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Monday, August 3, 2015
Ashburton Guardian
15
In brief Interclub squash The Mid Canterbury Squash interclub competition is getting close to finals time; here’s an update on the current scoreboards. Division 1: Celtic 148 points, Ashburton 137, Mackenzie 109, Methven 104; Division 2: Hinds 2 134, Ashburton 123, Methven 115, Temuka Black 112; Division 3: Celtic 135, Collegiate 132, Methven 125, Pleasant Point 1 106; Division 4: Pleasant Point 148, Hinds 1 140, Geraldine 2 127, Rakaia 117.
Aussies under fire
Hampstead’s Karen McAuley controls the ball during her side’s 5-0 win over Craighead on Saturday. PHOTO AMANDA KONYN 010815-AK-205
■ HOCKEY
Late goal costly for Black By Erin TaskEr Wakanui Black has dropped back into second place in the Mid/South Canterbury senior men’s hockey competition following a disappointing draw with Cambridge. The sides drew 2-all in Ashburton on Saturday, after Cambridge fought back from 2-0 down at half time and scored with just seconds left on the clock to lock things up, leaving Wakanui Black with no chance to answer back. The draw gave the second placed Tainui side a chance to leapfrog Wakanui into first place if they could beat Timaru Boys’ High School, which
they did, 4-2 in Timaru. Wakanui Black’s Adam Wilson said it was disappointing, and now meant his side needed to beat Northern Hearts next week, and for Wakanui Blue to beat Tainui, if they’re to win the round. “It was a game we should have won and if we had maybe converted a couple of chances and shut down some angles, maybe we would have. “But that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Wilson said. Kent Copland opened the scoring for the Wakanui Blue side, scoring an impressive individual goal, beating a couple of players before drawing the keeper and scoring from a fine angle, before
Sam Kingston made it 2-0 at the break by tapping in a goal set up by Hugh Copland. “The way the game was going we were controlling it well and we were happy with how things were going at half time. “It wasn’t like we played bad in the second half, they just got a couple of goals against the run of play,” Wilson said. Wakanui Blue also recorded a draw, 3-all with Northern Hearts in Ashburton, after seeing off a late push from the visitors, and they remain in fourth place on the competition ladder. In the senior women’s competition, Hampstead’s unbeaten run continued with a convincing
5-0 win over Craighead in Ashburton. “It was good to finally bang some goals into the back of the net,” coach Karen McIntyre said. Hampstead’s goals came courtesy of Sarah Harrison, Shannon Thompson-Laing, Sophie Morrow, Mel Weitenberg and Hayley Bennett. “The girls really fired, and Craighead probably only had a couple of chances,” McIntyre said. Meanwhile, fourth placed Hampstead/Collegians are still in line for a semi-final spot with just one round remaining, despite suffering a 3-2 loss to Timaru Girls’ High School in Timaru on Saturday.
Athletics facing yet another doping scandal Athletics faced a fresh doping scandal over the weekend when leaked results from 12,000 blood tests taken from 5000 competitors allegedly demonstrated instances of cheating
and “a shameful betrayal” of clean athletes. German broadcaster ARD as well as Britain’s Sunday Times say they passed on their information to leading blood dop-
ing experts who concluded that track and field is in “the same diabolical position today that professional cycling was in 20 years ago”. The database covers the pe-
riod from 2001 to 2012. The findings were broadcast in a documentary screened in Germany on Saturday - Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics? - AP
Trevor Bayliss has urged his England side to inflict a final knockout blow to an Australian team wobbling under the pressure of a potential fourth successive Ashes series defeat on UK soil. England dominated Michael Clarke’s side in a one-sided third Test at Edgbaston easing to an eight-wicket victory before tea on the third day to take a 2-1 series lead. Only once in Ashes history has a team come from 2-1 down to claim the series and defeat for the tourists at Trent Bridge next week would see Alastair Cook’s side regain the urn lost so embarrassingly 19 months ago. It will also heap further pressure on the captaincy of Clarke, who is averaging 18.60 in this series. - AAP
Pakistan edge Sri Lanka Shahid Afridi and Anwar Ali played key roles as Pakistan ended a successful tour of Sri Lanka with a thrilling one-wicket victory in the second Twenty20 international in Colombo yesterday. Pakistan recovered from 40-5 in the eighth over to surpass Sri Lanka’s challenging 172-7 with four balls to spare with Imad Wasim striking the winning six off left-arm seamer Binura Fernando. Skipper Afridi led the way with a 22-ball 45 that included four sixes and a boundary. - AFP
Tour good for new boys Development of players will be a key plank of New Zealand’s African safari, which started against Zimbabwe in Harare last night. Part of that is out of necessity. No Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson, Trent Boult and Tim Southee means there must be an eye on the future. Coach Mike Hesson cited George Worker, the Central Districts lefthander who got his chance when injury counted out promising allrounder Mitchell Santner, and his provincial team-mate Ben Wheeler as fitting that bill. “They are trying to make their way in international cricket,” Hesson said. “If we are looking ahead to four years’ time and the next World Cup this is the perfect opportunity to start that development. Two years ago we did the same with Corey Anderson, James Neesham and Mitch McClenaghan.” - NZME
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