Sports

CRISIS MEETING FOR CLARENCE CRICKET

FROM BACK PAGE

“The idea was Grafon and Lower Clarence teams would play a round of one-day games between the start of the season and Christmas, but they (the Lower Clarence Cricket Association) haven’t embraced that,” he said.

Baxter, who is 72, said it was time for some younger people to step up into leadership roles in local cricket. “You want someone who is more in tune with what younger people want from the game,” he said. As a leading country umpire and former representative player it would be unfair to say Baxter was unaware of trends in the game, but he would like to see younger people involved. “People who are playing the game are actually closer to the game and have more knowledge of what’s required to keep the game ticking over,” he said. He said the CRCA annual meeting and the seven or eight meetings held through the year were not particularly onerous, but they were important. “The clubs are all required to have a delegate at these meetings so they can have a say in what’s going on,” he said. “It’s called democracy in action.” Although stepping down as president Baxter wants to use the AGM to tidy up some issues he sees facing local cricket through a couple of notices of motion. He would like to see the rule penalising clubs for failure to attend meeting changed. “Clubs lose seven competition points now,” he said. “My notice of motion would change that to each team losing a point, plus a fne of $150.

Baxter’s other notice of motion aims to clear up an anomaly in playing conditions that emerged during last season’s washed out semi-fnal. He said there was an anomaly in the wording that suggested the game should not continue unless there was enough time for the team batting second to receive at least 50 overs. “Last season the Tucabia guys were saying the grand fnal against South Services should have been called off because there was not enough time to bowl the overs,” he said. “They had batted for 75 overs or something for about 150 and were worried Souths might be able to go out and knock the runs off, which they ought to be able to try to do. “As it turned out the game had to be called off because of the state of the ground. “There’ just some wording I hope we can clear up to sort this out.”

The meeting next Thursday begins at 7pm at the Grafton District Services Club.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING FOR BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS

After winning the North Eastern Junior league U16 Girls Championship 2 weeks ago, this tenacious group of young women earned themselves a very coveted spot in the 2022 Basketball NSW State Cup held in Sydney last weekend.

This is the frst time a junior female team from Ballina has made it to this level. Not bad for a club who had no courts to train on earlier this year because they were all Evac Centres!! We are super proud of Marty and the girls achieving this level.

SPORTS RESULTS

BALLINA MAHJONG

22nd July 2022

Joy Lowien 1, Jan Rhodes 2,Gail McDonagh 3, Lorna Simpson 4, Pam Farrell 5, Pauline Bolte 6, Shirley Atkinson 7, Gladys D’Anna 8, Kath Hubbard 9, Shirley Coleman 10, Jeanette Henwood , Sally Lowry 11, Jan Small 13, Diana Auret 14, Jan Boardman 15, Val Heinritz 16, Shirley Henry 17, Susan Allan 18, Kathy Pickles 19, Coral Lavelle 20, Jan Henley 21.

29th July 2022

Pauline Bolte 1, Jan Rhodes 2, Pauline Kearney 3, Marg Bryant 4, Rosemary Russell 5, Kathy Pickles 6, Joy Lowien 7, Sally Lowry 8, Gail McDonagh 9, Kath Hubbard 10, June Grebert 11, Wendy Thornton 12, Shirley Atkinson 13, Susan Scott 14, Valda McLerie 15, ,Gladys D’Anna, Lorna Simpson 16, Pam Farrell 18, Jan Small 19, Carol Meyer 20, Ronda Taylor 21, Yvonne Weddup 22, June Greenaway 23, Jeanette Henwood 24,Shirley Henry 25, Val Heinritz 26, Bev Lasater 27, Jan Boardman 28, Janene Jarvis 29. Mahjong is played on Friday at 12:30pm at the Ballina Bridge Club North Creek Road. Enquiries for new players phone Vanessa on 66874181.

CASINO RSM WOMENS BOWLS

Wednesday 27/7

The 2nd round of our open pairs were played today & it was a very close game with the results being: D. Skinner & H. Lavelle def R. Skirrey & I. Watson Social game results were: C. Doyle,J. Creighton & J. Cooke def J. Carthew, J. Dwyer & M. Mead

Friday 29/7

Social Game Results The winners were drawn out of the hat. Winners for the day were: J. Carthew & A. James def J. Dwyer & C. Haynes The other rink winner was: A. Williams & D. Skinner def J. Creighton & A McLean

The fnals for our open pairs will be played on Wednesday 3/8 Entries for our Major Consistency close on the 31/8.

CHERRY STREET CROQUET CLUB ASSOCIATION CROQUET: P.Hume B.Reddy 10 d C.Woodlands S.Hume 2 R.Chapman 14 d G.Porter 13, P.Hume R.Chapman 13 d H.Young G.Porter 5. Division 2 Club Championships : S.Hume 12 d R.Poynting 9, S.Hume 6 d G.Drew 4 Handicap: G.Drew 10 d N.Poynting 7 RICOCHET CROQUET: R.Chapman G.Porter 11 d G.Kerr P.Doyle 3, R.Poynting N.Poynting 13 d G.Drew N.Watts 3, M.Russell C.Edlund 10 d P.Bolte C.Lane 6, M.Field M.Russell 13 d G.Drew P.Bolte 11, C.Edlund 13 d A.Kelly C.Lane 11 R.Chapman J.Hannigan 13 d D.Scott R.Poynting 10. J.Hannigan 14 d H.Young 13, A.Kelly N.Poynting 8 d C.Edlund 6, C.Lane P.Doyle 9 d P.Scott M.Russell 5, M.Field R.Chapman 11 d G.Kerr R.Poynting 9. Division 2 Club Championships: P.Scott 18 d N.Barnes 11, N.Watts 12 d N.Poynting 7, G.Drew 10 d N.Watts 6

Cherry Street Croquet Club: P.Bolte, J.Dorward, F.Duncan, B.Wellings. Handicap Club Golf Croquet Champions and Runners Up. CORAKI VETERANS GOLF

Thursday 28/7/22

Well how pleasing to see the feld getting back to were it should be. A feld of 45 winner G Braby, 2nd R Earnshaw, 3rd W Henwood, free game K Osborne, chicken/ ball winners T Beemster, M Bruggy, L Clark, B Collyer, K Lloyd, S McDonough, P Martin, B Micheal, S Toms, L Bonner. Nearest pins 3rd/12th P Smith, 6th/15th P Brophy. This Thursday will be an 18 hole single stroke for the monthly medal for August. Hitt off time 8.30 am with a shot gun start. As usual till then good golfng, Max

EVANS HEAD WOMENS BOWLS CLUB

Ladies Social Day - 2707-22

Highest Score - Winners - M. Berry, E. Gollan, L. Sanderson. Runners/ up - S. Carter, D. Tiller, K. Robson. 3rd Place - J. Beckett, J. Sutcliffe, J. Poole.

LISMORE WORKERS SPORTS BOWLING Major singles Greg Rose def Gary Clarke, Jane Rose def Merle Moss, Joy Piper def Rae Moss. Social, G Clarke, J Carrol, N McDonald d D Morrow, Jane Rose, J Jacobson, B Hutchinson, R Campbell, C Vanderwall d Joan Rose, K Smith, I Osbourne K Hoffmasn, R Moss, S Smart d R Hoskin, G Cox, W Woods

QUEEN ELIZABETH PARKRUN, CASINO

Event number 88, 30th July 2022

A very cold and frosty start turned into an absolutely glorious morning where 51 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 16 were under 15 years old, 5 were frst timers and 6 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 3 different clubs took part. Superstars Ella Rose and Luisa Grace joined the 50 Club. Congrats to Kai, Erin, Lucy, Megan, Michelle and Bella on their PBs. The event was made possible by 8 volunteers: Jason SKIMMINGS • Therese SCHIER • Robyn CHAPMAN • Daniel PHELPS • Grace ROSE • Chris WAKELY • Lindsay WILTON • Phillip QUINN See www.parkrun.com. au/queenelizabethcasino/ results

Ghosts sew up a home semi-fnal

TIM HOWARD

The Grafton Ghosts have have secured a home Group 2 Rugby League home semi-fnal following a brutal 28-20 win over Macksville at Frank McGuren Park on Sunday.

Missing captain coach Todd Cameron and experienced front rower, Adam Slater, the Ghosts resisted everything the Sea Eagles could throw at them in a fery encounter with the visitors down to 11 players as the full time siren sounded.

The opening 10 minutes of the game was a scoreless arm wrestle as both teams struggled for dominance midfeld.

Stand in skipper Dylan Collett broke the deadlock, when he received an offoad about 10m from the line.

Despite the attentions of several Sea Eagles defenders, he surged over the line for the opening try of the game.

The game settled back into a war of attrition for another eight minutes, until the Macksville backs spotted an opportunity on the left edge.

Quick hands put winger Ryan Atkins outside his winger Josh Bender and he eluded a diving tackle attempt from fullback Cooper Woods on his sprint to the line.

Despite Atkins being able to promote the ball closer to the posts, fullback Andrew Blair missed the conversion, leaving the score at 4-all.

Macksville put themselves on the back foot from the kick off, attempting to catch a ball that looked headed over the touch in goal line.

The in-goal knock on handed the Ghosts possession in prime attacking position and Collett made them pay after some enterprising play down the left side.

A deft chip ahead allowed the skipper to charge onto the ball about 10m from the line and with that momentum proved unstoppable as he crashed over the line.

Woods missed a tough conversion, leaving the score at 8-4 to the home team.

After a few grinding sets from both teams, it was Ghosts halfback Vinnie Williams’ boot that set the game alight in the fnal 10 minutes of the half.

First he unleashed a booming punt downfeld to earn a 40-20 restart, enabling the Ghosts to maintain pressure on a tiring Macksville defence.

Then, with half time looming, he revealed some magic.

Looking to make a clearing kick about 10m inside his half, Williams found himself pressured by three defenders.

Unable to make set himself for a long kick, Williams instead nudged a grubber behind the defensive line. Centre Jake Martin already prepared to chase downfeld suddenly found himself tearing after a bouncing ball which stood up kindly into his arms.

He surged toward the line but still had plenty to do as the defence closed in on him a few metres out.

Brought to ground, he was not held and was able to struggle the fnal few metres to score, to cries of dismay from the Macksville bench, who thought he had been tackled.

To rub salt into the wound, Woods’ conversion attempt sailed high over the right upright, which the offcials called in, but visiting players and fans were convinced had missed.

Ahead 14-4 at the break the Ghosts looked like they would run away with it in the second half.

Stand in hooker Mason Graham scurried over from dummy half and tough back rower Cameron Winters wrestled his way over for converted tries, extending the Ghosts’ lead to 26-4.

Instead the visitors piled on three tries in 10 minutes and with seven minutes on the clock the Ghosts were staring at a 26-20 score line and trying to wind down the clock.’

Williams pinned the Sea Eagles in their half with a couple of raking kicks and in desperation the visitors pushed the referee too hard.

With seven minutes left Dane Saunders was binned for a swinging arm tackle and a few minutes later interchange forward Sam Miles was marched after illegally upending Ghosts forward Winters.

Penalised close to the sticks, the Ghosts handed Woods the ball for a penalty shot that ate up the fnal seconds and was the fnal score in the game.

After the game Cameron said he found it tough watching from the sideline as his troops battled it out.

But he couldn’t have been prouder of his makeshift team giving the club winning momentum heading into the semi-fnals.

He said a week off while the rest of the competition catches up with round 5 washed out games, would suit the Ghosts.

“It will give Slats (prop Adam Slater) time and also Matt Muller might be back,” he said.

Stand in captain Collett was also happy with the win and securing a couple more “meat pies”.

He said the Ghosts had nailed down fourth spot and a home semi-fnal, most likely against Macksville again.

The South Grafton Rebels, with a game in hand, didn’t have it all their own way against the Nambucca Roosters 26-16.

On Sunday it will be the Rebels turn to take on Macksville, while competition leaders Woolgoolga and the Orara Axemen meet at Woolgoolga.

Should the Rebels and Woolgoolga win, it would leave the Rebels and Orara level on points, but the Axeman look to have a large enough for-and-against buffer to hold onto second spot.

Grafton Ghost backrower Cameron Winters takes a power of stopping with a typically strong carry against Macksville on Sunday.

Cudgen Surf Notes

We record the passing of our member, Tom Eady.

He gained his Bronze Medallion in 1950 and later his Instructor Certifcate.

He served the Club as Captain in 1952-1953 and 1954, 1955, Chief Instructor 1953-1954.

He was a top surf competitor for our Club when we were affliated with Pt. Danger Branch winning the Belt Championship in 1951to 1955. In the Qld. Titles he gained Silver in 1951-1953 and 1955 and Bronze in 1954, and was selected in the Queensland Representative Team in the same year.

This coming weekend the Australian Surf Pool Rescue Titles will be decided at the Southport Aquatic Centre. Cudgen will be represented by the small young team that did well at the Qld. Titles.

Also this Sunday the Greenmount ‘Dolphins’ winter swim Club will host their Annual swim at Greenmount.

Events are held in age groups of ten years and a six person relay of nominated time.

Cudgen Coldies result from last week: 1. Mick O’Brien – 2 seconds off nominated time. 2. Charlie Buchanan 25, Tom Gielis 35.

The Coldies carnival date is set for the 26th August.

LISA VANDERSTOK

Trainer Robert Arnold recently moved to the Northern Rivers and hasn’t looked back other than loving the lifestyle here his dogs are racing fantastically with Wisdom and Game Night making it a quinella for owner trainer it was also a back to back win for Wisdom.

A great family day for the Duncan’s and the Walkers racking up a double together with Modulating in race 5 and Jackie’s Choice in race 12 both tight fnishes great day out here again at Casino Greyhound Racing Club Queen Elizabeth Park.

Greyhounds