In true festive spirit organisers found time to get Santa onto his three-wheel trike but only on the lower section of the track.

Wouldn’t have been any good for the kiddies if Old St Nick had come tumbling down from the top of the bank at the velodrome.

We want to know what happened to the presents? 

SALLY SARA
@sallyjsara
Stuart broad x ray - inconclusive. #ashes

Scroll through the photo gallery above for the x ray

ZACH Murray’s incredible win in this week’s Vic Amateur match-play must make Golf Australia look long and hard at some of their elite squads.

Murray’s stellar back half to the year has seen him beat the No. 1 Australian junior Ryan Ruffels as well as one-time leading amateur at the Australian Open Anthony Murdaca.

State squad players, others with solid world rankings have also fallen by the wayside during a run that has seen Zach win in China and then, jet-lagged, finish runner-up at the Dunes Medal.

One Week spoke to the match referee from Wednesday’s final and heard nothing but praise.

He said the 16-year-old’s aggression and composure in the pressure cooker of match-play and being four shots down was unbelievable, his shot to the 35th hole that handed him victory was beyond belief.

This is a tournament that has been played since the 1880s — great names like Ivo Whitten and Peter Thompson on the honour board.

The 1990 winners are a who’s who of international Australian golf — Allenby, Appleby, Baddeley, Ogilvy and our own Marcus Fraser.

In recent years, there is Jack Wilson, Kieran Pratt and Nathan Holman who made their mark in the Australian summer of golf at the Masters, Open and PGA.

But spare a thought for Zac’s poor old dad Craig.

He was at Kingston Heath and Commonwealth all week but his summer job with the Skycrane firefighting helicopters started on Wednesday and he had to follow the big final shoot-out by twitter.

But that, in turn, led to one of Zach’s Commonwealth Club pennant team-mates, and a player he towelled up in the quarterfinal, Matt Hinkley putting his hand up to caddy for the 36-hole final.

HOW hard is it to find white tennis balls?

Well, near impossible if judged on the efforts of the team from Albury Tennis.

he long forgotten neutral coloured balls are the missing piece in the puzzle to recreate an early 1900s tennis game at the Albury Sportsground on January 4 to launch the 100th Easter tournament.

The Tigers homeground was tennis central just after the turn of last century, pictures of the Easter tournament in 1933 showing 16 courts stretched across the footy ground.

Organisers have found trousers and long shirts for the men, scoured Op Shops for the women’s garb.

But tennis balls are the issue.

White King failed to bleach a yellow ball white and a man with a box of white balls won’t part with them because they are too valuable.

If you can help phone Albury Tennis on (02) 6021 3514 or email alburytennis1@bigpond.com

ALBURY Sportsground curator Luke Garland, pictured with grascourt tennis curator Shayne Reid, won’t have a lot of time to enjoy any Christmas cheer given the spate of events at the Tiger’s fortress over the holidays.

After some major plumbing works for irrigation the ground will be turned into a tennis court on January 4.

Later in the month it will be home to the prestigious Albury Wodonga Gift that earlier this year attracted a team of London Olympians.

A little over a week after that and it will morph into a rugby field for the pre-season trial between Super 15 arch rivals NSW and the Melbourne Rebels.

Perhaps, given its versatility and proximity to Dean Street, the sportsground should have also been the venue for the Perth Glory v Melbourne Heart A-League clash that has been set down for Lavington a week later again.

ANDREW Carson is leaving the Murray Bushrangers for the hurley-burly of the AFL.

The talent manager, who joined the Bushies seven years ago, is off to Arden Street to be national recruiter with the North Melbourne Football Club.

Carson has had a long history in TAC Cup — 12 years with the Dandenong Stingrays where he rose to development manager. He signs off on Valentine’s Day next year.

“I won’t finish with the Bushrangers until February 14, but I thought it would be best to announce it rather than people hear it on the football grapevine,” he told us this week.

“Thanks to all you who supported me at the Bushrangers. I will continue to follow the their journey through your great media coverage.”

THINGS are grim at what was once known as the centre of all things sport in the Riverina.

It seems Wagga, who has copped a pasting in rugby and league from its friendly southern rival this year, has now hit tough times trying to find a nominee for its sporting hall of fame.

When nominations closed this week, there were none. Last year’s nominee failed to get a start because of the demands of the selection criteria.

So the home of sporting legends Wayne Carey, Steve Mortimer and Michael Slater to name just a few needs some help.

Perhaps the Border could throw any one of its Australian representatives in cycling, hockey as well as any other mainstream or lesser known sports at the problem.