Master blaster called up

WESTS’ newest recruit will get his opportunity to cement a spot in the club’s top side as it kickstarts its Townsville Cricket premiership defence.

Atherton batsman Luke Lamborn has already made an impression on his clubmates after he started the summer in style with a booming century for Wests’ B grade side in the opening round.

With veteran batsman Pat Hagenbach missing for their clash with Norths, Magpies skipper Shaun Curnow wasted little time in getting Lamborn into A grade.

“It is a good opportunity to get him up and see what he is capable of. I know the second grade boys were pretty impressed with his efforts,” Curnow said.

“This is his opportunity, if he gets some runs for us in the top grade it will be pretty hard to send him back down.

“But in saying that, with Pat coming back into the side it is going to be a hard decision either way. It’s not a bad problem to have, last year we were a bit scarce with numbers coming in so it is good to have some players to fall back on there.”

While their batting stocks have received a major boost, the Wests side is still without a frontline fast-bowling option after Jaymie Dunlop made the mid-season move to Adelaide at the start of the year.

With former Townsville Cricket leading wicket-taker

Dan Kearney battling a horror run of injuries including a hip strain in the pre-season, Curnow said it might fall to him to take the new ball.

But he has his sights set on a few of the club’s young guns to step up to the plate including teenage tearaway Curtis James, who will get his first A grade cap at Endeavour Oval on Saturday.

“Curtis is a good young quick coming through the grades, and there is a couple of others in our B grade side that have been impressing in the nets during pre-season,” he said.

“We picked an extra bowler for this weekend just because we don’t know how Dan’s body is going to hold up.”

Norths have named the same side that won its opening round clash against Brothers with veteran opener Gareth Sim in good form after hitting 77 off 92 balls in the successful run chase. Young firebrand

Travis Busch will also be riding a wave of momentum into the clash after starring with the ball for North Queensland Monsoons at the Bulls Masters Country Challenge.

Jethawks infielder Josh O'brien and Taipans captain Dion Searle ahead of the Townsville Baseball grand final. Picture: MATT TAYLOR

IT was revenge 12 months in the making.

But the Canberra Raiders delivered the knockout blow to the Sydney Roosters’ dream of a three-peat with a dramatic 22-18 win.

In what will go down as one of the great rugby league finals clashes, both teams were incredibly brave and brilliant as the match went down to the wire in a heartstopping finish.

But it was the Raiders who survived to now meet the Storm in next Friday’s preliminary final at Suncorp.

And the irony of Jack Wighton claiming the matchclinching try won’t be lost on any Raiders’ fans.

Given the drama that surrounded last year’s grand final with that controversial six-again call involving

Wighton, this time luck bounced Canberra’s way.

With the scores at 16-12, Wighton chased through on a George Williams grubber kick in the 69th minute to score.

James Tedesco looked to have the kick covered but slipped at the last second as Wighton pounced.

The Roosters refused to go down without a fight, with Sonny Bill Williams playing a hand in a late try to Tedesco.

But in the end the Raiders held on to claim victory after a luckless Tedesco fumble ultimately took away the TriColours’ final chance to steal the win.

There was no shortage of outstanding performances from both teams with Josh Papalii, Hudson Young and Joey Tapine leading the way for the Raiders up front, while Williams and Wighton were outstanding.