www.alpineobserver.com.au
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 - Page 27
SPORT
Power grind out narrow win By NATHAN DE VRIES MT BEAUTY’S first XI continued their winning form over the weekend, taking a much-needed victory over Bethanga by just seven runs on their home wicket. After winning the toss and electing to bat, skipper Daniel Saville and opener Greg McLennan got the Power off to a handy start, putting 45 runs on the board before McLennan was run out for 23. Frank Iaria took up the mantle and, together with Saville, put together a 111 run partnership. Both batters cruised past their half centuries before Iaria was dismissed for a solid 65 and, in a mini-collapse,
Saville was trapped LBW two overs later for 77. At 3/170 with nine overs remaining, new bats Paddy Dodd and Todd Jeanes worked the Power into an even more dominant position, hitting 37 and 35 not out to get Mt Beauty to a formidable 4/243 total after their 40 overs. Saville said maintaining wickets and batting in partnerships were crucial in posting such a good score. “Frank (Iaria) has had a really great season, he’s done the job in the middle order for us closing out the innings most weeks and we gave him the chance up the top of the order and he delivered once again,” he said. “It’s super pleasing to be
able to put on partnerships, and it gave us a chance to attack at the end with wickets in hand. “In the last couple of weeks we’ve probably lost early wickets and we haven’t been able to build from there. “We had the platform to launch into the back half of the innings, and to get 243 runs is probably proof of what we can do when we are able to build an innings.” The Power set about bowling a tight line and length to build pressure on Bethanga, with the first wicket falling in the seventh over. Aggressive batting from Luke Raffertty (73) and Tom Henderson (34) brought Bethanga back into the
match, with the run chase coming down to the final overs. “They needed 30 off the last two overs and it was looking pretty good with eight balls to go until Luke Rafferty who made a quickfire 73, he hit a four and a six off Paddy Dodd’s last over,” Saville said. “That made things interesting, they needed just 15 to win off the last over - Nathan Iaria was awesome in that last over. “He went for eight off the over which you’d think is quite expensive but the way Luke was hitting them and hitting it to one of the shorter boundaries which we stacked on the leg side we had four back on the leg
BJ Dalbosco 26 AJ Brewergray 2/39 A Ranaweera 2/48 PR Dodd 2/61. District Second Grade: Bethanga 1/62 M Trafford 38* def Mt Beauty 58 KJ Jahne 3/7 C Mack 2/4 C Sirl 2/9 TJ Bridgman 2/18. C Grade Division 3: Mt Beauty 4/234(cc) A Sullivan 85 L Powell 76* A LutterWood 34 def Albury Umpires White 9/114(cc) D Sutton 52 A Waite 35 J Guerin 3/14 G Potts 2/15. CAW U14 - DIV 2: Belvoir 135 T Dean 39 C Dickson 3/10 W Lutter-Wood 2/2 def Mt Beauty 41 T Lockhart 2/7 A Avery 2/8 and 5/34. CAW U12 Div 2 - Gold: Kiewa Sky Blue 10/44(cc) L Wilson 3/2 def by Mt Beauty 2/95(cc).
Cox sheds tears of joy as Jakara wins gold
Saints bow out in basketball semis
From back page Anthony said she couldn’t wait to celebrate with her Australian teammate. “I’m so stoked for Tess - I was trying not to get too caught up in the hype because I had my own competition but I will definitely be hanging out with her,” she said. Anthony is only the sixth Australian Winter Olympics gold medallist, with the others being: The others are: • 2002 Salt Lake City: Steven Bradbury - men’s 1000m short track speed skating and Alisa Camplin women’ aerials; • 2006 Turin: Dale BeggSmith - men’s moguls; and • 2010 Vancouver: Torah Bright - women’s snowboard halfpipe and Lydia Lassila women’s aerials. OTHER LOCAL OLYMPIANS Mt Beauty cross country skier and Australian Winter Olympic team member PHIL BELLINGHAM, together with teammate Seve de Campo, competed in the 30km Skiathlon on Sunday, but were lapped. Russian Alexander ■
By NATHAN DE VRIES MYRTLEFORD’S women basketballers have been unsuccessful in their bid for a place in the grand final after being defeated by Seymour Blasters 62-56. The Saints were outclassed early on in the match, despite having defeated the Blasters only the week before. Consistent offensive pressure from the Blasters had the Saints down by eight at the half. Myrtleford worked to claw themselves back into the game, but the margin kept growing to nine points heading into the final term. An explosive fourth quarter from the Saints showed signs of a revival but the clock ran out before they could get within six points of victory. Paige Zamperoni was the standout for the Saints, sinking 15 points including two three-pointers. Seymour will face Wallan in the grand final this weekend, following the Panthers’ victory over Wodonga Lady Wolves in their semi.
side strictly trying to defend the boundary, almost giving them ones and twos if they wanted it. “Nathan was awesome in the last over, he held his nerve really well, he conceded two twos and four ones in an over where they’re trying to launch every ball for four or six.” The win sees the Power move to fourth on the ladder with just three matches remaining before the qualifying finals - Mt Beauty play top ranked Yackandandah on the road this weekend. RESULTS District First Grade: Mt Beauty 4/243(cc) D Saville 77 FA Iaria 65 PR Dodd 37 TT Jeanes 33* def Bethanga 8/236 LB Rafferty 73* MB Dalbosco 34 T Henderson 34
SEASON OVER: Georgia Clark and the rest of the Saints squad will have to wait until next season to contest the CBL title. PHOTO: Janet Watt
Bolshunov won the gold in a time of 1:16:09.8, finishing well ahead of compatriot Denis Spitsov who took the silver medal, with Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, rated as the best classic skier in the world, taking the bronze. Bellingham was competing in the Individual Sprint Freestyle last night and has the 15km Classic event from 6pm tomorrow night, with the 50km Freestyle from 5pm next Saturday, February 19. Fellow Birkenbeiner Nordic Ski Club member and Aussie team colleague CASEY WRIGHT has the 10km Classic from 6pm tomorrow, Team Sprint Classic from 8pm next Wednesday, February 16, and 30km Freestyle from 5.30pm on Saturday, February 20. Meanwhile, Porepunkah based Aussie alpine skier GRETA SMALL will compete in the women’s Super-G from 2pm this Friday, the women’s Downhill from 2pm on Tuesday, February 15, and the women’s Combined (Downhill/ Slalom) from 1pm on Thursday, February 17.