The Weekly Times - 28th February, 2018
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Wednesday 28 <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> THE WEEKLY TIMES 31<br />
Healy ton secures<br />
19th WNCL title<br />
SYDNEY Tigers internationals Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry<br />
have spearheaded the NSW Breakers to a 19th Women’s National<br />
Cricket League championship.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Australian representatives<br />
produced a<br />
batting masterclass to<br />
help the all conquering<br />
Breakers post a formidable<br />
tally of 302 in<br />
their Grand Final showdown<br />
with Western<br />
Australia last Saturday<br />
at Blacktown International<br />
Sportspark.<br />
Player of the Match<br />
Healy smashed a magnificent<br />
122 from 109<br />
balls and Perry a run-aball<br />
96 as unbeaten NSW<br />
defeated a gallant WA by<br />
51 runs to secure yet another<br />
trophy.<br />
It was the Breakers’<br />
19th one day domestic<br />
title in the competition’s<br />
22 year history and gave<br />
retiring skipper Alex<br />
Blackwell, who scored<br />
24 runs, a rousing sendoff.<br />
Hot shot Healy was at<br />
her dynamic best, clouting<br />
18 boundaries and<br />
sharing a crucial third<br />
wicket partnership of<br />
147 with superstar Perry,<br />
who this summer collected<br />
the ICC World Player<br />
of the Year and Belinda<br />
Clark Medals.<br />
WA skipper Elyse Villani<br />
(74) and England<br />
international Amy Jones<br />
(59) shone for the visitors<br />
who were dismissed for<br />
251.<br />
MEANWHILE Sydney<br />
Cricket Club’s bid for<br />
a Poidevin-Gray Shield<br />
Under 21 title was ruined<br />
after the Tigers’ semi final<br />
clash with Gordon<br />
was abandoned due to<br />
heavy rain.<br />
Gordon posted 8-200 in<br />
overcast conditions with<br />
fine contributions from<br />
Axel Cahlin (63), Michael<br />
Roberts (44), Oliver Zannino<br />
(31), Liam Windel<br />
(19) and Chris Searle (15<br />
not out).<br />
But due to inclement<br />
weather Sydney never<br />
got the opportunity to begin<br />
its run chase with the<br />
match declared a draw<br />
and Gordon advancing<br />
to the Shield decider via<br />
a higher ranking.<br />
Spinners Ben Manenti<br />
(2-34) and Delray Rawlins<br />
(2-35) along with<br />
seamer Harry Manenti<br />
(2-42), Liam Scott (1-<br />
18) and paceman Chris<br />
Thompsett (1-24) shared<br />
the bowling spoils.<br />
SYDNEY first grade<br />
cricket team need to<br />
stand and deliver with<br />
the bat this Saturday<br />
when play resumes in<br />
their important NSW Premier<br />
Cricket clash with<br />
Randwick-Petersham at<br />
Coogee Oval.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fifth placed Tigers<br />
will be chasing 304 runs<br />
for victory to consolidate<br />
a finals spot and require<br />
big performances from<br />
their top six.<br />
Half centuries from<br />
skipper Anthony Sams<br />
(64), Daniel Sams (64)<br />
and Riley Ayre (61) plus<br />
handy contributions<br />
from Shaun Eaton (38)<br />
and Adam Semple (33)<br />
helped the Randy Petes<br />
amass 303 on the opening<br />
day.<br />
Best of the Sydney<br />
bowlers were quick Nic<br />
Bills (3-53 off 17 overs),<br />
off spinner Ben Manenti<br />
(3-82 off 36 overs) and<br />
Harry Dalton (2-10 off<br />
six).<br />
SECONDS: Randwick-Petersham<br />
4-155<br />
(James Mahony-Brack<br />
63, Jack Tector 33,<br />
Joshua Bohannon<br />
29no, Matt Calder 21,<br />
Ash Squire 3-46) v Sydney<br />
112 (Delray Rawlins<br />
23, Matt Pasternatsky<br />
20, J Bohannon 6-32,<br />
Alex Deller 2-30).<br />
THIRDS: Randwick-<br />
Petersham 232 (Dylan<br />
Powell 73, Ben Stares<br />
61no, Ashley Burton<br />
31, Craig Di Blasio 3-18,<br />
Ryan Corns 3-50) v<br />
Sydney.<br />
FOURTHS: Sydney<br />
8-192 (Justin Felsch<br />
64, Dominic Tonkin 45,<br />
Ahmed Hassan 28, Alex<br />
Rashleigh 14no, Rod<br />
Stafford 4-71) v Randwick-Petersham.<br />
FIFTHS: Randwick-<br />
Petersham 103 (Fergus<br />
Bowen 25, Ed House<br />
24, Avery Weilandt 4-9,<br />
Ellis Sherriff 3-12) v<br />
Sydney 2-32.<br />
Vintage ton and hat trick<br />
for Ellis and Napper<br />
LEGENDARY North Ryde RSL cricketer Richard Ellis has celebrated his<br />
th irthday in style y cracking a magnificent century in the orthern<br />
Districts Cricket Association competition.<br />
Playing in a combined<br />
third/fourth grade conference<br />
fixture against<br />
Rydalmere at Upjohn<br />
Park, evergreen Ellis<br />
blasted 135 to engineer<br />
an outright victory.<br />
Skipper Ellis produced<br />
a vintage performance<br />
– smashing 24 boundaries<br />
and a six in North<br />
Ryde’s total of 9 dec<br />
274.<br />
But the ageless warrior<br />
was upstaged by<br />
team mate Sam Napper,<br />
a sharp seam bowler<br />
who claimed a hat<br />
trick with the only four<br />
balls he delivered in the<br />
match!<br />
Napper conceded<br />
three runs off his first<br />
ball then grabbed three<br />
wickets off his next<br />
three deliveries to return<br />
the figures of 3-3.<br />
<strong>The</strong> North Ryde duo<br />
are pictured celebrating<br />
their outstanding first<br />
day feats.<br />
KOOKABURRAS hockey whiz Lachlan Sharp and Australian junior womens squash champion<br />
Shehana Virthana received their $300 TWT Club Six/Ryde Sports Foundation Sports Star of the<br />
Month awards last Friday night at Gladesville RSL Club. Pictured accepting Lachlan’s cheque from<br />
Gladesville RSL Club President Jim Butt is Ryde-Hunters Hill Hockey Club legend Maurice Dawson<br />
with Shehana, Ryde Sports Foundation Chairman Jim Hull, Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club president<br />
Jim McClymont, North Ryde RSL Community Club director Beth Ashcroft and Gladesville RSL<br />
director Gary Winslow. Sharp flew out with the Kookaburras last weekend to represent Australia at<br />
the Sultan Azian Shah Cup in Malaysia. TWT on-the-spot PHOTO.<br />
Rising star Sam dives<br />
into a bright future<br />
RYDE schoolboy Sam Fricker is a rising star<br />
in the diving world and showed his wares with<br />
the Australian Diving Team at the 23rd FINA International<br />
Grand Prix in Rostock, Germany last<br />
weekend.<br />
Coach Vyninka Arlow,<br />
1998 Commonwealth<br />
Games gold medal winner<br />
and veteran of two Olympic<br />
and two Commonwealth<br />
Games, said Sam is the<br />
hardest working athlete she<br />
has ever coached and that<br />
is why he has gained Australian<br />
team selection so<br />
quickly.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Rostock competition<br />
was an extremely high-level<br />
competition and great experience<br />
for Sam to learn<br />
from, and a chance to really<br />
be a part of the diving<br />
world,” commented Vyninka.<br />
It has been a rapid rise for<br />
the Trinity Grammar School<br />
Year 10 student and former<br />
TWT Clubs Six Ryde Sports<br />
Foundation Sports Star of<br />
the Year finalist.<br />
Sam’s background in<br />
gymnastics helped him<br />
win a regional title and a<br />
Schools National title in his<br />
first year of diving at the age<br />
of 11 while his drive to succeed<br />
has continued to propel<br />
him forward. “Sam had<br />
intensity and focus and was<br />
determined to achieve his<br />
goals even as an 11-yearold,”<br />
said his mother Toni<br />
Fricker.<br />
Competing in the one and<br />
three-metre springboard,<br />
10-metre platform, and<br />
synchronised diving, the<br />
Trinity Grammar Year 10<br />
student said he enjoys the<br />
challenge of the 10-metre<br />
platform most: “For me, the<br />
bigger the risk, the bigger<br />
the reward when you get it<br />
right,” he commented.<br />
Clearly committed to the<br />
sport, Sam trains for up to<br />
27 hours a week working<br />
five mornings a week on<br />
strength, fitness and dry<br />
board training, supported<br />
by six sessions a week in<br />
the pool practising one-metre,<br />
three-metre and 10-metre<br />
platform dives - he is<br />
in the pool every weekday<br />
afternoon and on Saturday<br />
mornings.<br />
When it became clear that<br />
Sam had a natural talent<br />
and passion for the sport<br />
he, along with his mother,<br />
brothers and sisters moved<br />
to Ryde from the Hunter region<br />
with Sam commencing<br />
Year 7 at Trinity Grammar in<br />
2015.<br />
“At 11 years old, I made<br />
my first NSW team to compete<br />
at National Schools<br />
Sport Australia. I had just<br />
started diving a bit for fun<br />
and was still doing gymnastics.<br />
I went into the NSW<br />
Institute of Sport (NSWIS)<br />
when I was almost 13 and<br />
that is when serious training<br />
started,” said Sam.<br />
Asked what he sees as<br />
the main challenges in his<br />
chosen sport Sam replied:<br />
“Diving is hard on your<br />
body and you have to be<br />
strong physically, but it also<br />
requires mental strength<br />
and a serious commitment<br />
if you want to do well. Trying<br />
to get every dive perfect<br />
is also a challenge.”<br />
Sam said he finds motivation<br />
by setting himself short<br />
and long-term goals and<br />
creating a plan for how to<br />
get there. While his major<br />
goal is earning a place on<br />
the 2020 Olympics team, in<br />
the shorter-term he has his<br />
sights set on the International<br />
Youth Diving Championships<br />
in Dresden and<br />
the <strong>2018</strong> Commonwealth<br />
Games in April, and the<br />
Junior Worlds, Youth Olympics,<br />
Open Nationals, and<br />
Elite Junior Nationals later<br />
in the year.<br />
Asked who he looks up to,<br />
Sam cites Australian diver<br />
and 2008 Olympic champion,<br />
Matt Mitcham and Chinese<br />
diver Qiu Bo (Olympic<br />
silver medallist and three<br />
times World Champion on<br />
10-metre platform) as his<br />
role models.<br />
Sam competed against<br />
Qui who is nine years his<br />
senior last week. Toni, elaborates:<br />
“Sam was training<br />
with NSWIS while Matt was<br />
still a part of the NSWIS<br />
Diving Team and that was<br />
really great for him. Sam<br />
also has a number of teachers<br />
at Trinity who have mentored<br />
and encouraged him,<br />
along with NSWIS Head<br />
Coach, Chava Sobrino and<br />
Assistant Head Coach, Joel<br />
Rodriguez.”<br />
Sam was the youngest<br />
amongst the field of over<br />
100 competitors from 22<br />
countries entered in the<br />
FINA International Grand<br />
Prix in Germany.<br />
<strong>The</strong> rise to the top hasn’t<br />
always been a smooth ride.<br />
Sam withdrew from the<br />
Australian Elite Junior<br />
Championships in 2016 due<br />
to a wrist injury.<br />
“Winning all of my events<br />
at Elite Nationals in 2017<br />
was the most memorable<br />
moment of my diving career<br />
- I really wanted to do that<br />
in 2017 since I was unable<br />
to achieve my goals at the<br />
event in 2016,” said Sam.<br />
<strong>The</strong> list of achievements<br />
doesn’t stop there.<br />
Sam made the Senior<br />
Australian Diving Team this<br />
year, competed in Dresden<br />
at the International Youth<br />
Diving Championships as<br />
part of the Junior Australian<br />
Diving Team, won Silver<br />
at the Open Nationals and<br />
was named Elite Junior<br />
Diver of the Year by Diving<br />
Australia at the Elite Junior<br />
Nationals in 2017 after<br />
winning all four events he<br />
entered.<br />
At a school level Sam is a<br />
proud member of the Trinity<br />
CAS Diving Team who have<br />
won the Barnett Shield for<br />
the past three years. Diving<br />
is Trinity’s most successful<br />
sport, winning the CAS<br />
Diving Shield (now known<br />
as the Steve Barnett Shield)<br />
32 times.