A run feast against England kick-started his breakthrough summer last year and Ryan Carters is hoping a big score for the Cricket Australia XI against India will do likewise.

Opening bat Carters is New South Wales’ reigning Sheffield Shield player of the year after crunching 861 runs at 53.81 – including three centuries – after moving north from Victoria.

However he has started this summer slowly with just one half century in six innings for the Blues, and has made a handful of starts before getting out.

The two-day clash against India at Adelaide’s Glenelg Oval starting on Monday is a golden chance for the right-hand batsman to rediscover the form that has him rated a potential star of the future.

Last year Carters made 93 and 40 against the touring England side and said it gave him a huge injection of belief before conquering the state scene.

“I played against England last year in a similar match and made a few. It was a good confidence boost early on and probably helped me get in a good zone,” he said.

“I definitely felt like I was in a good head space after that match.

“This match with India is a great opportunity to play against top class international competition and give them a real shake, but also to try and put in some good individual performances.”

The make-up of Australia’s top order is unsettled, with evergreen Chris Rogers’ opening position with the established David Warner under scrutiny.

An opportunity exists for opening batsman if they can score big runs in coming years, but Carters isn’t getting ahead of himself.

“I’m not looking too far ahead, I’m just looking to play well every time I take to the crease,” Carters said.

“It’s a little bit frustrating [this summer] to get a few starts and not go on with it, but it’s also part of cricket.

“You have to accept that sometimes, and keep working away.”

This summer could be Brad Haddin’s last in the baggy green cap after the wicketkeeper floated next year’s Ashes series in England as a possible end point to his international career.

With a World Cup and another Ashes series on the horizon, Haddin has no plans to bow out this season but a successful defence of the urn next year would be an apt time to draw the curtain close.

A fairytale finish would be the 2016 Sydney Test but Haddin will then be 38 and a home series against New Zealand and the West Indies next season will present national selectors with the perfect opportunity to blood the next gloveman. This summer’s Sydney Test is shaping as his last on home soil, provided he is not injured.

Haddin’s stance on his future since losing his Test place in 2012 has been that he would continue playing so long as he feels he can improve and has something to offer. But he hinted on Sunday the end would be nigh after the Ashes.

“I’ve enjoyed being part of the Australian group. We’ve got a big schedule with the World Cup and Ashes and they’re as big a carrot as you can have put in front of you from a cricketer’s point of view,” Haddin said. “I’d like to be part of that, after that it’d be fair enough to say it’s pretty close to the end there.”

Haddin admitted to being emotionally drained earlier this year after winning back his position in all three forms of the game but said he was now revitalised.

“I dont think I was ever going to retire, I still think I’ve got a lot of cricket in me,” Haddin said, playing down reports suggesting he was thinking of retiring earlier this year.

“After the emotional and mental drain of coming back and playing the way we did in the Ashes, from where I’d come from to get to that point I just hit a wall,” Haddin said on the Big Sports Breakfast weekend radio show.

“It wasn’t physically, it was more emotionally – I just needed to do nothing for a while. It took more out of me than I thought to get back. Now I feel as good as ever, it was just the emotional drain of coming back and getting to where I got.”

Haddin took a major step forward in his recovery on Saturday when he practised rolling on his right shoulder, which he injured just over three weeks ago in the UAE.

“The reason behind that was to see if it would stay in the joint and it did, it’s all moving in the right direction, which is good,” Haddin said.

Haddin acknowledged there would be a chance of his shoulder popping out again but said he could not afford to worry about it once he was passed fit by doctors.

Haddin returns to the field on Tuesday when he leads a star-studded NSW team in a Shield game against South Australia.

NSW squad: Brad Haddin (c), Sean Abbott, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Stephen O’Keefe, Gurinder Sandhu, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson (12th man TBA).

Stephen GibbsSTEPHEN Gibbs – avid cricketer, historian, librarian and beloved husband and father – recently died of pancreatic cancer. He was 63.

Stephen Walter Gibbs was born on November 6, 1950, the third child of Walter Gibbs and his wife, Rose (nee O’Brien). He had four siblings – Ruth, Rosemary, Peter and Laurence – and was remembered as a “loving brother”.

He attended school at De La Salle College, Revesby Heights and went on to study a Bachelor of Commerce, graduating from the University of New South Wales in 1972.

Stephen worked as a nurse from 1975 to 1978, completing his Nursing Aide Certificate in 1977.

In 1980, motivated by a deep interest in history, Stephen decided to undertake a Diploma of Librarianship and subsequently worked as a librarian at the Willoughby, Ku-ring-gai, Blue Mountains, Penrith and Hurstville libraries from 1979 to 1995.

But Stephen’s true passion was cricket – not only playing the game but also researching and writing about it. From 1969 to 1990, Stephen played for Gloucester (where he owned a property), Springwood Royals and University of NSW cricket clubs.

Stephen also revelled in the opportunity to contribute to the Australian Cricket Journal, which he did from 1985 to 1990.

He also wrote on cricket memorabilia for Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack Australia.

With fellow historian and friend Dr Richard Cashman, he co-edited Early Cricket in Sydney 1803-1856, publishing a meticulously researched and original manuscript that had been hand-written by Jas Scott in 1931.

In 1991, Stephen approached former Test cricketer Alan Davidson to secure the support of the NSW Cricket Association to publish the manuscript.

In 1992, Gibbs formed the Company of Cricket Scribes in Sydney and organised talks, with the help of fellow historian and close friend Alfred James, until 2013.

The speakers at these meetings included former Test cricketers, respected international cricket writers and commentators and the controversial Test umpire Darrell Hair, among others.

In James’ obituary to Gibbs, he fondly remembered a passionate and dedicated historian and friend.

“Stephen will be greatly missed by all who knew him,” James said. “He was that rare sort of friend who was always constant and engaged and his legacy will be greatly appreciated by historians and aficionados of cricket for decades to come.”

After 1995, Gibbs played in the Masters Competition, and one of the highlights of his cricketing career was taking a hat-trick on March 2, 2003 for Hornsby Masters (over 40s) against Kenthurst.

Gibbs also contributed many entries to the Oxford Companion to Australian Sport in 1994 and the Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket in 1996. He was an Honorary Library Consultant with NSW Cricket Association from 1996 to 2006, where he was responsible for expanding the collection of its library.

Stephen obtained a Masters of Management at the University of Technology in 1993, and became a management analyst in the local government and tertiary education sectors in later life.

He moved to Newcastle in 2001, where he took the position of Executive Officer in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle, which would be his final job before retirement.

He was well-liked among the staff at the university for his positive attitude and talent for the written word.

“In meetings Stephen brought humour, levity, an ordered informality,” friend and colleague Sheila Proust said.

“He shared information freely, was considered and thoughtful in his opinions and always co-operative, affable and respectful.

“He was very articulate and a great wordsmith.”

Fellow colleague Donna West agreed, adding: “Stephen drew the respect of some of the most respected people in the university . . . I will miss his wit, humour, warmth and wisdom.”

His passion for cricket took him to the end, with Gibbs recently completing his 2000-page monumental manuscript The Gibbs Index to Cricket, which references tens of thousands of matters related to the playing, history and recording of cricket over the years.

His revised 2014 version of The Gibbs Guide to Items Not in Padwick references over two thousand books, brochures and other items not described in the two Padwick bibliographies.

This was followed by his Post Padwick: The Gibbs Extension of Padwick’s Bibliography: 1990-2006, recently extended to 2013.

The guide was sent to book collector Roger Page in Melbourne a week before he passed away, solidifying Stephen’s legacy as integral to the conversation about cricket, past and present.

Start on Parkrun in Carrington- its a free timed run every saturday. Pic by Ryan OslandWELL, here it is – the last week of spring and hopefully over the past 12 weeks a few of you have implemented some new health and fitness strategies to have you ready for summer.

If you haven’t, then do not fear. Now is as good a time as any to make some positive changes in your life. And there are plenty of places to start.

The inaugural Beaches parkrun (parkrun上海龙凤论坛m.au/thebeaches/) will be staged this Saturday at 8am from Cooks Hill Surf Club – a 5-kilometre free event run entirely on the sand.

The beauty of parkruns is you are trying to better your own time each week while taking part in a wonderful community initiative.

If you have been training for the part three months with Run Newcastle in mind, then good luck this Sunday. It is not too late to enter if you wanted to join in and also help raise money for the Adolescent ward of the John Hunter Hospital.

And the Merewether Ocean Baths are back in action, so dust off your goggles and swimwear and take the plunge for some laps or even just some highly beneficial walking in the water.

After giving birth to our third child two weeks ago, I am looking forward to slowly getting back into some running, swimming and cross training myself.

Actually, while in hospital recuperating, I caught an interesting family sporting story on morning TV about a couple who, along with their nine-year-old son, are traversing the globe and taking part in 50 sports in 50 weeks (http://50sports上海龙凤论坛).

Along the way they are spruiking the benefits of being active.

They started last month by doing a beach volleyball workout with Olympian Natalie Cook and this week they are playing wheelchair rugby in England. They are visiting schools and communities along the way to talk about ways families can embrace a healthier lifestyle.

It sounds like a dream holiday to me – getting the family involved in sporting activities every week for a year.

It is a great example of how different sports or activities are for different people and sometimes it can take a while to find something you enjoy and can reap health benefits from.

Use this last week of spring to get yourself in the right mindset for a healthy summer – this may be continuing with a new training program or by setting yourself goals for this season.

Here are some fitness ideas for the final week of spring:

Day 1: Cross training circuit session

5-min warm-up with dynamic stretch

Workout (45 seconds of work, 15-second recovery between exercises): Squats; skipping; push-ups; step-ups; pull-ups/rows; 10-metre shuttle run; shoulder press; hover; 20-metre shuttle run. Repeat.

5-10 min cooldown and stretch

Day 2: 30-minute walk

Day 3: Strength and cardio

5-min warm-up, stretch

Workout: 10-20 lunges; 10 push-ups; 10 pull-ups/rows; 10 bicep curls; 10 tricep dips; 2-3 minutes x easy: hard intervals (20 seconds easy followed by 20 seconds harder). Repeat 3-4 times.

Cooldown, stretch

Day 4: Swim or walk in the water

Day 5: 30-min run/walk

Days 6 and 7: Get active with the family by heading to the park, beach, or something similarly active.

Founder of Friendly Faces, Helping Hands, Kelly Foran, Maules Creek, was a guest speaker at the 2013 CWA State Conference in Moree. Kelly ForanELEVEN years ago, Maules Creek woman Kelly Foran was excitedly anticipating her firstborn baby when she began to experience headaches, nose bleeds and hearing congestion.

Although initially assured it was pregnancy-related, her symptoms worsened over the weeks and Kelly was taken to Dubbo Hospital for a check-up.

An MRI scan revealed a brain tumour the size of a goose egg.

She was immediately sent to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney for what she thought would be an emergency caesarean and the removal of the tumour.

Upon her arrival, doctors informed Kelly that she would need to undergo steroid treatment to first shrink the tumour before it could be removed.

Two weeks later, Kelly gave birth via caesarean to a baby boy named Jake at 36 weeks’ gestation.

Sadly, Jake was also afflicted with health problems. He was born with a hole in his lung, hyper-insulin anaemia, jaundice and could not drink unaided.

Kelly said Jake required medication from the United States to treat the condition.

Things became further complicated when Kelly was told the steroid treatment had not shrunk her tumour. But due to her critically high blood sugar levels, her surgery to remove the tumour could not commence.

“The tumour didn’t shrink and neither did I,” she said.

“I went from weighing 67 kilograms after Jake’s birth to 89 kilograms in two weeks.”

Kelly endured a gruelling 16-hour surgery and awoke with a slight stroke on her left side and excruciating pain in her breast rather than her head, due to the fact that she was still breastfeeding.

Kelly spent a month recuperating in intensive care and the neurology ward, but her health challenges were not over yet.

Another stroke, a meningitis diagnosis, muscle dystrophy and learning to walk again followed. Further, when Jake was one year old, a cancerous tumour was found in his right eye.

Doctors had no choice but to remove the eye.

“We now had to look forward to three-month hospital visits and day surgeries as well as the challenge of what if it’s back,” she said.

“We also had to deal mentally with our beautiful baby having only one eye and our guilt for allowing this to happen.”

It was Kelly’s extensive experience in hospitals that prompted her to establish an online support network for patients and families struggling with day-to-day living during long-term health issues.

Friendly Faces Helping Hands provides information on accommodation, parking, cheap eats, supermarkets and even hairdressers that are located near each metropolitan hospital. Links are also available for support networks, social workers and counsellors.

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the service, with TV personality Scott Cam recently coming on board as an ambassador.

Since establishing the service, Kelly and her team of volunteers have helped more than 45,000 regional Australians.

She recently supplied Hunter New England Health with 5000 kits to be distributed to patients and families at John Hunter Hospital and other hospitals in the region to help them access services.

“This site has been designed from the heart,” she said.

“Many occasions we struggled to get food, supermarket goods, nappies, milk and parking. We had been going to Brisbane for two years and paying $17 a day for parking when we found a cheaper parking spot around the corner for $4.

“This website helps to minimise the overwhelming feelings of isolation and give people the power of information in these difficult times.”

For more information, visit friendlyfaces.info.

Warren Spinks.NEW Cooks Hill United football coach Warren Spink is delighted to be back in the Hunter.

The Herald reported last week that the former Newcastle Breakers and Socceroos striker would guide Cooks Hill in their first year in Northern NSW Football’s second-tier competition in 2015.

“I absolutely loved it up here,” Spink said of his time at the Breakers in the early 1990s.

“I’d just signed a new two-year contract then the club went down for a year in 1995, so I had to move.

“Otherwise I would have probably never left Newcastle.

“I’ve played and lived in many countries, but Newcastle was always my favourite place.”

IT has been a frustrating start to the summer for Ruben Zadkovich.

The former Jets skipper missed the first six games of the A-League season with his new club, Perth Glory, after pre-season knee surgery and a back complaint.

Then on Friday night, in his debut in Glory colours, the feisty midfielder was shown a straight red card for a sliding tackle on Wellington midfielder Vince Lia in Perth’s 2-1 victory over the Phoenix at nib Stadium.

Coming off the bench in the 61st minute to replace Rostyn Griffiths after Andy Keogh had given the league leaders a 2-0 advantage, Zadkovich was on the field for all of 17 seconds and will now spend at least the next week on the sidelines cooling his heels.

The 17-second dismissal is believed to be an A-League record but, on recent form, the sloppy studs-up challenge was out of character for the one-time bad boy.

Before Friday night, 28-year-old Zadkovich’s last send-off was while playing for Newcastle against Brisbane on September 5, 2010.

WINNING NSW coach Laurie Daley will be in town next month, and he is bringing the State of Origin shield with him to put smiles on the faces of some special young lifesavers.

Daley will be at Cooks Hill Surf Lifesaving Club between 10am and noon on Sunday, December 7, to help good mate John “Choc” Anderson oversee the club’s “Same Waves” nippers program for children with disabilities.

Anderson, who has replaced the late Jock Colley as Country Rugby League chairman, is a Cooks Hill life member and long-time nippers co-ordinator.

“All those kids love their sport and they love their State of Origin footy, and I know they’re going to be excited to see Lozza and the Origin shield,” Anderson said.

WELL travelled Knights forward Clint Newton joined the ranks of Twitter last week and wasted little time taking a swing at the Seven Network for leaving his famous father, Jack, off their commentary team for the Australian Masters at Metropolitan.

“This may be seen as bias, but when there’s Aussie golf on TV @JackNewtonCC should be commentating #bringbackjack,” Clint tweeted from his @c_newton11 Twitter handle.

THE Men of League Foundation’s Upper Hunter committee will hold a fund-raising bowls day on Saturday, December 6, at Scone RSL Club.

“The bowls day is a great way for local league fans to come together to celebrate as we enter the festive season and will also test their bowling arm as we raise funds for Men of League,” Upper Hunter committee president Peter Ford said.

Bookings can be made by contacting Ford (0421 805 235) or Ian Ingle (0416 145 260).

GEORGETOWN heptathlete Sophie Stanwell proved she is more than just a good sport last week when she was awarded the NSW Institute of Sport award for academic excellence.

The 23-year-old multi-sport specialist, who finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year, was recognised at the annual NSWIS awards presented at the Australian Turf Club.

The awards acknowledged the accomplishments of athletes in the categories of academics, career progression, coaching and performance.

Stanwell edged out other world-class athletes including Jo Brigden-Jones (canoe sprint), Jarrod Geddes (track and field), Steven Solomon (track and field) and Matthew Levy (swimming) as the institute’s best academically.

The Rio Olympic aspirant was awarded the University of Newcastle Faculty of Health and Medicine Medal last month, graduating with a Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics degree.

Apart from finishing fourth in her Commonwealth Games debut, in the past year Stanwell has been named University of Newcastle sportsperson of the year, won her second Australian heptathlon title and represented Australia at the World University Games.

Her next goal is to make the team for the 2015 world championships in Beijing.

WIGAN chairman Dave Whelan will quit the Championship club if the English Football Association punishes him for the controversial comments which led to him being labelled a racist by Cardiff owner Vincent Tan.

Whelan sparked the row in a newspaper interview in which he was defending his decision to hire former Cardiff boss Malky Mackay.

Mackay was recruited by Wigan despite being under investigation by the FA for allegedly sending racist and anti-semitic texts, and Whelan responded to criticism by telling The Guardian: “I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else.”

Whelan also said he did not view the word “chink”, the term by which Mackay allegedly referred to Tan in a text message, as offensive.

Malaysian businessman Tan, who sacked Mackay in December, told Sky Sports News: “Here we have a racist chairman hiring a racist manager. All the fans in Wigan now think it’s OK to be racist.”

The FA says its investigation into Whelan’s comments will be treated “as a priority”.

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THE Pasminco smelter closed more than a decade ago but Barry Bradley’s mind hasn’t quite moved on.

‘‘I still wake up at night and think I’ve got to start my shift in an hour,’’ he said.

It was with mixed emotions that the 38-year smelter veteran walked out the gate with 319 other workers for the last time in 2003.

The industry’s economic benefits could not be disputed; it had provided secure employment to thousands of men for more than a century.

In Mr Bradley’s case it had allowed him to buy a comfortable brick house in Fifth Street, Boolaroo, in which to raise his family.

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His income later allowed him to support them through university.

His career at the smelter started in 1965 – when he was 20 years old.

‘‘I moved up from Sydney and got a job as a plant operator. My job was to prepare charges to go into the furnace,’’ Mr Bradley said.

‘‘It was pretty horrendous in those early days, everything was hands on.’’

Although the pollution and safety standards gradually became tighter, the health and environmental effects remained a lingering concern.

‘‘In the early days there was a lot of lead dust and slag around. The slag was put into a lot of the footpaths and used as fill,’’ he said.

‘‘They spent millions and millions trying to upgrade the place over the years but it just ended up getting run back into the ground because they weren’t prepared to put the money in there.’’

Former Pasminco worker Barry Bradley. At his home in Boolaroo. Picture: Jonathan Carroll

Remarkably, the 70-year-old doesn’t have any obvious ill-health effects from his four decades at the smelter. But he knows many others weren’t as lucky.

‘‘When I started working there it was a job and you didn’t think about it. In the ’90s they brought the [blood] lead level down to 30 parts per million. When I first started there anything up to 70 was acceptable,’’ said.

‘‘I would like to see an independent review done to test people who worked there for a long time, just to see what the [healthy/unhealthy] ratio is.’’

Like many others, Mr Bradley has questions about the remediation work done following the smelter’s closure.

‘‘When they came up and tested all the houses they said everything was all right. But I have very grave doubts about it.’’

Overall he likes what he sees when he walks around the town today – the new businesses and younger families that have moved in over the past decade make him particularly happy.

‘‘I’d like to think there will come a day when the smelter is completely forgotten,’’ he said.