In the Rum City Foods Division 1 Premiership tomorrow, second placed Norths will be keen to bounce back from their heavy loss to East Bundy Magpies last week when they take on the winless Brothers at Salter Oval, starting at 11am.
The Magpies may however have to take their game to an even higher level if they are to stop the Waves juggernaut.
The 2021-22 South Queensland Under-21 Denis O’Dea Shield
Corey Perren capped an excellent carnival individually, hitting an unbeaten 57 to lead Wide Bay to a five-wicket victory over Darling Downs South West Queensland (DDSWQ) in the play-off for third place at the 2021-22 South Queensland Under-21 Denis O’Dea Shield in Hervey Bay on the weekend.
The Downs had posted a very competitive total of 196 with Bundaberg’s Ben Howard (3-17) and Oliver Bembrick (3-41) sharing the bowling honours, but Corey guided them home with two overs to spare after they had been in trouble at 3-73.
On Saturday, Corey had claimed all the Bay’s five wickets in his 5-39 against ultimate Shield champions Gold Coast but he could not prevent a five-wicket Coast triumph after the Bay had been bowled out for a paltry 109, of which Ben Howard top scored with 28 and Corey was the only other batsman to post double-figures with 16.
Wide Bay Association’s junior sides have also competed at various State competitions over the last month, with their under-15 boys faring best, finishing second to Bayside, East and Redlands (BEARS) in the Queensland Southern Championships in Ipswich with four wins and one loss.
Bundaberg had seven representatives in that side, all of whom contributed, with Lachlan Heycox the star, placing second in the Batting Aggregates with 119 and a top score of 41, as well as taking seven wickets.
Sam Stuchbery also picked up seven wickets and had a top score of 31, while Toby Lamond notched an unbeaten 50 and snared four wickets, Cooper Rehbein had a top score of 24 and grabbed 3-20 against DDSWQ, River Felstead featured against South East Queensland with 3-21, and Bayley Fagg came to the fore with 2-7 against South East Queensland.
The Coastal Burners team was unbeaten at the QJC Southern Challenge Under-15 Girls titles, taking second with three wins and two ties, with four Bundaberg players, Catherine White, who had a top score of 64 against Central Infernos, Lara Hamilton, who chalked up 47 runs and 3-0 against Northern Flames, April Mathiesen, who had a highest score of 27 and clinched 2-16 against Infernos, and Abby Stevens.
All four Bundaberg representatives in the Wide Bay team which wound up fourth at the QJC Southern U12 Series with three wins and two losses each also recorded performances of note, Samson Juster who chalked up seven wickets including three two-wicket hauls, Beau Donnison, who had a best of 29, Archie Webster, whose top score was 28 not out, and Corin Driver, who managed an unconquered 26.
There were also five Bundaberg players in the Wide Bay outfit which wound up sixth at the QJC U14 Carnival with two wins and three losses, with Jimmy Gear having a top score of 33 and adding four wickets with a best of 2-17, and Jack Tyres notching six wickets.
Jimmy and Tahj Coates both backed up for Coastal Burners at the Queensland Under-14 Boys Championships this week, with the team taking fourth place with two victories and three defeats.
Tahj showed his true form with a polished unbeaten half-century to be a match winner against Central Infernos on Wednesday, while Jimmy had a top score for the week of 21.
A further five Rum City young guns were part of the Wide Bay team which did it tough at the QJC U13 event last month, going winless with four losses and one draw.
Tom Elphinstone posted a team-high top score of 39 and amassed seven wickets, including a stunning 4-19 against BEARS, while Charlie Steele achieved four wickets, and Nicholas Delacy had a top score of 23.
The Wide Bay U13 Development team also started slowly at the Les Kinnane Shield in Ipswich last week, losing their first three games, but after being relegated to the Nev Paulsen Plate, they again lost their first game but finished on a high with wins over DDSWQ and Logan.
Six Bundaberg up and comers donned Wide Bay colours at that tournament, with Brayden Jenner and Travis Kapernick each managing seven scalps, with the former having a best of 3-12, Lachlan McDonald also among the wickets with five, and Jacob Irwin having a top score of 21.
Wide Bay lost each of their five matches at the U12 Ian Healy Cup at Brisbane North also last week, but five of the six Bundaberg representatives in the side had some stand-out performances, Atlas Felstead, who placed 13th in the Bowling Statistics with eight wickets for 66 runs with a best of 3-6, Thomas Delacy who complied 79 runs at an average of 38.5, Xavier Childs who had a haul of 3-11 in his five wickets, Zayde Kitching who also effected five dismissals, and Ashton Lamond, who picked up four wickets.
Bundaberg Junior fixtures do not resume until next Saturday, but local senior competition continues this weekend, weather permitting.
Lots of Junior players however did good things in the senior grades last week, including Norths’ 15-year-old Ethan Hamel, whose father Mark is a Bundaberg radio broadcasting icon, making a memorable Senior debut with a career-best 4-7 against Brothers in Division 3.
Mention must also be made of 48-year-old Waves club champion and wily spinner Nick Catasti, who fills in wherever required admirably and is just a dream club man, and cut loose with 4-27 against Brothers in Division 2 on Sunday, his best career haul apart from his 5-37 in the Tallon-Giles Division 3 Shield decider in December 2020.
SURF LIFE SAVING
The Bundaberg Club dominated the field at the 2022 Wide Bay Capricorn Branch Surf Rescue Championships at Elliott Heads on the weekend and also made a clean sweep of the titles and took out the Graham McKenzie Championships Shield and Kerry Collins Handicap Championships Shield.
Their Champion Lifesaver winners were Kathryn McKenzie (30-39 years Female), Jasmyn Theuerkauf (Under-19 Female), Oliver Meehan (U15 Male), Amelia Walsh (U15 Female), Finn Heads (U14 Male), and Gabrielle Vaggs (U14 Female).
The Club also made the Open, U19 and U15 Mixed First Aid titles their own, courtesy of Martin Cole and Carolyn Nydam, Ashlie Swan and Elena Tyers, and Oliver Meehan and Elizabeth Pascoe, respectively.
Amelia, Elizabeth, Harriet Mullins, and Oliver also combined for victory in the U15 Mixed Patrol Team Competition.
AQUATHON
Bargara Triathlon Club will conduct their popular annual Australia Day Branyan Clinic Aquathon at Norville Park Pool next Wednesday morning from 6am.
Events include Hatchlings (2-6yo) (40m wade/200m run); Turtle Aquathon (7-12yo) (1km run/100m swim/1km run/100m swim/50m run; Give It A Try Aquathon (13yo+) (3km run/400m swim/3km run); Sprint Aquathon (14yo+ (3km run/400m swim/3km run/400m swim/2km run).
To register, go to https://www.webscorer.com/register?raceid=264010
TOUCH
Brothers Social Touch Football will hold a Sign-on Night for their 25th Year at Brothers Sports Club this Monday, 24th January.
Club President Andrew McCracken has urged locals to get a team together and attend sign-on night at the back of the Sports Club from 6pm, with competition to kick off on 7th February.
Andrew is expecting more than 40 teams and over 400 players to register, and has encouraged teams to get in quickly to secure their spot and avoid missing out.
Team fees for the season are $400 if paid in full on sign-on night which works out to be about $34 a player if you recruit a team of 12. Team fees are $450 after sign-on night.
The season runs from February to June with no games are played over the Easter break.
Anyone interested in refereeing and earning some extra cash is also encouraged to attend.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/brotherssocialtouch
SOFTBALL
Coral Coast/Hervey Bay Softball Association fixtures will resume after the Christmas recess at Brothers Sports Club and Hervey Bay tomorrow.
The A Grade Men’s division will feature a top of the table showdown between Waves Schooners and Maryborough West at Brothers Sports Club at 4.10pm, while at the Bay, Terrors will do battle with Misfits.
There are no A Grade Ladies matches tomorrow.
GREYHOUNDS
Veteran former New South Wales chaser Winlock Shifty finally broke through at his sixth start for Redridge owner/trainer Narelle Mulcahy in the Masters 5th Grade at this week’s Bundaberg meeting at Thabeban Park.
After having won 14 races from 49 starts at Goulburn, Dubbo, Bathurst, The Gardens, Wentworth Park, Bulli, and Richmond, the rising four-year-old failed at his first outing for Narelle on 29th November, but he had been due for a victory after two seconds, a third and a fourth from his subsequent four appearances.
Paying $4.00, he won by three-quarters of a length from favourite, the Phillip Carter-trained Blackpool Pantha, after Phillip’s Wilby Royalty had defeated Narelle’s Chase Me Candy on debut in the opening event on the program, the TAB Maiden.
Meanwhile, Signify snapped a 11-race losing streak for his owner/trainer Lindsay McCarthy in the Novice Non-Penalty.
New Moonta trainer Garry Cluse picked up a winner for the second week in a row with Filthy Lucre edging out hot favourite Durham in a photo finish to the Great Northern 5th Grade.
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