GVBBL binned
Ongoing COVID-19 concerns have forced the abandonment of the Goulburn Valley Bush Bash Cricket League for this season.
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Organisers pulled the plug on the third version of the elite one-day series last week after cancelling the scheduled opening round last Sunday.
With competitions within the Goulburn Murray area postponing domestic games to later dates due to COVID-19 issues, Cricket Shepparton boss David D’Elia said there were no other feasible options to relocate Bush Bash games to, and there was no other choice than to cancel the competition this season.
The Bush Bash competition showcases most of the best cricketers in the Goulburn Murray region and also some classy imports that added extra spice to the four-team competition.
Kyabram’s Hurley’s Hotel side was one of the four teams in the competition and contained most of Kyabram and district’s premier cricketers.
Tongala fixtures
Tongala Football Netball Club will start its 2022 campaign on April 2 against Echuca United at Tongala.
The Blues meet Barooga in the second round on April 2 and will be one of 10 teams involved in five Easter Friday games on April 15 when they host Nathalia.
The Cobram-Barooga clash will be the only fixture played on Easter Saturday.
In round four Tongala takes on Congupna at Congupna, and then Numurkah in round five.
There are 18 home-and-away games with the finals series to kick off on August 27 with the season decider on Saturday, September 17.
Murphy fan club tips Todd for greatness
Moama-raised cricketer Todd Murphy’s ascent to the zenith of all forms of the game continues — on and off the field.
Murphy ticked another box in his burgeoning cricket career when he made his debut for Sydney Sixers against Perth Scorchers on Sunday night, January 9 in the Big Bash League.
He took 0-11 off two overs and had a catch dropped in the clash in which the Sixers lost by five wickets.
On the home front an Echuca-Moama Todd Murphy Fan Club has formed to offer its support to the popular young off-spin bowler.
Former Echuca-Moama and Goulburn Murray cricketers including Jamie, Todd’s father, Troy Murphy and Lloyd Rosenow are in the fan club which makes a monthly visit to Melbourne to watch Todd in action for St Kilda Cricket Club, the club where his father made a name for himself in Premier League Cricket.
Rosenow, who was a fine cricketer, is confident the Moama-raised Murphy will make his way to the big time.
‘‘You can just see the difference in high quality players and I know what sort of an opinion Nathan Lyon’s got of Todd. In five or six years I reckon he will be right up there as the leading contender to be the number one spinner for Australia,’’ Rosenow predicted.
Murphy, 21, made the Victorian one-day Marsh Cup side for the first time in March last year and also debuted for the state’s Sheffield Shield side in April of 2020.
Tocumwal legend Don Whitten remembered
The man who had the honour of coaching Tocumwal Football Club to one of its only four flags in the Murray Football League was farewelled earlier this month.
Don Whitten, a brother of footy immortal Ted Whitten, died at the age of 86.
Don transformed Tocumwal — known as the Bloods — from easy-beats to premiers and a force in its days in the Murray League in the mid 1960s.
He had the choice to coach either Tocumwal or Wangaratta in 1964 and while Wangaratta’s offer was far more appealing he opted to go to the battling Murray League club because of the enormous challenge it presented.
Don didn’t take long to make his presence felt at the Murray River town or in the Murray Football League.
In his first season in 1964 he took Tocumwal from last to fifth and then in to three successive grand finals.
In those season deciders the Bloods lost to Berrigan in 1965, Deniliquin in 1966 before accounting for arch-rivals Cobram in the 1967 season decider; their first flag since 1947.
There was a story told at his funeral of how he was unsure of his fitness leading up to Tocumwal’s second semi-final clash with Deniliquin at Nathalia in 1966. So on the way to Nathalia he alighted from his car and ran the last 5km to the oval, declaring when he got there he was fit to play.
Tocumwal went on to book its spot in the grand final that day but then lost the season decider two weeks later to Deni.
The 1967 premiership was just Tocumwal’s third in the club’s Murray League history at the time. It won its last flag in the league in 1991 when it beat Finley.
A foundation member of the Murray League in 1931, Tocumwal left the league in 2013 to join the Picola and District Football League where it is still chasing its first premiership.
Mathoura FNC SOS
Could the death knell be sounding for another country football club.
Picola Football Netball League club Mathoura has a crisis meeting this week to try and raise enough interest to keep the club afloat.
In its latest blow in its bid for survival its president and treasurer are the latest executive members to step down, following in the footsteps of its senior football coach, many players and several committee members.
Tonight’s crisis meeting will follow a training session at 6.15pm.
Keayang Remi gifts Watt win
Tongala trots trainer Michael Watt savoured a satisfying win with pacer Keayang Remi at the Cobram Pacing Cup meeting.
The five-year-old Western Terror mare was having her 13th start for Watt and attempting to break her maiden status at her 23rd try.
With nine top-four finishes, including three fourth placings at her previous three starts, she indicated she had her hoof firmly on the till much to the delight of those who secured odds of 6/1 about her winning chances.
Watt went within a millimetre of producing a training double at the meeting when another of his team Tasma Flash was beaten by that margin in the previous race.
Sports reporter