South Coast teams lead into semis of combined junior cricket competitions
South Coast teams have dominated the top places of the combined South Coast and Illawarra junior cricket competitions. Shell City topped both the 16A and 16B competitions after the preliminary rounds, while Albion Park took top spot in the 14As. The semi-finals to be played on Saturday 8 March and Sunday 9 March are as follows:
U/16A:
Shell City vs Balgownie @ Keith Hockey
Warilla vs Wests @ Jock Brown
U/16B:
Shell City vs Wests Blue @ Morley Park
Oak Flats vs Balgownie @ Shane Lee
U/14A:
Albion Park vs Balgownie @ Des King
Dapto Gold vs Corrimal @ Reed Pk Nth Helensburgh’s great day for under 10 cricketers
Helensburgh cricket club again put on another great the under 10 DMW trophy day. Six teams had entered the ten/10 competition and not even the early rain could dampen the young players’ enthusiasm.
Each team played 3 games with all games being very close. Batting over bowling averages had to be used to determine the teams for the play-offs. The final was ultimately fought out between Balgownie and Port Kembla with Balgownie coming out on top.
Sydney Flames to play WNBL Grand Final at Wollongong
Sydney University Flames will play their grand final against Adelaide in Wollongong on Saturday. Last weekend Adelaide defeated Dandenong 74-64 in a hard fought preliminary final to join Sydney in the grand final.
Sydney’s team includes the WNBL’s leading point scorer, Natalie Porter. Following on from her outstanding season last year, Porter amassed a league high 566 points through 23 regular season games to average a league best and career high 24.6 points per game.
Photo: Flames Natalie Porter flies high in a recent encounter (www.photoexcellence.com.au )
She scored 10 or more points in all 23 games, 20 points or more in 12 games, 30 points or more in three games and twice netted a career high 41 points. Her two 41-point hauls puts her in second and third places behind Belinda Snell (54) for most points by a Sydney Uni player in a single WNBL game.
Porter also tallied 109 assists at 4.7 per game (2nd in the league) and 171 rebounds at 7.6 per game (10th in the league). She shot at an impressive 43.1% (209-from-485) from the field. She was also named Nivea Player of the Week in Rounds 3, 11 and 12.
Tip-off for the grand final is at 4pm on Saturday March 8 at Wollongong Entertainment Centre. Ticketing details can be found on www.ticketek.com.au
Other stories and photos on the WNBL and Sydney Flames can be found on www.parramatta.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=2585 Wollongong to host 2008 Australian women’s baseball championships
The Illawarra Baseball League (IBL) will host the 2008 Australian Women’s Baseball Championships to be played from Easter Saturday, March 22 to Saturday, March 29 at Fred Finch Park, Berkeley. This will be the first time the Championships have been played in Wollongong.
The Championships have been played annually since 1999 making this year’s event the tenth consecutive. Archives indicate women’s baseball has been played in Australia since the 1920’s and that an Interstate Championship was held in 1934 but support waned for several decades before a resurgence in the 1990’s.
The Organising Committee has received acceptances from the six teams that participated last year – New South Wales, Victoria, Victorian Provincial, Queensland, Western Australia and host body Country New South Wales (CNSW).
Victoria holds a distinguished record at the Championships winning the first three events and being the current titleholders. New South Wales won in 2006
In so far as the Illawarra region is concerned the staging of the Championships gives recognition to the strength of local women’s baseball. The League has been has been producing female representative players for well over a decade and has consistently had players representing with the CNSW team in this tournament for six years.
The IBL representative women’s team won the inaugural CNSW title four years ago and backed this up by winning in the second year. This year’s event sees four locals playing with the CNSW team – Julia and Romi Fellows, Eryn Shipp and Gabby Stapleton.
The Fellows twins are also members of the Australian Women’s squad that will eventually be cut to a team to compete at the World Women’s Championships later this year. Julia Fellows played in the Australian Women’s team at the 2006 World Championships in Chinese Taipei. (report from Frank Booth) Great photos of Sydney Kings win to make grand final series
The Sydney Kings have advanced to the HUMMER NBL Grand Final Series in emphatic fashion with a 109-77 victory over the Perth Wildcats in game three of the three game semi-final series at the Sydney Entertainment Centre last Saturday night.
Sportslive contributors Noel Rowsell and Marion McNeill (www.photoexcellence.com.au) took some great action shots of the game.
Photo: Ex Illawarra Hawk Glen Saville in action for the Kings against the Wildcats
For the story and more photos go to www.parramatta.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=2784 Calling female cricketers to the Emerging Breakers
Bronwyn Atkins NSW High Performance Coordinator is calling for nominations from promising female cricketers for NSW’s Emerging Breakers squad for 2008-09.
Applications close on Monday 10 March so to find out more contact Bronwyn on Tel: 9339 0904 / Fax: 9360 6877 / Mobile: 0425 224 780 Cricket Humour
Yet another Australian witticism with this time porky Sri Lankan batsman Arjuna Ranatunga the victim.
Shane Warne, trying to tempt the batsman out of his crease mused what it took to get the plump character to get out of his crease and drive. Wicketkeeper Ian Healy piped up. "Put a Mars Bar on a good length. That should do it." Videos of local Sports on YOCTV
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