In the weekend sports wrap, Vince Habermann writes about the Country Challenge cricket, the start of Bundaberg Rugby and more.
Far North Fusion and Gold Coast Thunder each won their three Pool round-robin games at the 2020 Bulls Masters Country Challenge in Bundaberg on the weekend but both stumbled in the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon, soundly beaten by Suns Darling Downs and North Queensland Monsoon respectively.
Far North were defused by the Suns for just 91 with Cameron Brimblecombe the main destroyer with 3-16, before Darling Downs raced past their target for the loss of just one wicket in 11.2 overs with openers Pieter Van der Kooij, who only came into the side as a late replacement for injured legend Brian May, and Chris Gillam oozing class with an unbeaten 44 and 40 respectively.
Reigning champions Gold Coast were restricted to just 7-110 in the clash of last season’s grand finalists, and the Monsoons, who had lost their last two Pool games, returned to form and staged a calculated run chase to get home with six wickets in hand and 1.4 overs to spare with opener Dan Gartrell leading the charge with 52 from 39 balls.
The grand final will be played at the Gabba later in the season.
Wide Bay Flames were unable to overcome the late withdrawal of star all-rounder Brendon Schultz, ruled ineligible as he has already played three Brisbane First Grade games this season, and they won just one game, against North Queensland, and they suffered two heart-breaking losses but wound up on bottom of their pool after a crushing loss to Fusion on Saturday afternoon.
Wide Bay Premier League
In football, Bingera strengthened their grip on the Wide Bay Premier League championship with a 1-0 victory over KSS Jets in Hervey Bay.
Their women also staked their claim on the Ladies League second place at the expense of Across The Waves with a 6-0 win over them.
Junior rugby league
In rugby league, Wallaroos will meet minor premiers Wests Panthers in the Under-18 grand final after edging out hosts Hervey Bay Seagulls 36-34 in the semi-finals.
The other winners were Seagulls (under-16 and under-13), Wests (under-15) and Waves Tigers (under-14).
Bundaberg Rugby
After a horror last season, Turtles Brothers started the new Rugby Bundaberg Elders Insurance Spring Cup season with a hard-fought two tries to one 15-10 win against Wests Barbarians.
Dylan Harradine-Hall was a match winner with one try, one conversion and one penalty.
Weekend scoreboard
CRICKET – BULLS MASTERS T20 COUNTRY CHALLENGE
Round 1: SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND STORMERS 6-146 (Chris Duff 2-30, Tim Kidd 22-31) d WIDE BAY FLAMES 4-144 (Ash Batten 44no, Nic Kelsey 35, Michael Loader 35).
Round 2: MACKAY-WHITSUNDAY NITROS 7-150 d CENTRAL QUEENSLAND SEAMERS 9-104; GOLD COAST THUNDER 7-142 d SUNS DARLING DOWNS 8-123; FAR NORTH FUSION 6-143 d SEQ STORMERS 140.
Round 3: GOLD COAST THUNDER 3-126 d MACKAY-WHITSUNDAY NITROS 9-125; NORTH QUEENSLAND MONSOON 8-145 d SEQ SSTORMERS 90; FAR NORTH FUSION 8-184 (Nathan Van Eekeren 3-33, Chris Duff 3-33) d WIDE BAY FLAMES 88 (Matthew Jackson 23); SUNS DARLING DOWNS 2-108 d CQ SEAMERS 106.
Round 4: WIDE BAY FLAMES 9-112 (Ash Batten 27) d NQ MOINSOON 8-111 (Nathan Van Eekeren 3-10, Brycen Mitchell 2-27).
ROUND 5: SUNS DARLING DOWNS 3-108 d MACKAY-WHITSUNDAY NITROS 103; FAR NORTH FUSION 5-175 d NQ MONSOON 9-114; GOLD COAST THUNDER 2-122 d CQ SEAAAMERS 5-121.
Preliminary finals: SUNS DARLING DOWNS 1-92 (Pieter Van der Kooij 44no, Chris Gillam 40) d FAR NORTH FUSION 91 (Justin Reid 26, Cameron Brimblecombe 3-16, Regan Hoger 2-11, Kris Glass 2-13, Kieran Gibbs 2-16); NQ MONSOON 4-111 (Dan Gartrell 52, Corey Galloway 3-14) d GOLD COAST THUNDER 7-110 (Claye Beams 42no, Kevin Chapman 28, Travis Busch 2-15).
3rd Pool A v 3rd Pool B: MACKAY-WHITSUNDAY NITROS 156 d SEQ STORMERS 8-122.
4th Pool A v 4th Pool B: CQ SEAMERS 7-123 (Dean Krebs 2-11) d WIDE BAY FLAMES 8-121 (Michael Loader 22, Matthew Jackson 22, Gavin Scott 22).
FOOTBALL BUNDABERG
WIDE BAY PREMIER LEAGUE: DIGGERS 3 (J Barlow 2, N Freeman) d SUNBURY 1 (T Bedford); BROTHERS-ASTON VILLA 6 (L Scarborough 3, H Kuyler, M Stayte 2) d BARGARA 0; BINGERA 1 (Gary O’Donnell) d KSS JETS 0.
WIDE BAY PREMIER LEAGUE 2: KSS JETS 3 d BINGERA 0; DOON VILLA 5 d BARGARA 1 (B Dupre); SC CORINTHIANS 5 (J Grigg, J Kozynacki, H Slater, C Machekera, B Flor) d TINANA 1 (L Parry).
MEN: UPE WHITE 2 (J Clarke, K Wenzel) drew ATW 2 (P Cox 2); BAV 6 (J McInnes 2, J Sommer 2, T Niari, J Brough) d UPE BLACK 2 (P Pagliano, A Ulahannan); DIGGERS 6 (M Bluff 2, J Barlow 2, O McDonald) d SC CORINTHIANS 0.
LADIES LEAGUE: SC CORINTHIANS LIONESSES 2 (K Connor, E Osborne) d ATW SAINTS 1 (K Sobczak); BINGERA CUTTERS 6 (M Wilson 2, J Kelly 2, C Adams, S Tanner) d BARGARA 3 (I Killen 2, Z Killen); BINGERA 6 (H Sparozvich 3, E Haack, R Kinsela, J Kelly) d ATW 0.
UNDER-16: UPE BLACK 10 (L Darcy 3, R Buckholz 3, W Bath 2, J Baker, D Rose) d UPE WHITE 0; ATW RANGERS 9 (H Hunter 2, B Clark 2, P Cox 2, N Mason, R Barrett, J Arriola) d SC CORINTHIANS GLADIATORS 0; ATW UNITED 12 (L Brown 4, H Brophy 3, N Kerslake 2, J Irvine, B Hunter, B Schubel) d UPE PURPLE 0.
UNDER-14: UPE 17 (H Nasso 5, F Bath 4, A Dahal 4, T Ferguson 2, A Markey, D McCord) d DIGGERS 0.
UNDER-13: UPE WHITE 11 (N Voss 5, L Loudon 4, S Dexter, I Maas) d SC CORINTHIANS 0; BINGERA 9 (E McKeown 3, T Houston 3, L Giles 2) d DIGGERS 0; UPE BLACK 14 (C Palmer 4, X Ulbl 4, H Nguyen 2, L Harris, M Joyce, I Brewer, S Miller) d BAV 0; ATW SAINTS 12 (M Grima 4, T Giovannoni 3, N Briggs 2, O Smith 2, C Simpson) d GIN GIN 0.
RUGBY BUNDABERG
Elders Insurance Spring Cup Round 1: TURTLES BROTHERS 15 (Dylan Harradine-Hall, Layton Chambers tries; Dylan Harradine-Hall conversion & penalty) d WESTS BARBARIANS 10 (Marcus Sinclair try; Andrew Filo conversion & penalty).
RUGBY LEAGUE BUNDABERG
Semi-finals:
UNDER-18: WALLAROOS 36 (Tyson Allen 2, Lochlan Greenfield 2, Bailey Eckart, Keian Grogan, Ethan Ballard tries; Tom Colvin 4 goals) d HERVEY BAY SEAGULLS 34 (Dylan Crockford 2, William Thorogood, Gula-Bari Shillingsworth, Dylan Bennett tries; 3 goals).
UNDER-16: HERVEY BAY SEAGULLS 16 d WALLAROOS 10.
UNDER-15: WESTS 20 (Cody Brassington, Corban Shearer, Cayleb Johnson, Khodi Docherty tries; Ryan Bugeja 2 goals) d BROTHERS 18 (Jack Picaro, Zander Evans, Matthew Smith, Ben McLaughlin tries; Ezekiel Monckton goal) – match abandoned by referee in 56th minute
UNDER-14: WAVES TIGERS 20 (Tom Morcom 2, Jarrod Warren, Noah Law tries; Noah Law 2 goals) d WESTS 6 (Cooper Black try, Lucas Brough goal).
UNDER-13: HERVEY BAY SEAGULLS 26 (Braidan Houliston 2, Tatem Henke, Cooper Fitzgerald tries; Michael Parsgaard 3 goals) d WAVES TIGERS 4 (Brody Allan try).
