Northcote all-rounder Sam Harbinson suffers ankle injury in Premier Cricket loss to Camberwell Magpies

LUCKLESS all-rounder Sam Harbinson is facing another stint on the sidelines after rolling his ankle in Northcote’s Twenty20 loss to Camberwell Magpies on Sunday.

Sam Harbinson (centre) celebrates a wicket against Greenvale Kangaroos on Saturday. Picture: Hamish Blair

LUCKLESS all-rounder Sam Harbinson is facing another stint on the sidelines after rolling his ankle in Northcote’s Twenty20 loss to Camberwell Magpies on Sunday.

Harbinson landed awkwardly during his delivery stride on the fifth ball of Camberwell’s innings and took no further part in the contest.

“He just went to load up into his action and his back foot just didn’t quite land right,” captain Steve Taylor said.

“He’s rolled over on it. He went straight out and he’ll go for scans during the week.”

Injuries limited Harbinson, an opening bowler and top-six batsman, to 10 matches last season.

He had only missed one game this season, but is likely to be ruled out of this weekend’s Twenty20 games against Casey-South Melbourne and Ringwood.

“Every time he looks like he is going to get a run at it he gets injured,” Taylor said.

“He’s certainly due some luck and fingers crossed for him.”

Northcote all-rounder Sam Harbinson was injured during Sunday’s loss to Camberwell Magpies. Picture: Hamish Blair

Batsman Max O’Sullivan also suffered an ankle injury in the field on Saturday but featured against Camberwell in the five-wicket defeat.

“Fortunately the twos played before us so a few of those guys were good enough to jump on,” Taylor said.

Northcote posted 8-146 batting first as Lindsay Hassett continued his strong form with 47 from 31 balls.

But Harbinson’s absence was felt with the ball, allowing Camberwell to pass its target with four balls to spare.

Taylor said the Dragons had been their own worst enemy, delivering 11 wides to gift the contest to the Magpies.

“You need to not give them anything and unfortunately in the end we gave them 11 extra runs and they were good enough to run over the top,” he said.

Top-order batsman Ben Abbatangelo also missed the match through illness.

Northcote beat both the rain and Greenvale Kangaroos on Saturday, prevailing by seven wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

The Dragons were 3-83 after 10.3 overs chasing Greenvale’s 8-127 when play was abandoned.

Harbinson (3-15) and spinner Aaron Crispe (3-14) combined for six wickets, while Taylor belted 44 from 22 balls in the victory.

Northcote sits 14th after eight rounds, six points outside the top eight.

“There’s lots of points on offer before Christmas and it’s important that we realise the halfway point of the season points-wise isn’t Christmas, it’s probably now or a little bit before,” Taylor said.

“It’s very important we don’t let these opportunities slip by.”