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Saturday, April 5, 2014
■ ROWING
Ashburton Guardian 23
In brief Man City on attack
Going out on top
Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov believes the attacking philosophy adopted by manager Manuel Pellegrini has also helped his side become tighter at the back ahead of their Premier League clash with Southampton tonight. City are the second most prolific team with 80 goals this season with only leaders Liverpool (88) having found the net more often. Pellegrini’s title-chasers have also conceded just 28 goals which gives them the second meanest defence in the division behind Chelsea (24) and as a result their goal difference of 52 is the best overall. Kolarov believes defending has become easier because of the attacking intent shown by City, who trail Liverpool by four points but remain favourites to win the title with two games in hand. - AFP
Chance for Celtic youth
Natalie Bocock in action on the boat in the water at the Maadi Cup.
By Jonathan Leask
jonathan.l@theguardian.co,nz
Natalie Bocock signed off from her Secondary School Rowing career on top. The Mid Canterbury ex-pat was the coxswain for St Margaret’s at last week’s Maadi Cup National Secondary School Rowing Championship at Lake Ruataniwha, where she was awarded the prestigious Simon Briggs Cup as Coxswain of the Regatta after she called four crews to medals, including two of the golden variety. “I’m really happy with my results and being part of a really good squad,” Bocock said. “I’d love to come back for an-
other season, but you have to leave sometime.” It was her fourth and final Maadi, finishing with a tally of eight medals. In her first Maadi in 2011 she went as a rower, but came back in 2012 as a cox to collect one bronze with the under 15 coxed quad. She then collected gold with the under 17 coxed four and a pair of silver medals with under 15 and under 16 fours last year. This year it was four medals with gold with the under 15 coxed four and eight, and bronze with the under 18 coxed four and eight.
Then to cap it all off, she found herself receiving the Simon Briggs Cup. “That was easily a highlight of my career. “It was really exciting to get that and it was pretty unexpected, but a great way to finish it all off.” With her secondary school rowing career done and dusted, she doesn’t plan to quit calling just yet, but is realistic about her future opportunities in the boat. I would really like to go further with it if I can, but I know that there are not that many opportunities with it in New Zealand, as we don’t have the
Photo Chris Bayley
funding to take away eights and things like that. “But I would like to look at doing some under 21 or under 23 at that higher level. “I’m not sure how that will go but I don’t want to hold off my education either.” She is however considering a brief stint of secondary school rowing coaching next summer before starting her tertiary education, studying architecture at Victoria University. “There will be a bit of an overlap but we’ll see how that goes. “My education is my priority but I’m really hooked on rowing.”
■ CRICKET
International flavour to Ford Trophy final Today’s Ford Trophy final in Mt Maunganui will have a very international flavour to it with 15 players from both Northern Districts and Wellington being past or present New Zealand representatives. Nine of Wellington’s squad of 12 have played for the Black Caps, including Luke Ronchi who returned from the World T20 in Bangladesh this week. Northern Districts welcome
back Trent Boult and Anton Devcich into their 12, bringing the total number of New Zealand players in their squad to six, but they will be without some considerable firepower in Tim Southee (unavailable), Kane Williamson (flying directly to England to play for English county cricket side Yorkshire) and Corey Anderson (dislocated finger). Northern Districts indicated
in a statement it was felt Southee would “benefit from a brief rest after a long season before he takes off to fulfil his IPL commitments”. There were no such concerns around Boult and Devcich, who both played limited roles at the World T20. “We have built a strong feeling amongst the group throughout this short campaign, but that will only be added to by the in-
clusion of Trent and Anton,” coach James Pamment said. “They are two outstanding people who bring so much to any team they are in.” Northern are chasing their second trophy of the summer after beating Otago in the final of the Twenty20 HRV Cup and finished second on the Ford Trophy table - Wellington, who are chasing their first trophy in 10 years, were fourth. - APNZ
Celtic assistant manager Johan Mjallby says the champions will give their youth players more opportunities to impress in the remaining games of the season. The Glasgow giants wrapped up their third Scottish Premiership title in a row in record time last week with seven games to spare. Several young starlets have been given their chance in recent weeks with Eoghan O’Connell joining Liam Henderson and Darnell Fisher in making the step up to the top team. Mjallby says the final few weeks of the season will see more young players given game time as the management assess what they have in reserve before deciding whether to bring in new players in the summer transfer window. - AFP
Victory clash ‘a final’ For the Newcastle Jets the A-League finals begin today, defender Kew Jaliens says, as they face Melbourne Victory in a season defining encounter. After last week’s costly 2-1 loss to Perth, the Jets are a point behind sixthplaced Sydney with home games against Melbourne and Adelaide to round out their campaign. Depending on other results, if the Jets were to win both games they could finish as high as fourth or, alternatively, miss out on the top six all together. - AAP
Sri Lanka into final Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies by 27 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method yesterday to enter the World Twenty20 final in Dhaka. The West Indies, chasing Sri Lanka’s 6-160, were 4-80 in 13.5 overs when a heavy downpour forced the match to be abandoned, with Marlon Samuels on 18 and Darren Sammy yet to score. Sri Lanka were declared winners of the rain-hit semi-final since the West Indies were 27 runs behind the D/L par score of 107. Sri Lanka await the winners of the second semi-final overnight between India and South Africa in Sunday’s title clash. - AFP
Call Duckworth-Lewis . . .