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Page 24 Tuesday, 12 November, 2013
Sport
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She’ll be Jake, mate By LIAM TWOMEY A BRILLIANT bowling performance from Jake Haberfield lifted Footscray Edgewater to a nailbiting 14 run win against Prahran on Saturday. After setting the True Blues 309 for victory on day one, Footscray found itself on the back foot as Prahran recovered from an early stumble. From 1/0, the batting side moved along to 1/102 as Adam Bull and Steve De Bolfo combined for the triple digit partnership. The re-introduction of Haberfield into the attack brought about the demise of the latter, as De Bolfo was bowled for 32 and Jack Taylor soon followed for a duck. Bull remained at the crease despite the double strike and combined with James Miller for a 135run partnership. Seemingly cruising at 4/241, the Footscray bowlers hit back. Haberfield again secured back-to-back wickets and this time he was joined by Travis Dean who also made a double strike. Dean removed Bull for 163 and True Blues captain Sam Coates for 11 to leave the chase in tatters. The remaining wickets also fell in quick succession as Footscray ended the Prahran innings at 294 in the 89th over. Haberfield finished the match with the dominant figures of 7/82 from 27 overs. Since joining Footscray in the off-season, the opening bowler has taken 19 wickets, the most of any Premier Cricket bowler. He was well supported by Dean, who finished with figures of 2/23 while Hamish Winter-Irving took one wicket. The result sees Footscray move into outright second place on the Premier Cricket ladder with a 5-1 win/loss record for the season. The Bulldogs are just three points behind top of the table Carlton. When round seven of the season continues this weekend, Footscray will take on 15th placed Frankston in a two-day fixture.
FOOTBALL Federation Victoria has officially confirmed the Victorian model of the National Premier League will not be introduced for the 2014 season. The FFV made the announcement via a media release late last week. It means the Victorian Premier League will continue in its normal format next year. “It is with great regret and disappointment that the FFV board announces that the National Premier Leagues (NPL) will not be introduced in 2014,” the release said. The FFV had planned in September to announce the successful applicants that would take part in the new league. However, the Magistrates Court restrained the governing body from making an announcement and referred the matter to the Supreme Court. The action was brought on by a group of ‘co-signatory’ clubs who strongly opposed the FFV’s model
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Cats couldn’t claw it back HOPPERS Crossing failed to give much of a yelp in its ultimately doomed pursuit of Yarraville Club’s 6/383 in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Senior Division on Saturday. Starting their chase from scratch on Saturday at Yarraville Club’s Walker Oval, the Cats’ already formidable task was rendered almost impossible after two early wickets fell before they could even hit double digits in the runs column. Emmett Bronca removed Chris Henry for a duck and Sanka Abeyruwan for two before claiming Michael Tubb (14) to leave Hoppers Crossing stranded at 3/31. The visitors’ plight was made even more arduous when skipper Darrel Brown (15) became Bronca’s fourth victim a short time later. When Matthew Murphy joined the party in removing Cameron Nicol for eight and William Gardiner for three, the game looked to be over. A strong middle order resistence led by Asif Jan (56) and Luke Goegan (46) added some respect to the Cats’ chase, but it wasn’t nearly enough in the end as Hoppers Crossing was bowled out for 181 in the 70th over.
Jake Haberfield continued his outstanding season for Footscray, taking seven wickets Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI against Prahran. 107204
No NPL next year By ADEM SARICAOGLU
Connecting people and communities STFY
for the NPL, citing numerous issues that included restrictions on junior participation, registration costs, facility requirements and their strong dissatisfaction with the FFV’s consultation process. Both parties recently attended mediation sessions in an attempt to resolve the matter, but an agreement could not be reached. Local VPL giants Melbourne Knights and Green Gully, along with most VPL clubs, have publicly stated their opposition to the FFV model. State League One outfits Werribee City and Sunshine George Cross were the only established clubs from Melbourne’s West to confirm their interests in joining the NPL. However it now seems likely Werribee City, who won promotion after finishing second in SL1 this season, will take part in the VPL alongside the Knights and Cavaliers next season. Despite the setback, the FFV is still keen to implement the NPL initiative into the Victorian footballing
Werribee City and Sunshine George Cross were both in the running to join the now postponed National Premier League in 2014. 106166 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT landscape over coming years. FFV president Nick Monteleone said the idea behind the NPL was to “increase the quality of youth development practices, develop better coaches, require clubs to explain their fee structure and ensure that fees are reasonable and not excessive”.
Monteleone also said it was to “regulate the role of player agents and private academies, improve club governance and financial reporting, correct unsustainable player payments in State League competitions and promote local youth development within the club team structure”.
GRAND United was the only Williamstown and District Cricket Association A Turf home team to score a win in round five of the competition on Saturday. United’s bowling attack proved to be far too good for Melton Centrals in their one-day clash at Parsons Reserve, successfully defending its 9/156. Luke Fox was the star claiming five wickets as Centrals capitulated to be bowled out for just 51 after 22 overs. In other one-day results on Saturday, Bellbridge was victorious over West Newport after reaching its target of 172 with two overs to spare and one wicket in hand. Scott Walker top-scored with 47. Meanwhile the Williamstown Colts were too good for Williamstown Congs, getting to their target of 127 in the 34th over. Gellibrand was also able to snare victory on the road, defeating Melton South Primary School by exactly 100 runs on Saturday. WILLIAMSTOWN has signed former Collingwood rookie listed player Ben Richmond for the 2014 season. Richmond was on the Magpies’ list for a year and played in 16 VFL games for the club. His rise to the ranks of the AFL took a different path to many of his teammates with Richmond an elite basketball player through his junior sporting career. While training at the Australian Institute of Sport he was offered a contract by Collingwood and decided to turn his hand to AFL. Richmond started off playing forward for the Magpies before moving down back in the second half of the season. Seagulls football manager Chris Dixon said his club saw Richmond as an exciting development prospect. “We received strong endorsements about Ben from a few people at Collingwood and were really impressed when we sat down with him by his attitude and desire to improve,” Dixon said. “He got a taste of AFL last year and it’s great he wants to continue down the football path. He performed some really good defensive jobs last year in the second half of the year and actually played one of his better games against us in Round 16. We see him as a player who is going to keep developing and will hopefully get another chance in the AFL system in future years.” Richmond’s signing adds to Williamstown’s developing key position players with David Fahey and Sean Tighe having already been added, along with Sam Critchley, Simon Deery and Ben Casley all re-committing for season 2014.
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