Bundaberg superstar Arden Lankowski and Ashley Sippel (South Burnett) took out the Bowler and Batter of the Carnival respectively as Wide Bay claimed the prestigious South Queensland (SQ) Country Open Championships Schaeffer Shield for the first time in 11 years under Bundaberg new “Master Coach” Simon Gills by winning their two matches at the tournament in Toowoomba on the weekend.
Arden was also chosen in the SQ team to play North Queensland, along with three other Bundaberg representatives, captain and spinning all-rounder Chris Duff, stylish batsman Brendan Handley, and pace spearhead Nathan Van Eekeren.
Wide Bay had lost their first match of the Schaeffer Shield competition, a T20 game, to South East Queensland (SEQ) at the Bulls Masters Country Challenge in Bundaberg in early October, and they were again in trouble in their game against Gold Coast on Saturday, slumping to 7-107, but they recovered magnificently to reach 208, thanks mainly to No. 7 Ashley, who finished unbeaten on 72, wicket-keeper Andy Batten (37) and Chris, who contributed 34 from 33 balls in an eighth wicket partnership of 70 with Ashley.
Gold Coast were never in the hunt in their run chase despite a gritty 44 from their captain and opener Clay Beams, and they were bundled out for 108 in the 37th of their allotted 50 overs, with Arden wreaking havoc with 6-11 from 8.2 overs, Chris removing Clayton in his 1-39, and Nathan chipping in with 2-26.
Then on Sunday, two-times defending champions Darling Downs and South West Queensland compiled 9-205, with stalwart Kris Glass, whose grandparents still live in Bundaberg, leading from the front with 91, with Chris (3-54), Nathan (2-35) and Ashley (2-51) sharing the main spoils, and another Bundaberg paceman Dean Krebs also among the scalps with 1-22.
Wide Bay then staged a calculated run chase to reach their target for the loss of five wickets with five balls to spare after having been 2-42 and 3-78, with Brendan leading from the front with an unconquered 67 from 114 balls, and Ashley next best with 33.
Wide Bay finished on top of the table on 19.83 points, ahead of SEQ 16.10, DDSWQ 14.09 and Gold Coast 13.07.
The Rum City had four other players in the victorious Schaeffer Shield team, Michael Loader, Gavin Scott, Tim McIntosh, and Mitchell Parsons.
Schaeffer Shield Scores – Saturday: Wide Bay 10-208 (Ashley Sippel 72no, Andy Batten 37, Chris Duff 34, Blake Chapman 10-0-49-3, Brad Munro 12-2-26-2, Jonathon Baldock 5-0-37-2) d Gold Coast 108 (Clay Beams 44, Arden Lankowski 8.2-3-11-6, Nathan Van Eekeren 6-0-26-2, Brycen Mitchell 6-1-16-1, Chris Duff 12-1-39-1). Sunday: Wide Bay 5-206 (in 49.1 overs) (Brendan Handley 67no, Ashley Sippel 33, Andy Batten 29, Cameron Brimblecombe 13-1-63-2) d DDSWQ 9-205 (Kris Glass 91, Chris Duff 11-0-54-3, Nathan Van Eekeren 8-0-35-2, Ashley Sippel 14-1-51-2, Brycen Mitchell 5-2-11-1, Dean Krebs 5-0-22-1).
All the Bundaberg players return to the local competitions this weekend, starting tonight when Takalvans Taipans, who have lost their first three matches of the Aussie Bundy Big Bash season, will try and get their title defence back on track when they meet the Headlands Pies, who have one win and two losses, at Salter Oval at 6.30pm.
In the Rum City Foods Intra Cup tomorrow, Norths will welcome back Brendan Handley and Nathan Van Eekeren, while East Bundy Magpies will be bolstered by the return of Arden Lankowski and Gavin Scott, for their Salter Oval blockbuster, while the beleaguered Hervey Bay will host Brothers.
Meanwhile, Bundaberg will host the School Sport Queensland 12 years Girls Championships from Sunday through to Wednesday, with matches at Salter Oval and Kendall’s Flat each day.
All Pool and semi-final games are T20’s, with the finals being 40 overs per side.
The 10 teams will play two T20 games on Sunday with Wide Bay to meet Met North at Kendall’s Flat Field 7 at 9am, and Sunshine Coast at Kendall’s Field 3.
Woongarra is the best represented school in the Wide Bay side with three players, Olivia A’bell, Anna Svensson and Tiana Cross, while Cordalba State School has two, Ella Reece and Atalia Knight, with also one of their former students, Baylie Hutton, now at Isis District SHS, with the others being Raine Eastcott (Mundubbera SS), Abby Stevens (St Johns Bundaberg), Mila Sanders (Parke SS Maryborough), Anabell Leak (Sandy Strait SS Hervey Bay), Emma Cullen (Tanduringie SS South Burnett) and Kayla Walters (Gympie South SS), with Bundaberg’s Kris Johnson and Brett McLellan (Cordalba) the coach and manager respectively.
Swimming
After the recent disbandment of the Fairymead Swimming Club, new club Bundaberg Swim Team (BST) will host the time-honoured 47th annual City of Charm Carnival at Norville Pool this weekend.
Club president Michele Watson said 266 swimmers – an increase of 20 on last year’s carnival – from 27 clubs from Rockhampton in the north to Brisbane in the south will compete, with 1769 nominations received across 138 events.
Long-serving top coaches Paul Simms and Scott Hamlet have also transitioned from Fairymead to BST, and Paul said ones to watch will include Bundaberg’s own Isaac Cooper, swimming for Toowoomba after recently bagging a number of Australian and Queensland records at the Queensland Shortcourse Championships, and multiple National medallist Toby Street, lining up for Bond University Club for the first time.
“Other swimmers to look out for include our own Kasey Krueger, Max O'Brien and Indi Bland, Keith Ashcroft from Fraser Coast, and winner of last year’s City of Charm Swimmer of the Meet, Andrew Cowan, 32 years of age and top seed for the 50 free,” Paul said.
Bundaberg born and bred former national age star and long serving Rocky City coach Shane Kingston, who has achieved much success at this carnival over the year, will again bring a big team.
Competition will get under way with 1500m, 800m and 400 Individual Medley events from 6.30pm tonight, before a full day’s program from 8.30am-about 4pm tomorrow, and from 8.30am-about 1.30pm Sunday. Spectators are very welcome.
Horse Racing
Unwanted in the betting, Ringo’s Magic ($8), which is trained in Bell by Gavin Dempsey and was ridden by apprentice Angela Jones, edged out fellow outsider Modern Family in the Evolution Mining Mt Perry Cup on Saturday.
Elusive Element, which won the Bundaberg Cup in September, was chasing another major cup but he finished a distant seventh.
Elusive Element’s owner/trainer Kym Afford, of Wondai, however, took out the first two races on the card, the Maiden with another long-shot Moa’s Girl, which was ridden by Bundaberg Cup winning apprentice Shannyn Stephan, and the Class B with Lova Ya Blue with Hannah Richardson in the saddle.
Shannyn completed a double, piloting Patche Gift in the Band 0-60 Handicap for Dalby trainer David Reynolds, who had won the Mt Perry Cup the previous two years.
Best Guess, from the Bouldercombe stables of Bevan Johnson and well ridden by another apprentice Rebecca Wilson, led all the way in the Barry Warrell Memorial Open Handicap.
It was country racing at its best with a crowd of over 500 enjoying the day which included Fashions on the Field in six categories and the foot races, the 100m Jocks Plate for the Males and 80m Fillies Dash for the females, with many patrons camping overnight and enjoying musical entertainment until 10pm. Many of the crowd came from Bundaberg, Gin Gin, South Kolan and surrounding districts.
Congratulations to the Club committee, headed by president 70-year-old Gary Jensen, who has been coming to the town’s race meetings for over 60 years and who took the reins from his late father Les when he stepped down after a long stint, while Gary’s son and club Senior Vice-President Brent is continuing the family tradition.
Boxing
Bundaberg’s “Golden Boy” Shannan Davey, of Attila Boxing Academy, claimed the 60kg title at the 2020 Queensland Boxing State Titles in Brisbane on Sunday.
His coach Attila Kovacs said Shannan won every round and “made us all proud”.
They are now looking forward to the North v South Queensland Tournament in Townsville next weekend.
Basketball
Good luck to the Bundaberg Bulls and Bears as they hit the road to take on the might of Mackay in the ConocoPhillips Central Queensland League men’s and women’s semi-finals tomorrow.
The Bulls lost each of their six round games but following the recent recruitment of Jamaal Robateau, they are a force to be reckoned with, but they will need something special to stop the all-conquering Meteors.
The Bear are coming off a break-through win over Rockhampton Cyclones two weeks ago, but they too may need a miracle to topple the also unbeaten Meteorettes.
Rugby
With three rounds to go before the Bundaberg Elders Insurance Spring Cup finals, competition is hotting up with top two teams Fraser Coast Mariners and West Barbarians to face Turtles Brothers and RB Renegades respectively at 5pm and 7pm at Waves Sports Complex tomorrow.
Turtles are slowly improving but they face a monumental task against the rampaging Mariners, while Barbarians will also be favoured, although the Renegades are potent at full strength.
Softball
Hervey Bay will host the full round program tomorrow and in the A Grade Ladies division, the surging United Firesticks will face another tough test when they meet leaders Terrors, while there will also be a Bundaberg derby between Waves Tsunamis and Bargara Bullets.
In Men’s A Grade, two of the three co-leaders, Misfits and Waves Schooners, will clash, while the other joint-No. 1 United Heat have a double-header against Terrors and Maryborough respectively, after Maryborough suit up against Bargara Bombers in their first game of the day.
Tomorrow is also Pink Day 4 Kirsty and everyone is asked to help support Kirsty to Kick Cancer’s Butt by wearing Pink, with donations of $20 per team requested, Wristbands, Stickers and Cupcakes for sale for $2, $2 and $2.50 respectively, and all funds raised going to P4AC supporting Childhood Cancer Research.
Netball
Two intra-club showdowns will feature in round 7 of the Bundaberg Spring Cup at the Super Park tomorrow, both at 7.30pm, with Natives’ Magpies and Swans to ruffle each other’s feathers, and a storm brewing between Brothers’ Hurricanes and Thunder.
As always, Pools G and H matches will get proceedings under way at 4.30pm.
Touch
Action will be fast and furious in the Bundaberg Touch Association grand finals in six divisions at Greg Duncan Fields tonight.
Masters and Mixed Divisions 1 will get the ball rolling at 5.30pm, with the women’s decider at 6.30pm, with minor premiers Weekes Property Group taking on Shalom PRD, who beat them 6-2 in the semi-finals last week, before Weekes qualified with a 9-1 preliminary final blitz of All Stars on Tuesday.
The Men’s finale at 7.30pm will pit runaway minor premiers Ankle Bullies against QNZLDer K, who also upset them in the semi’s, before the Bullies also bounced back in the preliminaries to defeat QNZLDer H 7-2.
Program – Masters Division 1: 5.30pm NADS v Lawngrubs; Mixed Division 1: 5.30pm QNZLDer Maroon v Fence Sitters; Masters Division 2: 6.30pm Hot Crab v Spartan Touch; Women: 6.30pm Shalom PRD v Weekes Property Group; Men: 7.30pm QNZLDer K v Ankle Bullies; Mixed Division 2: 7.30pm Titanic v Grasshoppers
Greyhounds
Bundaberg Greyhound Racing Club president Ricky Hassall claimed a double at this week’s meeting at Thabeban Park, taking out the quinella with Nerve Settler and Prince Cosmic, and also saluting the judge with Kiki’s Mom in the Kings & Queens Mixed 4th/5th Grade Heats for bitches.
Nerve Settler, which had fallen at Albion Park at her previous outing, ended an eight-race losing streak after having won five in a row here, Albion Park and Ipswich in July-August.
Six other locals also shared in the winners’ spoils on the afternoon, John White with first starter Burn Out in the Maiden, Narelle Mulcahy with Crakalakin Caity in the Masters 5th Grade, Louise Cameron with Ragin’ Comet in the Kings & Queens Mixed heats, Ron Brook with Not Scared, which completed a hat-trick of wins in Kings & Queens, John Kuhn with Fabthor, which made a successful return in the last Kings & Queens qualifier at his first outing at the Park for exactly a year, and Paul Burgess, who also claimed a quinella in the Mixed 2nd/3rd Grade with Wildash Macie and Fly Mariposa.
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