Silver lining for Qld with South African tour called off

The upsize to the setback is that all these Test players can go back and play for their respective states in the Sheffield Shield.

Marnus Labuschagne is now able to play for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield competition after the South African tour was cancelled. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

BOMBER'S BLAST

Anthony Breeze

COVID has a lot to answer for with another major event cancelled.

However, there are some silver linings as an Ipswich superstar from last season is on fire in a national competition.

The South African cricket tour unfortunately was called off during the week when Australian health officials had major concerns for the player safety.

Cricket Australia left it until the latest possible time before giving fans the news they were dreading.

This will not give the Aussies time to regain some browny points with the Australian public after a disappointing series loss to India recently.

It also puts a dampener on the Test aspirations of several players who may have got a start in the Test series like Michael Neser, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson and Alex Carey.

Australian officials said the decision wasn't made littlely and they did everything possible to give the tour the green light. But the variant of COVID that exists in South Africa presented too big a risk to the Australian players.

An olive branch was hung out to play the three Tests in Australia but this was knocked back.

The upsize to the cancelled tour now means that all these Test players can now go back and play for their respective states in the Sheffield Shield.

It's great news for NSW and Queensland who now have both firmed to fight for the title.

NSW will welcome back superstars in Smith, Cummins, Hazlewood, Warner and Lyons

to name a few while Queensland regain the services of Labuschagne, Neser, Steketee and Swepson.

The national competition has never looked this strong at the tail end of a season.

Sobey success

IPSWICH basketball fans saw Nathan Sobey arrive at the Ipswich Force last year and didn't know what they were going to get from this star of the game.

But by the Queensland State League competition's end, they had witnessed one of the best seasons by a Force player in many a year.

Sobey settled in well and led the Force in scoring carrying them to a season high finish, the best result by a men's team for decades.

Unfortunately he couldn't quite get them over the line but just having him in the team for the entire season was valuable for the young Ipswich stars of the future who gained some excellent pointers from a star of the game.

Sobey has carried this form over to the Brisbane Bullets scoring 19, 24, 26 and 30 points in their first four games gaining him selection in the Olympic squad.

The welcome mat is open for his return and let's hope he decides Ipswich is his team for 2021.

Brisbane Bullet and Australian basketballer Nathan Sobey playing for Ipswich in the 2020 Queensland State League competition.

Quick thoughts

WINNERS: 1. Ex Bronco and current Wynnum player Lachlan Maranta for his quick thinking which saved the life of a youngster. League players are often panned as bad boys but credit where credit is due.

2. The Ipswich Vigoro Association who ran a successful annual Heartkids Gala Day raising some much needed funds.

3. Ex Western Pride player Dylan Wenzel-Halls who helped the Brisbane Roar defeat Adelaide by scoring two great goals. The youngster is in a purple patch of form.

4. The Western Corridor and Brisbane Bombers bid teams for combining which will give them a better chance for inclusion into the NRL competition. Peter V'Landy' - here is your 17th team.

LOSERS: 1. The idiot who ran onto the track in New Zealand while the horses were charging for the finish line. He not only put himself in danger but also the jockeys and horses that narrowly avoided him. A little prison stay wouldn't be out of the question.

2. I am hoping this is only a one off to get it out of his system but Nick Kyrgios just can't seem to stay out of the bad headlines. This time, he is refusing to play after being called for a time violation.

3. The St George Dragons for letting their best player Cameron McInnes go to another club. You wonder why fans get shirty sometimes when players are let walk this easy.

Sporting birthdays February 5

1. 1934: Hank Aaron - regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He held the home run record (755) for a staggering 33 years.

2. 1966: Jose Maria Olazabal - Spanish golfer who won the US Masters in 1994 and 1999.

3. 1970: Darren Lehmann - Australian cricketer who played 27 Tests and 117 ODI's.

4. 1985: Cristiano Ronaldo - Portuguese soccer striker regarded as one of the greatest players to have played the game. He won five Ballon d'Or awards as the world's best.

5. 1992: Neymar - Brazilian soccer forward who set a world transfer record fee of $263m when he moved from Barcelona to PSG.

On this day

1. 1921: The Yankees purchase 20 acres in Bronx for Yankee Stadium.

2. 1924: The 1st Winter Olympics close in Chamonix France.

3. 1943: Jake LaMotta defeats Sugar Ray Robinson by unanimous points decision. They would fight six times with this being the only time LaMotta was victorious.

4. 1989: Kareem Abdul- Jabar becomes the first NBA player to score 38,000 points.

5. 1992: Mike Whitney takes career best figures of 7-27 in Australia's win over India.

Originally published as