A Perfect 10…twice in one day!
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | December 19, 2024
Saturday 16 November 2024 will go down as one of the most historic days in the 24 years of Randwick Petersham Cricket–and maybe in the 131 years of Sydney Grade/NSW Premier Cricket. It was a day when not one, but two bowlers took 10 wickets in a grade match. And both were just 18 years of age—one on debut in 2nd Grade and the other in 5th Grade in his debut season.
Etched into the history books will be the names of Kaden Warner and Atharv Ramakanth. Kaden was the first to achieve the feat, having his 10 wickets in the bag by lunchtime on the second day of the round 6 match against Hawkesbury at Snape Oval.
Given the new ball after the Hawks were sent in to bat, the young right-arm pace bowler took five of the first six wickets in a scoreline of 6-38. He finished with the impressive figures of 5-9 off eight overs with two maidens out of a final tally of 55. They were the best figures for a neat five wicket haul in 5th Grade for the club. The previous best was 5-11 in 2008-09. Prior to that performance he had a total of seven wickets in five 5th Grade games from 26 overs.
In Hawkesbury’s second innings, Warner clean bowled the first two batters before returning later to claim three more and finish with 5-24 from 9.3 overs with four maidens. His five victims made 0,1,1, 2 and 6–four bowled and one lbw. That gave him match figures of 10-33–the best of the four 10-in-a-match figures for the club in 5th Grade. The previous top was by former 1st Grade swing bowler, Nigil Singh, with 10-43 in 2016-17.
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Kaden also showed plenty of his Uncle David’s batting skill. Coming to the wicket with the Randwick Petersham score 5-57, he belted 43 off 23 balls hitting eight boundaries in the process. In the second innings, he was given the honour of scoring the two runs to complete an outright victory which he did from the first ball.
Atharv Ramakanth, a right-arm leg spin bowler, played under 16 A W Green Shield for the club in 2021-22. With school commitments, his appearances since then have been limited. He had a delayed start this season due to injury, playing his first match in round 5 in 3rd Grade. Promoted for round 6, he was given his first bowl in 2nd Grade when called into the attack in the 23rd over with the score 2-62.
The move brought immediate success with the youngster bowling the Hawkesbury opener who had made a solid 31, with his first ball. With his fourth ball, he did the same to the Hawks’ skipper for a duck. Hit for four off the second ball of his second over, he then had the striker, who was on 62, caught at slip by Ben Mitchell from his fifth ball. Just 11 balls into 2nd Grade, Atharv had 3-4! He went on to bowl 14 successive overs to finish with 5-39 with 4 maidens in a score of 145.
In the second innings, Ramakanth was introduced into the attack early and repeated his first innings performance with another 5-39, this time off 18 overs. That gave him the amazing match figures of 10-78, which are second only to Rodney Stafford’s 11-103 in 2nd Grade against NDs in 2004-05. It was also the greatest bowling performance for the club on debut in any grade.
Taking 10 wickets in a cricket match is a relatively rare feat. Next to 10 in an innings and a hat-trick, it is one of the real ambitions of every bowler. In Randwick Petersham’s 23 seasons, 10 in a match has been achieved on just 15 occasions by 12 different bowlers. Only twice has it been achieved in the same season. There have, in fact, been more hat-tricks—18 by 15 different bowlers. To have two young bowlers achieve the feat on the same day at the same age, is almost incomprehensible. It may be summed up by taking a little licence with the famous quote in the movie, Forrest Gump—"Cricket is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”.
Lyall Gardner OAM
Randwick Petersham Cricket Historian
