Provincial titles a hit

BERKELY'S Fred Finch Park will host the 2007 Australian Provincial Baseball Championships, starting on Saturday.

The championships, which will run until Saturday, April 14will feature teams from the country baseball associations of all Australian states and territories and New Zealand.

Starring for the NSW team will be Kiama's Chase Richardson and Dapto's Blake Handley, who both play for Western Suburbs Cardinals in the Illawarra Baseball League.

They will be joined by fellow IBL players Troy Green and Simon Copper (Dapto Chiefs).

The NSW Country team will be coached by locals Allan Parrott, Dom and Ben D'Antonio, while Stephanie Thompson is the Executive Officer.

The tournament will be a round robin series of games over the first five days with at least four games each day.

At the conclusion of the round-robin all teams will be re-seeded to play a Championship series.

The Final will be played on Saturday, April 14 from 1pm.

While the staging of the Championships goes back to 1956 the Illawarra region has never hosted the event, despite a long connection.

The earlier titles were played for between New South Wales Country and Victoria Provincial teams only and usually in towns like Wangaratta, Albury and Wagga Wagga.

The first NSW Country team included up to six players from the Western Suburbs Cardinals club and the Trophy that was played for was provided by local sporting goods proprietor Ern Webb.

Despite the Championships evolving into an event where the winning team is awarded the Commonwealth Cup, the original Webb Cup is still played for within the tournament.

The winner of the first game played between the original combatants is awarded the Webb Cup.

When the 2006 Championships were held in Auckland, New Zealand for the first time the Victoria Provincial team won the Webb Cup and the Australian Capital Territory team won the overall Championship, defeating N S W Country in the Final.