The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 54

The Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday, February 20, 1991 5 Why Doyle is gambling $10,000 in a race against time Australia's world No 2 ranked middle-distance runner, Simon Doyle, may have to break the 800m Australian record at the national championships on Sunday to win the Mobil grand prix's overall prize of $10,000. Doyle is one of four athletes sharing overall first place going into the three-day championships in Sydney this weekend, where the focus will be more on winning than on times and records. The 23-year-old sugar-cane farmer's son from Queensland shares the lead on 27 points with 400m hurdler Rohan Robinson, ATHLETICS LOUISE EVANS event on the program, Doyle will know the fate of the other three contenders and also what he has to do in his race to become the athlete of the series. for the runner, who is also contesting the this weekend, the 800m Australian national record is a little tougher than the marks for the 400m hurdles, discus or triple jump events in which Australia does not have a strong history. The Australian national 800m record of lmin 44.40s has stood since 1968 when Victorian Ralph Doubell won the gold medal at the Mexico Olympics.

Doyle made an attempt on the mark at the Adelaide grand prix meeting last week but was hampered by poor conditions. As a result of his successful European season, which saw him finish with the No 2 world ranking, Doyle has had to sacrifice some early domestic season racing while he trained. But after clocking lmin 45.87s in Canberra in January, he felt he was in record-breaking form. Although he had not been able to put in enough speed-work in the capital, by Adelaide he felt capable of tackling the 22-year-old Australian mark. He won in Adelaide in lmin 47.31s and was very disappointed to have missed putting his name to a second Australian record this seasonhaving earlier broken the mile mark in Melbourne and with it the opportunity to pull ahead of his rivals by the five vital grand prix points which come with a national record.

When it comes to racing, Doyle has noble views. The $10,000 overall prize would be nice, he said, but winning comes first. "The money is important but it will not influence how I race," he said yesterday. "I'm out there to win. If a good time well then that's secondary, but I'm not going to sacrifice myself for a fast time and suffer a loss.

I take a lot of Eride in winning. The money is nice ut that's not why I race. "There are athletes out there who are mercenary in their approach to racing. Where there's money involved, they perform better. I'm not trying to sound noble, I just want to win these races, and the 800m and double is very important to me.

Commonwealth Games pole- vault champion Simon Arkell also faces the prospect of having to break bis own new Australian record If he wants to take out the $1,500 grand prix prize for his event. Arkell had no sooner stepped off the plane after returning from the US when he broke the 14-year-old. Australian record with his 5.54m' third jump in Adelaide last Arkell is sitting In second position behind Tim Foster but could take the first prize should he win at-the nationals and set another record, a task he feels is within his' reach. discus thrower Werner Reiterer and triple jumper Andrew Murphy. The national championships and prix finals offer double points for placings and bonus points for records, and with the gang of four all poised to win their events at the nationals, barring an upset, what should split them is a record.

As the 800m is the third last lip Simon Doyle fate of other will know contenders. Sport lues confident -n Time lag takes toll on squad of despite RUGBY spin. GREG GROWDEN some sava gmgs CRICKET PHILWILKINS tss? -feix "vX4l2fc Australia's 1991 World Cup squad has suffered an extreme case of Rugby burn-out with 17 members of the original line-up now missing, while six others have been relegated to the reserve list. When the 45-man squad was first announced by the Australian Rugby Football Union in August 1988, few, including the national selectors, would have assumed so many players would now be unavailable or out of the running, particularly when they initially opted for youth. However, the combined effects of Rugby League signings, retirements and loss of form have seen the current World Cup squad take on a vastly different look to the initial line-up.

Those who are no longer members of the World Cup squad are: Peter Kay, Andrew Blades, Tom Lawton, Troy Coker, Julian Gardner, David Carter, Scott Gourley, Rod Clarke, Brad Burke, Stephen James, Mitchell Palm, Michael Brian Smith, James Grant, Brad Girvan, Craig Morton and Andrew Leeds. Also Mark Hartill, Cameron Lillicrap, Jim Taylor, Damien Frawley, Geoff Logan and Richard Tombs, who were in the original list, now find themselves in the 17-member World Cup reserve squad, working as back-up to the 36-man main squad. Only two of the original six breakaways remain, with Gourley joining the St George Rugby League team, Carter retiring, while Gardner and Clarke now appear to be out of favour with the Australian selectors. At least Jeff Miller and Brendan Nasser, who could easily be Australia's two prime back-rowers in the World Cup during October-November, have remained in the squad over the 29-month interim. The situation becomes even The NSW cricket selectors will reunite the Balmain club's spin twins, Adrian Tucker and Greg McLay, for Friday's top-of-the-ta-ble Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Twenty one-year-old leg-spinner Tucker will return after his 12th-man duties in the drawn game in Adelaide, a disappointment he took well after optimism last year of a future which might have brought him into consideration for the tour of the West Indies. Tucker's second season in the Sheffield Shield competition has been a predictably demanding education, Tom Moody savaging him for 30 runs from an over of long-hops in the West Australian game earlier this month. Tucker has had a perplexing time at grade level, but in seven games for NSW this season he has taken 23 wickets at 33.78 to reinforce the thinking that he is one of the next generation of internationals, along with Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Stuart Law, Damien Martyn and Damien Fleming. NSWs 12th man against Victoria will be announced on Friday, the player most in danger being as the Blues accounted for the Sandgropers by nine wickets. Mark O'Neill was handicapped in his leg-spin bowling in Adelaide after being struck on the right forefinger by speedster Denis Hickey, the same finger broken by Craig McDermott early in January.

He should be completely fit for the clash with Victoria. The NSW selectors have kept faith with prolific St George opener Geoff Milliken despite disappointments in his last two Shield matches in which he made 0 and 21 not out against Western Australia and then 13 and 11 against South Australia. Batsmen who crossed the selectors' minds as alternatives to partner dashing left-hander Steve Small were Sutherland's Justin Kenny, Northern District's Randal Green and University of NSW's James Baker. Milliken deserved to be retained if only for his prodigious performances for Saints over the past two seasons he has hit four centuries and a 98 this summer. The NSW squad is: Steve Small, Geoff Milliken, Trevor Bavffss.

Mark O'Neill. Michael Bcvan. Brad McNa-mara, Phil Emery. Adrian Tucker. Greg McLay.

Geoff Lawson (c). Wayne HoWsworth, Greg Rowell (probable 12 th man). more intriguing when considering that the selectors who in 1988 chose the squad with national coaching director Dick Marks, the Australian Institute of Sport head; coach David Clarke and Queens- land director of coaching Terr Burkett decided against including Simon Poidevin. They then deliberately overlooked several evergreen Test players like Poidevin, Andy Mclntyre, Steve Cutler and Mark McBain who had indicated they might not still be playing representative football in 1991. Poidevin a former Australian captain, is determined to be part of the World Cup campaign, and showed earlier this month at the World Cup camp in Sydney that he remains among the fittest players in the squad, even though one of the oldest at 32.

Five players are now missing because of Rugby League contracts Gourley, Burke, Cook Grant and Leeds while Brian Smith, now playing for Ireland in the Five Nations championship, appears destined to join Balmain this season. Still the selectors in 1988 showed excellent judgment in including several youngsters who have since excelled on the Test scene, such as current Australian hooker Phil Kearns and centre Jason Little. The World Cup squad will be revised again in June, with the final selection of 26 players being made in early August. The NSW team will begin pre-season training at the Sydney Football Stadium next week and will later transfer to Concord Oval, which is being returfed. pace bowler Greg Rowell, whose late batting in Adelaide was a revelation but who finished with 2-81 from 20 overs on a dry, unhelpful pitch.

McLay also found Adelaide a searching taskmaster. He bowled tightly early on, but the heat and effort of bowling 33 overs in South Australia's first innings led to a gradual deterioration of line and length. He finished with 1-83 for the wicket of Glenn Bishop, and was wisely restricted to two overs by his captain, Geoff Lawson, in the Croweaters second innings. McLay is another product of Wagga Wagga, and in 1988 was the first winner of the NSW Country Cricket Association scheme of a season's scholarship in England. In his maiden first-class appearance, the slim, bespectacled bowler claimed 6-131 from a massive 75.5 overs against Western Australia, while Tucker, despite Moody's monstrous over, finished with 7-168 from 51 overs Injured Bishop out of series Union cracks down illegal on payments BASSETERRE, St Kitts, Tuesday: The West Indies fast bowling production line kicked and spluttered momentarily yesterday, and a couple of products fell off the conveyor belt, but output continued more or less as normal.

The question that remains to be answered is how significant the missing parts Ian Bishop, and to a lesser extent Ezra Moseley will turn out to be in the West Indies' defence of their crown. The loss of Bishop for the next two months, effectively the whole series, with a stress fracture to his back, is an enormous blow to the West Indies. Last year, the England players rated him the quickest and best of the West Indian speedsters, which must make him close to the best and quickest in the world. However, the West Indies can cover the loss of Bishop far better than Australia could if they lost Bruce Reid. had he not been unavailable for selection because of a muscle strain.

As Viv Richards predicted the previous day, the selectors decided this was not the time to make earth-shattering changes to their aging team, although 21-year-old left-hander Brian Lara retained his place after a promising tour of Pakistan. Former Test players Tony Gray and Phil Simmons, both of whom played in the President's XI match against the Australians, were recalled for the first one-day international at Sabina Park, Jamaica, next Thursday, although they will be replaced in the Test by Patterson and Lara. TEST SIDE: Richards (O. Haynes. Greenjdge.

Richardson. Hooper. Logic. 1 Duion. Marshall.

Ambrose, Patterson, Walsh. Lara. ONE-DAY SIDE: Richards (c). Haynes. Greenidgc.

Richardson, Hooper. Logic. Duion. Marshall. Ambrose.

Gray. Walsh, Simmons. PATRICK SMITHERS Some of the Australians might have breathed a quiet sigh of relief, but a likely Test bowling line-up of Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson and Courtney Walsh is no reason to pack your helmet and chest-guard and send them home to Australia. Australian cricket followers will remember Bishop as the raw apprentice who tagged along in 1988-89, playing a couple of tour matches and six one-day internationals, but he has kicked on since then. The West Indies' chairman of selectors, Jackie Hendriks, who received the bad news here yesterday, said Bishop had become "a great striking force in our attack''.

"He certainly has become a very very fine bowler and it would be naive of me to suggest he won't be missed," Hendriks said. Moseley, although he was no certainty for the first Test in Jamaica, would have challenged Walsh for the fourth bowling spot From show pony to big show in the betting great things are expected of high-spirited Escoffier in the Gainsborough Handicap at Randwick today. Picture by palani mohan Spirited Escoffier means business in Gainsborough RACING CRAIG YOUNG The Sydney Rugby Union is to reinstigate a committee to investigate allegations of illegal payments within the code. The SRU is determined to crack down on any infringements of the amateur code, and will investigate allegations that a first-division player was offered a financial inducement to switch clubs this season. The player, whose name and club the SRU has refused to divulge, will appear before an SRU subcommittee next Monday.

SRU chairman Ron Meagher said the outcome of the meeting would not be made public. "It will be dealt with in-house," Meagher A committee was formed to investigate allegations of professionalism, but Meagher said it would have to be set up again because two of the original members were no longer available. "That committee did function and it's still on the books," Meagher said. "It just hasn't sat for about 18 months because no allegations have been made. "One member has died and another retired, so we need to reform It by putting new people in.

"It will definitely be done at the next executive meeting." Meagher said presidents and secretaries of the first division clubs had come together 18 months ago and had unanimously voted in favour of stamping out illegal payments to players. A slim majority of the officials present had voted in favour of warning clubs which were acting improperly and bringing their officials before the SRU, he said. "We called two crabs in and we proved the point to one of them and let them off the hook and told them if they did it again they were in strife," Meagher said. He said he did not necessarily blame club officials for illegal payment to players. "It could be wealthy supporters who wished to see their club do well and therefore they are encouraging players to come and play for their club by offering this sort of money," Meagher said.

"People are allowed to encourage players to play for clubs, which is fair enough as long as there is no financial inducement to do so. "You hear rumours about this, and anything of any substance we can get hold of we are investigating. "If a player receives money he is a professional, and will be banned from playing Rugby Union forthwith. "If we find out that a club was involved, the club at the very least would lose any competition points when this player was playing for them." with this coupon for One Child (under 14) or One Adult Half Price ($4) was last night quietly confident of victory. Rosehill trainer Dr Geoff Chapman is convinced Derby winner Dr Grace can atone for a costly failure at his most recent outing when he returns in Saturday's S250.000 Chipping Norton Stakes, at Warwick Farm.

Dr Grace was 11-2 on for the Oceania Stakes at Rosehill on February 9, but failed to Mr Exclusive in a slow race. A pre-race blood test revealed an irregularity in Dr Grace's system, and stewards ordered another sample to be taken after the race. The life of former champion two-year-old Star Watch is still in the balance after an operation at Scone Veterinary Clinic last Friday to correct a twisted bowel. Flighty youngster Escoffier won't be horsing around today in the Gainsborough Handicap, at Randwick. Last night Escoffier was quoted at 9-4, second pick behind the Bart Cummings-tratned Biscaday.

Escoffier was only playacting when the above picture was taken at the Randwick barrier trials in September and this was no indication for today, according to trainer Sterling Smith. "It was his first time in the saddling enclosure and he was just showing off a bit," Smith said last night. "He's as good as gold now and has a fine temperament" The two-year-old by Twig Moss was purchased for $35,000 at last year's Easter Sales by Rod Boros early favourite for Tasmanian Open HOBART: Big-hitting US golfer Guy Boros has emerged as favourite for the 1991 Tattersall Tasmanian Open following a brilliant practice round yesterday. The son of dual US Open winner Julius Boros played 18 holes on the tough Royal Hobart layout with Australian golf legend Norman von Nida, and walked off the 18th green brimming with confidence. "I was all over the place during the last two rounds of the Australian Masters last week, but I think Norman has sorted me out," Boros said.

The Open, which starts tomorrow, is not an order-of-merit event this year, with prize money of only $85,000, but the field remains one of the strongest and most even in years, with South Australia's Glenn Joyner and Victorian Bradley Hughes both tipped to do well. Thomas, who then asked Smith to train the colt. When making his debut at Randwick on February 6, Escoffier was unwanted in the betting, starting at 66-1, but turned in a slashing debut when coming from near-last on the corner to finish second behind McGleam. Escoffier was ridden by Smith's apprentice Mark Richards at his first start, but international jockey Ron Quinton will pilot him today. The only query Smith has is that Escoffier is coming back from the to but the trainer 'Hell I won't go Kangaroos and other animals no, Sugar From Page 54 Track and Field Championships (Incorporating the Mobil Grand Prix Finals) 2a able to get him some work down in Sydney.

"We went to the trouble of flying him down here from the Gold Coast, slogged it out to secure him a good job, and even found him accommodation which was a goodwill gesture by one of our supporters. "We did our homework here at Wests, trying to do the right thing by the players." Souths' chief executive Terry Parker said yesterday he was having difficulty contacting Gibbs at his Gold Coast home but did not believe "Rambo" was playing the role of a mercenary. Should the appeals of Hill and Gibbs go ahead, their case will be heard by a committee of three. The appeal board will consist of former Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court Sir Laurence Street, former Federal Minister for Sport John Brown, and a nominee of the president of the NSWRL Players' Association, Kevin Ryan. From Page 54 28 hugely healthy young athletes wrestle, cavort and drink their way through the north of England and the south of France, living through homesickness, the boredom of waiting for matches and the excitement of the let-down period after them.

Some of the stories which have become public over the years of the tours (and many haven't) include the following: 1908 one player suspended for an unspecified "breach of 191 1-12 -the team dubbed the "Wild Colonial Boys" accused of biting their English opponents in a match at Widnes, and then gobbling down all the food at a function afterwards. 1952-53 newspaper stories of a "stand-up fight" between two Kangaroos. 1959-60 extensive newspaper reports of misbehaviour, including the famous tale of a strewn the length of the. street." At the Dragonara. Hotel in Leeds, where the Kangaroos stayed in 1978-82-86, it was customary after the team had departed for the hotel to close off for a month or two the floor on which the Roos had been housed for History will judge, and soon enough, the 1990 Kangaroos place in this scheme of things.

The emerging picture of the tour is certainly disturbing, and the ARL has much to consider as they ponder the evidence. No player has ever been sent home from a Kangaroo tour for. misbehaviour. Chances are after the events of 1990 that the '94 side, will head away under the firmest management and strongest threats -ever to confront a touring team. Itn Httft It tuthor of Th Ktngtroos.

nd It writing whit ht promltts to "wins n4 all" account of tht 1990 tour with full-hack Gary Bakhar. I female French motorbike rider being stiff-armed by an Australian player, and knocked from her bike. There were also newspaper claims of "breathtaking" damages bills at hotels. 1 967-68 the daddy of them all -headed by the Man in the Bowler Hat story, and revelations of hefty damages bills at the Ilkley Moor Hotel. Two players were fined $250 each for allegedly walking through the city streets at dead of night wearing nothing but a bowler hat apiece.

In France, the French team manager Josef Gui-raud branded the Australians "wild 1973 threats by team manager Charlie Gibson to send two players home after a rampage in Perpignan. 1982 revelations in a book by Steve Mortimer about Wally Lewis at the wheel of an old car: "At one stage he did a slalom run through a row of parking meters near the Dragonara, leaving pieces of parking meter and car make a decision like this, you've got to ask yourself Hill said he would not be contacting Easts but that if Gibson or any Easts official had something to say to him, they should go through his manager. An Easts official said: "We are pleased to get Hill in the draft We will now have to get him onside. He's only been looking at one side of the fence Wests' side. I've been told he's a sensible boy so we should be able to come to some arrangement on this $5-a-kilometre condition." At yesterday's draft, 21 of 62 applicants were selected.

Souths chose seven players, adding to their 10 choices at last month's session. Their signing of Gibbs, whom Wests were pursuing despite salary cap pressure, also incurred the wrath of Ryan. "All Souths did was to telephone Ron Gibbs an hour before the draft and say they were going to pick him," he said. "Souths told him they might be fp--, am, pi 1 Great prizes to be won See the Greats of Australian Athletics a Robert de Castella Simon Doyle Andrew Lloyd Steve Moneghetti Kerry Saxby 6TO01 SMH Warren Ryan "We did our homework here at Wests." If.