Bell calls it quits

Peter Bell playing his last ever game against Essendon

Fremantle and North Melbourne Legend Peter Bell has announced his retirement today. He told coach Mark Harvey and other staff today that he will be retiring immediately and will not play next week.

His 286 game career included many highlights such as 3 time Dockers Best and Fairest. Two All-Australian awards and Premierships with North Melbourne in 1996 and 1999. He returned to the West in 2001 and captained Fremantle between 2002-2006.

Bell made his debut in round 1 1995 he was one of Fremantle’s Inaugural players.  Before he lefet to North Melbourne where he won a Best and Fairest Award in 2000.

He is an AFL and Fremantle Life member. He will be sadly missed for Eagles and Dockers fans alike. He has already played his final game which was a gainst Essendon 2 weeks ago.

Ronchi and David Hussey put on a show

Australia definitely saved there best for last after they downed the West Indies by 169 runs. This was the biggest margin between West Indies and Australia in ODI cricket. This sealed a whitewash 5-0 for the series for the Aussies.

Australia scored 8-341 the largest total against the West Indies. This set them up in a commanding position thanks to Luke Ronchi and David Hussey. 

Man of the Match Luke Ronchi scored a 22 ball 50 the second fastest in Australian history. Until David Hussey scored his fifty off only 19 balls. Which put him the 2nd fastest 50 in Australian histroy and made Ronchi slided down to 3rd. This was alos the 5th fastest 50 ever. Ronchi was promoted to 3rd on the Australian batting order and took advantage of it.

Andrew Symonds scored 66 from 88 and Hussey 51 from 56 scored a 113 fifth wicket partenership.

Mitchell Johnson proved to be the Destroyer for the Australians with impressive figures of 5/29. Only Shawn Findlay did any well for the west Indies scoring 59. Australia dismissed the home team for 172 in 39.5 overs.

Shane Watson was named man-of-the-series.

Nadal ends Federers reign

Rafael Nadal has defeated Rodger federer in the Wimbledon Mens final overnight. In this 5 set marathon Nadal eventually won out  6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7. No one had beaten Federer on grass or at Wimbledon since 2002.

This was an emotional 5 set 4 hour 48 minute classic was one of the greatest games of tennis you will ever see. Federer saved 2 match points in the 4th set tie-breaker but went on to wiin the tie breaker. On Monday Federer will still be number one in the world rankings and Nadal still 2.

“He’s still the best,” Nadal said. “He’s still five-time champion here. Right now I have one, so for me, it’s a very, very important day.”

Wallabies demolish France

The Australia Walilbies have deafeted France in there Rugby Union encounter in Brisbane overnight. Th Wallabies won 40-10. Matt Giteau had a golden night with the boot foraustralia which made the French look abysmal.

Giteau banged all of his 8 shots with 4 penalties and 4 conversions to bring the Aussies home. Biteau fed Western Force teammate Ryan Cross with 2 cut-out passes in the 2nd half which Ryan Cross scored 2 tries from. Peter Hynes and James Horwell scored a first half try each which helped Australia with early dominance. 

Some pst match concerns for Australia was that Cameron Shepherd was stretchered off with a broken leg. James Horwill (eye) and Berrick Barnes (shoulder) both went of to hospital for 

Matt Giteau

 precautionary scans

Scorecard

AUSTRALIA 40 (Ryan Cross 2, Peter Hynes, James Horwill tries; Matt Giteau 4 cons, 4 pens) bt FRANCE 10 (Francois Trinh-Duc try; Dimitri Yachvili con, Trinh-Duc pen) at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. Referee: Paul Honiss (NZ). Crowd: 40,218

Australia make it 2-0 against the West Indies

Man of the match Michael Clarke proved his worth as an all-rounder, taking 3 for 26 from 6 overs and scoring 56 runs from 98 balls. Australia won by 63 runs in a rain affected match in Grenada. Australia defended 204 run from 41 overs revised Duckworth-Lewis Method. The West Indies finished at 8-140 from 41 overs.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the only good batsman for West Indies scoring 45 not out from 75 balls. West Indies had a collapse in which they were 7-74 in the 31st over. There Innings started horribly after Brett Lee got Xavier Marshall caught behind which gave Luke ronchi his first ODI catch.

In Australias batting Innings Michael Hussey top scored with 62 of 105 balls.  Him and Man of the Match Michael Clarke had a 100 run partnership whcih really helped Australia after they were 3for 35 after 9 overs. Australia got 4-213 after there fifty overs.

This was Ricky Pontings 300th ODi and his party ended after he was dismissed for 13 in the 9th over.

The 3rd match of the 5 match series will held on Saturday at queens Park Stadium.

AFL ins and out round 14

Hawthron v West Coast Friday night 7:40 MCG    Hawthron In: Crawford and Croad  Out: Travis Tuck Tim Boyle West Coast In Armstrong, Davis, Graham, McNamara, Staker Out David Wirrpanda (back), Sam Butler (groin), Brett Jones (knee), Michael Braun, Chad Fletcher

Richmond v Carlton Saturday afternoon 2:10 pm MCG  Richmond In Johnson, Thursfield Out: Luke McGuane (hamstring), Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls Carlton In Edwards Out Armfield (broken finger)

North Melbourne v St Kilda Saturday night 7:10 Gold Coast Stadium Norht Melbourne In Power Out Lower St Kilda In Dal Santo, Milne, Koschitzke Out Lenny Hayes (hamstring), Ben McEvoy, Jarryn Geary

Western Bulldogs v Port Sunday Night 7:10 AAMI stadium Bulldogs In: Tiller Hill Out Tom Williams (shoulder), Callan Ward Port In: Bentley, Deluca, Lonie, Stewart, Thomson, J. Westhoff, White Out Travis Boak (groin), Peter Burgoyne (hamstring), Chad Cornes (calf), Steven Salopek (achilles), Matt Thomas (suspended), Brendon Lade, Michael Wilson

Melbourne v Brisbane Sunday Afternoon 1:10 MCG Melbourne In Buckley, Martin, Valenti Out James McDonald (groin), James Frawley, Jeff White Brisbane In Bradshaw, Sherman, Johnstone  Out Henderson, Polkinghorne, Stiller

Fremantle v Essendon Sunday Afternoon  Subiaco 2:40pm Fremantle In Hinkley, Dodd, Thornton  Out Michael Johnson (ankle), Jeff Farmer, Ryan Murphy  Essendon In Dyson
 Out Henry Slattery (cheekbone)

As this is a split round 2 games will be played nest weekend. Teams as right of 6:36 AEST Friday 27th of June. Teams from www.afl.com.au  Times listed are local times.   

Cousins is back

Ben Cousins is likely to make a return to footy by playing in the VFLthis season. Hoping that he may be drafted to an AFL club and make an AFL comeback after he was sacked from the West Coast Eagles last year and the AFL banned him from playing this year at AFL level.

Western Bulldogs: Even though Western Bulldogs look to have been the front runners to take cousins coach Rodney Eade has dismissed claims that the Bulldogs were going to take Cousins. He says “ I wouldn’t think he’d be in our plans.”

Hawthorn: Hawthorn Alistar Clarkson has refused to rule out the possibility of Cousins joining Hawthorn. He says that we shouldn’t ber speculating to early about which club he will go to.

“Just leave the lad alone and let him play his footy and try and resurrect his career,” Clarkcson stated.

It is really unsure which club Cousins will go to in the AFL. He has recived 180 firm offers to play at different clubs around Australia and will probably stay in Victoria. 

 

Adam Goodes suspended

Adam Goodes 204 consecutive games played streak is going to come to an end after he was suspended for a high bump on Clint Bartrom. Goodes accepted a one game suspension. His 3rd highest consectutive game streak has come to an end. The only people to have played more consectutive games are Jim Stynes (244) and Adam Yze (226) both Melbourne.

This was goodes’ 3rd visit to the tribunal this year both other times he got off with a repremand. Sydney coach Paul Roos told Goodes to change his playing style after he got a reprimand which put him out of the brownlow medal after a high bump on Eagles player Adam Selwood. See Adam goodes suspension wasn’t Good at all

In other tribunal news Adelaides Nathan Bassett got off for striking Jed Adcock. Fremantle ruckman Robert Warnock got a reprimand for charging and St Kilda backman Brendan Goddard got a $900 fine for charging. Port Adelaide’s Matt Thomas accepted a 1 week penalty for rough conduct.

Australia lose to China

China have won there first game in group A after a 1-0 win over an understrength Australia. Australian coach Pim Verbeek rested most of Australias European stars and some missed it through suspension. Many of the countries rising stars like jade north Carl Valeri were experimented with.

This was a dead rubber because Australia had already made it through to the final round of qualifying and China was already out of contention. Chinas full Back Sun Xiang scored a superb goal after a excellent strike. This was the only goal in a game in which Australia dominted possesion.

“It’s always disappointing to lose at home – we’re not happy about it,” Australias captain Harry Kewell said after the game. This was Australias first loss in World Cup Qualifying for a long time.

China thought they had made it 2-0 after a penalty in the 71th minute but it was disalowed by the referee because of an early arrival in the box. Then they missed the second oppurtunaty from the penalty spot to the delight of over 70 000 fans at ANZ stadium.

Austrlaia is seeded first for the final round of qualifying and will not play second seeded korea which Pim Verbeek says doesn’t really matter.  

Boomers get clean sweep over Iran

The Australian Boomers have finished off a 3-0 whitewash of there series. After game 2 in Adelaide and 3 in Melbourne.

The Boomers won 97-53 in Adelaide there Us collage sensation Patrick Mills helped the boomers to victory. Mills got 17 points the best for the Boomers and CJ Bruton chipped in with 15 points. Iranian centre Hamed Ehadadi got 18 points while captain  Samad Nikkhah got 14 points. Even though they looked in control the pressure was still on for the Boomers.

Mark Worthington helped the Boomers to a stellar second half in Melbourne on Friday. Worthington finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds and 18 of those points were after half-time. After the first period it was looking like it was going to be another landslide Australia was leading by 16. Then in the second period Iran outscored the Boomers 20-12. Samad Nikkah top scored with 24. Australia’s second half comeback was also thanks to Chris Anstey and CJ Bruton who both sat out the second period. In the end the Boomers won 88-65.

The Boomers completed a clean sweep of the series but coach Brian Gorjian says that Australia will have to improve before the olympic games and when the verse teams like Greece and Italy.