Posts filed under 'Sport'
In just over an hour from now, defending WNBL Champions the Canberra Capitals will be taking on the Sydney University Flames in the WNBL Grand Final.
Last year the Capitals defeated the Dandenong Rangers 68-55, but that might not be enough this year as Sydney Uni (who are the minor premiers) have defeated the Capitals in three of their four encounters this season.
It will most likely be a closely fought match, with Canberra being the number one defensive side this season, and the Flames being the team to win the most regular season matches. I’ll have a half-time and a full-time update (Update 4:14pm: And a quarter time and three quarter time update End Update), but for those of you who want more, ABC TV are covering the match live from 4pm Canberra (and Sydney) time, Sportradio.com.au have live online coverage, and the WNBL website will have live scores and stats (apparently…no link yet though).
Quarter Time: Sydney 20 lead Canberra 19
Half Time: Sydney and Canberra 39 all
Three Quarter Time: Canberra 50 lead Sydney 45
Full Time: Canberra 73 defeated Sydney 59
Due to a Microsoft server error on the WNBL live stats page killing their live score service, I’m going to take over.
Live: Canberra 73-59 Sydney Full Time
(This concludes live scores…match details to follow)
Match details filed 6:18pm: There’s not much for me to say and I’ll leave the nitty gritty to another journalist (it’ll appear below), but the bottom line is that the match was, as expected, close. Sydney seemed to have the upper hand in the first half, but Canberra’s status as the number one defensive team of the season paid off, as they managed to practically shut down the Flames’ offence in the second half, especially the last quarter. Sydney played well, but Canberra were just too good. Congratulations Canberra! End Update
Match report courtesy wnbl.com.au:
Caps go back-to-back
The Canberra Capitals have won back-to-back defencejobs WNBL championships following their 73-59 win over the Sydney Uni Flames at the Penrith Sports Stadium today.
An unanswered 15-point run from the Capitals in the fourth quarter laid the foundation for Canberra’s fourth WNBL title and Coach Carrie Graf’s fifth championship ring.
163cm Canberra point guard Nat Hurst scored an equal game high 15 points while five other Canberra players – Abby Bishop, Kellie Abrams, Donna Loffhagen, Tracey Beatty and Tully Bevilaqua – contributed double figures.
For Sydney Uni, Nat Porter scored 15 points while retiring legend and former Opals captain Trish Fallon finished with 13 points.
202cm Canberra centre Tracey Beatty was named the Grand Final MVP courtesy of her 12 point, 12 rebound, 3 assist and 3 blocked shot double-double.
Graf, who was also was named Coach of the Year, attributed the win to her teams dedication and hard work.
“This goes out not only to this team but every player I have ever coached,” she said.
“The players make me the coach I am.”
While Sydney Uni coach Karen Dalton put the loss down to a misfiring offence.
“I think the better team won on the day,” she said. “They shot the ball better than us and that’s what it comes down to in these games.
“I don’t think we responded very well offensively. Our offensive execution in the second half wasn’t fantastic.
“I think we gave up to many offensive rebounds, missed alot of foul shots and we just didn’t execute offensively and get the ball into the right people’s hands enough.”
The opening tussle for the ball immediately after the jump ball signaled both teams’ intentions which continued through the first quarter with eight fouls being called during the first three minutes.
Flames key forward Nat Porter opened the game scoring with a free throw.
Retiring legend and former Opals captain Trish Fallon proved why she is regarded as one the Australia’s greatest female basketballers, netting nine points in the quarter with her trademark composure.
Flames coach Karen Dalton had to inject Georgia Woodyard in earlier than normal after Eva Afeaki tallied two quick fouls in those opening minutes.
From there, both sides traded baskets, with Porter was given the task of defending 202cm Canberra tall Tracey Beatty.
Tully Bevilaqua subbed off two minutes remaining and with scores level at 13-all, her replacement, energetic guard Nat Hurst drove to the basket, collected the foul, dropped the basket and finished of the free throw for the three-point play.
But it was Fallon, in her 251st and final WNBL game that kept the Flames in touch with Canberra, who held a 20-19 quarter time lead.
Alicia Poto started the second quarter with four straight points, while the rest of Sydney Uni’s offensive threats warmed up and the Flames took 28-26 lead forcing Capitals coach Carrie Graf to call a time out.
The Flames maintained their attacking play with Eva Afeaki driving the lane for four second quarter points and allowing Sydney Uni to establish a 33-28 lead with four minutes remaining.
However, Canberra responded with a Nat Hurst a 3-point basket, a Kellie Abrams steal and basket to reduce the score to 35-34 before Hurst went to the free throw line and regained the lead by calmly netting both attempts.
A Michelle Musselwhite 3-pointer leveled the scores at 38-all, before both Kristen Veal and Kellie Abrams sunk one free throw each to leave the halftime scored at 39-all.
By halftime, both Sydney Uni’s Nat Porter and Canberra’s Nat Hurst had scored 10 points each while Fallon had nine points and Bibby eight points.
3rd quarter
Beatty opened the scoring in the second half, netting a jumper before Nat Porter was fouled and duly sank her two free throws to level the score at 41-all.
The best defensive team in the league got to task and shut down the best offensive team in the league. The Capitals restricted the Flames to just six points for the term.
Interestingly, it was the third quarter during the major semi-final two weeks ago that Sydney Uni kept the Capitals to just six points.
Tracey Beatty nailed a four-foot jumper before a Jess Bibby free throw pushed the Capitals out to 45-43 lead.
Some outstanding hustle and movement from 18-year old Abby Bishop illustrated the Caps desperation, jumping on the ball and forcing a jump ball but Sydney Uni got the ball back as they had the possession arrow.
With three second remaining in the quarter, Tracey Beatty netted a jumper to give the Capitals a 50-45 three quarter time lead.
Nat Porter led all scorers with 13 points while Beatty had tallied 12 points and eight rebounds.
A Michelle Musselwhite free throw opened scoring on the final quarter before Sydney Uni turned to Mrs. Clutch Trish Fallon.
34-year old Fallon went on a six point scoring run to give the Flames a 52-50 lead with 7:01 remaining.
However, consecutive three point baskets from the inspirational Tully Bevilaqua and feisty Nat Hurst and another four points from captain Kellie Abrams gave the defending champions a healthy eight point, 60-52 lead with 4:17 remaining.
And the Caps didn’t stop there, scoring another five points through baskets to Abrams and Bevilaqua – for 15 straight points – to open up a championship winning 65-52 lead.
Musselwhite dropped two free throws to reduce the margin to 13 before Eva Afeaki registered her fifth personal foul and was out of the game.
Nat Porter dropped another two points to make the score 56-65 while another free throw from Musselwhite reduced the margin to 65-57.
An Alicia Poto foul sent Donna Loffhagen to the line, who re-established the 10-point margin.
A steal and assist from Tully Bevilaqua and two easy lay-ups from Donna Loffhagen pushed the score out to 72-57.
A final two free throws from Musselwhite moved the score to 59-72 before Nat Hurst sank a free throw of her own to give the Capitals a 73-59 victory.
The win gives Coach Carrie Graf her fifth WNBL championship and unfortunately for Fallon she retires one win short of going out a championship winner.
Canberra 73 (Hurst 15, Beatty 12, Bevilaqua 12) def.
Sydney Uni 59 (Porter 15, Fallon 13, Afeaki 8 ) at Penrith Sports Stadium
End Report
Samuel
February 17th, 2007 at 03:02pm
Recently I have been thinking about the potential Hawk-Eye, the technology used to decide contentious line calls in Tennis as well as used by Tennis and Cricket broadcasters, has in deciding difficult scoring decisions in the AFL. Hawk-Eye, with its ability to track the ball would be able to detect a player touching the ball, as its path would change, as well as follow the path of the ball in case it were to sail over the posts.
I was going to contact the AFL with these suggestions, but thought that I would contact the people responsible for Hawk-Eye, British company Hawk-Eye Innovations, first to see if they thought it would be possible. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply with half an hour, I was not pleased by what I read though.
We have spoken to the AFL and Channel 7. It is not something we are going to pursue at this stage.
This indicates to me that Hawk-Eye is capable of doing what I suggested, but for some stupid reason which the AFL and Channel Seven are aware of, will not be used. I can understand the AFL not wanting to take part just yet…they are always slow to adopt technology. I don’t want to see video replays introduced into decision making in AFL, and I’m glad they’ve kept that out, but ignoring the speedy, accurate Hawk-Eye astounds me. Unlike video replays it produces a result almost instantly.
As for Channel Seven, perhaps they don’t want to invest in extra gadgets for something they will only broadcast two matches of each week. Perhaps if the AFL hadn’t gone for the big bucks of the Nine/Ten/Fox consortium years ago, and still had Seven as their only broadcaster, we would be seeing innovations in broadcasting. Unfortunately the fragmented broadcasting landscape we currently have is not conducive to progress.
I suppose, at the very least, we know that when faced with a choice between money and progress, the AFL will chose money. Strange for a sport that has tried so hard to kill off the suburban nature of the game by moving all the Victorian clubs into a few grounds in an effort to make it look modern. I do have to wonder how the game will survive in the future if it continues this way, it’s a good game, but if it continues to make decisions which will do more harm than good, I can’t see the fan base expanding.
Samuel
February 14th, 2007 at 02:40pm
Congratulations to Serena Williams who defeated Maria Sharapova in straight sets, 6-1 6-2, to become the 2007 Womens Champion. I haven’t paid a huge amount of attention to the Australian Open, mainly because tennis isn’t one of my more favoured sports, and as such I really wasn’t in a position to tip a winner.
I can say, however, that I have seen enough of the mens competition to make a tip. As I said to John Kerr this morning at about 5:25, Fernando Gonzalez will defeat Roger Federer in the fourth set. It won’t be a whitewash, but I think Gonzalez will come out of the blocks a bit too fast for Federer. That being said, if the game gets to the fifth set, then Gonzalez will run out of steam, will become frustrated, and Federer will win.
Update 10:36pm: Wrong on both counts! Roger Federer defeated Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets 7-6 6-4 6-4, to take out his third Australian Open Title. John Kerr was right, my predictions were bold…Sir Humphrey Appleby would probably have called them “courageous”. End Update
Also, while I’m here, congratulations must go to Boys champion Brydan Klein, who defeated Jonathan Eysseric of France 6-2 4-6 6-1. He is the first Australian to win the title in thirteen years, and the first junior player to ever win tournament on Rod Laver Arena.
Congratulations also to girls champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (not surprisingly from Russia), who defeated Madison Brengle of the U.S. in straight sets, with tiebreakers in each set, 7-6 (6) 7-6 (3).
Samuel
January 28th, 2007 at 12:24pm
Ninth seed Australian Kelvin Kerkow has easily accounted for fourth seed fellow Australian David Gourlay to win the Scottish International Bowls Tournament in Perth, Scotland.
After winning the first set 11-5, Kerkow went on to win the second set 13-3
Kerkow was the more composed of the two, with Gourlay appearing consistently frustrated at Kerkow’s excellent bowling, and resorting to mostly unsuccessful drives. Whilst Gourlay had a small comeback late in the first set, it was one of the few times where he appeared to have any chance of winning.
In the second set, Kerkow kept Gourlay scoreless for five ends, getting out to an 8-0 lead, before Gourlay scored 2 points in the sixth end. It too little too late though, as Kerkow blitzed Gourlay from there on, getting out to a 13-2 lead at the end of the 8th end. Gourlay won the next end, but at 13-3 it was all over.
Kelvin Kerkow understandably told BBC Scotland that he is "over the moon".
Samuel Gordon-Stewart reporting for Samuel’s Blog and John Kerr
December 3rd, 2006 at 02:04am
Kelvin Kerkow has easily won the first set of the Scottish International Lawn Bowls grand final, 11-5, against fellow Australian David Gourlay.
Ninth seed Kelvin Kerkow started the set well, and seemed more composed than 4th seed david Gourlay whose only answer was driving the ball in the hope of hitting something, a tactic which failed more often than not. By the end of the 7th set (the equivalent of a game in tennis), Kerkow led 8-1.
Gourlay then staged a comeback, getting back within three points of Kerkow, who led 8-5 after 9 ends, but it was all Kerkow from there, as he scored another two points to win the set 11-5.
Today’s final is being run over two sets of 11 ends, in the event of a draw there will be a tiebreaker of three ends.
Samuel Gordon-Stewart reporting for Samuel’s Blog and John Kerr
December 3rd, 2006 at 01:17am
Australian lawn bowler David Gourlay will become the first player to contest three successive World Bowls Tour finals when he comes up against Kelvin Kerkow in an all Australian showdown at the grand final of the Scottish International Open Lawn Bowls tournament. In the semi-finals, Australian David Gourlay defeated Welshman Robert Weale 6-7, 10-2, 2-0 and ninth seed Australian Kelvin Kerkow upset 2nd seed Englishman Greg Harlow 6-4, 6-6.
The action gets underway at 12:45am Canberra time December 3 (1:45pm GMT December 2) and it would appear that 247.tv are offering a live webstream of the match…for a fee of £1.80 or approximately AUD$4.52.
Samuel
December 2nd, 2006 at 08:24pm
Yay, I got $14 for coming second in one of the sweeps at work…not bad for a $2 investment…covers some of my $23 investment ($16 TAB + $2 Work Sweep + $5 Dad’s Work Sweep) for the day. I still don’t know how I went with the sweep at Dad’s work, I’ll find out tonight.
I think this is my last Melbourne Cup post for now, full results of my activities tonight and some posts to catch up on tomorrow.
Gambling problems? Phone Lifeline Canberra on 13 11 14 or your local gambling support service.
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 04:23pm
Updated and rewritten for “correct weight” final dividends
1st: Polar Bear (Win: $3.00) (Place: $1.50)
2nd: Lancettier (Place: $6.40)
3rd: Dr. Nipandtuck (Place: $3.20)
Quinella: $35.80
Exacta: $53.50
Trifecta: $613.40
Running Double on the Melbourne Cup and Race Eight: $47.50
Unfortunately I took a quinella in this race and got first and third…oh well.
Correct weight, results now paying! Gambling problems? Contact your local gambling support service, in Canberra that’s Lifeline on 13 11 14
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 03:59pm
Here is the complete rundown of who came where in the Melbourne Cup
1st: DELTA BLUES
2nd: POP ROCK
3rd: MAYBE BETTER
4th: Zipping
5th: Land ‘n Stars
6th: Mahtoum
7th: Yeats
8th: Activation
9th: Mandela
10th: Glistening
11th: Kerry O’Reilly
12th: Railings
13th: Headturner
14th: Short Pause
15th: Dolphin Jo
16th: Art Success
17th: Dizelle
18th: Geordieland
19th: Tawqeet
20th: On A Jeune
21st: Demerger
22nd: Ice Chariot
23rd: Zabeat.
Scratched: Efficient
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 03:48pm
I hope you had a grain of salt handy, because my tips did nothing!
Update 3:24pm: Correct Weight! Results now paying! End Update
2: Delta Blue (Win: $17.50) (Place: $5.50)
12: Pop Rock (Place: $2.10)
23: Maybe Better (Place: $3.90)
Quinella: $41.30
Exacta: $91.80
Trifecta: $1100.40
Results are interim and are SuperTAB results (Victoria TAB, ACTTAB etc), NSW TAB and UNITAB results may vary.
If you have a gambling problem, contact your local gambling support service, which in the ACT is Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 03:20pm
Have you got your grain of salt ready? Yes? Good! You might need it considering what I said last year before the Melbourne Cup.
I have to agree with most experts who say that Makybe Diva will not win. It was fairly obvious in my view that she wouldn’t be scratched, but she won’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a very good horse, but I just don’t think she will win.
Perhaps that is best forgotten…I did manage to pick the horse which came second, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.
This year I am tipping four horses in no particular order, hopefully they will be the first four across the line.
3: Railings
5: Geordieland
11: On A Jeune
20: Glistening
I’ve also picked up Yeats in John Kerr’s New Day Australia sweep, I’m in a sweep at work and don’t know which horse I have yet, and will probably be in another sweep by mid-morning.
I also have three tips for the race following the Melbourne Cup
1: Roman Arch (Update 9:25am: It’s Scratched…sorry)
2: Polar Bear
13: Dr Nipandtuck
Update 9:25am: On my way into work today I stopped at an ACTTAB agency (Hello Margaret…good to see you again after all these years) and put a two dollar boxed quinella on both races, costing $12 for the Melbourne Cup and $2 for the next race (I’ll explain that if you like). I also placed a 50 cent place bet on the Melbourne Cup costing $2. This is where I found out that Roman Arch is scratched, and running on my policy of not changing a bet, continued the bet with the remaining horses.End Update
Channel Seven will have full coverage of every race and associated events at Flemington, hosted by my favourite television sport personality Bruce McAvaney. Southern Cross Syndication are the exclusive distributor of the Melbourne Cup to commercial radio (other than the racing stations) and I will probably listen to 2CC’s relay of it, possibly while watching Channel Seven and checking the delay.
For those of you who are nowhere near a radio or a television, Sport 927, 2KY, ACTTAB Radio, 2UE, 2GB and many others all have webstreams and will all be covering the race, which gets underway at 3pm. Of those, 2UE and 2GB will likely have a surrounding program, whilst the others will have mahy other races to cover before and after the Cup.
If you have an account with the NSW or Victorian TAB, you can watch the race live online via Sky Channel.
And of course, if you have a gambling problem, contact your local gambling support service, which in the ACT is Lifeline on 13 11 14. Of course the best advice is to avoid a gambling problem in the first place by following the simple rule of “only bet what you can afford to lose”. Lifeline also have a bunch of information and advice on gambling problems here.
Good luck!
Samuel
November 7th, 2006 at 01:35am
The next few days on 2UE will be interesting…John Kerr is back in the country, and logically should be on New Day Australia right now…but he isn’t, and that’s because one of 2UE’s recently married people, Stuart Bocking, has taken leave to attend the Melbourne Cup, so John will be filling in for him on the weekday edition of New Day Australia until at least Wednesday.
Clinton Maynard is also on leave, so Clive Robertson is filling in for John Kerr this weekend…a lovely pleasant surprise…and I seem to recall that last time I spoke to him on New Day, I promised to call him again when he is on New Day again…looks like I have a task.
John Stanley is getting married this weekend, and is having his honeymoon in Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup. This probably means that Murray Olds will be filling in for him, although it would be nice to have John Mangos back for a change…but he fills in for Glenn Wheeler on the weekend now.
In semi-related news, this year will more than likely be the first time since 2003 that I have been away from home for the Melbourne Cup.
Samuel
November 4th, 2006 at 12:20am
I had a strange dream last night…I went into the local TAB to pick up a copy of the Herald Sun newspaper so that I could get the form guide for the Cox Plate. When I went to the counter to pay for the newspaper, and for one reason or another pick up a balloon with a picture of a horse on it, I recognised the person behind the counter…it was John Stanley’s reverse tipster, the anonymous Kiss Of Death. I asked him why he was working at the TAB and he told me that he had a really large debt with them from last weeks tips and he was working it off.
If that dream proves anything…it’s probably that I get to listen to the radio at work just a wee bit too much!
Samuel
October 27th, 2006 at 02:36pm
The Sydney Swans reserves have thrashed the Belconnen Magpies to become back-to-back ACTAFL premiers. The Swans won 10.16 (76) to 6.7 (43). The win good be a good omen for the Swans first grade team, who won the AFL Grand Final last year after the Swans Reserves won the ACTAFL Grand Final.
Based on the scores at each break, it looks like the Swans dominated the entire match, but were terribly inaccurate with their kicking (excusable given the strong winds)…Belconnen had a decent start, they were level with the Swans at quarter time, Sydney 2.6 (18), Belconnen 3.0 (18), but from there on it was all the Swans.
The second quarter saw the Swans score five time, with the Magpies only scoring once, the Swans led by 19 points at half time, 6.7 (43) to 4.0 (24).
The third quarter saw a minor comeback from the Magpies, but the Swans were still in control, the Swans scored 10 times (only goaling from three attempts) whilst the Magpies could only score four times, and goal once. At three quarter time the Swans led by 35 points, 9.14 (68) to 5.3 (33).
Belconnen appear to have had a better last quarter than Sydney, but it was too little, too late. Belconnen scored five times, and kept the Swans to three scores. At full time it was the Swans winning by 33 points, 10.16 (76) to 6.7 (43).
According to the Swans Reserves website, the goal scorers were as follows:
Swans: Spriggs 2, Currie, Laidlaw, Phillips, Rowe, Simpkin, Thornton, Vogels, Wall. Belconnen: Knowles 2, Bennett, Turnbull, Weston, York.
Best on ground for the Swans was Bevan, and best on ground for the Magpies was Braton.
I am rather disappointed to see that the only people to bother covering the story seem to be the Swans Reserves website, not even the local ABC could be bothered to cover the match, instead being more interested in an out-of-town rugby match. I’m not picking on the ABC here, I’m disappointed with all media outlets, it’s just that I think the ABC had the best opportunity to cover the match.
Obviously the match will be newsworthy by morning when the local media outlets read a press release from AFL Canberra or the Swans Reserves…but the most important match of the local season might as well not have been played with the amount of interest the media took in it.
Samuel
September 24th, 2006 at 11:58pm
The ACTAFL Grand Final should get underway at Manuka Oval shortly, with the Belconnen Magpies up against the Sydney Swans Reserves. Sydney are undefeated this year (and last year too apparently), whilst Belconnen won the three premierships before that.
I’m tipping Belconnen to win, the only real reason being that last year when Sydney won the ACTAFL Grand Final they also won the AFL Grand Final…and as I intend on tipping West Coast to defeat Sydney win the AFL Grand Final this year, I also shall tip Belconnen to defeat Sydney, and influence the AFL Grand Final by omen.
Perhaps I’m nuts, but go the Magpies!
Samuel
September 24th, 2006 at 02:01pm
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