Balls and stumps fly as under 12 cricketers enjoy DMW ten/10
11 teams of excitable U12 cricketers turned up on a rare (for this cricket season anyway) sunny day to compete in their annual DMW Trophy Day. Matches are played as tens over a side with bowlers limited to one over and batsmen to 20 runs or 15 balls. The teams were split into 3 Pools with each team having 2 games each.
There were many fine performances in the Pool matches with a number of big 6’s being hit. One of these resulted in a group of parents deciding to move their cars to safer ground while others produced an emptying of the cricket arena as the players went to look for the ball in the nearby creek.
Special mention goes to Sam Benson of Wests Blue who when bowling managed to knock all 3 stumps out of the ground 2 balls in a row.
The 3 Pool winners were easy to find as they went through unbeaten. They were Keira, Wests Blue and Dapto.
To find a 4th semi-finalist the 2nd place teams from the bigger Pools had to participate in a Bowl-Off. Wests White prevailed over Thirroul in this 2-0. It was interesting to watch how a bit of pressure made those stumps so much harder to hit.
Wests White 7/47 went on to lose to Dapto 1/50 in one semi-final. The other semi resulted in a win for Keira 2/38 chasing West Blue’s 4/37.
Photo: The winners Dapto (right) and runners up Keira (left)
In the final Dapto set an imposing 2/79 with Jake Ramirez and Thomas Freebairn both retiring after reaching 20. Jacob Murphy took 2-10 from his over. Tight bowling from the entire Dapto team combined with some sharp catching meant that they always had control over Keira’s run-chase. Keira ending up on 6/58.
Well done to Dapto!
Wollongong’s Jacob Timpano starts long road back in Hawaii
Former Wollongong Wolves player and local resident Jacob Timpano was once regarded as one of Australia’s hottest young stars but for the last two frustrating years he has been rocked by injury after injury that stalled his career.
The 22-year-old, who captained Australia at U17, U20 and U23 (Olyroos) level, made a successful return from injury in Sydney FC’s 3-0 loss to Houston Dynamo. He played 20 minutes off the bench and pulled up well.
Photo: Jacob Timpano (from www.sydneyfc.com.au )
Timpano again come off the bench when Sydney FC lost 2 – 1 to David Beckham’s LA Galaxy in the 3rd/4th playoff of the Pan Pacific Championship in Hawaii. This time he got more game time coming on in the 57th minute.
While the rest of his team mates are coming to the end of a long and arduous season that started with the 2006 AFC Asian Champions League and will finish in Hawaii tomorrow, Timpano was re-energised after making his comeback.
“It was great,” Timpano said as the team went to the Banzai Pipeline to watch a surfing contest. “It has been a long time since I played a game and it was good to get out there in a competitive match against a decent team. I got twenty minutes and I felt quite good and comfortable out there and I pulled up quite good so hopefully on Saturday I can get more game time.”
“At times it was hard sitting around watching the boys play while you’re in the treatment room. It does get tough mentally and there are some barriers you have to get over and at times you do think ‘why am I doing all this’ but when you get back on the park like I did last night you look back and think it was all worth it.”
Timpano’s return has also ignited the fire inside his belly to get back into the Australian Olympic team for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in August.
“I was part of the squad early on in the preparations and I haven’t been in for the last 18 months because of injury but I think I’m good enough to be in the squad if I get my body right and my fitness up and hopefully I can do that. It would be a dream to go to the Olympics.” (From David Mason of Sydney FC in Hawaii)
Illawarra baseballers perform in Olympic trials
Australian Olympic baseball squad member Trent D’Antonio did his chances of final team selection a lot of good when he steered the New South Wales Patriots to a win over the Australian Olympic squad at Blacktown Olympic Park on the weekend.
While being a member of the Olympic squad D’Antonio was "loaned" to his home state where he got his opportunity alongside Illawarra team mate Tim Atherton.
In Friday night's game one D’Antonio, the starting catcher, was the standout hitter on both teams with three hits from five at bats with 3RBI's (runs batted in). He also stole two bases in this game. Atherton came into the game as the leftfielder and did not manage a hit in two at bats.
The Patriots were down 6-1 after three innings but came back with two runs in the fifth and piled on six runs in the sixth for a 9-6 lead. D’Antonio registered a decisive three run double in the sixth inning. The opposition added one run in the ninth.
The home team had the better of Perth Heat pitcher Mark Kelly in the four innings he pitched. Kelly played a big part in Perth's win over the Patriots in the recent Claxton Shield Finals Series.
Saturday night's game produced a 3-3 draw although the Aussies outhit the Patriots 11-4. Both locals batted 1 from 4 with an RBI apiece.
The Olympic squad moves to Brisbane and the Gold Coast for a four games friendship series against the Canadian national team between February 28 and March 2.
Both Australia and Canada then move to Chinese Taipei for the Olympic qualification series against six other nations commencing March 7. The top three finishing nations from this tournament will then join China, Cuba, Japan, Netherlands and the United States in the Olympic tournament in Beijing.
D’Antonio will not play in this week’s games against Canada. He returns to spring training with the Florida Marlins organization where he will eagerly await his fate, hoping for the call to play in Chinese Taipei. (Story from Frank Booth). Additional information can be found at - www.baseball.org.au
Wolves kick off 2008 Premier Youth League Season with 3 from 5
The Wollongong Wolves Premier Youth League Teams kicked off their season with 3 wins from 5 games against Penrith in Round 1 last weekend. The results for each team were:
Under 13s: won 2 nil
Under 14s lost 3 - 1
Under 15s: won 2 nil
Under 16s: won 1 nil
Under 18s: lost 1 nil
Next round will be against Sydney Olympic at Belmore Sports Ground on March 1.
Cricket Humour
Englishman James Ormond & Mark Waugh
Ormand had just come out to bat on an Ashes tour and was greeted by Mark Waugh.
Mark Waugh: "Bugger me, look who it is. Mate, what are you doing out here? There's no way you're good enough to play for England."
James Ormond: "Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my family."
The craziness of professional cricket
Crazy, Crazy, Crazy! The Indians pay more (almost $1.5m) for an alleged Australian monkey (or should it be sledged?), than for
• Ricky Ponting – what a difference a one day form slump makes? (wonder what he would have been worth if the bidding was after last Sunday’s ton?)
• Mike Hussey – did the term Mr Cricket get lost in translation? (more monkey business?)
• Adam Gilchrist – should a class action suit be mounted on behalf of all “aging” retirees who are undervalued?
• Glen McGrath – don’t they know he scored a 50 in test cricket?
• Shane Warne – maybe they believe he “can’t throw, can’t bowl”
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