, but on this occasion his hand was forced by selectors.
Thankfully there was no photos in the archive of Richie bowling
With Shaun Bradstreet in the opposition side, Kenner was keen to add a state cricketer to his already impressive list of scalps (Al Fitzpatrick). Looking very nervous as he steamed into the wicket Kenner proceeded to bowl 7 wides in his surprisingly long spell of 2 overs. Although he was running into a howling gale and the ball was swinging all over the place, it is fair to say that ‘Sticks’ Kenner may never grace the grade bowling crease again. What a waste of raw talent!
3. The Duck takes 6 in a session against the defending premiers.
From one bowling nightmare to a bowling dream. Duck Turner is never one to steal the limelight as a bowler. He is in the Stuart Clarke mould of plug away day-in day-out and pick up the odd wicket here and there, but the second week of the Fairfield-Liverpool Rd 2 match was definitely his day. Defending a competitive 254, Duck opened up at Cabramatta Oval and managed to snare the first 6 Fairfield batsmen before tea. In a spell which lasted the entire first session, Duck could do no wrong, finishing with figures of 6-37 at tea. Although the length of his spell caused him to experience severe shin splints and mild delusion, it will no doubt go down in the cricketing annals as one of the finest spells of out-swing bowling ever witnessed. As a footnote, Gordon went on to lose the game by 2 wickets as Duck was escorted from the field in a wheelchair, no longer being able to bowl.
 2. Justin Avendano plays every minute of the 2007/08 5th grade season.
Some were calling him the marathon man. Some were calling him Mr. Consistency. What ever you called him, one thing was for sure, Justin Avendano would be named in the 5th grade team to play in the next round of the 07/08 season and he would not be batting above 8. Despite all his carrying on about how he should be opening the batting, opening the bowling and keeping all at the same time (and doing so in 3rd grade), Justin did put in a stellar performance over the entire season. The only player to be named in the 5th grade team for all 15 games, Justin was a pillar of physical fitness and endurance showing the old men 5th grade (majority of team) what professional sport was all about.
After putting everything on the line, and an ice pack to quell the pain, Avendano gives the thumbs up to the waiting photographers
Justin’s highlights for the year included a swashbuckling 44 against the defending premiers Fairfield, a three wicket haul against Mosman and a marvellous fielding effort whereby he put everything on the line to stop a thumping drive on the patchy Beauchamp outfield (those playing that day will no doubt remember the blood, sweat, tears and swelling behind that fielding effort). In all fairness he probably deserved to have at least 10 more wickets for the year, as many catches seemed to go down off his bowling. His leg-spin bowling came on in leaps and bounds through the season and his batting will continue to progress as he matures from foetus to a new born. The club looks forward to Justin growing as a cricketer in the years to come.
 1. Dave Millar catches Shaun Bradstreet after sledge of the century.
Not many of you would know this, but in 5th grade’s last game of the season we were involved in the first match ever to be played on Mike Pawley Oval. This meant that we would be playing against the great Shaun Bradstreet. Well, upon hearing this David Millar could not wait to get stuck into the ex-state cricketer come pavilion constructor. Having already bowled when Shaun came out to bat, Dave thought the best way to get stuck into him would be to get into his mind with a few choice words.
A cougar around the ground, Millar hurls one in from the fence
Dave piped up from the long-off boundary after Shaun had defended a couple of deliveries, “It’s a one-day match, champ…that means you have limited overs!” or something of that nature. Bradstreet did not react. He faced up for the next delivery and proceeded to hit it about 20 metres over Dave’s head and over the boundary for a massive six. His reply was short and sweet, “Keep the advice coming, champ!”. To this Dave could only reply with a defeated grin.
But the battle was not over yet. Having reached his half century, Bradstreet decided to really cut loose and attempting to swing young Declan Jakrot into North Curl Curl Lagoon, he miscued. The ball was seemingly going to fall well short of Millar at long on, but he would not be defeated. Taking off like a BobCat bogged in mud, Dave sprinted towards the ball and with all the athleticism of Mr Cricket and the soft hands of Mark Taylor, Dave plucked the ball millimetres from the ground in what can only be described as ‘catch of the century’. All that was left was for Dave to stand-up with his pants around his ankles and his face covered in dust and send Bradstreet on his way to the pavilion.
Richie "Sticks" Kenner | 
